Or They Could Just Send Condi Over There
The New York Times > International > Iraq in Turmoil on Anniversary of Saddam's Fall:

Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a Shi'ite independent, takes on the newly created role of national security adviser [ed: to whom?]

I remember watching the live raw video when the statue was torn down via a Baghdad webcam last year, and marveling at how un-jubilant it looked, and how few people were involved, many of them looking clearly uncomfortable, almost embarrassed at being there. A few people had been milling around, then a truckload of young men showed up and tried to drag the statue down with a chain, then a tank came by and they attached the chain to the tank, and at some point they put up the American flag, then it was quickly taken down again. There couldn't have been more than 50 in the crowd, but the pictures that came back to us implied thousands were involved. I don't know that it felt staged, exactly, but everyone knew where the reporters and webcams were.

Then going to a class and everyone excited that the war was finally over, it was over, they pulled down the statue, like it was the Berlin Wall! I thought they were demented. It was so obvious to me that the war had just begun.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:22 PM | | | Link |