When they sawed Daniel Pearl's head off, we were a year away from Iraq. What was the excuse then? What was 9/11 revenge for?

A remarkable number of Arabs seemed to hate us long before the prison scandal. In fact, I'm really trying to think back to a time when they didn't. What has actually changed, other than our enemies being delivered a propaganda bonzanza to justify what they were going to do anyway? Is it working? There are certainly enough idiots around the world to whom cause and effect are fuzzy concepts.

If we were really the bastards we were supposed to be, much of the Middle East would be glowing lakes of glass, and all our American forces would be having coffee at home or on aircraft carriers.

Our troops are dying now so Iraqi civilians don't.

Which side do you want to win, Bowser? The people in that article? The people in the video?

The story is that we are seeing an uprising of "the average Iraqi." For that story to be consistent, one has to submit that "the average Iraqi" sawed Berg's head off. Do you really want to go there?

On the other hand, if we are dealing with millions of Iraqis who want to be free and safe, and just want us to finish wiping out the bastards and go home, and also dealing with a few thousand Islamist and Baathist thugs and murderers, many of whom are imported, we have a different story. But you don't like that scenario either, do you?