Posted 4:47 AM by Paul
USA Get Medieval on Yo Ass

So it seems that Uday and Qusay Hussein died in a big shoot out with US forces. Very Tarantino. Were they all wearing dark suits and sunglasses. The jury is out on whether or not they committed suicide but it looks as though the 14 yeard old grand son of Saddam - little Mustafa - was killed whilst returning fire. Clearly, he is due to go down in the history of Arab nationalism as a hero. The iconography is perfect. Boy child showing all the manly virtues of Saladin as he battles the infidel invader to the last bullet.

Despite widespread condemnation by the West of Isael's polciy of selective assasination, the USA - with the unequivocal support of the Britsh Government has adopted the same policy. In an nutshell we have the politics of the 15th Century with rocket launchers.

Blair hailed the death of the two evil tyrants as "good news" but I can't help be sceptical on several points.

- The US did not want to take them alive because they may have revealed in open court that we funded them during their reign of terror on the Kurds. They may also have revealed that the main chemical weaponry was destoyed in the mid 90s as has been claimed by a number of experts. Part of the factory that created the early weaponry was funded by a grant from the UK. We are so generous
- With the "bad guys" [ and lets remember they were the baddest of the bad ] gone many Iraqis will see no justification for a continued occupation of their country. Any anti-US military operations will no longer be tainted by the old regime and young men may sign up rather than be deterred.
- If we have decided to junk the norms of war and opt for a more ancient policy of assination of the leaders we can hardly be surpised if the opposition do the same. In fact this is all more Viking than Medieval.
- The US showed pictures of the bodies to the world's media this making us look like total hypocrites when we complain about Al Jazira showing equally grotesque pictures of slain US and UK soldiers.

Today they are promising to show video clips of the bodies. Apparently very few Iraqis saw the pics yesterday due to power cuts. So much for reconstruction. Or maybe the plan is to deregulate Iraq's utilities and turn it into a Moslem California.

My guess is that with the end of the Hussein clan resistance will grow alongside international sympathy for those resisting occupation. A nightmare for British and US soldiers who just want to go home. We are also due to see the irony of Bush and Blair pleading for help in reconstructing Iraq because they are fast running out of cash. They need other countries to foot the bill which is rising daily at a time when both of them will shortly have to face their electorates with the prospect of raising taxes (Blair) or printing money (Bush).

New York next week. Thank fully I don't smoke. Really looking forward to it except the flight. As ever I will opt for an aisle seat and keep a close watch on my fellow passengers, particularly lone Hassidic Jews with platform soled boots - the perfect diguise.