Prince Harry will be going to Iraq very soon. This doesn’t sound like a good idea to me at all. Not for the basic reasons like him being the “spare” just in case something happens to Prince William or Iraq being a battle that most countries are trying to get out of at this point.

I don’t think Harry should be sent to Iraq simply because it immediately puts a huge red “X” over him and his battalion. Now I understand that the guy is a British patriot and that service to the country is a tradition in the Royal Family, but in today’s stupid media culture, this guy is going to be put into extreme danger just by going over there.

If Harry does get shipped out, which I’m confident that he will, I hope that the media relaxes and doesn’t cover his every move. Hmmm…on second thought, maybe some of those asshole paparazzi can follow him over and meet the business end of the war. Idiots.

Tony Blair announced that he is getting ready to pull some British troops out of Iraq. I applaud his announcement because of what he says here:

The changes will see Iraqi units doing more of the regular patrolling of Basra’s streets, and UK troops less.

I don’t know how many times it has got to be said that the key to success in Iraq is NOT an international force patrolling the country, but a coalition between Iraqis and multinational forces that eventually becomes more and more Iraqi in composition. The British seem to understand this concept as do the American commanders and the rest of our allies. I don’t really understand why other people don’t “get” this concept, but it’s the only one that’s going to work.

Iraq cannot and will not become the 51st state (Puerto Rico won’t stand for it!). However, just because Americans will leave Iraq in the next year or so doesn’t mean that there has been a “defeat” of any kind! It means that Iraqis are standing up and defending their nation. And if they do NOT stand up and defend their nation…well, chaos may not be the word to describe what will hit Iraq if that happens.

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging. The story of this man’s life is fascinating. He went from a rebel leader to taking over Iraq and serving as their President for nearly three decades before being overthrown by an international force and now he’s been sentenced to death by his own people. It really is a remarkable story.

There is a small, extremely minority-held underground ideology in the United States and the Western World that Saddam Hussein should not only NOT be killed, but that he should be returned to power! Yes, this is true. The derogatory mindset is that the Iraqi people are animals and the only one who could really control them was a strong-armed tough guy like Saddam Hussein. Personally, I don’t subscribe to this theory nor do I see much validity in it. As a human being, I don’t see how a man who gassed his own people to death could be considered anything besides a monster.

Hell, President Bush has low popularity ratings and you don’t see him dropping agent orange on California or Massachusetts!

The eventual hanging of Saddam Hussein will bring the end of one era in Iraq and hopefully usher in a new era of Iraqi-self rule. From the reports that I see on television and read in the papers, it appears that the Iraqis need a sense of pride in their country and their government. If the death of Saddam can bring that sense of pride, then so be it.

Watch any TV station and you’ll see touching tributes to the folks who were murdered on 9/11. A lot of Americans call the people who died heroes and though the usage of that term sometimes evokes a debate there is one thing that none of us should ever forget. These people were not “victimized” nor were they “terrorized” – they were murdered.

Murdered.

When you watch the news at night and you hear the worst story of the day, chances are it talks about someone getting murdered. When you think about the worst crime a person can commit (think of a prisoner), you think of a mass murderer.

These terrorists who killed themselves in those planes were nothing more than thugs and murderers – and thank God, Allah, or whoever you worship that NO GOD worshipped on this earth condones murder. NONE. I take solace in knowing that these murderers will rot in whatever Hell it is that they fear…and I take solace in knowing that right now, the bastards who hijacked those planes are only a mere 5 years into their eternal Hell.

Now for the practical issue of how to move forward in defeating this scourage of horror, I highly suggest that you all read the article written by Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the 9/11 Commission.

It’s shocking to see how petty turf wars and the American bureaucratic system is fucking up protecting our citizens after what happened five years ago today.