2005: Year in Review by Lileks
Lileks has an interesting piece on 2005 in American Enterprise Online:
Pope John Paul II dies. To the horror of many, his successor turns out to be Catholic.
Hehehehe…
December 13, 2005
December 12, 2005
What Iraqis Think & Why It Matters
The Iraqis recently told us what they think about things in a poll located here. While there is much to be happy about for those who oppose the war and those like me who continue to support it (half of Iraqis say it was wrong for the US and the coalition to invade while preference for democracy has soared and an Islamic state fallen), there is something being missed by the media:
Plurality
Plurality - difference of opinion - is always a good thing. If you want to guage how healthy a nation is, check out how much plurality and dissent it has. Dictatorships never grokked this point: if you want to rig an election and have it appear fair, don’t invite it St. Jimmy Carter’s platoons of bootlickers to “observe” the election - have the dictator win by a s percentage or two. Instead we have witnessed 100% or 99.7% elections victories by dictators from Kim ilSung to Saddam to Castro. These elections are farces - and everyone knows this except St. Carter’s Apostles.
Iraqis haven’t had this much political freedom in at least two generations - possibly longer. It doesn’t surprise me that they express opinions which I don’t like, but I am happy that they do express them. Doing so shows that Iraqis are cottoning on to a greater truth that has been hidden from them for so long - that Democracy works.
In the meantime they will fuss and fight and whine just like a bunch of Democrats - just with more spine.
December 8, 2005
Afghans Happy US Ousted Taliban
Source: ABC News:
…87 percent call the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban good for their country. Osama bin Laden, for his part, is as unpopular as the Taliban; nine in 10 view him unfavorably.
Think about that for a second: Those numbers are probably higher than any you would find in all but the reddest parts of this country - and the opposite you would find in such outposts of fascism as Berkeley.
Maybe it’s time we sent troops to liberate UCB.
