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DARRIN BELL
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October Surprise: the Saddam Death Sentence

October Surprises happen in November these days. After being delayed for nebulous reasons, the Iraqi court trying Saddam Hussein (a court whose logistics are largely controlled by agents of the United States) has decided to announce its verdict this Sunday, two days before the U.S. Congressional elections.

As President Bush faces mounting criticism over the war, a guilty verdict announced two days ahead of tight U.S. congressional elections on November 7 could reflect positively on him as a vindication of his policy to overthrow Saddam. U.S. officials deny Washington had any say over the timing of the verdict or the court’s decisions, saying the American role was limited to logistics and security.More…

Of course Washington had nothing to do with this timing. They’d never politicize something as important as this. Not this White House.•••

Is the Boogeyman dead?


First the crocodiles are denied their chance to bring Steve Irwin to justice, and now this

The information purporting the death of the world’s most sought after terrorist is based on what the newspaper calls “a usually reliable source,” stating that Saudi intelligence sources “are convinced” of bin Laden’s death.The French intelligence report goes on to say, still according to the French daily, that bin Laden died in Pakistan on August 23 after suffering “from a severe bout of typhoid fever,” and a bacterial infection provoked a paralysis of his lower body.

The Saudi intelligence report states that bin Laden’s geographic isolation “rendered all medical assistance impossible. Indeed, U.S. intelligence sources have long believed bin Laden was hiding in remote parts of Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan, areas where sophisticated medical help would be difficult to obtain.

The news of bin Laden’s death reached the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Sept. 4. If confirmed, that, in part, might explain the complete absence of Osama bin Laden from making any appearances on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon just outside Washington, DC.

The U.S. is skeptical, of course, as this wouldn’t be the first time OBL has been reported to have gone to find his 72 virgins in the sky.

Candorville on Israel

Israel is our ally, and rightly so. And any nation has a right to defend itself. Almost everyone agrees about those two precepts. I believe Israel has a right to exist, and just as with the U.S., I’m going to speak out when I think their tactics are either inhumane or counterproductive. The best way to ensure your nation’s longevity is to avoid behaving in a way that costs you the support of the world and causes much of the Arab world, which increasingly held Hezbollah in disfavor, to change its mind. Today’s Candorville questions the wisdom of Israel putting a rush order on cluster bombs that have a wide radius of destruction if what they were trying to do in the Lebanon War was be precise and avoid civilian casualties. One of my favorite newspaper editors received a phone call about that, and passed it on to me (I’ve removed the names):

Promised the reader I would pass this along. Just received a telephone call from a reader regarding your strip today. (name redacted) called to request that you write an “equally hilarious strip about Palistinian suicide bombers” —

My response:

Hi (name redacted), If you wouldn’t mind, please suggest to the reader that he check out yesterday’s equally-hilarious strip about an Iranian president who wants to wipe Israel off the map. I’m always intrigued at how people can completely ignore the strips they agree with but zero in on the one they find objectionable.You might also tell him that responsible, rational governments such as Israel’s should behave with more restraint and wisdom than a suicide bomber. We shouldn’t excuse either our own actions or those of our allies by comparing them to the despicable actions of terrorists. Otherwise, what makes “us” better than “them”?

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