I’m about halfway through processing the almost-700 pictures I took on my birthday (not counting another hundred or so softball pics), and that’s going to take up a lot of my time for a while, probably most of the weekend. So until that’s done, I’ll probably be fairly scarce, and photoblogging a lot more than ranting.

That’s a hell of a short fire escape. Couldn’t they just jump?

This door has seen better days.

I really like B&W sky pictures for some reason.
June 10th, 2006 at 05:36pm
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Photoblogging,
Pittsburgh
One (probably) last thought on Zarqawi, which I had many months ago and forgot about until Echidne’s post jogged my memory.
I think it’s very telling that the Bushies didn’t want to take out Zarqawi before the invasion, because “the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.”
I don’t recall Zarqawi playing any kind of prominent role in the case for war. The case for war was all about Saddam’s scary WMDs and nuclear aspirations, and relentlessly, artfully, deniably implying-but-not-quite-saying that he was involved in 9/11. Zarqawi’s purpose was to provide justification after the fact by allowing the administration and its creatures to say, “See? Saddam was harboring al Qaeda!” Never mind that he was “harboring” Zarqawi in the no-fly zone, where he was effectively under our protection, not Saddam’s.
What makes this particularly interesting to me is that it’s yet another data point in the proof that the administration knew that their WMD claims were bullshit. If they genuinely expected to find WMDs, they would have had no need for a Zarqawi boogeyman, and would have whacked him so he wouldn’t disrupt the occupation (assuming they thought about the occupation at all). In fact, if troops or inspectors did find WMDs, the Bushies would have had an awkward time explaining why they didn’t want to take out an al-Qaeda leader who might have had access to WMDs.
There’s a reason why I assume everything the Bushies say is a lie.
June 10th, 2006 at 11:10am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Favorites,
Iraq,
Politics,
Wankers,
War