The Fault (-line) Of The Apocalyptic Cuckoo Clock

Wretchard has a nice little piece today on the why of Iraq after Afghanistan -- instead of say the Saudis. It's mostly a repeat of the point that we needed someplace where at least some elements of the population would have reason to welcome us as a means to escaping oppression. Of course, we got this in spades with the Kurds and Shia comprising 80% or so of the population.

And it was right next door to the Saudis and their Wahhabi hate factory.

All well and good. And of course it's going a lot better than the MSMemory Holers would have you believe -- as Wretch also just pointed out in "The News Magazine of the Mysteries". (Did I mention that he's good?)

And then there's this game-ending little interview item brought to our attention from one of Wretch's readers with the author of the "Chasing the Ghosts" piece referred to in "Mysteries":

TONY JONES: Michael, why are they letting you get behind this curtain? Is there a message they are wanting you to get out through Time magazine to the rest of the world?

MICHAEL WARE: Clearly, these men, just like the American military I deal with and the public affairs officers who stick to me like glue and only let me see what they want me to see when I'm with them, so it is with the Jihadis. They're showing me what they want me to see, which is, to be truthful, quite a lot, but they know anything I see or hear is public record. It's their responsibility to confine their information.

This is what I do. Yeah, they do want to get a message out.

They're so media savvy. If they weren't before, they've learnt it, they've polished it.

Even a year ago when I was meeting these nationalist guerrillas who then were ill formed, not yet in clear command and control organisations, even then they were saying to me, "This war is not going to be won on the battlefield. We can't hope to defeat the Americans. It's going to be won in the living rooms of Iraq and Middle America, it's going to be won on television."

They were saying, "We can maintain this, we can, we have, we can sustain this longer than your political will will last. Before your people call you home." Again, that's a part of it now, they're saying, "We're here and we're not going away," and they want to say that to the West. They can tell Arabic channels this until the cows come home, but to have it coming through an American iconic publication like Time magazine, people will listen.

And look, the fact is it's true.

Whoops. D**m that infernal internet anyway. How can one run a decent MSMemory Hole nowadays anyway?

And d**m that PALLYWOOD too!

But then we have a commenter that puts it all in Apocalyptic perspective:

Wretchard, the more you study history, the more you wonder how the idea that humans are largely rational beings emerged in the first place.

'Tis a fascinating question as the Apocalypse materializes before our very eyes.


Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo.

The Cuckoo Clock tolls for thee.