Tuesday, March 18, 2003

...and now Saddam Hussein himself has rejected the ultimatum. I'm actually surprised that he hasn't already launced attacks against the US troops massed in Kuwait - well, ok, they're well defended there so he's unlikely to do much damage. But still - all hell is going to break loose at 8pm EST Wednesday night...I have a feeling I won't be sleeping much tomorrow night. I know I'm going to end up watching all night, even when no news comes in, like it's some video game, or Black Hawk Down 2: Baghdad Style. Which does remind me - where am I going to watch it? Obviously, Fox Not News isn't an option, and CNN, while it has Amanpour in Kuwait City (she's generally a good reporter and commentator) and Robertson in Baghdad (another British-trained telejournalist, good at just reporting and not editorializing too much), I really don't want to listen to the American talking heads. I wish I got BBC News TV here - maybe BBC America will pre-empt their normal array of British sitcoms for BBC News - they did that for 9/11, giving me a news source I could actually watch without wanting to throw things at the TV.

10:11:21 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Three ministers and three private secretaries (parliamentary represenatives of ministers, I think) have resigned from the Labour government in the UK - this is all by noon GMT, or 7 this morning EST...in other words, before the debate in the House of Commons today. The Commons vote on war comes tonight, at 2200 GMT, or 5pm EST. It'll take 245 Labour MPs (out of a total of 410 Labour and 648 total MPs, by my count) voting against war to stop the resolution, assuming every Conservative votes for it - which may not be the case, since 14 Tories voted against the previous Iraq vote back in late February (joining the Liberal Democrats, Welsh and Scottish nationalists, and 122 Labour MPs). I'm betting it'll pass, but barely - and not by enough for Blair to keep his job. Oh, and in other news, the Poles are sending 200 soldiers to the Gulf. Oh, joy - our coalition is soooo broad-based.

10:04:01 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

So now all the politicians are lining up behind the "We're at war! No dissent allowed!" sign - Lieberman, all the Republicans, even supposed critics like Kerry...what the hell? Isn't the whole point of a democracy such that we can disagree at any time with anything? My favorite was a bit I heard from DeLay, evil bastard that he is, something about "There was a time for vigorous discussion, but not now." That made me giggle - as if the "patriotic" warmongers ever allowed us to have a vigorous discussion without calling us traitors. And I keep hearing that piece-of-shit line - we must support the troops, blah, blah. I heard Kerry spout it, among many others...of all people, John freakin' Kerry should know that "supporting the troops" does NOT mean sending them to get shot at, gassed, etc... Everyone in this goddamned country seems to be a hypocrite and there's nothing I can do but rant.

9:53:38 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []