At Least Sadam Kept the Lights On....

Well, the Seattle Times hit us with a one-two punch today. On the front page, above the fold, there is a story about Iraqi basic services being worse now than before Sadam, and then on the Op/Ed page we have a piece by E.J. Dionne about how conservatives are frustrated with our policy in Iraq and have had it with Bush. He bases this assesment on very scientific methodology including seeing a truck with a "I support the NRA" sticker as well as a "Kerry for President" sticker. Well, that does it for me! Heck, I might as well give up. It's over.

Now, I'm not saying that the fact that power is not on for a full 24 hours a day in all provinces of Iraq is not news worthy, but is this really more important than the execution of a US Marine? That story was on page A10 of yesterday's paper. It appears that as the US economy recovers, liberals see turmoil in Iraq as the key to defeating Bush in Novemeber. The Seattle Times is doing it's part by beating the drum and hoping that by repeating the message enough times, it will become true in the minds of it's readers.

It goes without saying that the Seattle Times has done virtually nothing in the way of talking about how conditions have improved in Iraq. I guess we are meant to believe that the average Iraqi pines away for the good old days when the lights were on and family memebers were arbitrarily taken away, raped and executed.

We all have our own stand-out memory of the war in Iraq. For me, it was images from a CNN report shown (only once, as far as I know) near the end of the war of an Iraqi jail. There was evidence of mass graves and filthy living conditions inside the prison cells. But what really stood out in my mind, and still haunts me even today, is the room where the executions were performed. It was like a cross between a live-stock slaughterhouse and an operating room. It was brightly lit and the floors and walls were covered with white tiles (for easy cleaning, I presume). There were two sets, side-by-side, of hanging gallows. That's what really struck me, two sets! Apparently, they needed two to handle the volume of executions performed there. It's haunting to think that the very last thing countless human beings saw were cold, brightly lit white tile walls. Like a slaughterhouse, Sadam had murder down to a science.