Free Advice

In light of events in the Middle East over the past few weeks, many Bush skeptics have been asking “Was Bush right after all?”, including Jon Stewart, Peter Mansbridge, and Rupert Cornwell in the The Independent.

Well, left-wing moonbat Eric Margolis isn’t falling for any of that. The real reason democracy is budding in the Middle East?

Ironically, the man most responsible for pushing the Arab world towards political change is not George W. Bush, but his nemesis, Osama bin Laden.

For over a decade, bin Laden has agitated for the overthrow of the corrupt, despotic Arab regimes supported by the U.S., and their replacement by a traditional Islamic democratic consensus.

You may recall the “traditional Islamic democratic consensus” that was flourishing in Osama bin Laden’s last known hangout, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

What was Margolis’s take in December, on the first free elections in Afghanistan? Same theory, different day: Failure for the U.S., success for Osama bin Laden:

But the Afghan election had no more democratic credibility than the Soviet elections of the 1980s. …

So the U.S. is good and stuck in Afghanistan — just what Osama bin Laden wanted.

(The U.S. is not Margolis’s ideal of democracy either, with their supine, cowardly U.S. Congress. )

So what is Margolis’s litmus test? What kind of country truly deserves to called democratic?

We’ll know for sure real freedom has dawned in Iraq when Baghdad orders U.S. troops out, raises oil prices, rebuilds its armed forces, and renews support for the Palestinian cause. (Emphasis added.)

Put aside the non-sequitur of how the raising of oil prices would validate Iraqis’ freedom.

Margolis knows that the “support for the Palestinian cause” provided by Saddam’s pre-war Iraq was in the form of large cash payments to families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

It seems there are only two sure-fire ways for Arab leaders to be considered legitmate by Mr. Margolis: to kill Americans (OBL), or to kill Israelis.

I don’t know exactly what led to this verdict, or what could have been done to reach a different outcome, but it’s maddening.

Canada has failed in its duty to bring justice to the men who did this evil.

Not Guilty
Ripudaman Singh Malik, 58, And Ajaib Singh Bagri, 55
Innocent
331 Victims, 135 of them children, who died on June 23, 1985

Here are the names of victims, whom we failed. (from the Globe)

Vinay Jalan, 2 months old,
Sidhant Bhat, 5 months,
Syed Quadri, 8 months,
Kevin Kumar, 1 year old,
Ahkur (Ankur) Seth, 1,
Ratik Singh, 1,
Suneal Dhunna, 2,
Anita Jalan, 3,
Rashirashmi Khera, 3,
Sandeeta Lazar, 3,
Arishiya (Arshya) Quadri, 3,
Saroda Sankurathri, 3,
Vikas Sharma (Narain), 3,
Ajai Singh, 3,
Pankaj Soni, 3,
Sumitra (Sumitha) Subramanian, 3,
Aditya Bery, 4,
Marc Chatlani, 4,
Robyn (Robin) Daniel, 4,
Julie Gambhir, 4,
Arun Gossain, 4,
Vishal (Vishai) Thakur, 4,
Sumenta Harpalani, 5,
Ramya Murugan, 5,
Amit Puri, 5,
Ramya Swaminathan, 5,
Akhil Wadhawa, 5,
Amit Gupta, 6,
Sabrina Kapoor, 6,
Srikiran Sankurathri, 6,
Priya Bery, 7,
Dalip Bhalla, 7,
Aparna Gossain, 7,
Preethi Lakshmanan, 7,
Natasha Merchant, 7,
Thejus Radhakrishna, 7,
Kavita (Kavitha) Sagi, 7,
Rina Sharma, 7,
Sarah Ahmed, 8,
Ruby Daniel, 8,
Justin Jacob, 8,
Narayana Murthy, 8,
Rubina Quadri, 8,
Alpana Seth, 8,
Ruby Sharma, 8,
Abhinav Singh, 8,
Veena Subramanian, 8,
Padma Swaminathan, 8,
Serina Wadhawa, 8,
Simon Alexander Jr., 9,
Jatin Bedi, 9,
Deepak Bhat, 9,
Tina Bhatt, 9,
Angi (Angeline) Gambhir, 9,
Arti Gupta, 9,
Deepa Harpalani, 9,
Jancey Jacob, 9,
Amar Singh, 9,
Shalini Singh, 9,
Kuldip Uppal, 9,
Reena (Rena) Alexander, 10,
Bhavani Murthy, 10,
Lavanya Murugan, 10,
Shilpa Seth, 10,
Neeraj Sharma, 10,
Anuj Sharma (Narain), 10,
Rina Soni, 10,
Parminder Uppal, 10,
Virkam Upreti, 10,
Elizabeth Asirwatham, 11,
Anita Gadkar, 11,
Vishal Gupta, 11,
Kiranjit Rai, 11,
Meghan (Meghana) Sabharwal, 11,
Kalpana Sagi, 11,
Swati Sharma, 11,
Versha Sharma, 11,
Moneka Soni, 11,
Deepak Turlapati, 11,
Rupa (Kupa) Anantarman, 12,
Jissey Jacob, 12,
Chaman (Ashu) Puri, 12,
Neeta Trivedi, 12,
Parul Trivedi, 12,
Mala Chatlani, 13,
Jyoti (Jyothi) Radhakrishna, 13,
Pratibha Ramachandran, 13,
Sunil Sakhawalkar, 13,
Krishnan Subramanian, 13,
Hannah Asirwatham, 14,
Anu Bedi, 14,
Manju Bhalla, 14,
Arindar Das, 14,
Rajesh Dhunna, 14,
Teena Job, 14,
Rajiv Raghuveeran, 14,
Pushpa Sahu, 14,
Rajasri Sarangi, 14,
Sandhya Sharma, 14,
Shobna Singh, 14,
Aruna (Arvha) Anantaraman, 15,
Bina Bhatt, 15,
Vandana Gupta, 15,
Anuupama Jain, 15,
Rama (Ramadevi) Kammila, 15,
Neesha (Nisha) Mehta, 15,
Arati Pada, 15,
Mukul Paliwal, 15,
Janaki Ramaswamy, 15,
Surekha Sakhawalkar, 15,
Anand Swaminathan, 15,
Anita Thomas/Kythakuzhical, 15,
Sanjay Turlapati, 15,
Sharad Berry, 16,
Anita Das, 16,
Shashi Dhunna, 16,
Ritu Gogne, 16,
Anumita Gupta, 16,
Rikki Jain, 16,
Sharmila Kapoor, 16,
Nicola Laurence, 16,
Monish Lulla, 16,
Nilish (Nilesh) Mehta, 16,
Rahul Nadkarni, 16,
Pradeep Sahu, 16,
Sandeep Sharma (Narain), 16,
Vinod Thomas/Kythakuzhical, 16,
Lyon (Michael) Travasso, 16,
Marayanan (Rodger) Balaraman, 17,
Seema Marjara, 17,
Deven Nadkarni, 17,
Bipan (Bipin) Patel, 17,
Pouja (Foaja) Rauthan, 17,
Dara Singh, 17,
Chitra (Chitralskha) Tumkur, 17,
Harish Bharadwaj, 18,
Ruchi Jain, 18,
Shyamala Laurence, 18,
Brinda Pada, 18,
Sanjay Sakhawalkar, 18,
Ratna Chug, 19,
Manju Khandelwal, 19,
Lorraine (Lucy) Travasso, 19,
Athikho Kashipri, 20,
Ivy Tachettu (Thachettu), 20,
Anu (Anjubala) (Anju) Bajaj, 21,
Indira Kalsi, 21,
Chandra Khandelwal, 21,
Sandeep Kochher (Kochnar), 21,
Rammohan Tumkur, 21,
Reema Bhasin, 22,
Gurmit Kaur, 22,
Rahul Aggarwall, 23,
Krishna Gopalan, 23,
Sharon Lasrado, 23,
Suseela Raghavan, 23,
Hideharu Koda, 24,
Kulbir Minhas, 24,
Shaiesta (Shaista) Quadri, 24,
Jagit Singh, 24,
Hideo Asano, 25,
Sukmar (Sukumar) Chandrasekhar, 25,
Leena Kaj, 25,
Rahamathulla Khan, 25,
Parag Bhat, 26,
Pamela Dinshaw, 26,
Parmjit Kaur (Bassi), 26,
Atul Malhotra, 26,
Renu Mukhi, 26,
Rita Phansekar, 26,
Primajit (Primaljit) Sran, 26,
Shyla Aurora, 27,
Chand Bhat, 27,
(Jaipuriya) Mala Jaipuria, 27,
Priya Thakur, 27,
Shyama Gaonkar, 28,
Sangeeta Ghate, 28,
Suman Khera, 28,
Manju Kumar, 28,
Vijaya Thampi, 28,
Juliet Vaz/Alexander, 28,
Freddy Balsara, 29,
Adush Bhagat, 29,
Leena Bisen, 29,
Shila Jalan, 29,
Chitra Kumar, 29,
Irene Shukla, 29,
Geetha Venkatesan, 29,
Balwinder Verma, 29,
Neli Kashipri, 30,
Nirmal Bhalla, 31,
Kalpana Gossain, 31,
Sujatha Sagi, 31,
Sadhna Seth, 31,
Sukuvanam (Sukunanam) Venkatesan, 31,
Rochell (Rachelle) Castonguay, 32,
Rita Jutras, 32,
Alain Martel, 32,
Elaine Rodricks, 32,
Bhag (Bhagrani) Dhunna, 33,
Manjari Sankurathri, 33,
Sunil Shukla, 33,
Joyosree Singh, 33,
Saroj Bedi, 34,
Ramachandran Kumar, 34,
Prabhavathi Molakala (Reddy), 34,
Sushma Sharma, 34,
Noshir Vaid, 34,
Shingara Cheema, 35,
Santosh Gambhir, 35,
Devkrishan Jalan, 35,
Lena (Lina) Mainguay, 35,
Mohanbhai Patel, 35,
Usha Singh, 35,
Inder Thakur, 35,
Sukhwinder Uppal, 35,
Shashi Gupta, 36,
Rani Jain, 36,
Nagasumdara Radhakrishna, 36,
Neelam Bery, 37,
Celine Daniel, 37,
Ramwati Gupta, 37,
Sumithra Murugan, 37,
Bimal Saha, 37,
Swantantar (Satantar) Gupta, 38,
Sylvia Lazar, 38,
Karan Seth, 38,
Satish Seth, 38,
Indu Sharma, 38,
Ranjina Singh, 38,
Brijbeheri (Brig) Srivastava, 38,
Jayalakshmi Subramanian, 38,
Indira Swaminathan, 38,
Ruth Asirwatham, 39,
Santosh (Santash) Kapoor, 39,
Usha Soni, 39,
Anchanatt (Atar) Alexander, 40,
Saradambal Balaraman, 40,
Jamshed Dinshaw, 40,
Rashmi Harpalani, 40,
Aleykutty Jacob, 40,
Kanakasabapaphy (Kanaka) Lakshmanan, 40,
Sam Madon, 40,
Susheela Murthy, 40,
Qutubuddin (Qutbudin) Quadri, 40,
Vasantha Raghuveeran, 40,
Budi (Budhi) Rauthan, 40,
Manmohan Sharma, 40,
Akhand Singh, 40,
Nirmal (Nirmala) Trivedi, 40,
Hema Upreti, 40,
Satwinder Bhinder, 41,
Varghese Daniel, 41,
Annie James, 41,
Chandralekha (Chandra) Mehta, 41,
Shyam Sharma (Narain), 41,
Vinu (Vinubhai) Bhatt, 42,
Daljit Grewal, 42,
Zebuniska Jethva, 42,
Rajinder Mamak, 42,
Deepak Mullick, 42,
Babubai (Babubhai) Patel, 42,
Sumitra Sharma (Narain), 42,
Anjami Sinha, 42,
Lakshmi Subramanian, 42,
Ramachandran Balasubramanian, 43,
Parash (Praeash) Jain, 43,
Aleykutty Job, 43,
Veena Puri, 43,
Uma Sharma, 43,
Surendra Singh, 43,
Gyandra Upreti, 43,
Chandrabala (Chandra) Bhatt, 44,
Nita Chatlani, 44,
Ruby Das, 44,
Sampath Lazar, 44,
Gnanendran Murugan, 44,
Gopalsamudram Subramanian, 44,
Anne Travasso, 44,
Jogeshwar Berar, 45,
Rajesh Gupta, 45,
Bulivelil Jacob, 45,
Umar (Ujy) Jethva, 45,
Bishan Kaushal, 45,
Collette Allard, 46,
Sharvan Sharma, 46,
Balvir (Balbir) Singh, 46,
Kanaya Thakur, 46,
Molly Thomas, 46,
C.F. (Alex) Travasso, 46,
Krishnan (Trichur) Venketeswaran, 46,
Indra Ahmed, 47,
Davinder Marjara, 47,
Vishnu Pada, 47,
Bhavani Anantarman, 48,
Barsa Kelly, 48,
Donald Lougheed, 48,
Kishonechandra Mehta, 48,
Homai Furdoonji, 49,
Dattatraya Sakhawalkar, 49,
Usha Sakhawalkar, 49,
Muktha Bhat, 50,
Nishith Mukerji, 50,
Shefali Mukerji, 50,
Ram Sahu, 50,
Om Sawhney, 50,
Balwinder Minhas, 51,
Annamma Alexander, 53,
Kurian Thomas/Kythakuzhical, 53,
Simon Alexander, 54,
Gaston Beauchesne, 54,
Om Sharma, 54,
Mukhtiar Singh, 55,
Hanse Narendra, 56,
Dara Dumasia, 57,
Santosh Gupta, 57,
Mohan Kachroo, 57,
Marazban Patel, 57,
Ronald Desouza, 62,
Nasib Manjania, 62,
Yelabarti Nayudamma, 62,
Gopalkrishna Yallapragada/Murthy, 63,
Bhagwanti Gogia, 65,
Joseph (Pere) Leger, 65,
Shakuntala Sharma, 66,
Sugra Sadiq, 67,
Ardeshir Enayati, 68,
Shampari (Champari) Chopra, 69,
Jagdish Chopra, 71,
Anthony Desa, 72,
S. Gupta, age not known.

It was seventeen years ago today, that Saddam Hussien used poison gas to kill 5,000 people in Halabja.

Abu Ghraib may have been disturbing, but let’s not forget what kind of evil Saddam was capable of.

(via The Corner.)

After weeks of marches by demontrators demanding Syria’s withdrawal from occupied Lebanon, last week’s pro-Syria demonstration, attended by as many as 500,000, was discouraging. (Timeline of Rallies)

Today, 1 million Druze, Christians and Sunni Muslim Lebanese marched in Beirut, chanting “Freedom, sovereignty, independence.” The optimism is thrilling to see. (See these pics at The Corner)

Even if the numbers game weren’t being won by the pro-democracy protesters, which of these demonstrations would you rather attend? (pics found via this post at Instapundit)

This one:

Caption: Syrian workers hold pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad… Man cuts himself to show his support and commitment to his president.

Or this one:

Caption: Two Lebanese opposition demonstrators stand in a car as they flash victory signs and wave a Lebanese flag during a celebration one day after the Lebanese government’s resignation in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 1, 2005.

More from Instapundit, and a roundup at glennreynolds.com (MSNBC) .

One the left’s most tiresome accusations of Canadian conservatives is of their being somehow American: American-style health care, American-style attack ads, American-style tax cuts, being “in bed” with the Americans.

Now consider this article from the Financial Times of London, about U.S. Democratic opposition to the appointment of John Bolton as the next ambassador to the U.N.

A senior administration official acknowledged this week that Mr Bolton’s nomination had a subtle but beneficial unintended consequence. The coming debate could paint the Democratic party as multilateralist – a word that may describe an admirable ideology, much like liberalism, but which carries negative connotations in US politics. …

When asked whether the argument over Mr Bolton threatens to make the Democrats appear aligned with the French and Germans, the official responded: “Worse. They look like Canadians.”

There’s no mention of this in the Star or the Globe that I can see, but today’s National Post takes notice in an editorial (subscriber-only link):

This is what it’s come to. Courtesy of Ottawa’s hesitant approach to the war on terror, its perfidy on missile defence and the government’s predilection for insulting the Americans — and George W. Bush in particular — at every turn, U.S. officials now apparently use “Canadian” as a sort of byword for pointless obstructionism and pettiness in foreign affairs. …

We wouldn’t have imagined there would be a day in which the word “Canadian” would be tossed around derisively in Washington — and everyone would immediately know what was meant by it.

As Andrew Coyne noted after the BMD “decision”:

But now we have achieved every Canadian’s dream — they noticed us! — and the results may not be quite what we would have wished.