"Free at Last"

A fine column by Diana West today in The Washington Times:

The most evocative news photo to come out of the liberation of Baghdad may be one of a young Iraqi man, dressed in a denim jacket, holding a home made poster celebrating the "Hero of the Peace" — George W. Bush — and kissing the president's faintly smiling photo.

Something about this picture seems more significant than even the shot of Marines taking their ease in a presidential palace parlor. And something about it is almost more meaningful than the picture of the giant, deposed statue of Saddam Hussein heading, much to the obvious delight of the Baghdad throng, for history's ash heap. Maybe it's the kiss itself, reminiscent of all the fairytale kisses that break evil spells; or maybe it's the expressive face of Iraqi gratitude toward an American president who has awakened a nation from a nightmare of brutality and repression.

Or maybe it's something else entirely, another face, one not present in the photograph, but easily imagined: the contrasting face of chagrin and disappointment on the anti-war left (best personified by the professorial radical at the forefront of anti-war protests everywhere) twitching at the prospect of having to face up to a popular, American-led coalition victory. After all that has been said about Mr. Bush and the war — not to mention shrieked, spat and gnashed — this won't be easy. In fact, even as the president's unwavering commitment to disarm Saddam Hussein has put liberty within reality's grasp in Iraq, it seems unlikely to put reality within academia's grasp in America....

(Thanks, John.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 04/11/03 08:37:26 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.