The Long View.(Brief Article)(Excerpt)

The War Diaries

The Healthy, Vigorous Debate Edition (tm)

--From You Don't Get Cookies on Air Force Transport Jets, and Other NuNutty Observations by David Bonior:

Wonderfully dry air, extremely healthful for the sinuses, and vast vistas of desert that fill one with a sense of awe and wonder. I sat for a while on the hood of our courtesy van, making rough sketches of the view in my travel journal. "What's that?" I asked our wonderfully warm and open guide, Osmir. I pointed to a large structure in the distance, surrounded by barbed wire, patrolled by armed guards, dotted with satellite dishes, and glowing eerily in the desert twilight. "Oh, that," said Osmir, peering in the distance. "That is a mosque," he said. "Well, Osmir," I said, "it certainly is quite beautiful." "Yes, yes, it is," he said slowly. "It is a beautiful mosque." He looked at me strangely, as if he could scarcely believe that a United States congressman could find a mosque so beautiful. "Please," he said, "I cannot allow you to see it." I waved cheerfully. "Oh, Osmir!" I said, "I can see it fine from here." And then we both laughed.

Driving by another one of those large mosques when I noticed that the ground around it was covered by dead livestock. "Hey, Osmir, what gives?" I asked our host. I was prepared to give the Iraqis a major tongue-lashing-it was obvious that their animal-husbandry practices were sorely lacking in efficiency. "What's up with all of the dead livestock, Osmir?" I asked, wagging a little finger. He looked nervous and ashamed. "Oh, yes, those. Well, you see, they have died from . . ." His voice trailed off. "From what, Osmir?" I pressed. "From sorrow?" he said. Of course! Sorrow! Now it was my turn to be ashamed . . .

From You Didn't Let Me Finish by Tom Daschle:

When it was clear that what I was saying wasn't that I didn't support the president in his efforts to remove Saddam Hussein, but that I thought that those efforts-which I supported, of course-were proper and fitting but also ill-conceived and needed to be criticized by others who also supported the president and his position, which, to be fair, is the essence of our democratic system, and my constitutional duty as a United States senator which is to draw attention to those concerns raised by people who support the president's policies and who understand that Saddam Hussein, while being a great threat to our national security-indeed, to world security- isn't at present the kind of threat that needs to be handled in a unilateral military fashion unless it becomes necessary, which it almost certainly is-and this has been my position all along. The media, disappointingly, made a muddle of my position . . .