Someone named Jack Cluth at the People's Republic of Seabrook thinks the US needs to "let someone else be the world's moral policeman." I hadn't realized that was what we were doing -- I also didn't realize that there was an argument vis à vis the morality of ridding the world of terrorist and fascist scum, but I'm naive in that way. But the funniest thing about this entry? Guess who Mr. Cluth is apparently willing to be the new "moral arbiter" of the world: Belgium. Now, Belgium is a charming country or so I am told (on my one day in that country everything happened to be closed -- some sort of "saint's day"), but he's the first person I've come across who has actually taken that country's "war crimes accusations" seriously. I've got to visit more lefty blogs -- looks like they are pure comedy gold.
Posted by Andrea Harris at June 18, 2003 10:54 AMActually, I think it was supposed to be satire.
I hope it was supposed to be satire.
Posted by: Morpheus at June 18, 2003 at 11:09 AMAs I recall from several years ago, Belgium had a pretty substantial weapons industry (military small arms). I wonder if this is still the case, and also how careful they are as to who they sell these weapons to.
It should be noted also that the irresponsibility of the Belgian government was a major cause of World War II. During the interwar period, Belgium insisted on a role of strict neutrality and refused to cooperate with France in defense planning, creating major problems in the French strategic plan. When they were nevertheless attacked, the Belgians called for French and British help, which was given. In the midst of battle, the Belgian King then decided to surrender unilaterally, without giving advance notice to his allies. These actions had a lot to do with the French defeat of 1940 and all of the consequences that followed.
The above comments are not intended to show any disrespect to the many Belgians who fought bravely in the brief battle of 1940 and later in the Resistance--they are targetted specifically at that country's elites.
Posted by: David Foster at June 18, 2003 at 11:39 AMWell, the Belgians might be very familiar with the Congo, so perhaps they want to deal with that problem. Then again, given their track record...
And of course there's the famous sex-crime coverup that rocked Belgium a while back.
Posted by: John Thacker at June 18, 2003 at 11:44 AMObviously, satire is lost on you. If you had read my post with an eye towards actually understanding it, you would have come to see that I was lampooning Belgium's sanctimonious war crimes law. This law allows Belgium to prosecute crimes committed in foreign countries by individuals who aren't even Belgian nationals (e.g.- Ariel Sharon and Tommy Franks).
Ah, well; I can see that I'm going to have to be a bit more obvious. No more velvet hammers for you, eh??
Posted by: Jack Cluth at June 18, 2003 at 11:55 AMWow. How sharper than a serpent's tooth is a lefty scorned, or something like that. Don't go off in a huff, Jack. Stay for the pie!
Posted by: Andrea Harris at June 18, 2003 at 12:22 PMJack, please understand -- some of us haven't seen genuine humor from a lefty in eons.
Posted by: McGehee at June 18, 2003 at 03:23 PM