Take the flypaper argument to the next level

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-10-29 08:07am

I saw this on a favorite blog and thought it was funny as hell:

"Progress"ive Thinking - By the logic of Flypaper Theory, the lesson of the weekend's hallmarks of progress is clear: we must keep Paul Wolfowitz in Iraq. He sure does seem to draw flies. I can't imagine what moral case the hawks would make against the direction. If it's okay to troll public servants whose names you don't know before the Islamofascist hordes, there can be no reason not to do the same with public servants whose names you do know. The utilitarian case is surely greater - your Al Qaeda operative, Ba'athist holdout or rejectionist deadender fly of your choice has to get a lot more excited about the possibility of taking out an Undersecretary of Defense than some Spec IV Guardsman who never appeared on any panel at an AEI Symposium. I didn't want to put any of our troops in the way of this particular harm, so I have no reason to put the Undersecretary there either, nor to suggest that, should he be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice in the War Against Terror, we should go to our bench, starting with Dick Cheney, nor to speculate on the "stickiness quotient" of moving General Boykin's headquarters to the Al Rasheed. But that's why you can't have us peaceniks setting policy: we lack the ruthlessness to wage these Savage Wars of Peace like they need waging.
Jim Henley, 09:15 PM

Egads I think he's on to something.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-29 06:29pm

Excellent idea. Perhaps George W. Bush could put his money where his mouth is and say "BRING IT ON" from the front lines in Baghdad rather than the safety of Washington DC

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2003-10-29 07:08pm

If I was the president, that's what I'd do. We need to go back to the days of fighting Heads of State. How much more seriously do you think nations would take diplomacy if the Prime Ministers and Presidents were all just like Andrew Jackson?

Even less seriously, why don't we just get a bunch of volunteer GW Bush lookalikes to parade up and down the streets of Iraq. That ought to draw some flies