Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

�

Click here for the Secret Decoder Ring to this issue!

Click here to keep up with Galen's Speaking Schedule

Looking for a back issue of Mullings? They're in the Archives

Click here to join the Mullings Movement!

What's French for Chutzpah?

Friday April 11, 2003

Click here for an Easy Print Version

Reuters: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi: "On behalf of a grateful nation, we say to these American patriots - thank you."

French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin: "With the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, a dark page has been turned."

Jacques Chirac: "France, like every democracy, is rejoicing over the collapse of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, and hopes for a quick and effective end to the battle."

Newt on Sean Hannity's radio program Thursday: "I wish [Chirac] had been delighted enough to have helped when he had the chance."

Jacques Chirac (enroute to a meeting with Germany's Gerhardt Schroeder and Russia's Vladimir Putin): "The reconstruction of Iraq is a matter for the United Nations and it alone. We are no longer in an era where one or two countries can control the fate of another country."

Alexander Pikayev of the Carnegie endowment think tank in Moscow: "I think the [three] leaders will work out a common statement outlining their interests, supporting the United Nations and a role for it in any Iraq settlement."

Analyst Andrei Piontkovsky: "Russia, through inertia, has remained in this silly triangle. Russia needs the United States far more than it needs either France or Germany."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Congressional testimony: "We didn't take on this huge burden not to be able to have significant, dominating control."

Democratic Florida Senator (and Presidential candidate) Bob Graham: "I believe that this war in Iraq has actually reduced our ability to effectively carry out the war against terrorism."

Associated Press: Democratic Massachusetts Senator (and Presidential Candidate) John "Kerry said that although he voted for the resolution and supported disarmament of Saddam, he does not support the way that Bush went to war without more international support."

New York Times: "Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of being the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks ... has told interrogators that Al Qaeda perceived a profound weakness by America's military response to terrorist attacks ... In particular the limited missile strikes ... that followed the bombing of two American Embassies in East Africa in August 1998."

The U.A.E Gulf News: "Jubilant crowds threw flowers and cheered as Marines drove into the city from the vast eastern township of Saddam City, home to about two million impoverished Shiite Muslims."

Editorial in the (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) Arab News: "The idea that Saddam Hussein could be a modern Arab Napoleon - sweeping forth, crushing the Israelis and bringing about Arab unity - was a delusion then and forever remained a delusion. Tyranny and freedom can never go hand in hand."

Arab News: "The cost of reconstruction of Iraq's war-torn economy has been put at $100 billion. Many fear that reconstruction contracts will be exclusively awarded to American companies, who started lobbying for them before the war started."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Congressional testimony: "We didn't take on this huge burden not to be able to have significant, dominating control."

Arabic News.com: "United Nations relief agencies warned yesterday that looting and the breakdown of law and order in Iraq threatened to unleash a humanitarian crisis as their operations were obstructed."

Pentagon Spokeswoman, Torie Clarke: "The United States [has] sent two ships from Galveston (Texas) with a total of more than 50,000 tons of wheat for Iraq. Australia is shipping 100,000 tons of wheat."

Financial Times: "On Thursday the Foreign [Syrian] Ministry in Damascus issued a statement urging the international community 'to exert every possible effort to put an end to the occupation and manage the catastrophic situation that has resulted from the aggression.' But as the Iraq war enters its final stage, Syria, run by a rival branch of the Ba'ath party that ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein, is looking increasingly isolated."

China Daily: "Baghdad's ambassador to the United Nations Mohammed al-Duri, said "The game is over'' -- the first senior official to concede defeat in the US-led war. He later boarded a plane to Europe."

UPI: "France's ambassador to Iraq has left Baghdad for security reasons, the Foreign Ministry announced. There are no immediate plans for his return."

Mullings: "Don't let the camel bite you in the derri�re on the way out."

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: The definition of "chutzpah;" A FASCINATING Mullfoto of the day; and a nice Catchy Caption.

Current Issue | Secret Decoder Ring | Past Issues | Email Rich | Rich Who?