"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Washington's gloom-mongers are being defeated on the road to Baghdad, David Brooks writes in The Times of London.
[T]he American people are only now seeing the granular reality of [Saddam's] evil, the violation of all norms of decent behaviour, the torture chambers, the essential totalitarian nature of his regime. Now it seems ludicrous to think that this regime was ever going to sit down with the genial Hans Blix and negotiate away its weapons.
When US troops are interviewed, they never talk about weapons of mass destruction. They talk idealistically and nobly about ending the suffering of Iraqi people. This refrain has had an effect at home.
There’s also a growing sense in the political class that this is an important cultural and political moment. I’ve been up and down the East Coast this week, from Massachusetts to Florida, and I’ve heard two sentiments over and again. The first is tremendous admiration for the dedication and professionalism of the troops, even from those who don’t support the war. Many college students seem to sense that these soldiers are accomplishing something for humanity, while all they are doing is preparing for business school. Second, one hears of a growing distaste for the peace marchers, again from people who don’t necessarily support the President. Their objections are not so much substantive as tonal. These peace marchers seem driven by bile and self-righteousness, and are fundamentally out of step with a country that wants, now that the war is on, to back the troops.
Apparently, some Iraqi civilians are rushing to surrender to American troops under the false impression that they will be taken to the United States.
"We had a group like that a few days ago," says Medley. "One guy wanted to go to America, bad. He wasn't a soldier. He wanted a baseball cap. When we put him on a helicopter, he thought he was going to America -- he was smiling the whole time."
NAJAF, Iraq, April 2 -- In the giddy spirit of the day, nothing could quite top the wish list bellowed out by one man in the throng of people greeting American troops from the 101st Airborne Division who marched into town today.
What, the man was asked, did he hope to see now that the Baath Party had been driven from power in his town? What would the Americans bring?
"Democracy," the man said, his voice rising to lift each word to greater prominence. "Whiskey. And sexy!"
NAJAF, Iraq, April 2 -- An enthusiastic welcome for U.S. forces in Najaf turned jubilant today, as several thousand Iraqis braved sporadic firefights for what one Special Forces officer described as "the Macy's Day parade," applauding a U.S. patrol that pushed close to a religious shrine at the center of the city.
Jessica Lynch: One tough cookie: America's Sweetheart as Sergeant York, and a country-music ballad waiting to happen. Hope she mends - and wins a medal.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
