Old-fashioned imperialism (I’m thinking of The Battle of Algiers ) is when our own troops beat up the wogs. Compassionate conservatism means that we outsource torture.
I haven’t written about the war for months because I have nothing to say beyond a kind of angry schadenfreude, soon to turn into an angrier despair. There is still a deep unreality about the news. The worse things get, the happier the anti-war movement becomes. We haven’t realised, either, just how bad the news really is. The worse it is, the more frightened we should be. Unless, of course, there is some magic way to withdraw from Iraq without destabilising the Middle East still further, and loading both Muslims and Americans down with still more resentment and mutual hatred, itching for the next round.