McFreedom

Hans Blix says the Iraqis wouldn't dare use chemical weapons.

I remember when I lived in Charlotte, NC, in 1990, I used to listen to the local Fox AOR station in the morning. They were (and are) the home of the "John Boy and Billy" morning show, which was briefly syndicated all over the south, but I believe has been waning in popularity.

At that time, they had a sports reporter who went by the tag "Uncle Huey." Uncle Huey seemed like a nice enough fella, but he had the great distinction of always being wrong. About anything.

I recall, on February 11, 1990, a friend and I were driving to work, listening to Uncle Huey prognosticate about that evening's upcoming title bout between the 37-0 Mike Tyson and "Buster" Douglas. Tyson was the 42-1 odds favorite.

I don't recall Uncle Huey's exact words, but I do remember my friend Lyn's after-the-fact impersonation: "Bet the mortgage on Tyson! Heavyweight champion for life!" When the Unc spoke the words, Lyn and I looked at each other and said, "Man, Mike's in trouble."

Sure enough, Iron Mike hit the canvas in the ninth round, a knockout.

So, when I heard Blix saying the Iraqis won't use chemical weapons, it brought to mind Uncle Huey and gave me pause about my previoius prognostication...

As has been well documented, Saddam's army is top-down. No commanders show initiative, because showing initiative will get you killed.

It seems certain that Saddam gave his generals the order, "Do not launch chemical weapons without a direct order." Based upon what we know of him, it's difficult to imagine he'd delegate that authortity. The DOD is now saying it appears that we have sucessfully cut communications to battlefield commanders, just as we did in '91. Their evidence for this is that, just as in '91, the Iraqi response to our attacks is completely uncoordinated and small-scale. They're mostly just waiting for us, and not counterattacking.

So, even if Saddam wants to use chemical weapons, his previous orders will prevent it from happening...until we get to Baghdad and he will presumably be issuing orders personally. There, if he wants to, he can.

They got us to attack Iraq, which generates a lot of news we're all interested in. So, we keep our computers up on CNN, and disable the smallpox-cure-screensaver we installed so we can always look up and see the headline! The terrorists release smallpox, and we all die because we didn't have those critical cycles available to devote! It's insideous...

Reuters has a scary story about a new pnuemonia. While light on details, it's apparently appeared suddenly, sweeping Asia, doesn't respond to traditional treatments and is much easier to catch than normal pnuemonia. Oh, and a guy with it was just found leaving New York. And they have no idea what it is, or how to treat it, and it makes you really sick.

CNN.com - Salt Lake police: "We're sorry we're a bunch of incompetant morons"