“You Broke it, You Bought it.”

When I was but a boy -- when Ike was in office, and a young fellow with the improbable name of “Elvis” was causing heads and hips to shake -- some stores sported signs saying

You Broke it, You Bought it.

Ever-mindful of the awful sanctions that the stern adult world could impose, I moved gingerly among the aisles, lest inadvertently I should upset some costly item beyond my means -- my means at the time consisting entirely in my allowance of a nickel a week, quickly spent.

It is a lesson worth remembering.

~

America has been fortunate, in having had very little indeed to do with Syria, throughout its history.  France was involved for a time;  later (to a lesser extent) Britain;  but no-one can blame us for the mess that Syrians have made for themselves.

All that will change, the instant the first Tomahawk lands near Damascus:  we will be blamed for every ill that Syrians have suffered since the age of the Hyksos.  Count on it.

Just sayin’.

~

~ Celebrity Endorsement ~

“To distract my mind from current troubles,

I like to dig into a gritty mystery,

starring those tough-talking, two-fisted Private Eyes,

the lovable Murphy Brothers.”

I Don't Do Divorce Cases

Murphy on the Mount.

(My name is Bashar al-Assad, and I approved this message.)

~

Meanwhile across the pond:

The Joint Intelligence Committee produced the dossier on Saddam Hussein’s supposed WMD arsenal, used by Tony Blair’s government to justify joining George Bush’s invasion of Iraq; a deeply flawed document which became a byword for manipulation and fabrication, even of intelligence to suit a political agenda.

The report the JIC presented today into another tranche of WMDs, this time belonging to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, was written in much more measured tones, acknowledging that much of it was from open source material – videos, testimonies of patients and medics – and not really revealing anything significantly secret.

In the process it failed to make a case for war.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/beyond-reasonable-doubt-evidence-on-syrian-chemical-atrocity-fails-to-convince-8790589.html

And in case you imagined that Syrian Christians are cool with U.S. intervention, check this out:

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Gregory-III:-Democracy-is-built-with-peace.-U.S.-attack-is-a-criminal-act-28855.html

*

Already weary of this WMD summer re-run?

Why  not read a gripping mystery instead!

Check in with the Murphy Brothers,

two-fisted, wise-cracking  Private Eyes:

I Don’t Do Divorce Cases

Murphy on the Mount

Yule B glad U did!

~

Und täglich grüßt das WMD …

A wry comment in a Swiss publication:

Hat sich da der Friedensnobeltraeger Barack Obama mit seiner Syrien Rhetorik nicht selbst an’s Bein gepinkelt; muss er sich doch die Frage stellen wie es moeglich sein koennte, dass er sich ein paar Tage vor dem 12. Jahrestag von 9/11 in eine Situation manoverierte, wo er an der Seite von AlKheida kaempfen soll?

http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/international/auslandnachrichten/syriens-opposition-sieht-sich-auf-der-siegerstrasse-1.18140750?extcid=Newsletter_29082013_Top-News_am_Morgen

(The salty expression could be rendered as  “The President pipi’d down his own pants-leg”.)

Linguistic bonus:  pronunciation and etymology of the name Bashar al-Assad.

[Update 14 June 2014]  An unusually fine article about the crumbling of Iraq:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/us/us-veterans-watch-gains-made-with-blood-erased-by-insurgents-in-iraq.html?hp&_r=0
 Check out the "Readers favorites" Comments in particular.