2003

Don’t expect Arab uprising soon

“We’re going to err on the side of caution and stay in the house for a few days,” is what I told a friend during a phone chat yesterday morning. Our self-imposed house arrest would mean Jean and I would miss a friend’s birthday party and a weekly gathering of friends. Not much of a sacrifice, considering a few hours later four Yemeni protesters, including an 11-year-old boy, lay dead on the streets of this capital city. They were killed by Yemeni police guarding the American embassy.

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Living under the threat of reprisal

If there is a time for everything — a time to search and a time to give up, a time for love and a time for hate — it would appear it’s time for the Americans to blow Saddam and all that is his to Kingdom Come.

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A colonial occupation will never work in Iraq

The Yanks’ war plan sounds solid enough on paper. Capture land in Iraq quickly. Use it to set up bases for further attacks. Bomb Saddam’s palaces and cut command centres from the rest of the country to quicken the government’s collapse. Then make a seamless transition to military occupation. Don’t get caught in ugly street fighting. Deliver food. Get Iraqis involved with a new economic plan. Unfurl the flag of democracy.

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In the Arab world there are no lonely singles

It’s Valentine’s Day. Great fun. Two years ago today, I proposed to Jean. Her ring was presented in a restaurant, with the help of the official town crier, his booming voice, clanging bell and scroll. Moments later, along with thousands of others in London, Ont., we heard about our upcoming “royal wedding” on the radio.

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