Pattycake, pattycake Baker man :

If America is to emerge from Iraq with a renewed sense of its global role, you shouldn’t really debase the motives of those who lead US forces there. Because in the end what they are doing is deeply honourable – fighting to destroy an enemy that delights in killing women and children; rebuilding a nation ruined by rapine and savagery; trying to bridge sectarian divides that have caused more misery in the world than the US could manage if it lasted a thousand years. It is helpful to think about Iraq this way.

Imagine if the US had never been there; and that this sectarian strife had broken out in any case – as, one day it surely would, given the hatreds engendered by a thousand years of Muslim history and the efforts of Saddam Hussein. What would we in the West think about it? What would we think of as our responsibilities? There would be some who would want to wash their hands of it. There would be others who would think that UN resolutions and diplomatic initiatives would be enough to salve our consciences if not to stop the slaughter.

In most cases there needs to be some sort of analysis and interpretation, however minimal, in order to reveal the utter bullshit embedded in this sort of pro-war/pro-surge/pro-Bush fluff but good old Gerard saves us all the trouble by displaying his crap, unmediated, directly on the page.

It's a kind of 'self-Fisking'. Saves me the effort.