And to our readers. Being new to blogging, and having recently developed more of an interest in politics, Duane and Andrew have allowed me to post my views on this site. I have let them down. In an earlier post, I stated that Fred Thompson might have been exaggerating a bit when he said that a ban on smoking by al Qaeda had turned some Iraqis into allies of America. I fell for main stream media’s reporting of his comments, and didn’t check them out for myself.
It turns out, the ban on smoking isn’t so terrible- after all, many public places and even entire cities in the United States ban smoking. What is terrible is the punishment for rebelling- amputation of your fingers. Michael Yon reported in June:
On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and smoking cigarettes.
Yet Fred’s comment was treated as a joke by the MSM, and I wasn’t the only blogger who took the bait. Even Matt Drudge posted the article by the New York Daily News.
And I like Fred. Not as much as I like Mike Huckabee, but I do like Fred. Sorry, Fred. I’ll try to do better by you.
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I don’t feel let down. Do you feel let down, Andrew? – DuaneÂ
