The Pendragon's Hall

Can it get any more bizarre? Italy announced recently that is beginning withdrawal of its 3,000 troops in what CNN refers to as "a new crack" in President Bush's coalition. Now I do not want to bash Italy--they have been a firm ally. And I know Europeans have never quite got under their belt that bigger things must be considered before simply caving to every whim of the majority. There are serious political realities to be faced and, of course, Berlusconi is interested in being re-elected. It's only natural. So no hard feelings. Nevertheless, I had to laugh, somewhat bitterly at the way the media lionized Italy suddenly. When Italy was standing strong and firm in their resolve, the media focused on the antiwar riots in the streets. Now that they've waffled, they are the new heroes. The media talk about their firm commitment "despite 21 casualties." 21?!?? Pardon me if I sound unimpressed but does anyone remember wars where the casualty rates were in the hundred thousands? Then the media put together a list of other countries that have/had troops in Iraq. Monico had twelve. That's right: twelve. Now, I know Monico is a small country, but what's the point of simply sending twelve? If it was an invasion of France, it would probably serve to take a whole city but it wasn't. This says something different to me than it does to the media: To the media it says the coalition is crumbling. To me it says: Maybe it is, but it's something that a country would be so eager to get into the coalition in the first place that they would go to all the trouble of sending just twelve soldiers (probably all they could spare from the great empire of Monoco) just so they could say they were involved. All I can is, it must be excruciating for the left and their pet, the trained media, to see that even with the coalition "unraveling" all Iraq is not disintegrating into chaos. Then again, it never was: the media, in their endless quest for excitement and defeat, has ventured into the 5% of Iraq, by our own soldiers' words, that is unsettled. 5% ain't bad. By the end of two years we probably hadn't even civilized Japan yet and they're one whole country with the same culture from head to toe, not three separate cultures.