UGANDA’S OIL, Tanzanian privatization, and Benin’s economy — just a few of the interesting subjects touched on by AfricaPundit.

WOW, just noticed that an unusually large number of folks hit the PayPal and Amazon buttons in the last couple of days. Thanks!

DICK CHENEY I-TOLD-YOU-SO UPDATE — this story offers more:

As the marines’ 1st Division poured towards Baghdad along the Highway 7 dual carriageway yesterday, preceded by a rolling storm of artillery shells, cluster bombs and missiles, Iraqis by the road – predominantly young men – cheered, waved and gave the thumbs-up sign.

Until yesterday, their enthusiasm for the invaders could have been interpreted as caution in the face of an unknown occupier. Yesterday there was no doubt: they knew Saddam was finished, and they were glad. For the first time, Iraqis could be seen mocking the images of President Saddam which hang at key points along the dusty roadside – Saddam the suited statesman, Saddam the Bedouin, Saddam the general. One youth picked up a stone and hurled it at a mural of the dictator. A larger than life statue of Saddam stood partly destroyed, only two legs and half the body still standing.

But of course, it’s from that pro-war, pro-Bush rag, The Guardian.

YOU CAN’T CRITICIZE THE EUROPEAN UNION in Hungary by using this poster (the legend reads “You can vote with a NO too”). That’s because it contains banned Nazi and Soviet symbols.

I think it’s a pretty powerful poster — and I suspect that banning it will only give it more force, as is usually the case with such things. (Via the EUObserver).

Meanwhile Samizdata reports on an anti-communist demonstration in Paris. No, really! It was outside the Vietnamese Embassy, and protested the arrest of pro-democracy campaigners in Vietnam.

ERIC MULLER, posting over at the Volokh Conspiracy, thinks the FBI got it right with its program to interview Iraqis in America, and wonders why people were so upset.

THE ELF SCANDAL CONTINUES TO UNFOLD — and we’re not talking Legolas here:

Mr Sirven said some of the 1bn French francs (152m euros) of Elf money that went through his personal Swiss accounts to finance what he described as political “missions” – although he refused to disclose who the ultimate recipients of the money were.

“I will not give any names, but it is certain that a large part of the money went in that direction,” he told the court. . . .

An Elf employee, nicknamed Oscar, would bring the cash in plastic bags to the Elf tower building in north-west Paris or other Elf offices in the capital.

“Oscar” had a specific way of identifying himself by showing a stamp or metro ticket. The cash would then be handed over to beneficiaries, prosecutors say.

Interesting.

VICTORY IS THE BEST PROPAGANDA:

When the US pushed China to participate in an Asian coalition to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, Beijing demurred. It claimed little influence over Kim Jong Il. . . . Now, since the start of the US-led Iraq war, Chinese efforts have increased and taken firmer shape in response to the Bush administration’s “doctrine of preemption,” now on display in the Gulf.

“The Iraq war has brought a change,” says Shi Yinhong, a professor of international studies at People’s University in Beijing. “Before Iraq, there was a stalemate in the Chinese position, and fragmentation. Now there is some recognition of a possible time sequence in the US approach to North Korea, and that has created a sense of urgency in China.”

Well, that’s progress.

BERNARD LEWIS WRITES that Saddam’s regime is a European import:

In 1940, the French government accepted defeat and signed a separate peace with the Third Reich. The French colonies in Syria and Lebanon remained under Vichy control, and were therefore open to the Nazis to do what they wished. They became major bases for Nazi propaganda and activity in the Middle East. The Nazis extended their operations from Syria and Lebanon, with some success, to Iraq and other places. That was the time when the Baath Party was founded, as a kind of clone of the Nazi and Fascist parties, using very similar methods and adapting a very similar ideology, and operating in the same way — as part of an apparatus of surveillance that exists under a one-party state, where a party is not a party in the Western democratic sense, but part of the apparatus of a government. That was the origin of the Baath Party.

When the Third Reich collapsed, and after an interval was replaced by the Soviet Union as the patron of all anti-Western forces, the adjustment from the Nazi model to the Communist model was not very difficult and was carried throughout without problems. That is where the present Iraqi type of government comes from. As I said before, it has no roots in the authentic Arabic or Islamic past. It is, instead, part of the most successful and most harmful process of Westernization to have occurred in the Middle East. . . .

I say again: To blame the Saddam Hussein-type governments on Islamic and Arabic traditions is totally false.

Read the whole thing. And wonder why the hard Left has been so determined to defend an authentically fascist state.

THE ANTIWAR CRACKUP: ANDREW SULLIVAN POINTS OUT this poll from the Washington Post showing opposition to the war at a mere 16% and asks, “Has any large protest movement been this much of a failure so soon?”

JOHN KEEGAN WRITES THAT IT HASN’T BEEN A REAL WAR IN BAGHDAD:

In orthodox military practice, the Republican Guard, less perhaps a portion held back for last-ditch defence, should have been committed first, to blunt the coalition onset. The regular army should then have been committed to reinforce the Republican Guard when and where it achieved success. The paramilitaries should have been kept out of battle, to harass the invaders if the regular defence collapsed.

Saddam has fought the battle the other way around. The regular army was committed first, south of Baghdad, and seems to have run away as soon as it saw that the fighting threatened to be serious. The Republican Guard was then brought forward to hold the approaches to Baghdad and has been devastated by American air attack, its armoured units in particular being offered up for pointless sacrifice.

The only serious resistance appears to have been offered by the units least capable of meeting the coalition troops on equal terms, the Ba’ath Party militia, effectively a sort of political Mafia equipped with nothing more effective than hand-held weapons.

Because the war has taken such a strange form, the media, particularly those at home, may be forgiven for their misinterpretation of how it has progressed. Checks have been described as defeats, minor firefights as major battles. In truth, there has been almost no check to the unimpeded onrush of the coalition, particularly the dramatic American advance to Baghdad; nor have there been any major battles. This has been a collapse, not a war.

Nevertheless, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, the British commander in the Gulf, has a point when he says the British media have lost the plot. . . .

The older media generation, particularly those covering the war from comfortable television studios, has not covered itself with glory. Deeply infected with anti-war feeling and Left-wing antipathy to the use of force as a means of doing good, it has once again sought to depict the achievements of the West’s servicemen as a subject for disapproval.

The brave young American and British servicemen – and women – who have risked their lives to bring down Saddam have every reason to feel that there is something corrupt about their home-based media.

Keegan never explains why Saddam’s strategy was so inept. I suspect, however, that he didn’t trust even the “elite” Republican Guard to operate out of his sight, for fear of defections. Thus he couldn’t employ it as Keegan suggests, and had to keep it close to Baghdad or other loci of control.

UPDATE: Reader Bryan Smith emails:

Personally, I think Saddam did have a plan, but not a military one. I don’t believe he had any intent of winning this war. He assumed a large portion of his regular army would desert. He kept the Republican Guard around Bagdad so he would have an effective police force once the Americans left. He didn’t use chemical weapons because that would have enraged us and set world opinion against him (world opinion being France and Germany, who could no longer support him). Basically, I think he played the 3rd-world victim and waited for Western weakness. The UN nonsense and the “anti-war” demonstrations must have given him some hope…

This plan, from our perspective, is of course as inept as his military one.

Hmm. Does this make the antiwar and UN folks partly responsible for all those Iraqi soldiers who died? I won’t make that charge, but others have. . . .

Meanwhile several readers thought Saddam’s military problems were explained by this Ralph Peters column on “The Secret War.” Could be.

I GUESS DICK CHENEY WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL:

British troops walked into the historic centre of Basra yesterday to be greeted by thousands of Iraqi civilians flocking on to the streets to welcome them as liberators. . . .

English-speaking Iraqis came up to reporters to express their own delight. Among them was Saad Ahmed, a 54-year-old retired English teacher. “We have been waiting for you for a long time,” he said. “We are now happier than you.

“You are victorious as far as the war is concerned, but we are victorious in life. We have been living, not as human beings, for more than 30 years.”

His son Emad, a 23-year-old student, added: “It’s a great day for us and for all Iraqi people. Every family in Iraq have one, two, three deaths because of Saddam, either from wars or in his prisons. I am very happy.” One of those joining in the celebrations, Qusay Rawah, said the downfall of Saddam’s regime in Basra was a day “we had prayed for”.

Of course, you can’t please everybody:

But Jelil, a resident of the Old Town, denied that there was any cause for celebration. “The people in Basra feel defeated,” he said. “Sure, we certainly hated Saddam, but we also hate the British and Americans.”

Maybe Jelil can get French citizenship, though the “hating Saddam” part might disqualify him. . . .

PATRICK RUFFINI has suffered a hack attack. Here’s his backup site.

And, btw, mine’s at http://instabackup.blogspot.com — just in case.

UPDATE: Some free advice from Stacy Tabb:

Oh, if you want to publish a little advice for those being hacked, the two main ways a hacker will get in to a blog are if HTML comments are enabled in older versions of MT (2.6+ has the sanitize plugin integrated) and PHP install files left lying around (such as for phpBB, etc.). If people would clean up after themselves they (and we) wouldn’t have so much grief.

Words from the wise.

MISSING TOURISTS IN ALGERIA — NEW DEVELOPMENT:

Desert nomads were reported yesterday to have discovered an abandoned vehicle and a network of tunnels in a remote region of southern Algeria thought likely to provide clues about the mysterious disappearance of 29 western tourists in the Sahara over the past seven weeks.

Germany’s ARD television channel said the off-road vehicle was found in a mountainous district north of the Algerian town of Tamanrasset at the weekend by a camel train of nomads passing through the region. The vehicle was left parked outside the entrance to a complex system of underground caves linked by tunnels. The nomads said they suspected the caves “were inhabited”, although they had not entered the system to find out.

Smart move. Keep your eye on this bizarre story. Maybe Osama’s hiding out there . . .

BAGHDAD: Apparently, not much like Stalingrad after all.

This is supposed to be the fearless Republican Guard, but under fire there is no bravery and little dignity as many of them abandon their posts, some struggling to strip to their underwear as they flee.

Desperate to get away, when they are confronted by a security fence that extends into the river they jump in, swimming 50 metres out from the bank before returning along the opposite side of the fence to pick up the access road again. . . .

But those who are pinned down on the spit have no chance. They come under heavy bombardment from the Bradley vehicles. After an hour, US infantrymen emerge from the vehicles, crouch in their shadows and pick off the remaining guards, one by one.

That was always a silly analogy for the purposes it was offered for, since it put Saddam in the role of Von Paulus. But this shows that it was sillier still, doesn’t it?

1,000 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MURDERED IN THE CONGO. But the United Nations is on the job:

The United Nations has sent a team to the area to investigate the reported massacre.

Well, we don’t have to worry, then.

STALE, FEISTY ANGLES: Newsweek’s “Conventional Wisdom Watch” dated today (“Iraqi Quicksand Edition”) gives Dick Cheney a down arrow with this blurb:

Tells “Meet the Press” just before war, “We will be greeted as liberators.” An arrogant blunder for the ages.

Meanwhile reader Christopher Garrett emails a link to this story from the Chicago Tribune, also dated today, and headlined “10,000 Cheer: Saddam is no more!”

Not as bad as TV Guide’s touting of Peter Arnett last week, but close. But have no fear: CW watch also offers this blurb for blogs:

Internet diarists, both here and abroad, offer fresh, feisty angles. Beats Aaron Brown every time.

And Newsweek, too!

UPDATE: Then there’s this: People’s Plea: Kill Saddam!

Many of Saddam Hussein’s elite Republic Guard last night were on the run out of Baghdad as the American forces pushed into the city’s heart.

And the populace took to the streets in support of the liberators, hundreds lining the streets imploring them to “kill Saddam”.

Hmm. I wonder if I could get Cheney to autograph the CW piece?

DAVE KOPEL IS DECRYING the lack of diversity in the historical profession.

RUSSELL WARDLOW REPORTS from the Oakland protests, where the police fired wooden bullets. (Wood? I’ve heard of rubber bullets, and plastic bullets, but this is a new one to me.)

I won’t weigh in on the crowd-control strategy — I’ll just note that people who set out to block shipments of war materiel to soldiers in wartime could easily be prosecuted for treason. This wasn’t simple civil disobedience.

UPDATE: Here, courtesy of reader Allen Roberts, MD, is some information on wooden bullets.

BEST QUOTE OF THE WAR:

“Iraq will not be defeated” in the war, Ambassador Mohsen Khalil told a news conference in Egypt. “Iraq has now already achieved victory – apart from some technicalities.”

Ah, those pesky “technicalities,” like having your army defeated and enemy tanks and troops roaming at will in your capital. . . .

(Via Zach Barbera).

UPDATE: Another reader says that this is the best quote of the war:

After bombing Saddam Hussein’s New Presidential Palace on Monday, the U.S. Army swept in and took inventory. Soldiers searched the vast complex by the river and marveled at what they saw.

“This used to be a nice place, they should make it like a Six Flags, or something,” said Spc. Robert Blake, 20, of State College, Pa., and the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry.

Why choose? I think they go together very nicely.

JOE BIDEN SLEAZE ALERT! TalkLeft warns that Joe Biden is trying to sneak the RAVE act into “Amber Alert” legislation and has some advice on what to do about it.

I’m coming to really dislike Biden for his, well, sleaziness over this issue, among others.

Here’s more on the RAVE Act. And here’s more still.

UPDATE: Just noticed that Dave Kopel is reporting that Biden is claiming, falsely, that the ACLU has dropped its opposition to the RAVE Act.

And, though it has nothing to do with the RAVE Act, here’s another reason why I’m down on Joe Biden these days.

KEN LAYNE AND COLBY COSH have sane comments about The Agonist, blogging and Big Media. So does Jeff Jarvis, who rightly stresses the importance of links and attribution to blogging.

And my earlier post was remiss in not giving proper credit to the Strategic Armchair Command for breaking this story.

UPDATE: Daniel Drezner has a lengthy post with lots of links to others’ reactions.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Dean Esmay, too.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: And Meryl Yourish has some harsh words.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON ADVISES: Do not take counsel of your fears. Excerpt:

Anytime we bomb, of course, we will be criticized. But the looming end of the war will begin to the reverse the dynamic of the coverage — as reports emerge of mass graves, torture chambers, weapons of mass destruction, interviews with Saddam’s victims, tons of American food and aid, and the birth of reform government. And it could shift quite radically once shocked Iraqis accept that Saddam is gone, and that the buildings and homes of their oppressors are in shambles and their own are mostly spared — a gradual improvement in public opinion will allow us a year or so to establish a legitimate government. The worry should not be about Arab public opinion but rather about the American Street — which is slowly simmering and may, if we are not careful, wish to tire of the Middle East and its current insanity altogether.

The American Street is aptly summed up by James Lileks today:

Passed the TV this morning, and heard an Arabic-accented voice passionately denouncing the war. He was Western in appearance, telegenic, articulate, and he described the Iraq War as a “catastrophe” for the entire Arab world. I stuck around to see what he meant – catastrophic in the sense that another series of illusions were being destroyed before their very eyes? Allah will help them! But Allah has declined the invitation. The Americans will never fight a ground war! But there they are, on the ground, more methodical and efficient than one could have ever imagined, and they are losing one soldier for every 1000 Iraqis they kill. The combination of training, technology, dedication and lethality is worse than the Arab world could have possibly imagined – and the soldiers’ primary motivation is getting the job done well so everyone can go home. Imagine what they would do if they were truly, deeply pissed.

The lesson of Mogadishu: don’t draw any lessons from Mogadishu.

The guest, it turned out, was the ambassador from Syria, a nation whose bootheel has been pressed against the Lebanese jugular for how many years now?

It reminded me again of an interview I heard a few weeks ago with the CEO of some big Middle-eastern Internet company; he said that Arabs hate the US because of the oppressive governments we support. The host asked if people were pleased when the Taliban was deposed, and he said of course not – the US was attacking a Muslim nation!

At some point the entirety of the American Street’s reaction to Arab concerns will be: whatever.

Indeed.

JOHN HAWKINS FEATURES a three-way interview with Andrew Stuttaford and Bill Quick.

DIANA MOON HAS UNCOVERED A HACKER. Heh.

JIM DUNNIGAN WRITES ON URBAN WARFARE MADE EASIER by modern tactics and technology, but warns:

The tactics feature several key elements, and if you skimp on any of them your chances of success plummet.

Interesting.