NICK DENTON WRITES:

The Arab press — hysterical in every sense of the word — is in a lather over civilian casualties in Iraq. America will pay the price sooner that it thinks. There are no limits to American injustice and highhandedness. Despite its power and tyranny America will not win because it has no humanitarian values. And that was before the missiles went astray this morning, apparently killing as many as 15 people. Hell, 15 dead: that’s a quiet day in the Arab world. Even imagining the United States was targeting civilians, its efforts are laughable compared with Saddam — 5,000 dead in the chemical attack on Halabja in one day — or Assad — 30,000 shelled to death in Hama — or pretty much any other Arab ruler. Arab governments — and their press and public — should first practice moral judgment on themselves and eachother, before turning their outrage on the United States. And, before they complain about a new hectoring colonialism, they should first show they’re capable of governing themselves by some means other than torture and massacre.

Let’s put that one in the Arab News!

And those guys really, really don’t want to see what the results will be if the United States ever decides to pursue a “no limits” strategy rather than the almost absurdly careful approach it’s following now. One can only imagine how, say, Syria — or, hell, France — would be acting if it possessed a similar degree of power.

Meanwhile Michael Totten has a post on how things are actually going on the humanitarian front.