Iraqi troops fired artillery pieces horizontally into crowds of their own people last night after a civilian uprising in Basra, the second city.
Watching British troops encircling the city of 1.3 million inhabitants said there were “horrific” scenes. One officer said: “We have seen a large crowd on the streets. The Iraqis are firing artillery at their own people. There will be carnage.”
The French are still defending him. And they’ll probably try to blame the U.S. and Britain for the slaughter. But they want a piece of the action once Saddam’s gone.
Screw ’em. We ought to help the new Iraqi government extradite Chirac as a war criminal.
UPDATE: On the bright side, several readers note, the fact that they’re demanding a piece of the action makes clear how the French think things will go. Heh. Yeah, Saddam wouldn’t appreciate that, would he? Me, I feel about the French the way Joe Lieberman feels about the U.N.