A READER EMAILS:

Current spin, from Abu Dhabi TV: the Iraqis are jubilent not at the demise of Hussein’s regine, but at the end of the US-led UN sanctions which have caused many more deaths than Saddam ever did.

Well, that may be the spin, but it doesn’t explain the whole kicking-Saddam’s-statue-in-the-head bit, does it? And another reader has his doubts:

While I’m sure some Iraqis need food, most of ones I have seen on TV could use a little exercise. Looking at all the well-fed and the over-fed dancing in the street, it seems our embargo wasn’t working as well as “peace” prostesters claimed.

Yeah, it wasn’t a lean-and-hungry looking crowd. But, of course, if you buy the “sanctions were genocide” argument, then George W. Bush is a hero while Kofi Annan is a murderer.

Hey, I guess that explains all those pictures of Bush I saw Iraqis kissing yesterday.

UPDATE: I guess it explains why Iraqis were attacking and looting French and German cultural centers, too! They’re just glad those murderous Franco-German backed years of sanctions are over!