So You Think You Can Tell

Syd Barrett died yesterday. He was the inspiration for one of my favorite songs, "Wish You Were Here." On a completely different subject, you should be skeptical when the US demands something from another country. Often behind the scenes we're making damn sure that they don't give in to our demands.

For instance, we slipped CIA agents into the weapons inspections teams in Iraq. This basically guaranteed that Saddam wouldn't let inspectors back in. The basic idea of the tactic is to appear reasonable in our demands, but in fact put someone in an impossible position. Then his intransigence is the excuse for more extreme action. Saddam was a monster, but the tactic works fine against non-monsters too.