I wonder if P.J. O'Rourke is funny any more, or if it's just the war which has, perhaps, gotten to him. From his OpinionJournal column today, we have, this, which I think has a touch of the old (funny) O'Rourke:
One thing to whine about will be the fate of Israel. Without American safeguards that nation is certain to be militarily attacked. To judge by previous Israeli wars, in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, the result will be serious headaches for Israelis as the Knesset furiously debates the status of Jewish settlements outside Damascus and on the west bank of the Euphrates.
Can't argue with that. I've lived in three Middle East nations and I'd say that he's right on the money as to the likely outcome of any near-future war betwixt the proud Arab warriors and Israel.
But then we come to this:
America will enjoy cleaner air and less traffic congestion as oil goes to $200 a barrel due to chaos in the Middle East. A U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East will cause chaos, of course. Then again, a U.S. intervention in the Middle East has caused chaos already. And, during those periods of history when the U.S. was neither intervening in nor withdrawing from the Middle East, there was . . . chaos.
So, nothing will change if the US pulls out of the Middle East entirely, yet oil will go to $200 a barrel? This does prove what P.J. claimed in Eat the Rich: he doesn't understand shit about economics.
But it's worse than that: is this even funny?
Posted by Craig Ceely at May 31, 2004 10:34 PM