or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
July 19, 2004
Who Makes Bizarre Deductive Leaps? Who?
The "did Iraq seek uranium from Africa" section of the Senate Intelligence Committee report is full of fascinating information, much of it poorly covered by the media. For instance, this appears on page 38:
an Algerian businessman, Baraka, was arranging a trip for the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican, Wissam al-Zahawi, to visit Niger and other African countries in early February 1999.
This raises the obvious question: is it possible that the "Algerian" "businessman" cited here was in fact AMIRI BARAKA, the former Beat and controversial poet laureate of New Jersey? Am I the only person who sees this has enormous implications?
True, I don't know exactly what those implications are, but there's no doubt they're enormous. Just for instance, is it possible the ENTIRE INVASION OF IRAQ was merely a ploy to induce greater sales of Baraka's What Was the Relationship of the Lone Ranger and the Means of Production?
This, my friends, is what the intelligence business is all about: connecting the dots.
Of course, I expect my interpretation will meet with resistance from the hidebound analysts at the CIA. They'll call it "unjustified," or "ludicrous," or "completely insane." Well, that's just what they said about my idol Douglas Feith, and look how things turned out there.
Posted at July 19, 2004 08:12 AM | TrackBack
