Griper Blade: National Review Writer Calls for an Iraqi Pinochet

After his death, we've been seeing a few "Hooray for Pinochet!" articles. Generally, they go like this; Pinochet was a monster, sure. But he embraced Milton Friedman's and the 'Chicago school's' economic theories, so that's OK. Never mind that he's the man who made 'disappear' a transitive verb; i.e., I disappear, you are disappeared. To people for whom freedom can only be measured in economic terms, Augusto Pinochet was a flawed, but genuine, hero.

It's kind of like the old defense of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini -- it was all worth it, because he got the trains to run on time.

So it really shouldn't surprise anyone to see National Review's Jonah Goldberg clumsily tying together a "hooray for Pinochet" sentiment to the future of Iraq. Goldberg's a little short on smart -- his only real claim to fame is being the son of neocon maven Lucianne Goldberg -- and he demonstrates this often. Generally, his articles start out OK, then get crazy somewhere near the middle. It's like he loses interest in logic along the way.

But this article is different. Goldberg goes right to the crazy straight out of the gate.

Jonah Goldberg: Iraq could use a Pinochet but not a Castro:

I think all intelligent, patriotic and informed people can agree: It would be great if the United States could find an Iraqi Augusto Pinochet. In fact, an Iraqi Pinochet would be even better than an Iraqi Castro.

That really is the very first paragraph. Never mind that there are very few people who actually would agree with that -- all that means, apparently, is that there are very few 'intelligent, patriotic and informed people.' What the hell being 'patriotic' has to do with anything is beyond me -- I kind of doubt Jefferson or Madison would've been big fans of Augusto Freakin' Pinochet -- but there ya go...

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