Hitch's latest is must-read: Wowie Zahawie. Subtitled "Sorry, everyone, but Iraq did go uranium-shopping in Niger," it is further evidence in his continuing position that the Bush Admin basically got things right, but has been fatally sabotaged by inter-agency feuding. I am persuaded by everything he says here, except on glaring factual error. Reporting on Iraq's top nuclear negotiator visiting in 1981, Hitch refers to Niger as
a country known for absolutely nothing except its vast deposits of uranium ore.
Well. Maybe now that we all pompously call it "Knee-jaire." But in the old days when we proudly Anglicized all pronunciation, Niger was best known to millions of school-kids from the classic limerick:
There once was a lady of Niger
Who smiled as she road on her tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And a smile on the face of the tiger.
Don't complain to me about the last line not rhyming properly; I didn't write the thing.
