Weapons of Mass Bad PR (WMBPR)

Saddam’s WMBPR:

March 13, 2003 | GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A defiant Saddam Hussein, under intense international scrutiny for possible ties to terrorism, this week distributed $225,000 to 21 families of Palestinians killed in fighting with Israel, including $25,000 to the family of a Hamas suicide bomber.

While there is never a good time to give money to Hamas suicide bombers, this is a *really* bad time for Saddam to be giving money to Hamas (at least, from his perspective). I suppose we could use this to lay the groundwork for upcoming invasions of Iran, Jordan, and Syria by shifting the justification for the war to attacking regimes that support militant Palestinians.

The U.S. is not unarmed in the WMBPR race, however. We’ve got Donald “Old Europe” Rumsfeld:

“And I think until we know what the resolution is, we won’t know the answer as to what their [Britain’s] role will be.

And to the extent that they are able to participate, in the event that the President decides to use force, that would obviously be welcomed.

To the extent they’re not, there are work-arounds and they would not be involved, at least in that phase of it.” [Rumsfeld has since modified this statement, saying he expects a significant military contribution from the United Kingdom”].

AB