The Right Coast

December 18, 2003
 
You can't make this stuff up
By Tom Smith

Did the Butcher of Bahgdad retain his sense of style to the end? Christopher Hawthorne in the Design Notebook in today's New York Times contemplates this profoundly trivial question. It's hard for we Americans to really understand what it's like for a perpetrator of crimes against humanity, but one with some taste, to try to make a spider hole a home. Did you notice that Sadam had with him moisturizing shampoo? That desert air plays havoc with your locks. And last I saw him, I would definitely say he was having a bad hair day.

For Christopher's sake, I want to assure him that I at least really am aware that Sadam must have really had his feelings hurt to see the soles of the boots of the Army special forces men who captured him. I really do feel that in his culture, this is deeply insulting. And right now I'm going to cry about it. Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo. There, I hope you feel better now, Christopher. I know I do.

We need more aritlces like this. What should a terrorist wear before he slaughters innocent people? The whole jeans and white T-shirt thing is just so generic.

This one definitely is a contender for the most idiotic and pretentious New York Times missive of the year, and that's saying something.