October 23, 2003

SIC SEMPRE TYRANNUS

NOTE: Mr. E is now on his 101st consecutive day of working 14 hours a day minimum. If, at this point, his entries seem a bit disjointed, or the spelling and punctuation do not reflect his ordinary capabilities, he apologizes to offended parties, and wishes to assure the readers that he retains his usual level of sanity, which was questionable from the outset of this journal. We now return you to our regularly scheduled entry.

Roughly translated, "Here's what to expect if you are a ruthless dictator that, through various activities and diatribes, has convinced the community of nations that you pose some eventual threat to global safety." Some multinational military services members in this photo are enjoying a two-hour respite from their duties to have a social gathering. The large cavern you see in the background is reported to have been one of Saddam Hussein's bedrooms.

I don't mean to imply that multinational coalitions will start dropping from the sky and commandeering your pool. Additionally, I doubt that any ruthless dictators are reading this journal. However, I know there are some out there that would think of this as a very appropriate "flipping of the bird" to a certain mustachioed, recently unemployed egomaniacal autocrat.

I had the pleasure of stopping by this soiree. I spoke to a few of the young enlisted, and not-so-young commissioned. They are holding up well. Morale is high, and they generally feel that they are doing some important work there. I tend to agree. Schools are being built. Public services, which were in poor shape before the war, are being restored. Additionally, all those butt-ugly paintings of the guy with the mustache are not so ubiquitous. That alone has got to be worth something.