Royal Flush
 When
I heard the silly news about the "Iraq's Most
Wanted" set of playing cards, I tried to dismiss it
as not being worth my time. If the U.S. military
wanted to throw some diamonds, clubs, hearts and
spades on photos of the Iraqi leaders they're
hunting, who cares? Apparently a gaggle of
collectors do, as they seem to be willing
to pay several hundred dollars on eBay for replicas
of these playing cards. Me, I couldn't care
less.
But I can't seem to get away from these playing
cards. The media keep talking about them, running
photos of the cards instead of simple headshots
along with accompanying news stories. Flush with
excitement over the capture of Saddam's
half-brother, for example, the press called him
"the five of clubs" with a straight face. I think
it's quickly becoming a full house in Syria, while
coalition forces play 52-pickup in Baghdad.
If the best our forces can draw is a five of
clubs, I wouldn't suggest raising the stakes just
yet, even though President Bush has as unreadable a
poker face as any good ol' cowboy from west Texas.
The only royal flush that coalition forces have yet
drawn has been the flush of Saddam's regime into
neighboring Syria. But like a game of five-card
no-peekee, I think the day will come soon when
we'll suddenly turn the cards over and reveal a
three-of-a-kind: evidence of chemical, biological
and radiological weapons. With an ace-high—the
Ace of Spades—proof of Saddam's demise.
Note:
I will be spending the Easter weekend camping in
Joshua Tree National Park, so the next update will
be uploaded on Sunday night. Enjoy your
weekend!
Development note: I've
noticed that this site doesn't look like it should
in Netscape Navigator. Rather than waste time
jury-rigging it to look right in a
soon-to-be-obsolete browser, I'll just add the
cliché "This site best viewed with Internet
Explorer."
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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