From the National Review, John Derbyshire's grotesque attempt to shrug off the looting of the Iraqi National Museum.

My response:

I'm astonished that anyone would go this far to trivialize the looting, not to mention the wanton destruction of ancient treasures in a transparent attempt to justify the coalition's decision to stay out of the picture.

The essence of Derbyshire's argument: Those treasures didn't belong to Iraq anyway. Well, even if they didn't, that doesn't excuse the coalition's distinct lack of a plan to defend these priceless treasures, especially since the armed forces had already executed an elaborate plan to safeguard Iraqi oil. In fact, if these items belong not to Iraq but to mankind, as he infers, then wouldn't that have allowed, even necessitated that they be properly protected? But Derbyshire shrugs off the loss and writes that eventually these "objects will find their way to institutions here in the West." Well, ignoring the inherent arrogance of that statement (which Derbyshire tries to preemptively defend by including Australia and Japan in "the West"--gee, thanks, I'm an Aussie), even if many of the stolen items are recovered and protected by the benevolent West, those items that were smashed to smithereens for kicks, those aren't going to be recovered are they? No, in order to maintain his teetering thesis, Derbyshire has to overlook these details. He has to in order to accomplish his true intent: to deflect attention from the military's profound dearth of helpful intervention.

I suppose when you're incapable of thinking outside of party lines, these are the sort of rhetorical calisthenics you have to indulge in. Consequently, Derbyshire's "optimistic take" on things was bound to be a blindered defense that desperately stretches the facts in an effort to excuse the crass values of this neo-imperialist excursion.

The fact that he has the chutzpah to try to twist lemons into lemonade in this instance is saddening.