Haven't really seen anyone refer to this great old story, one that popularized an age-old catch-phrase about what happens to people who react with fear:

John O'Hara: Appointment in Samara --

A man sees Death giving him the wide-eye and arm-wave in downtown Baghdad, and the man telling his boss he had to leave town, death is on his tail, he's going to Samarra to lay low for a while.

And the boss, later in the day, running into Death and saying, "Hey how come you threatened my man?"

And Death said, "Threatened? I didn't threaten him -- I was just surprised to see him here in Baghdad since we have an appointment, he and I, in Samarra."


And that will serve and stand as the most concise and elegant precis of this administration's blundering in Iraq that may ever be. Too bad none of them intellekshual neocons ever took a litachoor course in college.


Some say "you never see the one that gets you" --

others say: "the ONLY one you ever (actually) see is the one that gets you."