[Newspoetry] Le Carre' sees holes in Iraq plots content. Other leaders do it every day b

[William Gillespie]

This is great!

Here's a man who could have exploited all of this for story material,
instead he rejects it as poorly written.

Except he writes:

"If Saddam didn't have the oil, he could torture his citizens to his
heart's content. Other leaders do it every day - think Saudi Arabia, think
Pakistan, think Turkey, think Syria, think Egypt."

Saudi Arabia totally has oil so I think this sentence needs a bit of work.
Think East Timor. Or push the idea farther and discover how preventing
torture has not been a top priority for the US.

And, for jarring effect, on a par with Dan Rather's "flaming tire of
patriotism," are the mixed metaphors in:

"We are in this war, if it takes place, to secure the fig leaf of our
special relationship, to grab our share of the oil pot, and because, after
all the public hand-holding in Washington and Camp David, Blair has to
show up at the altar."

I am totally lost, but picture Tony Blair wearing only a fig leaf, holding
hands with Bush, at an altar, with a vessel of extra virgin olive oil - a
kinky image to be sure.

W