An America hater finds it hard to kick the habit

In June 2004, at the time of the handover in Iraq, columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown publicly struggled with her anti-American hatred. She wrote in the London Evening Standard (as quoted by Norman Geras),

The past months have been challenging for us in the anti-war camp. I am ashamed to admit that there have been times when I wanted more chaos, more shocks, more disorder to teach our side a lesson. On Monday I found myself again hoping that this handover proves a failure because it has been orchestrated by the Americans. The decent people of Iraq need optimism now, not my distasteful ill-wishes for the only hope they have for a future.

Alibhai-Brown is back at it again, this time with a column in the Independent entitled This domino theory is a dangerous delusion. (The link, which comes via The Daily Ablution, is free but may expire within a day; The Daily Ablution also gives a permanent link to the article, but unfortunately it costs money.) This time, however, Alhibai Brown does not profess that recent events have been challenging to the anti-war folks; nor does she admit to rooting against freedom in Iraq. Rather, she writes with strong doses of bitterness and sarcasm:

So now we know, or should know, say the patriotic acolytes who supported the Blair and Bush crusade, who excused, covered up, denied the blatant lies. This war on Iraq has apparently heralded the light of freedom and a surge of democratic will. Tyranny and state oppression will soon be defunct in the old lands of Abraham and beyond.

Those of us who still won't dance in the streets with pride and joy that we "liberated" Iraq are now asked to admit, concede, agree or reluctantly surrender to the view that out of this war is emerging a brave new world. Blair calls it "the ripple effect" and, like Bush, he is now even more confirmed in his belief that he is one of the two chosen new world prophets, who suffers for the good he has been called upon to do.

So we must thank him and bow to his wisdom and tactics. For it is because we bombed the hell out of Iraq (just don't ask how many civilian casualties there have been as a result of our actions) that the multitudes in Lebanon have started up a clamour for a more independent and democratic nation. They must have said to each other in the hookah cafés, "Great guys, Bush and Blair. See, Allah smiles on Iraqis. We are so unlucky that they never came here with their big weapons. Poor us, we must do it for ourselves."

The Daily Ablution's Scott Burgess, a regular critic of the left-wing bias of the British press, picks apart Alhibai Brown's recent effort here.