April 27, 2003

In the end, he may or may not be mayor.

What would your local police do if you were to proclaim yourself and your cronies as (unelected) mayor of your neighborhood? Of course, you probably live in America, where you'd be locked up for a bit and sent off for psychiatric examination.

Let's see how Baghdad, Looterland does things with America in the mix:

AP: U.S. Seizes Self-Proclaimed Baghdad Mayor

An Iraqi exile who had proclaimed himself Baghdad's mayor and begun issuing directives to city workers was arrested Sunday by U.S. forces, who accused him of exerting authority he didn't have.

Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi was arrested at 5 p.m. in downtown Baghdad "for his inability to support the coalition military authority and for exercising authority which was not his," U.S. military spokesman Capt. David Connolly said in Baghdad. Soldiers arrested seven others found with al-Zubaidi, Connolly said without identifying them. He said he was unsure where the men were taken but indicated they were in U.S. custody.

We're the civilizin' factor.

Now riddle me this. What if we, the Coalition, hadn't been there?

For the Arabic way of dealing with self-proclaimed authorities, just go back to the early Seventies and when Arafat declared himself (equally unelected) ruler of Palestinians in Jordan with the hint that the Hashemite Kingdom ought to get out of his way to rule the rest of the country. Ten thousand or so Palestinian gunmen and their neighbors were bulldozed over. Sadly, Arafat sneaked away and survived to infest some other country.

Me, I wouldn't even mess with Mayor McCheese of the McDonalds Playland. Sure, nobody voted for him, but he's done a good job of reigning in the Fry Guys and the Hamburglar while making sure that Breakfast Birdie is out by 10:30.