A Softer Tots?

Say it ain't so!

Battle boy Michael Totten, who celebrates the glories of war from his Pacific Northwest command post (Swivelchair Division) when not telling Iraqis what kind of government they may have, is urging the US to "dump" Uzbekistan tyrant Islam Karimov as an ally. Why? 'Cause Karimov has done some pretty icky things which, up till now, were tolerable (in the US-USSR-WW2-Alliance kind of way), but no longer serve our purposes.

What's striking about this is that Tots doesn't call for Karimov's assassination. Nor does he advocate a US invasion and occupation of Uzbekistan in order to spread some of that democracy the Bush admin loves and respects so much. Recall that in the past, Tots wanted (and still wants) Saddam executed, and desired Moqtada al-Sadr's splattered corpse on the street. And then there are the 100,000 or so dead Iraqis that have made many of his days, but they are anonymous, and besides, I doubt he has the bandwidth to issue a death sentence to each Iraqi personally.

But "dump" Karimov? I dunno, Tots, that may give the terrorists the opening they've been looking for.

"Brothers in arms! Have you seen the infidel Totten's call for a severing of ties with the jackal Karimov?"

"Yes, Ahmed! This is a gift from Allah! For years, the infidel Totten has forced us into hiding and filled our daily lives with fear! But now, the imperial snake seeks respite from the sun! No longer do his fangs drip with deadly venom! Surely, this is a sign from God that Totten is weakening! We must make immediate plans to sever the snake in his lair!"

Oh, and I notice that on Totten's blogroll, my pal Marc Cooper is listed underneath the anti-Arab racists at Little Green Footballs. Marc has admitted that these days, it takes only a little liberal radio to stir his inner-Michael Savage, so such proximity to people who make Savage appear genteel cannot be a good thing. Or is Marc, like Tots, weakening as well?

READ: Jon Schwarz's hilarious takes on the US and Karimov. Here, the humor is intentional . . . or is it?