Not so “fast”

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 30, 2006 09:24 PM

The New York Times discovers the moonbat reverse-diet plan in a piece titled “As a tactic, starving is found wanting:”

Saddam Hussein ended his 19-day hunger strike last Wednesday with a meal of beef, rice and Coca-Cola, but he had little to show for his starvation. Iraqis in particular, living day-to-day with brutal sectarian violence, viewed Mr. Hussein’s self-sacrifice as an insult.

“Saddam’s hunger strike didn’t work because it came from someone who is finished in Iraq and has no political or personal value for the Iraqi people,” said Fauwzya al-Attiya, a sociologist at Baghdad University. “Most of us wish he was executed just to end this problem so we can face our other problems.”

But if Mr. Hussein tarnished the hunger strike’s idealistic image, his effort also reflected its declining strength as a political weapon. Fasting for a cause is less novel, what constitutes a fast is more loosely defined, and the technology of force-feeding has grown less barbarous, say historians and human rights activists. Consequently, the hunger strike has started to lose its power to command attention….

…Other denials of sustenance have amounted to short-term diets. Several hunger strikes announced with great fanfare by the Rev. Jesse Jackson turned out to be team efforts requiring little sacrifice. On July 10, six days into Cindy Sheehan’s liquid-only fast to protest the Iraq war, she wrote in her blog that “the closest thing I could find to a smoothie to get a little protein was a coffee with vanilla ice cream in it.” Conservative pundits were moved to ask whether she was trying to gain weight.

Well, the results speak for themselves.

~ For the latest breaking news, be sure to join Michelle's e-mail list ~

See what others have said

Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.

You must be logged in to post a comment.


Follow me on Twitter Follow me on Facebook