Ghost of a flea

The "sonofabitch system"

Mark Steyn argues against the practice of courting client-states that invented, sustained and sustains a variety of despots.

This system of cherrypicking from a barrel-load of unsavoury potential clients was summed up in the old CIA line: ‘He may be a sonofabitch but he’s our sonofabitch.’ The inverse is more to the point: he may be our sonofabitch, but he’s a sonofabitch. Some guys go nuts, some are merely devious and unreliable, some remain charming and pleasant but of little help, but all of them are a bunch of despots utterly sealed off from their peoples.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 11, 2003 10:36 AM