Jack’s Wednesday guest blog – –

Like many people, I watched replays of 9/11 and the twin towers a couple of days ago, and I was reminded of the horror of it all.

Then I envisaged an imaginary phone conversation that might have happened afterwards between two imaginary characters called Dubya and Tone –

Tone: Hi Dubya – Just wanted to say how everyone here was horrified about what happened, and we send you our thoughts and prayers.

Dubya: Thanks, Tone, and we use thoughts and prayers a lot over here. They’re very useful.

Tone: So, do you have any idea who did this and who’s behind it?

Dubya: Oh, yes – our guys have all the intel. The hijackers were almost all Saudis, and so was the man who planned it. The pilots got their visas through the Saudi embassy and trained over here.

Tone: So you’ll be hitting the Saudis hard, then? Bomb them back to the Stone Age like your Dad did in Iraq?

Dubya: Well, not exactly. There’s the oil and our arms sales to them, and some are good friends.

Tone: What, then?

Dubya: Unfinished business in Iraq.

Tone: But they didn’t have anything to do with it, and one of our best scientists is part of the UN team that just concluded they don’t have any WMDs.

Dubya: You’d do me a big favor if you could take care of that and join me in what I’ll call ‘Operation Crusade’.

Tone: Done – he committed suicide in the woods near his house – no witnesses and no inquiry. So the guy behind this is in Iraq? I think he’s called Bin Laden? Isn’t crusade a bit provocative?

Dubya: He’s in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and my good friend has interests there. We need a pipeline through there to get oil to the Indian Ocean.

Tone: Well, far be it for me to say, but we tried it in the 1800s, and the Soviets tried it in the 1900s, and both of us failed.

Dubya: So, can I count on you?

Tone: Of course!

Bin Laden: Perfect – – – –

Jack: I didn’t show Wendy this post.