New York outbreaks drive US measles count up to 626

The last time oil-tankers were being shot up in the Persian Gulf, back in the 1980s, it was Saddam Hussein’s brutal tyranny in Iraq versus Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary Islamist regime in Iran.

The United States backed Saddam because he was just another murderous thug, whereas the new regime in Tehran was an actual threat to American interests. It had overthrown Iran’s American-backed puppet king and wanted to spread its Islamist ideology across the region.

So, of course, Ronald Reagan’s administration chose Saddam’s side. It sent Iraq arms by clandestine means (because Congress wouldn’t authorize it) and even provided targeting information for Iraqi poison gas attacks on Iran. The Americans chose the “lesser evil,” but at least they knew it was evil.

Once in a while they would even say it out loud, quoting U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger: “It’s a shame that both sides can’t lose.” But they never did anything about it, and after eight years of slaughter, the war ended in a no-score draw.

BRANDON — Military members from Canadian Forces Base Shilo have returned to northern Manitoba to assist Garden Hill First Nation with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The approximately 30 soldiers, along with medical personnel from Edmonton, arrived in the community Jan. 20, said Maj. James Cressall of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Charlie Company.

Members are helping with staffing at the local nursing station, doing wellness checks, and assisting with contact tracing, he said Wednesday.

Local test positivity numbers have stabilized since soldiers arrived, Cressall said, but are still high.