An Emergency Vodka Cart Too Far

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this back-handed slap at the Operation Yellow Elephant concept by Christopher Hitchens:

What happened to the human shields? I didn't think it was wise or principled of certain activists to go to Baghdad in 2003 and swear to put themselves between Iraqi civilians and undue harm. (To most Iraqis and Kurds, they looked like sheepish guards who were standing between Saddam Hussein and what was rightly coming to him, and there were protests at their presence. And they did seem to leave when things became nasty.) But the idea of witnessing for peace in this manner has its attractions. That new hero, Rep. John Murtha, repeated a familiar slur the other day, attacking Karl Rove for supporting the war from an air-conditioned office--as if a person with a White House job has no right to an opinion on the war. But would not now be the ideal time for those who hate war to go to Iraq and stand outside the mosques, hospitals, schools, and women's centers that are daily subjected to murderous assaults? This would write an imperishable page in the history of American dissent.

Hey Stumbly! We won't serve as "peace shields" in Iraq for the same reason war bloggers and College Republicans refuse to join the military. We don't want to die for a stupid idea that is doomed to fail.