From Sarah Hey

Here is here response to bloggers hoping against hope that there was something positive in the subcommittee report given to the primates at Dara es Salaam.

"The analogy they articulate is similar to this one. You are the general of an army, and you have surrounded the enemy with superior ground troops and firepower. You have sent terms to the general of the opposing army, asking that they surrender their arms, release their prisoners, and advance to the center of the field under a white flag of peace where the treaty will be signed. The opposing general sends back a communique with something along these lines:

"We receive and embrace your invitation to engage in a process of healing and reconciliation; we call upon all infantrymen in our army to exercise restraint in the use of their firearms. We express our regret for inviting certain members of the opposing army, discovered while on patrol last night, to participate in our underground living quarters, and partake of our meals of hard bread and cold water. As we have no white flag -- nor have we ever even seen or used a white flag in the past -- we find ourselves unable to respond to your request of a white flag until such time as we are able to grow and harvest the cotton, weave the cotton strands together, and form them into an appropriate white flag suitable for display."

You, the general of the "victorious" army send back a rather lengthy communique, surrounded by a number of rhetorical flourishes, frills, furbelows, and bowings and scrapings, which essentially says "We accept your surrender. We will be arriving to collect your surrendered arms and the former prisoners this afternoon at 3. With regards to the little matter of the white flag, we will bring you one ourself to present to us at the center of the field. See you there."