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Tuesday, Oct 17, 2006 5:08 PM UTC

Rick Santorum and the “Eye of Mordor”

The Pennsylvania senator says the war in Iraq is a lot like "Lord of the Rings."

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Topics: 2006 Elections, War Room, Rick Santorum,

In an interview with the editorial board of the Bucks County Courier Times, embattled Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has equated the war in Iraq with J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.” According to the paper, Santorum said that the United States has avoided terrorist attacks at home over the past five years because the “Eye of Mordor” has been focused on Iraq instead.

“As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum said. “It’s being drawn to Iraq and it’s not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don’t want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”

We’re sure that we wouldn’t either, if only we had the slightest idea of what Santorum was saying. The Courier Times translates for those of us who are not so conversant in spooky Tolkienese: The “Eye of Mordor,” it seems, was “the tool the evil Lord Sauron used in search of the magical ring that would consolidate his power over Middle-earth.”

To be fair, Santorum’s interview with the editorial board wasn’t all about fantasy. Well, at least not the Dungeons and Dragons kind. Santorum said that he disagreed with the notion that the United States is “bogged down” in Iraq. As for talk of a troop withdrawal? Santorum said: “I don’t think you ask that question. I know that’s the question everybody wants to ask. But I don’t think anyone would ask that question in 1944, ‘Gee, how long are we going to be in Europe?’ We’re going to be in Europe until we win.”

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.

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