|
Switzerland in Iraq 04.24.03
K. George
National Review Online's editor-at- large Jonah Goldberg, a self-confessed
Swissophile, says the country renowned for its scenic vistas and
chocolates and resolutely neutral in international affairs is an
ideal
model for Iraq:
"Switzerland is peaceful now, but it was formed
by warring tribes of Germans, Italians, French, and Romansch, and
divided along religious lines in a strategically vital region of
Europe not unlike Iraq's place in the Middle East. It seems to me
the Swiss model is almost precisely what the Iraqis need."
Goldberg would graft a Swiss style federal system onto Iraq with a
"strong bill of rights and legal system" built in to protect the rights
of minority groups and to keep centrifugal forces in check so the
country doesn't "fly apart" like Lebanon did in the 1980s. A federalized
Iraq would be divided into numerous cantons that would be largely
self-governing on local matters. Goldberg has reservations about creating
one big Shia canton. Rather, he wants the Shiites to be divided within
9 or 10 cantons corresponding to "internal divisions" within the Shia
community. And of course the Kurds and Sunnis would have an indeterminate
number of cantons of their own.
In Goldberg's view, more cantons would mean more politicians and
that is a good thing:
"If we slice up Iraq into a bunch of different cantons,
each local area will produce its own politicians, who will inevitably
point out the flaws of other politicians. That's good stuff. The
more bickering the better, because that forces honesty and accountability
(something people who want more bipartisanship in America should
realize)."
Bases in Iraq? 04.22.03
K. George
A number of news organizations report the U.S. plans to establish
up to four military bases in Iraq as"part
of a redeployment of forces which can transform its capability to
wield power in West Asia."
According to the New York Times, the bases planned for Iraq are
part of a larger expansion of American military presence on a scale
unprecedented in modern history:
"...it is plain that since Sept. 11, 2001, there
has been a concerted
diplomatic and military effort to win permission for U.S. forces
to operate from the formerly communist nations of Eastern Europe,
across the Mediterranean, throughout the Middle East and the Horn
of Africa, and across Central Asia, from the periphery of Russia
to Pakistan's ports on the Indian Ocean."
A Blog for Iraq 04.17.03
K. George
Blogger Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine,
War In Iraq weblog)
wants to enlist fellow bloggers to help Iraq start "weblog
newspapers." Writes Jarvis:
"The beauty of weblogging is that it is the
world's cheapest -- no, history's cheapest -- means of publishing.
Weblogging brings the power of the press down to the people.
And these people need it. Of course, the audience in Iraq
would be small at the start: tiny. But the audience who can
connect in Iraq and the audience elsewhere in the world who
read this would be influential. Thus Iraqis would gain a voice
in their country and in the world. And this instant free press
would exercise muscles of expression that have atrophied in
Iraq. It would teach them how to report and comment and how
to find the truth from beyond their borders."
13 Points 04.16.03
K. George
Jay Garner, the Pentagon's point man for administering post-war
Iraq, unveiled a rather Wilsonian-sounding "13
points" for forming a new government in Iraq at a meeting yesterday
with representatives from the country's various political,
religious, and ethnic groups.
Here are all 13, courtesy of the
Guardian:
1. Iraq must be democratic.
2. A future government should not be based on communal identity.
3. A future government should be organised as a democratic
federal system, but on the basis of countrywide consultation.
4. The rule of law must be paramount.
5. Iraq must be built on respect for diversity, including
respect for the role of women.
6. The meeting discussed the role of religion in state and
society.
7. The meeting discussed the principle that Iraqis must choose
their leaders, not have them imposed from outside.
8. That political violence must be rejected and that Iraqis
must immediately organise themselves for the task of reconstruction
at both local and national levels.
9. That Iraqis and the coalition must work together to tackle
the immediate issues of restoring security and basic services.
10. That the Ba'ath party must be dissolved and its effect
on society must be eliminated.
11. That there should be an open dialogue with all national
political groups to bring them into the process.
12. That the meeting condemned the looting which had taken
place and the destruction of documents.
13. That the Nasiriyah meeting voted to hold another meeting
in 10 days in a location to be determined with additional
Iraqi participants to discuss procedures for developing an
Iraqi interim authority.
Cultural Tragedy
04.15.03
K. George
The photograph
says it all. The man sits on an ancient stone tablet, head
in hands in a gesture of grief, debris at his feet. He works
-- or did work -- at Iraq's national museum in Baghdad --
a repository of Mesopotamian artifacts. During hours of frenzied
looting, cultural
treasures were pillaged from museums and libraries across
Iraq. What couldn't be taken was destroyed. The floor
of the national museum is carpeted with shards of smashed
pottery and tablets, and decapitated statues. Reuter's
reports priceless antiquities like the Vase
of Uruk and the Harp
of Ur are gone.
In other parts of Baghdad, Iraq's history was being consigned
to flames. In
a piece for the Independent, Robert Fisk describes the
looting and burning of Iraq's national library and the Library
of the Korans. He writes of finding historical documents scattered
in the streets:
"Amid the ashes of Iraqi history, I found a file
blowing in the wind outside: pages of handwritten letters
between the court of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, who started
the Arab revolt against the Turks for Lawrence of Arabia,
and the Ottoman rulers of Baghdad."
Part of the world's cultural heritage has been irreparably
lost by this plundering of Iraqi antiquities says Paul
Zimansky, Professor of Archeology at Boston University.
Zimansky says the loss is on a scale comparable to the ransacking
of Constantinople by the Crusaders and the burning
of the Library of Alexandria.
The U.S. has been
criticized for not doing enough to prevent or stop the
looting. A criticism echoed by Zimansky:
"This is a terrific black eye for the United
States. It's something we're going to have difficulty living
down -- not just for the next couple of years but for centuries.
This is going to be remembered. This is the kind of thing
that is a permanent mark. That it's going to be there long
after Saddam and Bush and the politics of our age are footnotes."
Is Syria Next? 04.14.03
K. George
Is Syria next after Iraq?
The Bush administration has hurled diplomatic brickbats
at Iraq's Ba'athist neighbor, accusing the government of President
qua dictator Bashar
al-Assad of sheltering
remnants of Saddam's regime and manufacturing chemical weapons.
And although it is not included in the troika of "Axis of
Evil" countries, "rolling
back" Syria has long been advocated by Richard Perle,
one of the intellectual architects of President Bush's approach
to Iraq. Also, Capital Hill lawmakers say they will file a
bill that, if passed, will allow the president "to
impose sanctions if Damascus fails to meet US demands."
House of Cards 04.14.03
K. George
The Pentagon gave its troops in Iraq decks
of playing cards bearing photographs of members of the former
Ba'athist regime wanted by the United States. Saddam Hussein
is pictured on the ace of spades and his youngest son, Qusay,
occupies the ace of clubs. One of Hussein's loyalists perhaps
most familiar to the American public due to his frequent press
conferences, former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, is the
eight of spades.
According to the Hindustan Times, an organization called
the Heart
Care Foundation of India claims its pioneering use of
playing cards as a medium for disseminating information inspired
the Pentagon. "I am glad to note that U.S.-led Allied
forces in Iraq have now adopted a similar strategy to capture
Saddam," said the group's chairman.
The Image of Freedom 04.11.03
W. Thomson
Donald
Rumsfeld today attacked the media, saying when he picked up a newspaper
this morning "I couldn't believe it. I read eight headlines
that talked about chaos, violence, unrest. And it just was 'henny-penny
the sky was falling! I've never seen anything like it.' And here
is a country that's being liberated." He characterized the
vacuum of power that has swept much of Baghdad as "untidiness,"
a natural outcome of years of repression.
However, there is some skepticism about the images that were broadcast
around the world yesterday. The close-up scene of cheering
Iraqis made for dramatic television, but the shot
from across the street gives a very different image - in a photo
that was attributed to Reuters - and has been making the rounds
of blogs, and indy-media sites.
''It's classic for TV reporting to gravitate
toward iconic images,'' says Barbie Zelizer, author of ''Journalism
After September 11'' and professor of communications at the University
of Pennsylvania - as published on Common Dreams website.
FAIR goes farther, asking the question if the Pentagon is not merely
manipulating the press, but threatening
and targeting their lives.
Pre-emptive War 04.11.03
K. George
India is couching justification for a possible "pre-emptive"
war against Pakistan in language that sounds like it was written
by a Bush speechwriter.
India's foreign minister says the Subcontinent has a "fitter
case" for military action against Pakistan than the U.S. did
vis-ŕ-vis Iraq because its Muslim neighbor "has
weapons of mass destruction, shelters terrorists and lacks democracy."
U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell has rejected the parallels
with Iraq, but has pledged to "stay
engaged" in forging peace between the two nuclear-armed
rivals.
A war of words has heated up between India and Pakistan since
Muslim guerillas massacred 24
Hindu villagers in the disputed province of Kashmir last month
-- an event all but eclipsed in the Western press by war in Iraq.
Baghdad Viewed from the Left
04.10.03
W. Thomson
The images
of Iraqis celebrating their liberation from the Hussein regime
represent not only a victory for the American military, but a victory
for those who argued for the war from the beginning. It looks as
if the worst fighting is over, and hawks are feeling vindicated
that the dire predictions and arguments against war - broadened
conflict, terrorist blowback, bloody street-to-street fighting,
mass civilian deaths - have not yet occurred. William Saffire writes
that this is VI Day, and the "jubilation of enslaved people
tasting
liberty drives home the wisdom of just wars." In a recent
poll, approval of the war jumped
to 77 percent.
In an article for Slate, Christopher Hitchens makes
fun of protesters against the war in Iraq, writing that the
their demands were met despite the war:
"No War on Iraq," they said-and there wasn't a war
on Iraq. Indeed, there was barely a "war" at all. "No
Blood for Oil," they cried, and the oil wealth of Iraq has
been duly rescued from attempted sabotage with scarcely a drop
spilled."
But the left is not universally convinced that the Monday morning
quarterbacking can begin yet. Headlines on the site Antiwar.com
read like a list of things that could still go wrong:
- Rumsfeld: Victory Close, But More Will Die
- Turkey Threatens as Kurds Take Kirkuk
- Returning Exiled Shi'ite Leader, Aide Killed by Mob in Najaf
- Who is Next on America's List?
- US Tells Iran, Syria, North Korea to 'Learn from Iraq'
- Much of Iraq Lies Outside Control of Allies
- Rumsfeld Tells Syria to 'Stop Helping Saddam's Regime' "
Antiwar activist and Oscar winner Michael Moore writes:
"It appears that the Bush administration will have succeeded
in colonizing Iraq sometime in the next few days. This is a blunder
of such magnitude -- and we will pay for it for years to come...
So, where are all those weapons
of mass destruction that were the pretense for this war?"
Moveon.org has moved on, yesterday
calling its members to lobby Congress to crack down on corporate
tax dodgers, ducking the war altogether.
ANSWER takes a shriller tone:
"Having slaughtered
and maimed thousands of Iraqi people, the U.S./British invasion
forces are celebrating the use of their massive, overwhelming
and brutal military power to crush resistance to their invasion
of Iraq."
Political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow writes in his blog that the easy
part is over, and points out that there is still a lot to be done
in Iraq. "In the meantime, congratulations. You've
just adopted approximately 23 million Iraqis."
Poll Position 04.10.03
K. George
The president is reaping a political
boost from the war in Iraq. The
most recent Gallup Poll has his approval rating an impressive 70%,
and according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll, 76% of the American
public believe the "current
situation in Iraq is worth going to war over." Still, as Bush
Senior discovered, the political benefits of battlefield victories
can prove ephemeral -- especially if the nation's economy continues
to head south.
Dems Meet 04.10.03
K. George
War coverage is sucking up all the oxygen in the media universe
so it is no surprise that all the Democratic presidential
aspirants appearing
together for the first time got little ink or airplay.
Of course, given the strong anti-war stances of some of the
candidates -- which are at variance with current polls showing
overwhelming public support for the war -- lack of publicity
is perhaps a bit of a blessing. Especially on a day cable
news networks are airing ad infinitum video of jubilant Iraqis
cheering the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein.
There was little new at last evening's candidates' forum
sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund. The contenders emphasized
issues Democrats traditionally run strong on such as health
care and education, and were split on the war.
The most vociferously pro-war, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards,
seized on the crumbling of Saddam Hussein's regime to hawk
their support for the war and the troops. "History
teaches us that if you leave a brutal, immoral dictator with
weapons of mass destruction, eventually he will use them,"
said Lieberman who helped craft a resolution authorizing force
to remove
Saddam Hussein from power. Edwards, who voted for the
resolution, was equally unequivocal, "I
not only support the troops, we all do, I also support the
cause."
Most of the anti-candidates held to their views -- events
in Baghdad notwithstanding -- but had "little
to say" about the war.
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a war opponent who has
criticized Massachusetts
Senator John Kerry for allegedly being unclear in his position
on Iraq, did acknowledge the war ended the government
of Saddam Hussein. Observed Dean, "We've
gotten rid of him. I suppose that's a good thing." Dean
did criticize the financial burdens imposed by the war, a
theme echoed by Kerry.
Googling the Opposition
04.9.03
K. George
I used my favorite search engine Google, to learn more about key
Iraqi opposition groups. As a starting point I "Googled"
the "six
main Iraqi factions" that have received funds from the U.S.
government. Click on the appropriate link below to obtain more information
about a group or its leader.
Google Search Results
http://www.google.com/:
Google News Search
Results http://news.google.com/:
The Man who Would be President?
04.8.03
K. George
Ahmed
Chalabi, banker cum opposition leader, and aspiring head of
a post-Saddam government is back on Iraqi
soil for the first time in decades.
His fitness for the role is subject of much intense debate and
speculation -- even within the Bush administration. The Pentagon
and its neoconservative allies, in casting about for "our man in
Baghdad" see Chalabi fitting the bill. Not only is he ideologically
well-credentialed, moving
in similar circles as Perle, Wolfowitz, Cheney et al (and like
Jay Garner has ties with the conservative Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs), he heads an opposition
group -- the London Based Iraqi
National Congress -- and hails from a prestigious Shi'ia family.
Max Singer, Chalabi backer and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute
penned
a case for Chalabi in a National Review piece published last
June:
"Chalabi is a modern man of the West, who founded a successful
software company in London and who understands democracy deep in
his bones. What makes him truly exceptional is that he also continues
to be deeply a man of the East, with the sensibilities and loyalties
of his ancient Baghdad Arab and Muslim roots."
"With support from the CIA and more than $10 million of
his own and his family's money, Chalabi's INC created an open
political opposition movement in northern Iraq from 1993-1996,
operating newspapers, radio stations, and a lively political process
involving Iraqis from all parts of the country. It also created
a small military force that succeeded — with help from one of
the Kurdish militias — in attacking and destroying two divisions
of the Iraqi army."
Iraqi Interim Leader in Waiting: Jay Garner
04.8.03
W. Thomson
Meet the next leader of Iraq: Jay Garner, a 64-year-old with a
background in both sides of the porous public-private world of national
defense and corporate defense contracting. Until Donald Rumsfeld
tapped Garner to govern in the aftermath of the war, he was president
of L3, missile guidance systems supplier to the Pentagon, and before
that, a general in the Army.
Fortune Magazine writes that he is "an
almost perfect fit for the job." Garner says his success
will be measured by how quickly he's out, and Iraq is handed over
to Iraqis, but Garner's critics
feel that any time he spends as head of Iraq sends the wrong message.
The Guardian writes, "There is no argument among Arab opinion
formers, who with rare unanimity have been condemning his appointment
as another sign of American contempt for Iraqi feelings." A
profile in Al Jazeera focuses on Garner's tight
ties to the Israeli military and a statement he signed that
lays blame on Palestinians for recent violence.
Garner's top qualification is his work in military administration
of humanitarian assistance, under Operation
Provide Comfort, to Kurds in Northern Iraq after the first Gulf
War in 1991.
Media Backlash 04.7.03
W. Thomson
Recently, the peace group Move-On directed its members to write
their local newspapers, taking
the oldest form of affecting what appears in the paper: Letters
to the Editor. Other groups are going farther, lobbying to change
the tone of coverage from the front page to the hourly newscast.
Following the lead of the Pentagon and PR firms, anti-war activists
have realized that winning means victory in the propaganda
war.
The online news site, Indymedia allows users to document
their own actions, and in theory does an end-run around the
traditional channels. GNN has the slick
look of a corporate news station. At the same time, activists
are getting smarter about how to get their messages through to traditional
media, training to write
press releases, speak in soundbites, and give a good television
interview.
The long running argument over liberal
or conservative bias
in the media is giving way to those who hope to influence how the
stories are told and adopt
the tactics of lobbyists, not media critics.
A Scene From Hell 04.7.03
K. George
The convoy of Kurdish fighters with American Special Forces escorts
had just wound its way to the top of a hill above the town of Dibagah
in northern Iraq when all hell broke loose. Two American F-14s "came
in low," one dropped a bomb, and a roar and flash later 18 on
the ground were dead, the worst "friendly fire" incident of the
war to date. The BBC's John
Simpson was 10 yards from where the bomb fell. Bleeding from
shrapnel wounds, and with one of his eardrums perforated, Simpson
filed a live report from the scene literally moments after the explosion:
"This
is a scene from hell. All the vehicles are on fire. There are
bodies burning around me, there are bodies lying around, there are
bits of bodies on the ground."
You can listen
to Simpson's report on
the BBC's website. They also have a link to a televised
report with footage of the aftermath of the explosion. The video
is harrowing. Despite being struck in the face, and with blood dripping
on the camera's lens, Simpson's cameraman had the presence of mind
to keep taping. Bodies are visible on the ground, trucks are aflame
and an audible crackling sound is ammunition detonating in cargo holds.
The camera then follows the near breathless Simpson as he searches
for his Kurdish translator. He soon finds him sprawled on the grass,
fatally
wounded.
Hearts and Minds 04.4.03
K. George
Through centuries of empire building, the Brits have apparently
fine-tuned the science of winning the hearts and minds of subjugated
peoples. Colonel
Philip Wilkinson, formerly of Her Majesty's Royal Army, distills
the essence of the British approach:
"First,
we have football matches, then we have tea parties, and then somehow
our soldiers go out and meet the local ladies."
Now some in the British press have glommed on to this theme --
minus the ladies and tea parties-- and are regaling the British
public with stories of barrette clad troops engaging
the local lads in a friendly game of football (soccer). And
pointed contrasts are made with the American grunts, cap-a-pie in
body armor, warily keeping their distance from Iraqi civilians.
Says one Royal Marine quoted in the Evening Standard:
"We want to show that we are here as liberators, not
conquerors. The football match was a marvellous confidence-building
measure. Now
we patrol in berets, rather than helmets, we never fly our flag
and we try to look as unwarlike as possible."
The Brits have even taken to calling their American counterparts "Ninja
Turtles." (a.k.a. Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles). A nickname coined because the American
troops in full
battle regale resemble those irascible
pop icons that fell out of favor among the prepubescent set in
the early '90s.
Taking on the World's Burden
04.4.03
W. Thomson
In the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz, Ari Shavit lays responsibility
for the war on Iraq on a handful of neoconservative thinkers and
a village mentality that prevails in Washington, the "small
town that happens to run an empire." He writes that in
the Washington mindset, the war is less about regime change within
the borders of Iraq than about changing the dynamics of the region.
"This war will enhance the place of America in the world for
the coming generation," the author quotes Charles Krauthammer,
summing up both the ideology and the optimism of many in DC.
Other conservatives are counting on the war to redraw the power
map of the Middle East from Iran
to OPEC.
An Indian commentator suggests the strategy is a risky miscalculation.
"It is fairly certain that the foundations of a new, highly
unstable international political and economic order have been laid,"
writes Ashish Vachhani. According to his interpretation, the United
States has seized the responsibility for maintaining global stability
by undermining international law and organizations. How long it
can support the new order will rely on the nation's ability to coerce,
convince, and complete its goals, but it won't have the international
community to fall back on if it fails.
Dueling Fatwas 04.4.03
K. George
There is confusion
swirling around claims that a fatwa -- religious degree -- was
issued by Iraq's supreme Shi'ia cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Mirza
Ali Sistani. The fatwa instructed Iraqi Muslims to stay in their
homes and not impede any of the coalition forces. If true, this
would contradict a fatwa allegedly decreed by the ayatollah earlier
this week commanding Muslims to fight "infidel
followers who have invaded our homeland."
Yesterday, the
U.S said the cleric had issued the fatwa instructing his followers
not to resist. Now, there are reports that the ayatollah denies
issuing this second fatwa.
Relief 04.3.03
K. George
Franklin Graham, son of prominent evangelist Billy Graham, garnered
notoriety last year when he called the Islamic faith "wicked,
violent and not of the same god." Despite his reservations about
the monotheistic cousin to Judaism and Christianity, Franklin Graham
wants the relief
agency he runs to distribute aid in Iraq.
Some American
Muslim groups are appalled.
"It's particularly disturbing that a group headed by a man who
openly states he believes the faith of Islam is evil would enter
into a Muslim country in the wake of an invading army," said Ibrahim
Hooper, spokesmen for The Council on American-Islamic Relations.
In an opinion piece
in MSNBC.com, Ira Rifkin warns that evangelical groups like
Graham's that want to rush to the aid of the Iraqis would incite
Muslims:
"The problem is the handouts will come with not-so-subtle
Christian proselytizing. In the Muslim world, that will only strengthen
the belief there that the attack on Iraq is, above all else, an
attack on Islam."
Cheering Crowds 04.3.03
K. George
Much has been made about anticipated cheering crowds of Iraqis greeting
coalition troops. And there has been quite a bit of speculation in
the media about why the crowds failed to materialize.
Today's
Washington Post reports that some "jubilant" (and presumably
cheering) crowds did greet U.S. soldiers in Najaf:
"An enthusiastic welcome for U.S. forces in Najaf turned jubilant
today, as several thousand Iraqis braved sporadic firefights for
what one Special Forces officer described as "the Macy's Day parade,"
applauding a U.S. patrol that pushed close to a religious shrine
at the center of the city."
Protest Strip 04.3.03
K. George
"The
Boondocks" doesn't pull its political punches and last Saturday's
strip was apparently too provocative for a number of newspapers
-- including the Boston Globe -- that declined to run it.
Superimposed over the panel was a message from "The Boondocks"
creator Aaron McGruder stating his opposition to President Bush
and the war in Iraq and "the continued
production of movies starring Cuba Gooding Jr." Click
here to view the entire strip.
Politics on the funny pages is obviously nothing new. Doonesbury
has been a thorn in conservative sides for decades -- and some newspapers
have exiled it to the editorial pages. On the right, the irrepressible
Mallard
Fillmore pokes fun of various and sundry liberal icons. Further
back, the denizens of Walt
Kelly's Okefenokee Swamp satirized political figures of his
day. For example, a wolf called "Simple Joe Malarkey" was clearly
modeled after Joe McCarthy. Even as innocuous a cartoon as "Annie"
delved into politics. In the 1930s, some newspapers refused to run
the strip because of cartoonists Harold Gray's "habit
of using it to criticize the New Deal."
Reality War 04.2.03
W. Thomson
The median age of someone who watches CBS
News: 59. MTV viewer: 22. The largest age groups on active duty
in the American military are 19,
20, 21, and 22 year olds.
MTV is their network, demographically speaking, and while MTV's
top headline today isn't about Iraq (It's
JA RULE AIMS AT EMINEM), the section entitled At War With Iraq,
brings some of the war to younger viewers. When the war broke out,
MTV postponed live coverage of twenty-something
college kids on vacation to cover twenty-something enlisted
soldiers at war in Iraq, of whom about 70
percent don't have a college education.
Writes Aaron Ladage for the Iowa State paper:
Forget all of the political analysts and retired military officers
strategizing on what the United States should do next. And eliminate
CNN's embedded reporters from the battlefield. What do you have
left? A ground war, fought primarily by the young people of our
country. The same young people who, only a few short weeks ago,
were just like any of us. They
listened to music. They went to movies. They partied.
Ladage identifies MTV as a perfect vehicle to bring news to the
generation who will inherit the world forged by this conflict. He
calls on MTV to bring back their coverage of the war, relevant he
says to this generation precisely because it is this generation
who is fighting it, and "a start in educating a generation
typically apathetic about world issues."
MTV has experience taking on issues beyond music videos. For the
2000 elections, MTV launched the Rock the Vote campaign, not pushing
any specific political party, but the notion that young people should
have a voice. MTV follows up that effort with a page on activism
around the war. It publishes letters
from its young viewers as well as a Take Action section that
suggests if you are against the war, you can get involved with organizations
like United for Peace or Move On, and if you are for the war, "You
can enlist in one of the branches of the military."
War Tunes 04.1.03
K. George
Inquirer music critic Peter Dobrin dissects that aural
assault that is the musical lead-in to the evening news:
CBS cues up a "surging electronic wall of sound that seems
to use the beating rotors of attack helicopters as its rhythmic
inspiration." While Fox prefers blaring "hard-rock instrumentals."
The CNN soundtrack is a "throbbing, bellicose buildup of sounds."
The musical accompaniment to
NPR's special war coverage is positively laid back by comparison
and according to Dobrin, "telegraphs the idea that something
important is about to be said, without being especially militaristic,
patriotic or mournful."
Russian Intelligence 04.1.03
K. George
A blogger who calls himself "Venik"
posts what he claims are English translations of actual Russian
military intelligence reports on the war. You can read them at http://www2.iraqwar.ru/?userlang=en.
Venik says the reports come via an anonymous source within the
GRU, Russia's "military-intelligence
arm."
A
post from yesterday claims that coalition casualties are higher
than what has been reported by the American and British press:
"Based on the radio intercepts and internal information
networks of the US field hospitals as of this morning the coalition
losses include no less than 100 killed US servicemen and at least
35 dead British soldiers. Additionally, some 22 American and 11
British soldiers are officially considered to be missing in action
and the whereabouts of another 400 servicemen are being established.
The number of wounded has exceeded 480 people."
The same report sounds a cautionary note for Iraqi forces:
"Russian military analysts are advising the Iraqi military
command against excessive optimism. There is no question that the
US 'blitzkrieg' failed to take control of Iraq and to destroy its
army. It is clear that the Americans got bogged down in Iraq and
the military campaign hit a snag. However, the Iraqi command is
now in danger of underestimating the enemy. For now there is no
reason to question the resolve of the Americans and their determination
to reach the set goal – complete occupation of Iraq."
100 Bin Ladens 04.1.03
K. George
The comments of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak before a group of
soldiers in the Egyptian city of Suez:
"When
it is over, if it is over, this war will have horrible consequences."
"Instead of having one (Osama) bin Laden, we will have 100 bin
Ladens."
Dirty Fighting from the American Revolution
to Fourth Generation Warfare 04.1.03
W. Thomson
Some American military analysts blame the slower-than-expected progress
of the war on the unconventional military tactics of the Iraqis.
An elite American force has been told to gather
evidence of war crimes, including troops using human shields
and fighters holing up in hospitals.
The Pentagon and others
are calling these acts dishonorable
and criminal. Time columnist Michael Eliot writes that Americans
practically
invented guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War but now
express shock that their adversaries would employ such tactics.
Unconventional warfare is the equalizer that a weak adversary has
to use against the strong, he writes. "Our leaders in uniform
would serve us better if they explained that, increasingly, guerrilla
wars are the ones we will have to fight. That
education is overdue."
Chuck Spinney's group Defense and the
National Interest focuses on the nature of war, and effectiveness
of our armies. Fourth
Generational Warfare makes a case that the wars of the future
will be fought on new battlefields. Targeting civilians is a part
of that -- Sept. 11 was an example -- and the doctrine of 4GW argues
that overwhelming military might can be outmaneuvered by small agile
forces.
Tough Nut to Crack 03.31.03
K George
One of the designers of Saddam Hussein's underground shelters
says it is impervious to anything short of a direct hit from a nuclear
bomb. Civil engineer Karl Esser worked for a German company in the
1980s that designed a $60 million bunker built underneath Hussein's
Baghdad palace. According to Esser, the bunker has a 6 1/2 foot
thick ceiling and was "built
to survive, from 650 feet away, a nuclear blast from a bomb like
the one dropped at Hiroshima, and temperatures of more than 570
degrees Fahrenheit."
Esser is skeptical the bunker will be penetrated by any of the
vaunted "bunker busting" weapons in the U.S. arsenal. "Normally
such bunkers can only be taken by ground troops."
Arnett Out 03.31.03
K George
Peter Arnett, who reported live from Baghdad during the onset
of the first Gulf War and was there again for the sequel, has had
his services "terminated"
by NBC, MSNBC and National Geographic. His
employers were upset by Arnett telling Iraqi state-controlled television
that the U.S.-led coalition war plan had failed because of Iraqi
resistance.
Arnett appeared on the Today Show Monday where he proffered this
apology of sorts:
"I said in that interview essentially what we all know
about the war, that there have been delays in implementing policy,
there have been surprises."
"But clearly by giving that interview I created a firestorm
in the United States and for that I am truly sorry."
U.S. Moves to Assume Inspection Role, Blix Will
Step Down 03.31.03
W. Thomson
So far, the U.S. military hasn't
found banned weapons in sites it suspected were storage facilities
of chemical or biological weapons. Military experts have examined
10 sites, but all were found to house conventional weapons.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he still believes they would
discover the weapons, the avowed cause of the war, when forces moved
closer in to Baghdad:
"It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction
were dispersed. We
know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and
Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
A debate is waging over which inspection team will do the work.
The United States was upset with UNMOVIC for failing to uncover
substantial stores of banned weapons in Iraq, and no
evidence of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. The Bush
administration is reportedly assembling an American team as an alternative
to the long-establish United Nations group. The United States' team
has drawn inspectors away from the U.N. inspection group, frustrating
Hans Blix, who says he will step down in June.
Conservatives Aim to Privatize Iraq's "Cursed"
Oil 03.27.03
W. Thomson
New economic policies might have the most lasting effect on the Middle
East, broader even than modeling democracy in the region. Structures
put in place by an interim government could change dynamics of trade
and business worldwide.
The economy of the Mideast is dominated by oil, and oil production
there is dominated by OPEC. Iraq is currently a member, but the
Heritage Foundation says there's an opportunity for the United States
to hobble the cartel. "Iraq's restructuring and privatization
of its oil and gas sector could become a model
for oil industry privatizations in other OPEC states as well,
weakening the cartel's influence over global energy markets,"
write Ariel Cohen and Gerald Driscoll in a recent commentary issued
by the rightwing think tank.
Amity Shlaes writes in an editorial carried in the Financial Times
[pay]
and the Jewish World Review [free]
that state-owned oil is a corrupting force. "If the past few
decades have taught us anything, it's that that once today's brave
freedom fighter gets oil, he becomes
tomorrow's petro-warlord." The United Nations would be
vulnerable to corruption as well. She says to ignore Kurdish leaders,
if need be, and not to worry about accusations of "Texas
on the Tigris."
A Roar and Then a Flash 03.28.03
K. George
Robert Fisk visited a Baghdad marketplace shortly after it was
rocked by a lethal explosion possibly caused by a missile. He described
the carnage in grisly detail in a commentary he penned for the Independent:
"One man, so shocked by the headless corpses he had just
seen, could say only two words. 'Roar, flash,' he kept saying and
then closed his eyes so tight that the muscles rippled between them."
Fisk said two American missiles struck the marketplace. The Pentagon
speculated the explosion was caused by an errant
Iraqi missile or that the Iraqis staged the attack for propoganda
purposes.
Update on Nate Thayer 03.28.03
K. George
I received an email from Slate yesterday confirming their Baghdad
correspondent, Nate Thayer is fine. The message did not reveal his
whereabouts. I assumed he was still somewhere in Iraq.
In his last dispatch (see "Baghdad
Bloggers" below), Thayer said Iraqi
officials ordered him to leave for Syria
by way of a highway being bombarded by
the coalition. He refused what he called
a "suicide
drive."
Today, I was suprised to see a report from Thayer in Slate in
which he recounted
his harrowing journey from Baghdad to Jordan.
One of Thayer's colleagues, freelance photograph Molly
Bingham, is still missing, as are two Newsday journalists, reporter
Matthew
McAllester and photographer Moises
Saman. According to the Committee
to Protect Journalists, other journalists saw the trio put on
a bus bound for either Syria or Jordan.
Al-Jazeera Hacked (Again?) 03.27.03
K. George
The "Freedom Cyber Force Militia," is claiming responsibility for
hacking into Al-Jazeera's English language website and replacing
it with a webpage containing an image of the American flag.
Click
here to view a screen capture of the hacker's page.
It is unclear if this group was responsible for an apparent hacking
attack earlier this week that paralyzed both the Al-Jazeera Arabic
and English language websites.
Bungled Stories 03.27.03
K. George
"The war is only a week old and already the media has gotten at
least 15 stories wrong," writes Greg Mitchell for Editor
and Publisher. He singles out television news as the primary
culprit. Mitchell is more sanguine about newspaper coverage and
says that despite headlines that often seem "shock-and-awe-struck,"
some newspapers have "displayed a degree of skepticism of claims
made by the military and the White House -- what used to be known
as 'journalism.'"
Mitchell's 15 misreported stories:
1. Saddam may well have been killed in the first night's surprise
attack (March 20).
2. Even if he wasn't killed, Iraqi command and control was no doubt
"decapitated" (March 22).
3. Umm Qasr has been taken (March 22).
4. Most Iraqis soldiers will not fight for Saddam and instead are
surrendering in droves (March 22).
5. Iraqi citizens are greeting Americans as liberators (March 22).
6. An entire division of 8,000 Iraqi soldiers surrendered en masse
near Basra (March 23).
7. Several Scud missiles, banned weapons, have been launched against
U.S. forces in Kuwait (March 23).
8. Saddam's Fedayeen militia are few in number and do not pose a
serious threat (March 23).
9. Basra has been taken (March 23).
10. Umm Qasr has been taken (March 23).
11. A captured chemical plant likely produced chemical weapons (March
23).
12. Nassiriya has been taken (March 23).
13. Umm Qasr has been taken (March 24).
14. The Iraqi government faces a "major rebellion" of anti-Saddam
citizens in Basra (March 24).
15. A convoy of 1,000 Iraqi vehicles and Republican Guards are speeding
south from Baghdad to engage U.S. troops (March 25).
Tough Day for Al-Jazeera 03.26.03
K. George
Al-Jazeera's English language website is about 4 days old and already
it
apparently has been hacked, as has its Arabic-language site. As
of this writing, if you try going to http://english.aljazeera.net
or http://www.aljazeera.net
you will get this message: "The page cannot be displayed."
Al-Jazeera suffered another blow Tuesday when, citing "security
concerns," The New York Stock Exchange revoked
the credentials of two of its reporters.
You may recall the Qatar-based news channel recently ran afoul
of The Pentagon for broadcasting video of dead and captured American
soldiers (see Will Thomson's entry on "Media At War" on the next
page).
Many media watchdog groups have been very critical of the action
taken by the stock exchange. The Poynter Institute's Bob Steele
said, "it
smells bad," and "it appears to be a case of punishing Al-Jazeera
for its coverage of the war in Iraq."
Baghdad Bloggers 03.26.03
K. George

|

 |

|

Photo Gallery
Today's news photos from around the world. |

|

|

 |

|

Maps
Military locations, NPR reporter locations |

|
| |
Tell
Us What's On Your Mind:
EMAIL: iraq@wbur.org |
|
 |
I've been reading Nate Thayer's dispatches from Baghdad in Slate.
One of the things I like about Thayer is his honesty. He freely admits
to being afraid. And more so of the Iraqis than of the cruise missiles:
"Today
is also the first time that I am truly frightened. It is not
the American bombs I am primarily afraid of. What frightens me and
Mary-the name I'll give a photographer with whom I've become inseparable-is
the mood of the people. The city is thick with anger and defiance,
and we are Americans."
This past Monday, he concluded his dispatch on this unsettling note:
"Iraqi officials are continuing to harass us. I was just
told that we will be expelled first thing in the morning. They said
we will have to drive to Syria-a 20-hour ride on a highway that
we've heard is under bombardment from the coalition. It's a suicide
drive, and I am not going to do it. I
have about six hours to figure out how to get out of it."
I haven't seen anything more from Thayer in Slate.
The highway he refers to is, I believe, the same one on which
an American missile hit a bus, killing
five of its Syrian occupants.
I trolled through Slate's
forums searching for clues to his whereabouts. They contained
posts from readers also anxious for answers about Thayer, but nothing
from the Slate people. I hit another dead-end when I emailed Slate
and got an automated response with boilerplate copy thanking me
for contacting them.
Presumably he is out of Baghdad and Slate will reveal his whereabouts
in the near future.
Speaking of Baghdad bloggers, the pseudonymous Salam
Pax has been the subject of favorable reviews in
MSNBC, CNN, the BBC,
and in numerous blogs as well. It appears opinion in the blogsphere
is running more pro than con concerning the question of his authenticity.
One blogger, a former UNIX system administrator, even backed up
his contention that Pax is probably legitimate with a fairly
heady technical analysis of Pax's IP
address.
Salam has been watching a good deal of Al-Jazeera lately:
"The images Al-jazeera is broadcasting are beyond any
description. First was the attack on (Ansar el Islam) camp in the
north of Iraq. Then the images of civilian casualties in Basra city.
What was most disturbing are the images from the hospitals. They
are simply not prepared to deal with these things. People were lying
on the floor with bandages and blood all over. If this is what 'urban
warefare' is going to look like we're in for disaster."
After the Fighting Stops, the U.S. or U.N.
to Fill the Void? 03.26.03
W. Thomson
A nongovernmental advocacy think tank in Brussels calls
on the United States to stand down after the fighting in Iraq
stops, and for the United Nations to prepare to lead the country.
The report from the International Crisis Group calls for a United
Nations authority to take control "as soon as possible."
It says the success of the installed government will hinge on its
legitimacy in the eyes of the Iraqi people and advises against two
alternate scenarios: the U.S.
assuming full authority, and the U.S. installing an interim
Iraqi government.
As to the first, "even many U.S. policy-makers acknowledge
that it risks alienating Iraqis, exposing Washington to accusations
that it nurtures imperial designs and further undermining its posture
in the region," the report reads. Secondly, it says that there
are no obvious Iraqi candidates that the U.S. could handpick to
run the country. The report specifically warns against overseas
exiled Iraqis, who it says have already "staked their claim,"
but who have very limited knowledge and contacts in a complex political
society which casts "serious doubt on the degree to which they
are genuinely representative."
One of those exiled Iraqis is Kanan
Makiya. Yesterday, as a guest on The Connection he argued that
the United States should take over briefly, and install a temporary
government of Iraqi opposition and exiles. He also said that there
needed to be a de-Baathification of the country, [LISTEN]
routing out of public life the ideology and promoters of Saddam
Hussein's party.
» Read
the report (PDF Acrobat file)
Media at War 03.25.03
W. Thomson
Networks yesterday wrestled with the question
of whether to air interviews with captured American soldiers.
The soldiers were questioned on Iraqi state television. The tape
was replayed on Al Jazeera and then picked up by most of the rest
of the world. The soldiers were asked in halting English what were
their names, where they were from, and why they were in Iraq.
Donald Rumsfeld called the tapes humiliating, and as such said
that
they were a violation
of the Geneva Convention on treatment of
prisoners. Al Jazeera defended the decision
to broadcast the tapes,
saying that it was bold of the United States to invoke the Geneva
Conventions while waging a war without U.N. backing. "You can't
pick
and choose," an unnamed official said.
The Pentagon asked American media not to play the videos, saying
it would be an "unfortunate" decision. Nevertheless, finding
them on the web wasn't hard. Many major foreign newspaper websites
featured videos or photo galleries of the prisoners and of Iraqi
civilian dead as their top stories. Some of the countries like Italy
and Spain are America's coalition partners.
In many international newspapers, you start to see a different
war being covered, and one that is more graphic. It would be sensationalizing
to show these videos to shock, but they may be valuable to many
in understanding the entirety of this war and in assessing the debate
around them. Some have worried that watching will make the American
public more squeamish about loss of life in the Gulf. In the end,
the public itself decides to watch or turn away.
» Click
Here to Watch the Video: from the Italian paper Corriere Della
Sera
» Other
Video from the Italian site Corriere Della Sera
Collateral Damage 03.25.03
K. George
It is difficult to assess how many Iraq civilians have died in
the war. The Pentagon won't comment on specific numbers of Iraqi
civilian casualties. The Iraqi Red Crescent has reported 70
deaths in Basra, but that information hasn't been independently
verified. An advocacy group called Iraqbodycount.net
says at least 199 civilians have been killed (they started counting
in January when U.S. bombing raids in the "no-fly" zone
intensified). It arrived at that figure by tallying references to
civilian deaths reported by various news agencies.
Shock and Awe Spread, Tension and Doubt Flare
03.24.03 W. Thomson
Shock and awe is spreading. Military force may be limited to Iraq,
but diplomatic fallout is worldwide. According to political writer
Robert Kaplan, the strategy that was predicted to cow Iraqi troops
into a quick surrender was also designed
to impress other adversaries. Kaplan identifies Iran is the
"real
hinge" of the region.
Others warn not to confuse respect and fear. Military analyst Richard
Bennett says the most intractable effect of the war in Iraq will
be the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction.
North Korea is being pushed to the edge
of panic by the war in Iraq, since the country still tops the
U.S. president's short list of Axis of Evil powers. Pyongyang made
the link explicit when it released the following statement:
"The U.S. use of force against Iraq, as well as military
preparations by the United States and its satellites on the Korean
peninsula, make it clear to us what we must do to prepare
fully for justified self-defense."
North Korean leaders seemed convinced
they would be next to be singled out by the Americans.
Meanwhile, Iran is complaining that U.S. planes have violated its
airspace and there are reports that the Iranian military may
have fired on coalition planes. Iranian leaders had threatened
to shoot at military planes if their airspace were violated. A government
minister was quick to add, "firing
does not mean going to war." Hitting might, however. All
this underscores the tension in the region, and the potential for
a widened conflict.
Words Part I 03.21.03 K.
George
The jargon
and catchphrases used by public officials and parroted in the
media obscure as much as they inform, and soft-pedal the deadly
business of war:
"decapitation" = "assassination"
"collateral damage" = "dead civilians"
"assets" = "soldiers"
"neutralized" = "killed"
"robust response" = "killing with particular efficacy"
"shock and awe" = "devastating bombing of Iraq"
"incursion" ="invasion"
Words Part II 03.21.03
K. George
A particularly piqued Iraqi information minister sprinkled his
speech with mobster metaphors at a press conference yesterday: American
was the "superpower
of Al Capone," and the Bush administration the "criminal
George Bush and his gang." Saddam Hussein is alleged to have
a taste for gangster flicks, especially "The
Godfather." Perhaps it is required viewing for his cabinet.
Peace Protests, as War Starts 03.21.03
W. Thomson
Peace protests around the world were galvanized by anger at the
start of the American war with Iraq. In India, police used tear
gas and clubs on protesters. In the Muslim world, confrontations
between the police and protesters turned violent. Egyptian authorities
held off protesters intent on marching on the American Embassy in
Cairo, using attack
dogs and water canons.
In the United States, the largest and most confrontational protests
were in San Francisco where some 1,400
people were arrested, setting records of numbers of arrests
in that city.
Photos from Protests
Signs and Slogans from the Protests
- Shock + Awe = Terror
- Fight Mad Cowboy Disease
- Bomb Texas. They Have Oil
- War is Not a Business Plan
- No War for Empire
- Start Seeing Iraqi Children
- Peace is Patriotic
- I Support Smart War, This One is Stupid
- Will Work for Peace
- God Forgive America
- Collateral Damage = Iraqi Children
- Corporate Media Want War
- Bush: Empty Warhead Found in DC
- Non a Guerre
- Republic Yes, Empire No
- Support Our Troops, Bring Them Home
- Ordering a Preemptive War is Murder
|
|
Protesters in Boston balanced their rage at the government with
concern for their countrymen in harm's way. Many people argued that
the best way to support the troops was to bring
them home.
At the Government Center protest, organizers bellowed over bull
horns "No Blood for Oil," and led chants of "Who's
gonna stop the war? We're gonna stop the war." Despite the
optimism of the slogans, few seemed to believe that George Bush
was likely to heed a peace march in Boston, Massachusetts, or that
they might succeed in convincing where the United Nations had failed.
Attorney Brownlow Speer said the start of war has not caused him
to lose resolve. Speer says it is important to leave a record for
the future and for the world that there was dissent when this war
started. "I'm out today to help make a show to the rest of
the world that not everyone here signs off on this illegal war,
so when the world looks at America, it will see that a part of the
citizenry didn't want to take a part in a war crime," said
Spear.
Others, echoed that sentiment. "I think we have a lot to feel
confident about," said Kay Thomas, affordable housing analyst,
surveying the rally. "You can't talk about it in the past tense,"
she said.
The energy of the protests could gather steam as military casualties
mount on both sides of the conflict. Foxboro High School student
Brian Curran walked at the head of the march as the protests took
over city streets. "We're not going to let business as usual
continue as long as this country is at war," he said, adding
that civil disobedience, the term for knowingly risking arrest in
protest, was an option many would consider.
At the fringes of the Government Center protest, pro-war counter
protesters formed a small circle. Russ Robins held a sign recalling
September 11. He called the protesters a very vocal minority, but
didn't say they shouldn't express their views. "On the whole
this is not unpatriotic, free speech is what it is," he said.
Casualties of War 03.20.03
K. George
According to the Washington
Times, the first casualty of war with Iraq was a Jordanian.
Iraqbodycount.net has
the civilian death toll thus far at 16.
In Other News... 03.20.03
K. George
The Slate's Mickey Kaus
reminds us war coverage has exiled otherwise important news stories
to the limbo of page A-10 and beyond. Consider this nugget from
page A-12 of the Washington
Post, easily front-page fodder if not for Iraq:
Counterterror Team's Turnover Continues
The resignation Monday of Rand Beers, the National Security Council's
senior director for combating terrorism, marked the second round
of upheaval in the White House's counterterrorism team in less than
18 months.
From A-10 of USA
Today:
Farmer surrenders in Washington
Traffic in the nation's capital is back to normal for now.
But the mayhem caused by a 48-hour standoff with a disgruntled North
Carolina tobacco farmer made many nervous about the odds of getting
out of Washington, D.C., if terrorists attack.
Saddam's Strategy 03.19.03 W. Thomson
War is now all but certain, with U.S. and British forces arrayed
some 300,000 strong at Iraq's borders. Almost equally sure is that
Saddam Hussein will be deposed by those forces. Knowing he will
be captured or killed, Hussein has no chance for success in this
Gulf War, but he does have options open to inflict some measure
of failure on the United States.
-Chaos Strategy
One option open to Hussein is to create chaos in his country. Already,
Iraqi troops are reported to have opened
spigots on wells, creating pools of oil that could be set ablaze.
There are numerous reports that the oil wells themselves are wired
with explosives. Smoke would reduce visibility, complicating
attacks by land and air and the rich wealth of the country could
be denied the invaders and their installed government. There is
speculation that Iraq's army might even
poison the water supply.
Meanwhile, there are reports that some Iraqis may slow American
forces with nerve
gas. An extended fight could send millions of refugees fleeing,
and in the worst
case scenarios, the chaos could spread
throughout the Middle East.
-Maintaining Reputation
At odds with the goal of generating mayhem is Hussein's desire to
cement a reputation and place in history in the eyes of his people,
the Arab world, and in world opinion. Hussein could stage a final,
noble stand, chosing to fight a clean war. Hussein could die a martyr,
and wreak havoc on American policy from the grave. "This
is not President Saddam Hussein's war. This is a Muslim war,"
believers were told in Baghdad's holiest Shiite Muslim site.
Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, withdrawn from Iraq before the
American war, says that it is unlikely that Hussein would unleash
any chemical weapons he may still possess. There is great skepticism
of the U.S. war, says Blix, and that would evaporate if Hussein
were to use weapons of mass destruction. "Some
people care about their reputation even after death," said
Blix.
Defections 03.19.03 K. George
Nary a shot has been fired and there are already reports of Iraqi
soldiers surrendering. Some with apparent difficulty. Consider this
item in today's Times Online:
"Kuwaiti
border guards are having to turn Iraqi soldiers back - telling
them that they must wait until an attack begins before they can
surrender."
The Times also says a "secret-level intelligence report" shows "fractures
developing within the regime."
Kurds May Have Their Way 03.18.03
K. George
Washington's anger with Turkey appears to have given the Kurds some
breathing room. "In his
fury at Turkey, Bush rediscovered his loyalty to the Kurds,"
says the Slate's Timothy Noah. However, with war imminent, there
are signs Ankara is willing
to reconsider a deal that would grant it a roll in the Kurdish
areas of Iraq and billions in aid. Washington
says it may revisit the deal, but
has warned its NATO ally to stay out of Iraq -- at least for
now.
Noah maintains the "Kurd
Sellout Watch" section of the popular "chatterbox" section of
Slate. The facetiously titled column underscores his pessimism of
the Kurds' ultimate fate. Click
here to read his catalogue of past betrayals of the Kurds by,
well, by just about everybody.
Taking a page out of the Afghanistan playbook, U.S.
Special Forces are on patrol with Kurds in northern Iraq. The
objective of this "Northern Alliance" is to secure the oil-rich
Iraqi city of Kirkuk before Saddam
puts the torch to it.
48 Hours 03.18.03 W. Thomson
Bush gives Saddam Hussein two days to leave Iraq. Now inspectors
and foreign diplomats moving out of Baghdad, and troops are readying
at the front.
» The
End of Diplomacy: The Connection
» Transcript
of President's Address
And I Quote: 03.17.03 W. Thomson
»US
Losing Its Patience with Diplomacy: Powell Sees "No Further
Purpose" in Seeking U.N. Resolution (03/17/03)
Transcript from News Conference with President Bush (03/06/03)
Q Thank you, Mr. President. As you said, the Security Council
faces a vote next week on a resolution implicitly authorizing
an attack on Iraq. Will you call for a vote on that resolution,
even if you aren't sure you have the vote?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first, I don't think -- it basically says
that he's in defiance of 1441. That's what the resolution says.
And it's hard to believe anybody is saying he isn't in defiance
of 1441, because 1441 said he must disarm. And, yes, we'll call
for a vote.
Q No matter what?
THE PRESIDENT: No matter what the whip count is, we're calling
for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their
opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United
Nations Security Council. And so, you bet. It's time for people
to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand
when it comes to Saddam.
» LISTEN
to the Excerpt
»Interview
with former secretary general of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros
Ghali (The Guardian)
»
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441
Blogging by the Euphrates 03.14.03
K. George
LISTEN HERE...
Human Shield Deported From Iraq: From Here
and Now: A conversation with a war veteran
opposed to a U.S. war who was recently deported
from Iraq, despite the fact that he offered to
act as a "human shield."
LISTEN...
Radio Tikrit: From Here
and Now: The sounds of "Radio Tikrit"--
from Saddam Hussein's hometown.
LISTEN...
Real Story: From This
American Life: A marine sniper talks about
the real confusion and terror of war.
LISTEN...
Countdown: From The Next
Big Thing: A Bangladeshi living in New York
for 10 years debates whether to risk everything
by complying with INS orders to be registered,
fingerprinted, and interviewed or to risk everything
by not registering.
LISTEN... |
|
|
|
Salam says he is an Iraqi blogger in Baghdad (of course, for all
we know, he could be a 15-year-old writing from his Mom's basement
in Des Moines). The Ba'ath government and U.S. policy are the frequent
targets of his caustic -- and in the former case dangerous -- observations
in his blog "Where is Raed?,"
though he also excoriates volunteer humans shields, Western reporters,
and other bloggers with equal aplomb. Most interesting are his insights
on daily life in a police state on the verge of war:
"A BBC reporter walking thru the Mutanabi Friday
book market (again) ends his report with : 'It looks like Iraqis
are putting on an air of normality.'"
"Almost everything is more expensive than it was a couple
of months ago, people are digging wells in their gardens, on the
radio yesterday after playing a million songs from the time of
the war with Iran (these are like cartoon theme songs for people
my age, we know them all by heart) they read out instructions
on how to make a trench and prepare for war, that is after president
saddam advised Iraqis to make these trenches in their gardens."
"In order not to disappoint the BBC; me, Raed and G. put
on our “normal” faces and went to buy CDs from Arassat Street
in a demonstration of normality. After going first into Sandra’s
fruit juice shop and getting what people from foreign would probably
call a poor imitation of a banana and apple smoothie, we spent
half an hour contemplating the CD racks at music shop."
The authenticity of "Where is Raed?" is the subject of much debate
by fellow bloggers. Some are convinced he is the geniune
article while others suspect a clever
hoax. Said one blogger: "The site looks believable. Also, however,
I WANT to believe. This
alone makes me a little suspicious." Perhaps after the war --
if there is one -- the truth will come out. Stay tuned.
In on small Jordian villiage, Goldfarb was the honored guest at a feast which consisted of an entire lamb cooked
in yogurt.
At one small villiage he was the honored guest at a feast at whihc a lamb, boiled in yougurt was the featured served.
He tells about the feast in his reporter's notebook and
Goldfarb apparently devoured his portiona with gusto. At least that is what Anna Benstend told us.
Will wbur: Al Qaeda is from God
WBUR reporter Michael Goldfarb writes that Jordanians don't love Saddam Hussein, but nor is there love lost for the United States. In "Reporters Notebook" section of his documentary, Goldfarb writes that Jordanians know Hussein is a brutal dictator, and would like to see him dead. They just don't want to see mass numbers of Iraqis dead as a consequence of replacing one bad leader.
The CIA is a major presence in Jordan - psychological if not physical - and the family Goldfarb spoke with wonders why the CIA can't assassinate him. They attribute the agency with diabolical and near omnipotent strength. With such force, how could September 11 happen, Goldfarb asks. "The CIA controls the whole world, but Al Qaeda is from God."--->
Blair's Bucketful of Woes 03.13.03
K. George
No question that Tony
Blair's backing of George W. Bush on Iraq has cost him politically.
Consider these assessments from the other side of the pond heard
on hour one of today's Connection:
"I think we've got a serious problem for Tony Blair at the moment
... the reason we're in a difficulty is because we are following
the George W. Bush timetable for war." - Graham Allen, Member of
Parliament, Labour
"He is in |