Nearly eight in 10 Americans now accept the Bush administration's contention — disputed by some experts — that Hussein has "close ties" to Al Qaeda (even 70% of Democrats agree). And 60% of Americans say they believe Hussein bears at least some responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — a charge even the administration hasn't levied against him.
And, more to the point - it's rightly perceived as "anti-Arab" or "Anti-Muslim" bigotry in the same way that opinions about nefarious inolvement of the Israelis in everything is perceived as anti-Semitism. True in both cases.
The headline for the story should be "BUSH ATTEMPTS TO CONVINCE MORON-AMERICANS THAT SADDAM WAS BEHIND 9/11 HAVE SUCCEEDED."
David Neiwert notes that many of the "pro-war" rallies are really just disruptions - and increasingly physical disruptions - of anti-war vigils and protests.
CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water.
It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks, as an opportunity.
''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized,'' he said.
And agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and come up clean for the first time in weeks.
''They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed,'' Llano said.
First, though, the soldiers have to go to one of Llano's hour-and-a-half sermons in his dirt-floor tent. Then the baptism takes an hour of quoting from the Bible.
''Regardless of their motives,'' Llano said, ``I get the chance to take them closer to the Lord.''
So, if you are a desperately thirsty Jewish soldier, do you have to accept Christ to get a juice box from this "man of God"?
Fucking hell. And people bitch about anti-Semitism 'on the left.' I'm also pissed off that I have to use the example of the Jewish soldier to bring the point home. If I had said "Muslim" or "Atheist" most people wouldn't even give a damn.
Peter Beinart provides his defense of the pathetic 4th estate. I can't read the whole article, not being a TNR subscriber, but Big Media Matt has the excerpt:
I still believe the war will be vindicated. But it is proving harder and uglier than expected. And, if the media, and the public, were not prepared for the hard days that may lie ahead, it has little to do with spineless, irresolute reporters. The real blame lies with us hawks, who made our political work easier by selling the country a rosy war. And, for the time being at least, we are thus justly reaping what we sowed.
It has a lot to do with spineless irresolute reporters. Mainstream America believes in nuttier conspiracy theories than anything the "Arab Street," the loony left, or the Birchers can offer up. About half of Americans supported this war (barely) going in. About half also believed that some of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis and that Saddam Hussein was personally behind the attack. That's the media's fault.
Where were the big point headlines screaming "President Falsely Ties Saddam to Bin Laden?" Where were the big point headlines screaming "Bush lies about IAEA report?" When did the media manage to convey even the slightest possibility that not everything we were being told was true - which would've caused the public to look at this undertaking with a bit more skepticism? Never. They were busy questioning the patriotism of anti-war protesters and repeatedly inviting Janeane Garafalo on their shows so they could ask her why on Earth they should be inviting her on their shows.
While the media gingerly and quietly reported concerns of former Generals, they loudly jeered and condemned anyone else who dared question any aspect of this operation. There are some good reporters, but the media machine is thoroughly rotten to the core. They've totally abandoned any notion that the press is supposed to be skeptical of the pronouncements of politicians - these politicians, anyway.
Who knows, this may all be over tomorrow and then everyone can come scream at me for being pessimistic. But, the War Hawks have already moved the victory bar so low, with the media happily following along, that it isn't clear anymore what a victory will mean.
But, but...what about holding Saddam and his regime accountable with war crimes trials? Not to mention shutting down all those al Qaeda cells hiding in Baghdad? And, how can we say we have "liberated" the fucking country if we haven't "liberated" the 5 million people in the biggest city? And, most importantly, what about the vast cache of WMD he's keeping in his underwear drawer? Don't we need to "control" the whole country to be sure they are all accounted for? Wasn't that the whole goddamned point?
Kaveh Golestan (pictured), Iran's most renowned photo-journalist, was killed by a landmine in northern Iraq on Wednesday at the age of 52 . He was an artist and inspiration to a new generation of photographers who were not even born when he covered the 1979 Islamic revolution.
....
It is a sad reflection of the superficiality of our times that the US television media barely mentioned Kaveh's death, even though his news photography won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for his images of Iranian forces executing Kurds before a firing squad
American officials have admitted that the thousands of boxes of white powder they seized north of Baghdad are explosives.
The US military and various media outlets had suggested that they may have made the first discovery of chemical weapons in Iraq.
The claim that the Latifiyah complex was "a suspicious site" was made by a US colonel.
He also claimed to have discovered nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents relating to chemicals.
Colonel John Peabody, an engineer brigade commander with the 3rd Infantry Division, had stated troops found thousands of boxes, each of which contained three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic about chemical warfare.
He said they discovered atropine, used to counter the effects of nerve agents.
The facility had been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons site.
UN inspectors visited the plant at least nine times, including as recently as February 18
For the record, I've never doubted that Saddam probably has some sort of chemical weapons. Heck, I can brew up some nasty stuff with common household cleaning agents. The issue is whether or not he had "weapons of mass destruction" in the genuine sense - that is, weapons which could kill an immense number of people, quickly, from a distance. At this point, the US could find an ammonia bottle sitting next a bleach bottle and the media will praise Jeebus that Bush had the sense to protect us from that extraordinary danger. But, serious people (just kidding, Matthew) know that most chemical weapons aren't very good at killing a lot of people, quickly, from a distance. Our cruise missiles more fit the definition than do most of the nasty substances they might find (such as Ricin).
A US commander who was leading a push by marines through southern Iraq towards Baghdad has been relieved of his post.
No reason has been given for the decision to relieve Colonel Joe Dowdy, commander of the Marines First Regimental Combat Team, Public Affairs Officer Steven Schweitzer said.
"He was responsible for the regiment until three hours ago," Schweitzer said.
Gossip columnists -- great ones, anyway -- should be as free of ideological blinders as they are of conscience. Alas, it seems that Lloyd Grove, the president of the Independent Women's Forum's Men's Auxiliary, has liberated himself only of the latter. J.J. Hunsecker would weep, I tell you.
Consider, for example, Lloyd's latest effort. David Brock and his work get put through the big smearuendo again, with some interesting (if fact-free) invective from Christopher Hitchens tossed into the bargain. Meanwhile, further down, my gal Annie Coulter decides to hie herself off to Florida with the rest of the malignant reptiles, and she gets the cutesy-poo treatment, as well as a plug for her latest spasm of inebriate typing.
(Note To Lloyd: more than a few of her targets, almost every reviewer, and anyone with the reading skills of a Lemur have pointed out that Coulter's last book contained approximately as many facts as it did golden doubloons. Pass it on.)
Well, at least this kind of work guarantees that the buffet at the next way-cool IWF cocktail party at Lloyd's house will not contain that old country song's signature dish -- hot tongue and cold shoulder.
The Bush administration has devised a strategy to declare victory in Iraq even if Saddam Hussein or key lieutenants remain at large and fighting continues in parts of the country, officials said yesterday.
The concept of a "rolling" victory contemplates a time -- not yet determined -- when U.S. forces control significant territory and have eliminated a critical mass of Iraqi resistance. U.S. military commanders would establish a base of operations, perhaps outside Baghdad, and assert that a new era has begun. Even then, tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers would remain to help maintain order and provide humanitarian assistance.
There are a variety of economic indicators one can use to measure the health of the economy. I have my own - the number of books purchased through the amazon link to the left. That's *way down.* And, no, I'm not posting this to encourage people to buy books or otherwise beg for money, just saying that in the last month or so there's been a large drop.
Yesterday, John Kerry shocked many Americans when he called for "regime change" right here in the U.S. By comparing our commander-in-chief to Saddam Hussein's brutal regime at a time of war, Kerry showed just what he is willing to say to appeal to liberal Democrat primary voters.
RNC, Chairman Marc Racicot quickly responded saying, "Senator Kerry crossed a grave line when he dared to suggest the replacement of America's commander-in- chief at a time when America is at war. Critical analysis offered in the best interests of the country is part of a healthy democracy. But this use of self- serving rhetoric designed to further Senator Kerry's political ambitions at a time when the lives of America's sons and daughters are at stake reflects a complete lack of judgment."
(my emphasis). So much for, you know, elections and stuff.
So here's a few questions. When the Clinton administration sent troops to quell the ethnic cleaning in Kosovo, we can presume Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) was giving "aid and comfort" to mass-murdering tyrant Slobodan Milosevic when he said, "The administration's campaign has been a disaster. . . . [It] escalated a guerrilla warfare into a real war, and the real losers are the Kosovars and innocent civilians." What a traitor to America.
When then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) said of the intervention that "Clinton's bombing campaign has caused all of these problems to explode," we can presume that his criticism of the president's foreign policy provided clear and forthright evidence that DeLay hates America.
You see, "freedom" is funny like that. Of course DeLay and Nickles were no more unpatriotic for denouncing administration policies while U.S. troops were in the field back in 1999 any more than Maines or Daschle are today.
There's no shortage of it, and it's not new to this period of conflict, either. Recall White House spokesman Ari Fleischer's veiled warning after colossal boob Bill Maher remarked on the cowardice of U.S. fighter pilots--that Americans need to "watch what they say."
And remember when critics asked Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett exactly what information the government had prior to Sept. 11, 2001. Bartlett said that asking pointed questions like those "are exactly what our opponents, our enemies, want us to do."
Last September, then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) posed the ludicrous question, "Who is the enemy here? The president of the United States or Saddam Hussein?"
The simpleminded, the Know-Nothings, the John Birch-style über-patriots like to create a "slippery slope"--a classic logical fallacy--to support their contention that the president equals the troops, which equals the flag, which equals the Constitution, which equals freedom. There's no daylight, no wiggle room, between any of them--as long as it's their guy in power.
There was no shortage of criticism of Bill Clinton during his presidency, and it hasn't abated since he left. The far Right has tried to draw a metaphor from an act of consensual sex to everything from fiscal policy to the refrain that the Clinton administration somehow bankrupted the U.S. military. Funny how this criticism never was seen as treasonous. I suppose it's all depends on whose ox is gored.
When a government seeks to paint any opposition as unpatriotic and any dissent as treason, when it uses its allies in industry and the media to hound skeptics and blacklist celebrities, when it attempts to paint legitimate questions of policy as either a vote for America or a vote for dictatorship, that's not freedom any more.
The Woolseys and Gaffneys of the world are out spreading the message that WWIV has arrived. And, despite the fact that us lefties were branded conspiracy theorists for pointing out that this was the plan mere months ago, now we're being told that the president has been telling us this all along.
Who knows, maybe they're right, but it's about goddamn time we start talking about it - and talking about it without prominent America-haters like Andrew Sullivan and David Frum informing us that dissent is treasonous.
Washington, DC (AP) New details are emerging about the details of the recent capture of Pfc. Jessica "little Jessie" Lynch. High-level sources at the Pentagon have confirmed that her unit, the 507th convoy, exchanged gunfire with Iraqi troops they came across. During the melee, an Iraqi soldier yelled out a question to little Jessie, "Are you a Christian?" Without hesitating, our poor little girl screamed out with all of her heart "Yes!" as bullets flew by.
Accoriding to officials, at this point the Iraqi soldiers focused all of their attention onto her, firing 33 bullets into her Christian body while allowing the rest of her unit to escape. "She fought until the end, until she was out of ammunition," one source stated. "The fact that she survived is nothing short of a miracle. In fact, I think there is no doubt that it was indeed a miracle."
When asked for comment, Franklin Graham responded that he too believed that God had provided protection for Jessie.
It goes without saying that this is intended to mock the media's and military's efforts to exploit her story, and not to mock the horrible events the Pfc. Lynch endured. Thanks to MD for the idea.
Pfc. Jessica Lynch, rescued Tuesday from an Iraqi hospital, fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers after Iraqi forces ambushed the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition, U.S. officials said yesterday.
Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk, continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die around her in fighting March 23, one official said. The ambush took place after a 507th convoy, supporting the advancing 3rd Infantry Division, took a wrong turn near the southern city of Nasiriyah.
"She was fighting to the death," the official said. "She did not want to be taken alive."
Lynch was also stabbed when Iraqi forces closed in on her position, the official said, noting that initial intelligence reports indicated that she had been stabbed to death. No official gave any indication yesterday, however, that Lynch's wounds had been life-threatening.
Several officials cautioned that the precise sequence of events is still being determined, and that further information will emerge as Lynch is debriefed. Reports thus far are based on battlefield intelligence, they said, which comes from monitored communications and from Iraqi sources in Nasiriyah whose reliability has yet to be assessed. Pentagon officials said they had heard "rumors" of Lynch's heroics but had no confirmation.
The father of rescued POW Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch said Thursday she was in great spirits following her first surgery and said she had not been shot or stabbed during her ordeal.
"We have heard and seen reports that she had multiple gunshot wounds and a knife stabbing. The doctor has not seen any of this," Gregory Lynch Sr. said. "There's no entry (wounds) whatsoever."
Lynch said his 19-year-old daughter, who is at a military hospital in Germany, had surgery on her back.
"She didn't have any feeling in her feet," he said outside his home in this West Virginia hamlet. More surgery was scheduled for Friday on her fractured legs and right arm, he said.
First of all, what "intra-party and intra-movement struggle"? There may have been a few minor reassessments of the party's 1990s posture by a handful of people (let us hope by Kristol himself, who wrote in May of 1998 that Clinton "is doomed" and that Republicans would sweep the midterm elections by focusing on nothing but the president's louche ways). But mainly what happened is that their guy won -- hijacked -- the White House, so they didn't have anyone in power to hate anymore. Suppose that President Gore were in the White House, and suppose that his military had not captured Osama bin Laden after 18 months; or that anthrax had been mailed to Trent Lott and Jesse Helms' offices, and Gore's Justice Department, 17 months later, didn't even have a suspect! It's obvious to anyone with a mind that the Republicans, and Kristol, would be doing to Gore exactly what they did to Clinton in 1998.
But the most dishonest part of the paragraph comes after the dash. So Pat Buchanan led the crusades against Clinton, did he? Granted, Buchanan was no wallflower. But led the opposition? Hardly. Among pols the leader was Tom DeLay, who is still going strong and showing no visible signs of having reassessed anything. And who led the frantic Clinton-hating among writers? At this point, I turn to another for a contemporaneous account:
No conservative thinker has done more to advance this new moralism than William Kristol. . . . And no journal has done more to propagate, defend, and advance this version of conservatism than the magazine Kristol edits, The Weekly Standard. . . . Most of the year, Kristol and The Standard have gleefully egged on Republicans in their moral crusade. . . . (P)erhaps no edition of The Standard captured the current state of American conservatism better than the one that came out immediately after the Starr report was made public. Its cover portrayed Starr as Mark McGwire, with the headline: 'Starr's Home Run.' Inside, page after page of anti-Clinton coverage, anchored by an essay by Kristol advocating a full House vote for impeachment of the President within a month. . . .
Paul Krugman? Joe Conason? Guess again. That was Andrew Sullivan, in one of his rare lucid moments, in The New York Times Magazine for Oct. 11, 1998.
The import of the lie is not merely that Kristol today purports to disdain a posture he in fact endorsed full throttle when it mattered, dishonest though that is. Rather, the importance is the implication that, now that conservatives have thrown Pat overboard, they're sensible, reasonable people.
I agree with Calpundit and Virgina Postrel. The media should stop callingPFC Lynch Jessica. I'm all for humanizing the troops, but this is misguided paternalism. It dishonors her abilities and service.
Here's an interesting case. A former oil worker has received $1.75 million in damages from seized Iraqi assets. Should've limited it to $250,000 in my opinion.
But at Tuesday night's packed party celebrating the book's new paperback edition, the sting of those insults was replaced by glowing words from the top two Democrats in the nation's capital. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who co-hosted the party at 201 Lounge on Capitol Hill, declared: "To any Republicans out there: If you are willing to disavow your past and change your ways we'll throw a party for you as well!"
The likes of James Carville, Sidney Blumenthal, Paul Begala and Pat Schroeder clapped and cheered. "I really admire David Brock," said Daschle, who befriended Brock months ago after taking him to lunch. "His book was given to me by President Clinton. He gave me his own copy -- which was underlined, circled, and dog-eared -- and told me 'You have to read this book!' And it was the best advice he's given me in at least a couple of years. We thank David for his contribution and hope to see more from him."
Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said: "David, you've given us inspiration to fight -- and fighting we are. And I think you'll see a new Democratic Party in the future."
But there is one man, one couple, in the world which has taken on the power of the anti-values media. That is Reverend and Mrs. Moon.
The Washington Times promotes the values of family, virtue, world peace and reconciliation. It is a lone voice in a wilderness of violence, sex and immorality. The Washington Times has become the sole source of media power in the world's most powerful city defending those values which will lead the world out of darkness, panic and fear. And as a wife and mother I am deeply motivated to help fight this noble battle.
Went to the Dean Meetup in Philadelphia earlier. Was a good turnout with some good energetic folks. Don't know if Dean's "my guy" - whoever I decide can win will be that. But, Dean's in the running and I think he definitely has a decent chance.
Congrats to fellow blogger Matthew Yglesias on his job with Big Media.
As Eric Alterman states honestly regarding The Weekly Standard, "‘Reader for reader, it may be the most influential publication in America" even as TWS wrongly attribute that to the New York Times,
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