Archive for March, 2003
bogged down in the foetid marshes and broiling deserts
…invaders get bogged down in the foetid marshes and broiling deserts; the enemy refuses to run away; soldiers perish in their thousands and Britain suffers one of its worst military defeats.
Even when regime change is finally brought about, the Iraqi people rise in rebellion and are cowed only by a ferocious aerial bombardment. There […]
We should not march into Baghdad
“We should not march into Baghdad . . . . To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us, and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero . . . assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight […]
US Military to round-up Iraqi civilians
“If you aren’t with us you are against us.” So now, since the Iraqi’s didn’t jump for joy at the arrival of US forces, we will start arresting civilians.
U.S. forces have started rounding up Iraqi men in civilian clothes suspected of being involved with paramilitary squads that have been attacking them in southern Iraq and […]
War silencing debate on budget cuts
The war in Iraq might not be going quite as smoothly as the Bush administration hoped, but the war at home is going just swimmingly. War is silencing debate not just on the wisdom of Bush’s foreign policy but on a host of other issues that would normally be front-page news.
Here are some of […]
15 Stories They’ve Already Bungled
Iraq stories the media has already gotten wrong.
Update: Now the Guardian UK has a site devoted to debunking the “fog” of war journalism. It is very nicely done.
Rumsfeld vs. The Military: Part II - Why?
Here is a good piece by Slate’s Mickey Kaus about why Rumsfeld would want to send less troops than the military thought was necessary (Scroll down to Sunday, March 30, 2003″):
If “regime change” in Iraq were the only goal, there’d be no reason not to provide plenty of soldiers to do the job, with an […]
Once again, knowledge in Arabic isn’t seen as particularly important
The marines have brought the whole encyclopaedia of military technology with them to Iraq. From aircraft to x-ray machines, they have a myriad ways to kill, heal wounded, survey, spy, reconnoitre, communicate with each other, shell, defend, attack, enfilade. They have brought all the machines and all the skilled people trained to use them.
The […]
Maps
Here is a map of the latest developments from the Washington Post.
Here is a Map of where reporters are in Iraq. But please note:
Now, this first draft only accounts for a fraction of the corps of journalists around Iraq, which probably numbers more than 1,000. Some “master list”! Moreover, a map that draws from dozens […]
Rumsfeld vs. The Military: Part 1
Tapped highlights some of Hersh’s New Yorker article on how Rumsfeld undermined the military decision making process:
From the Hersh article:
On at least six occasions … when Rumsfeld and his deputies were presented with operational plans — the Iraqi assault was designated Plan 1003 — he insisted that the number of ground troops be sharply reduced. […]
business and technology reporter suspended for two weeks without pay
San Francisco Chronicle business and technology reporter Henry Norr has been suspended for two weeks without pay after having been arrested in an anti-war protest in downtown San Francisco, the Mercury News reports.
The suspension is mired in controversy, because Norr’s employers claim he was disciplined not for the protest arrest, but for time card […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
