World Affairs: March 2003 Archives
In fact, some might say this movement - which unlike the one during Vietnam began before the start of the Iraq conflict - failed in its most important goal: to stop the war before it commenced. Certainly the protesters say they have learned that they need a long-term strategy.
"It's tremendously saddening," said Eli Pariser, international campaigns director of MoveOn.org, a member of the Win Without War coalition, said of the start of the war.
"At the same time, there still is optimism that in terms of our larger goal, which is to end this foreign policy that is so dangerous, there's still hope, and quite a lot of it."
A good article in the Times on the shifting focus and tactics of the mainstream peace movement.
How do you admit you were wrong? What do you do when you realize those you were defending in fact did not want your defense and wanted something completely different from you and from the world?
The full story from the young pastor I conspiricated (it should be a word...conspiracy + pontificate) on earlier. It appears he will also be on ABC sometime next week with Barbara Walters complete with the video he took inside Iraq. It's smelling an awful lot like propaganda, but if the video's authentic, I don't see the harm.
The Senator tore it up. Hannity was out of his league.
I'm going to suspend my boycott of Fox News tonight in order to see how Senator Hart fares on Hannity & Colmes at 9pm EST (thats in 10 minutes, I forgot to post this earlier). This should be a good test of how his positions stand up to a hostile audience. I'm sure there will be plenty of "monkey business" references. Here's hoping the Senator can raise the debate above the muck.
The reaction to Senator Hart's blog has been very positive. The Howard Dean blog folks even seem a bit jealous that Senator Hart himself is writing the entries. I hear the Senator is very enthusiastic about the possibilities blogging presents and should be writing often in the future and I look forward to the public discussion that it is sure to stimulate.
Here's hoping it can be used to broaden the public debate on the Senator's issues, while gathering as well as disseminating ideas. The best aspect of blogging is the interactivity, and the idea of bringing that to the realm of politics is heartening and consistant with Hart's message of returning sovereignty to the people.
I've done a lot of updating of my Warzone OCS catalog. I've added several soldiers who are blogging from the field.
The Senate unexpectedly reversed itself yesterday and voted to slash more than half of President Bush's proposal to reduce taxes by $726 billion over the next decade, turning victory into defeat for the president on his economic program's centerpiece.
This is good. This war has to paid for somehow.
I became increasingly concerned about the way the Iraqi regime was restricting the movement of the shields, so a few days later I left Baghdad for Jordan by taxi with five others. Once over the border we felt comfortable enough to ask our driver what he felt about the regime and the threat of an aerial bombardment.
"Don't you listen to Powell on Voice of America radio?" he said. "Of course the Americans don't want to bomb civilians. They want to bomb government and Saddam's palaces. We want America to bomb Saddam."
We just sat, listening, our mouths open wide. Jake, one of the others, just kept saying, "Oh my God" as the driver described the horrors of the regime. Jake was so shocked at how naive he had been. We all were. It hadn't occurred to anyone that the Iraqis might actually be pro-war.
Another article about Human Shields having a change of heart. This one is a few days old now, and folks have probably already seen it, but I thought I'd provide it as a foil to my own earlier conspiracy-mongering on the subject.
While flipping through the channels this evening, I happened on what was apparently the premiere evening of the Discovery Times Channel - a joint venture between The Discovery Channel and The New York Times. The first show was called "Al Qaeda 2.0" and was one of the most informative specials I've yet seen on Al Qaeda.
Amongst the revelations is evidence that Al Qeada's leadership may be in Bangladesh and have established a new base there. I missed the beginning of the show, but it's on again tonight at 11pm EST, so I'll get caught up then.
On now is "Terror's Children" which is about children's lives in Pakistani madrassas.
This is all original programming produced by The Discovery Program and the New York Times jointly, and is interspersed (supposedly, I haven't seen this yet) with Iraq war reports from NY Times correspondents, and even the obligatory "Friedman's Journal" where John-Paul's mustachioed doppleganger holds forth on various topics.
It looks to be an impressive venture, assuming they can keep up the quality to tonight's levels. For those in Denver on Comcast, tune into channel 271. For others, you can find out if you can see it here.
I've put together an OCS file of useful war news sources. Those of you using newsreaders such as Newzcrawler might find it useful. I will keep it updated as I find new source.
I came across this quote in an article on Iraqi refugees heading for Jordan and though it interesting as a reflection on the less-informed position of the no-war-at-any-cost crowd in the US, but after a little digging I have dug up some interesting background on the quoted pastor.
A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."
So, on the surface you see a lefty repenting for his out-of-touch ways, and this is certainly how its being spun by the blogosphere, right and left. In the interest of fairness I then decided to look up this particular gentlemen, to see what kind of person we're dealing with. I found this article discussing the need for Assyrian Christians having a place in post-Saddam Iraq. And here, presumably, is the gentleman's father, another Assyrian Christian minister, and alumni of infamous crazy-christian (and Bush-friendly) institution Bob Jones University. Combine these facts with the fact that the story in question was distributed by the Bush-friendly Moonie-owned UPI and Washington Times and this story seems to beg for a bit more digging to determine the actual agenda of this particular individual. Is he a plant, or just a right-wing-evangelical-christian human shield associate? Unfortunately, thanks to work and other things I don't have the time. Feel free to do so yourself ;)
ps. Note that I don't disagree with the general sentiment expressed by the pastor above, but I do consider the source a bit suspicious and thought it important to point out.
Dear readers:I've been asked to suspend my war blogging for awhile. But I don't want let you down -- I'm chronicling the events of my war experiences, the same as I always have, and hope to come to agreement with CNN in the near future to make them available to you in some shape or form, perhaps on this site.
Senator Hart will be on tonight's NOW with Bill Moyers to discuss Homeland Security with his Commsion co-chair Warren Rudman. Sure to be some fun spatting between the two as there was on Larry King a few weeks back. In Denver, this is on at 9pm on KRMA (Channel 6).
Some conflicting reports here: Some rumors (from al-Jazeera) report that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has fled to Turkey and defected. (No links yet that I can find. Source is U.S. Army.) But another report on Al Bawaba reports that he was caught trying to enter Iraqi Kurdistan and shot dead.
The war coverage is starting. I'm watching the following blogs for war news. You may want to also.
[updated: never mind that Tariq Aziz thing. He still hates us.]
An Open Letter to Bill O'Reilly
(excerpts) March 17, 2003
March 17, 2003
Dear Bill:
I am writing about my appearance on your show last Friday. As you know, After five or ten minutes of heated debate, during which I gave as good as I got, you cut off my microphone and spent the next five minutes attacking me and my family. What I was amazed to learn was that YOU CUT OFF MY MICROPHONE WITHOUT INFORMING ME OR YOUR LISTENING AUDIENCE THAT YOU HAD DONE SO.
Ahhh yes, fair and balanced indeed. Not only do I boycott Fox News, I no longer watch Fox. You shouldn't either.
"We call it 9/11 now, the day that changed the world and the day that brought the future crashing into us. Suddenly we are facing a new kind of warfare — a hidden enemy willing to strike anywhere, targeting civilians, using terror as its greatest weapon. The U.S. has the most powerful war machine the world has ever seen, but it was created to combat conventional forces. Now, the military is rapidly shifting to face a new kind of danger that once seemed unimaginable."
Apparently I missed this when it first aired a few months ago, but there's a really good news special on MSNBC which is replayed every once in a while dealing with the challenges in adapating the American military (a 3rd Generation force) to deal with an asymmetric (aka 4th Generation) threat. It's good to see mainstream media reporting on these issues, although they do somehow manage to completely avoid discussing the irony of trying to fight a 4th Generation opponent (al Queda and perhaps even Saddam) with a 3rd Generation invasion of Iraq.
