The article -- having to do with the ultimatum on Bush to produce results in Iraq by September -- has nothing to do with it. Put the picture together with the caption, however, and you have a little tinderbox. Although I haven't seen the mainstream press go so far,...
Continue ReadingIn giving us a snapshot of the snapshot, and "the news" of its documentation, what it describes is not a strategic achievement on the military playing field so much as a goal scored in the perceptual war. yesterday , acknowledging that we already know, One assumption the military makes...
Continue ReadingAnd ta-da! It's official. After agonizing for weeks over whether tank commander Prince Harry should be allowed to serve as a high-asset celebrity promotional vehicle (and prime IED target) soldier in Iraq, the military brass gives thumbs up!
Continue ReadingBy Bing West Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2007, at 1:03 PM ET ----- Adhamiya ----- Walling Off Your Enemies: The Long View ---- April 29, 2007 Ideas & Trends Walling Off Your Enemies: The Long View By TIM WEINER THE rulers of China spent 2,000 years building and rebuilding...
Continue ReadingYesterday, I linked to Thursday's LAT article reporting on the construction of a 3-mile-long, 12 foot high partition wall being build by the the U.S. military in a Baghdad neighborhood to separate Sunnis and Shiites. (Yes, I said miles.) The BAG finds it completely inexcusable the MSM would...
Continue Readinghands out U.S. President George W. Bush speaks about the injustices present in the Darfur region of Sudan at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington April 18, 2007.
Continue ReadingWhat Smith offers that is revealing and novel, however, is the disjunction -- out in the field -- between U.S. and Iraqi forces. What we can witness, and not just read about, is open tension -- and then open defiance -- between American and Iraq forces.
Continue ReadingRonnie and James (no last names given) were featured in a NYT article yesterday having to do with a U.S. Army crackdown on deserters.... Citing military doctors and lawyers, the article identifies these men in a new category of deserter, described as: "accomplished soldiers who abscond reluctantly, as a...
Continue ReadingFollowing the dramatic mid-term election, Vanity Fair's "Portraits of Power" issue highlighted 14 people or groups that constituted Washington's "new ruling class." Presented high up there, after Obama, Hillary and Nancy Pelosi, were this pair. My question is: Did VF miss the boat giving Baker and Hamilton such credibility?... ...
Continue ReadingReuters In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair called the seizure of the British crew “completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal.”
Continue ReadingAs you know, I'm constantly mindful of the MSM's role as an extension of the Administration's war machine. What is most curious about this shot, This shot accompanying a NYT story this morning analyzing how the Pentagon has been developing its case charging Iran with providing materiel to anti-American...
Continue ReadingGiven the current standoff involving the British and Iranian navies in the Persian Gulf, I was just interested in the relative perspective of these two current newswire photos.
Continue ReadingIn an atmosphere where the Administration is trying to squeeze every ounce of propaganda benefit out of "the surge," why should they have any help? I was troubled by this article in Friday's NYT, giving the impression that the so-called surge is allowing Iraqi's, displaced by sectarian violence, to...
Continue ReadingWhat was really fantastica was yesterday's miracle announcement that, suddenly, based on new data, the Sunni's are as rich in oil as the Kurd's and the Shiite's! (Really, what an amazing coindence -- just as the U.S. is jumping through hula hoops trying to get the Iraqi's to pass...
Continue ReadingAfter a four month investigation without permission, WAPO offers an inside look at outpatient conditions at Walter Reed hospital. What we see in the article and slide show is alarming, if not surprising.
Continue ReadingPersonally, it grows increasing harder to survey the Iraq pictures without overwhelmingly suffering the political context. On one hand, you how you've got the hopes of the participants, the bond between the soldiers and journalists, and the authority of the U.S. military pulling for a prettier view. On the...
Continue ReadingFAIR article: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3037 Won't Get Fooled Again? NYT, networks offer scant skepticism on Iran claims Latest cover of Economist.... Because of the way metaphors work, most people look at this picture and think "stealth."... Reinforces the idea of going along, not making too much noise.
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