In Kontakt mit Bagdad - Update 36
In Kontakt mit Bagdad – Update 36
Stand: Friday March 28, 2003 at 03:08 PM
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/234438.php
Ein Pilz wie der einer Atombombe
Die Explosion, die wie ein Erdbeben die Stadt zerstört hat, die ihre Fundamente erschütterte, die ganze Stadt zittern ließ, ein panisches kollektives Fliehen Tausender terrorisierter Menschen hat sich mitten im Zentrum der Hauptstadt ereignet und einen mindestens fünfzehn Meter hohen Pilz produziert, der wie der Pilz einer Atombombe erschien und alles, was sich im Radius der furchterregenden Druckwelle zerrissen.
Es war ein Zentrum für die zivile Kommunikation, Zivil wie auch die umstehenden Häuser. Wortwörtlich zu Staub gemacht. Die Offiziellen Zahlen sprechen von sieben Toten und 110 Verletzten. Die Realität scheint nicht weit von 35 Toten und über 300 Verletzten.
Die Bombardements sind seit gestern um 18.00 MEZ ohne Unterbrechung ständig wiederholt worden und haben zur Stunde noch nicht aufgehört.
Ich habe fühlen können, dass die Menschen, mit denen ich in Kontakt bin, zum ersten Mal in neun Tagen tief erschüttert sind.
Die ganze Stadt, und wir Reden von einer Stadt mit 5.000.000 Einwohner, als wären Rom und Mailand vereint, damit wir uns verstehen, ist in den eigenen Grenzen gefangen. Rund um den ganzen Stadtrand ist es ein einziges Hintereinander von Bomben und Raketen die es sowohl der Republikanischen Garde schwer machen, sich zu irgendwie zur Verteidigung der Stadt selbst zu positionieren, als auch einen ununterbrochenen Strom abertausender Stadtbewohner die aus den Randgebieten auf die Innenbezirke hinzu strömen mit einer genau so großen Zahl Iraqis, die auf jede erdenkliche Art versuchen, die Stadt zu verlassen, ohne dass es gelingen würde.
Das ethnografische und ethnologische Museum wurde getroffen und teilweise zerstört, wie auch das Gebäude des Fachbereichs Medizin der Universität, das sich knapp außerhalb des „Universitätsviertels“ befand, das bereits in den vergangenen Tagen zerstört wurde.
Nahrung beginnt in der ganzen Stadt eine Seltenheit zu werden, die Wasserversorgung ist weiterhin unterbrochen, was von Stunde zu Stunde die Seuchengefahr, insbesondere des Choleras, erhöht, weil die Bevölkerung gezwungen ist, auf aus den Flüssen entnommenes (oft, aber manchmal auch nicht, abgekochtes) Wasser zurückzugreifen, um sich zu waschen und um Eier und Gemüse zuzubereiten, die die einzigen auffindbaren Lebensmittel zu sein scheinen.
Die Abwassersysteme der Kanalisation sprudeln aus den Straßen und Plätzen Bagdads, weil sie in Folge der von unterirdischen Gaslecks verursachten sukzessiven Explosionen platzten.
Die Nachricht, dass Reporter – ein Journalisten und ein Fotograf - seit gestern irgendwie unerreichbar sind, hat Spannung unter den anwesenden unabhängigen Reportern hervorgerufen: es handelt sich um Matthew Mc Allester e Moses Saman vom Magazin “NewsDay”, die noch vorgestern in der Stadt gesehen wurden. Man weiß nur, dass sie am Mittwoch Morgen von der irakischen Polizei wie üblich wegen der fehlenden Akkreditierungen und Erlaubnisse (ein Problem, dass alle unabhängigen Reporter in Bagdad betrifft) angehalten wurden. Hierfür gibt es Augenzeugen, die aber nichts unternommen haben, weil das Problem mit den offiziellen „Pässen“ eben ein „Problem“ ist.
Ich bin gebeten worden, die Fotos zu veröffentlichen, weil sich so ziemlich alle unter den Fremden in der Stadt außerhalb der Kreisläufe der offiziellen Networks kennen, aber oft einander nicht beim Namen kennen, mal wegen sprachlichen Problemen, mal weil die Orte an denen sie leben sehr weit voneinander entfernt sind. Damit aber in dieser derartig angespannten Situation kein unnötiger Alarmismus aufkommt sagt man mir aber auch, dass sie nach Aussage von einigen, die mit ihnen gesprochen hatten auf dem Weg nach Syrien oder Jordanien waren. Es ist möglich, dass sie es geschafft haben, sich nach der polizeilichen Kontrolle zu „befreien“, und dass sie sich dann dafür entschieden haben, in Richtung dieser Länder abzureisen (beziehungsweise es zu versuchen) und deshalb für einige Tage nicht in der Lage sind, Nachrichten von sich zu geben.
Wir alle hoffen, dass es so sein möge.
Bis später, (hoffe ich)
r.
Stand: Friday March 28, 2003 at 03:08 PM
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/234438.php Ein Pilz wie der einer Atombombe
Die Explosion, die wie ein Erdbeben die Stadt zerstört hat, die ihre Fundamente erschütterte, die ganze Stadt zittern ließ, ein panisches kollektives Fliehen Tausender terrorisierter Menschen hat sich mitten im Zentrum der Hauptstadt ereignet und einen mindestens fünfzehn Meter hohen Pilz produziert, der wie der Pilz einer Atombombe erschien und alles, was sich im Radius der furchterregenden Druckwelle zerrissen.
Es war ein Zentrum für die zivile Kommunikation, Zivil wie auch die umstehenden Häuser. Wortwörtlich zu Staub gemacht. Die Offiziellen Zahlen sprechen von sieben Toten und 110 Verletzten. Die Realität scheint nicht weit von 35 Toten und über 300 Verletzten.
Die Bombardements sind seit gestern um 18.00 MEZ ohne Unterbrechung ständig wiederholt worden und haben zur Stunde noch nicht aufgehört.
Ich habe fühlen können, dass die Menschen, mit denen ich in Kontakt bin, zum ersten Mal in neun Tagen tief erschüttert sind.
Die ganze Stadt, und wir Reden von einer Stadt mit 5.000.000 Einwohner, als wären Rom und Mailand vereint, damit wir uns verstehen, ist in den eigenen Grenzen gefangen. Rund um den ganzen Stadtrand ist es ein einziges Hintereinander von Bomben und Raketen die es sowohl der Republikanischen Garde schwer machen, sich zu irgendwie zur Verteidigung der Stadt selbst zu positionieren, als auch einen ununterbrochenen Strom abertausender Stadtbewohner die aus den Randgebieten auf die Innenbezirke hinzu strömen mit einer genau so großen Zahl Iraqis, die auf jede erdenkliche Art versuchen, die Stadt zu verlassen, ohne dass es gelingen würde.
Das ethnografische und ethnologische Museum wurde getroffen und teilweise zerstört, wie auch das Gebäude des Fachbereichs Medizin der Universität, das sich knapp außerhalb des „Universitätsviertels“ befand, das bereits in den vergangenen Tagen zerstört wurde.
Nahrung beginnt in der ganzen Stadt eine Seltenheit zu werden, die Wasserversorgung ist weiterhin unterbrochen, was von Stunde zu Stunde die Seuchengefahr, insbesondere des Choleras, erhöht, weil die Bevölkerung gezwungen ist, auf aus den Flüssen entnommenes (oft, aber manchmal auch nicht, abgekochtes) Wasser zurückzugreifen, um sich zu waschen und um Eier und Gemüse zuzubereiten, die die einzigen auffindbaren Lebensmittel zu sein scheinen.
Die Abwassersysteme der Kanalisation sprudeln aus den Straßen und Plätzen Bagdads, weil sie in Folge der von unterirdischen Gaslecks verursachten sukzessiven Explosionen platzten.
Die Nachricht, dass Reporter – ein Journalisten und ein Fotograf - seit gestern irgendwie unerreichbar sind, hat Spannung unter den anwesenden unabhängigen Reportern hervorgerufen: es handelt sich um Matthew Mc Allester e Moses Saman vom Magazin “NewsDay”, die noch vorgestern in der Stadt gesehen wurden. Man weiß nur, dass sie am Mittwoch Morgen von der irakischen Polizei wie üblich wegen der fehlenden Akkreditierungen und Erlaubnisse (ein Problem, dass alle unabhängigen Reporter in Bagdad betrifft) angehalten wurden. Hierfür gibt es Augenzeugen, die aber nichts unternommen haben, weil das Problem mit den offiziellen „Pässen“ eben ein „Problem“ ist.
Ich bin gebeten worden, die Fotos zu veröffentlichen, weil sich so ziemlich alle unter den Fremden in der Stadt außerhalb der Kreisläufe der offiziellen Networks kennen, aber oft einander nicht beim Namen kennen, mal wegen sprachlichen Problemen, mal weil die Orte an denen sie leben sehr weit voneinander entfernt sind. Damit aber in dieser derartig angespannten Situation kein unnötiger Alarmismus aufkommt sagt man mir aber auch, dass sie nach Aussage von einigen, die mit ihnen gesprochen hatten auf dem Weg nach Syrien oder Jordanien waren. Es ist möglich, dass sie es geschafft haben, sich nach der polizeilichen Kontrolle zu „befreien“, und dass sie sich dann dafür entschieden haben, in Richtung dieser Länder abzureisen (beziehungsweise es zu versuchen) und deshalb für einige Tage nicht in der Lage sind, Nachrichten von sich zu geben.
Wir alle hoffen, dass es so sein möge.
Bis später, (hoffe ich)
r.
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Ergänzungen
Korrektur
5. Absatz. Satzende zweiter Satz
... mit einer genau so großen Zahl Iraqis, die auf jede erdenkliche Art versuchen, die Stadt zu verlassen, ohne dass es gelingen würde zusamen stossen lassen.
Weiter Entschuldigung für die Tippfehler.
Zusatz:
Al-Jazeera Qatar meldet 51 Tote und 49 Verletzte durch Bombeneinschlag auf einen Marktplatz im Volksviertel Nasr im Westen Bagdads.
Ich muss weinen
dieser sinnlose Krieg beendet ?!´
bitte schaut auch hier mal rein:
wir haben eine Idee für neue Friedensverhandlungen,
vllt. ein Lichtblick am Horizont.
Maria Magdalena vom Soulmailteam
Die USA und der Faktor Mensch
Italienische Agenturmeldung:
Wer sich über Formulieren aufregt, möge daran denken, dass es eine Meldung aus dem etablierten Medienbetrieb ist.
28-MÄRZ-03 16:49 (Ada/Rs/Adnkronos)
Iraq. Simulationsexperten: Die USA haben den Faktor Mensch ignoriert. Mathematiker Pool: Der Fehler von Vietnam wurde wiederholt.
Rom, 28. März.
Bei der Planung des Krieges gegen Saddam haben die amerikanischen Strategen "den psychosozialen Faktor bei der irakischen Bevölkerung unterschätzt, ja sogar, meinen wir, vollständig ignoriert. Und damit den eklatanten Fehler von Vietnam wiederholt. Heute beginnen wir, die dramatischen Folgen daraus zu sehen." Ein internationaler Pool von Mathematikern und Forschern hat dies behauptet; Nach dem Studium von über 300 offiziellen Quellen, unter denen viele aus dem Pentagon und dem Weißen Haus stammten, hatten sie festgestellt, das der "Faktor Mensch" im Gegensatz zu dem technisch-militärischen bei der Entwicklung der Kriegsszenarien von den USA überhaupt nicht berücksichtigt wurde.
Hau ab, du böser Pilz
Ein dickes Dankeschön für Licht im Dunkel
Jedenfalls Danke an die Quelle, die Übersetzer und an Indy.
Diese Updates gehören zu den wenigen, sich als zuverlässig erweisenden Informationen. Selbst die, jeweils unter Vorbehalt erwähnten Gerüchte erwiesen sich fast durchweg als wahr. So habe ich vom erneuten Abschuß einer Drohne zum ersten mal in diesen Berichten gehört. Dieser Abschuss wird mittlerweile sogar von der ARD erwähnt. Nochmals DANKE!
Vielleicht kann ja jemand mal die, sich als am glaubwürdigsten erweisenden Quellen, Medien, Internetadressen sammeln, und in einem Beitrag gegen die Desinformationskampagne posten. Ansonsten gibt es spätestens am Sonntag von mir einen Beitrag, wo ich die "besten" oder "sich bisher als wahrhaftigst" erscheinenden Informationsquellen zum aktuellen Geschehen mal gebündelt posten werde. Seid wachsam...
Al Jazeera - Nachrichten aus der Welt
Media Patrol
Independent correspondent Kim Sengupta's report on how Baghdad has coped with its first eight days of war, begins with "I was not meant to be here. If all had gone according to plan, by now I should have been sipping a large gin and tonic at the bar of the Intercontinental in Amman." Plus: "Fear and Loathing in Kuwait."
Philip Smucker, a contract reporter for the Christian Science Monitor and London's Telegraph, has been ordered out of Iraq by the Pentagon for disclosing sensitive information during an interview on CNN. A Monitor editor defends Smucker's actions.
Payback time? Smucker has been applauded for his reporting on how Osama bin Laden gave the U.S. and its Afghan proxy forces the slip at Tora Bora.
The U.N. drug agency said Afghan opium yields soared to 3,750 tons in 2002, making the country the world's number one producer again. There were few takers for the government's offer of $500 for every acre destroyed, since an acre of opium crop can bring up to $6,400.
Al-Jazeera hacked and poisoned and spammed, says it will delay launch of English-language Web site until mid-April. Reported incidents of hacking are said to have increased as much as tenfold since the invasion of Iraq.
"Democracy Now!" interviews an Al-Jazeera producer and hip-hop artist and activist Michael Franti, who says that a member of his band -- who has a sibling in the Gulf -- is under government surveillance.
Consultants advise radio and TV stations that patriotism pays.
"Forget the fog of war," says Toronto Star TV critic Antonia Zerbisias. "It is the fog of war coverage that is fouling the airwaves." Editor & Publisher cites '15 Stories They've Already Bungled.'
FAIR documents "embarrassing errors" by U.S. journalists in relation to post-invasion claims that proof had been found that Iraq possesses banned weapons.
The Guardian reports on the BBC's concerns about misinformation coming out of Iraq. A BBC source says that "We're getting more truth out of Baghdad than the Pentagon at the moment. Not because Baghdad is putting out pure and morally correct information but because they're less savvy about it, I think." Plus: 'The development of war propaganda.'
British military interrogators claim that captured Iraqi soldiers have told them at least a dozen members of al-Qaeda are fighting on the side of Saddam's forces against allied troops near Basra.
Robert Fisk says that unedited Al-Jazeera tapes "provide damaging proof that Anglo-American spokesmen have not been telling the truth about the battle for Basra."
British military officials say that Iraqi forces fired on about 2,000 civilians trying to flee Basra.
Doug Ireland describes how assertions made by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on "Meet the Press" were refuted in real time by NBC correspondents. Plus: 'No Cakewalk'
Although Richard Perle resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board over conflict of interest allegations, Justin Raimondo says that the failure of Perle's Iraq policy "and the subsequent collapse of the military strategy that evolved out of it, is reason enough to have tossed him out on his ear."
"In the last two years Mr. Cheney and other top officials have gotten it wrong again and again -- on energy, on the economy, on the budget," writes Paul Krugman. "But political muscle has insulated them from any adverse consequences. So they, and the country, don't learn from their mistakes -- and the mistakes keep getting bigger." Earlier: 'Confidence Men.'
The Scotsman reports on the obsessive hunt for information about the Baghdad blogger.
United Way cancels event with Susan Sarandon over her antiwar stance.
CNN post names and pictures of U.S. and British troops who have been killed in Iraq.
Is regime change closer than one might think?
Forward Operating Base's "Shell" and "Exxon" join "Bush International Airport" and "freedom camps" in Iraq.
March 27
Josh Marshall introduces his Washington Monthly cover story titled "Practice to Deceive: Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario -- it's their plan."
Fedayeen Factor Intelligence analysts say their warnings that U.S. troops would face significant resistance from Iraqi irregular forces employing guerrilla tactics, have not been adequately reflected in the Bush administration's public predictions about how difficult a war might go.
'Fight Or Die' Wounded Iraqi soldier says "The officers threatened to shoot us unless we fought. They took out their guns and pointed them and told us to fight."
As the U.S. orders 30,000 reinforcements to the Gulf, the Washington Post reports that some U.S. military officials are convinced that the war is likely to last months and will require considerably more combat power than is now on hand in Iraq and Kuwait.
New Mexico prosecutor put on paid leave for allegedly pointing out undercover officers to fellow antiwar protesters.
TV consultant's research says protest coverage a loser with viewers.
A leader of the 9/11 victims' families accuses Bush administration of undermining investigation into attacks: "They've never wanted the commission and I feel the White House has always been looking for a way to kill it without having their finger on the murder weapon." Earlier: Administration charged with "hugger-mugger strangulation" of commission.
Will Iraq be used to expand presidential powers?
The head of the Iraqi army at the time when Saddam is said to have gassed his own people, may be assisting the U.S. in its war against Iraq.
U.S. gets wary welcome in Iraq and Arab intellectuals pray for Saddam.
"Black Hawk Down" author Mark Bowden says if Saddam wins his bet -- that people in Baghdad will rally around his crack troops -- "coalition forces could face fighting reminiscent of the 1993 battle of Mogadishu." Plus: Troops in civilian clothes reportedly taking over Baghdad homes.
Reporting on the Baghdad market bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 30, the Los Angeles Times John Daniszewski quotes an Iraqi professor who says that "America makes one mistake after another. They have compromised the whole idea of democracy versus dictatorship."
The Parroting Peacock NBC reports Pentagon's "precise" and "surgical" bombing claims as fact.
Protesters placed child size coffins in front of CNN's San Francisco bureau to denounce what they believe is an underreporting of Iraqi casualties. Plus: Sanitized for your protection.
In an even-handed assessment of war coverage, Tim Goodman writes that "critics should separate in-studio chatter -- where bias and stupidity are easier to identify -- from battlefield reporting that sends back video images we'd never see if they weren't there."
Fairly Unbalanced Pro-war placarder lands gig as military analyst on Fox affiliate. Plus: Cookie cutter TV chain flanks Fox on right.
In an analysis titled 'Polls Suggest Media Failure in Pre-War Coverage,' the editor of the Pew Research Center is quoted saying "It's very rare to find a perception that's been so disputed by experts yet firmly held by the public. There's almost nothing the public doesn't believe about Saddam Hussein."
The U.S. has yet to find any banned weapons in Iraq, but Marines did come across a mural depicting a plane crashing into a high-rise building.
U.S. ambassador to Canada rebukes Liberal government for not supporting the U.S. in its war with Iraq, party considers call for expulsion.
Civilians caught in Nassiriyah crossfire, embed reportedly asked to pack pistol. Plus: Doonesbury in the desert.
March 26
'Who Lied To Whom?' The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh asks how it was possible that fake documents -- cited by the U.S. and Britain as evidence that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger -- managed "to move, without significant challenge, through the top layers of the American intelligence community."
The disclosure that the documents were fake "has renewed complaints among analysts at the CIA about the way intelligence related to Iraq has been handled," according to the New York Times James Risen, who writes that "Analysts at the agency said they had felt pressured to make their intelligence reports on Iraq conform to Bush administration policies."
In an earlier New Yorker article, Hersh raised the possibility that the business dealings of Pentagon advisor Richard Perle represented a conflict of interest. Now, Rep. John Conyers has asked the Defense Department to investigate Perle.
A Code Pink activist disrupted Perle, after she crashed a neocon war briefing on Iraq at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, has been awarded a no-bid contract to fight oil well fires in Iraq. Arms and The Man has it covered.
Bush administration officials are being criticized for downplaying the potential difficulty of the conflict in Iraq and waiting until the last minute to say that the war could be a long one.
In a contentious press briefing, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer takes incoming over evasive answers to questions about war warnings and humanitarian aid. At one point a reporter says: "Wait a second, Ari. This is wartime. That's a dodge of the question." Earlier: The wartime packaging of President Bush.
With Americans almost at the city gates, John Burns describes the sense of foreboding among residents of Baghdad, who fear the possibility that civil war could break out if the American siege is protracted. Plus: 'In an Ominous Sky, a City Divines Its Fate.'
U.S. military officers say that the battle for Baghdad will be delayed, as the focus shifts to concentrating on the fedayeen and other militias serving Saddam Hussein in the south. Plus: Are Saddam's bunkers bustable?
The Daily Kos reprints a background analysis of the situation in Iraq, "written by a fairly well known military officer and commentator who under the circumstances is going to have to remain unidentified." It's "based on Officer X's conversations with some of his colleagues -- all of whom are harshly critical of the war plan and Rumsfeld's meddling with it."
In a Christian Science Monitor commentary, Brendan O'Neill asks: Could the war in Iraq be the first politically correct invasion? Earlier: 'Making a Mess' and 'Gulf War meets Culture War.'
Live and Un-Embedded "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman and correspondent Jeremy Scahill speak with Robert Fisk, who is in Baghdad.
In 'Deeply Embedded,' Matt Taibbi writes that "If you blocked out all the catchphrases the networks deployed for this war (and they were definitely deployed, that’s exactly the right word), there was almost no journalistic content left. Most broadcasts were little more than an unceasing string of military jingles and acronyms, many of them obvious sexual double-entendres." Plus: 'War Porn.'
The Onion joins the fray, with special war coverage.
The Guardian reports that non-U.S. journalists in Doha, Qatar, are calling themselves the "awkward squad," because the questions that they pose to the generals running the war are so much more skeptical than those asked by their American colleagues.
Scroll down to 'An open letter to the Washington Post' that begins with "On the BBC World News today, a British commentator said, 'One of the Iraq war's major casualties is the credibility of the American media. Nobody takes it seriously.'"
Reuters reports that U.S. actions in Iraq have prompted "a nascent worldwide movement" against American brands.
Mustarding a Defense "Recently there has been some confusion as to the origin of French’s mustard. For the record, French’s would like to say, there is nothing more American than French’s mustard."
March 25
In 'Behind the Lines,' an examination of the war and its aftermath, New York magazine's Michael Wolff asks: 'What isn't the press covering? Are we missing the story? And what will it be like to be an American when the smoke clears?'
Retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey says that if the Iraqis fight to defend Baghdad "it's going to be brutal, dangerous work and we could take, bluntly, a couple to 3,000 casualties."
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's war strategy -- air power over ground troops -- comes under fire. Plus: At what cost Baghdad?
Saddam's strategy, his Fedayeen and a possible 'secret weapon.'
A Ha'aretz analysis asks: 'What happened to the civil uprising against Saddam?' Plus: 'Invasion v liberation.'
The New York Times reports that the U.S. plans to bypass the U.N. and establish immediate sole control of postwar Iraq.
Derrick Jackson writes that unable to convince the U.N. to become the coalition of the willing, President Bush "settled for a coalition of welfare states." And P.M. Carpenter asks: 'What Would We Do Without Albania?'
Won a Battle "The peace movement may have lost the war," writes the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland, but "in ways that few could have predicted, the antiwar campaign has helped shape the way the war itself is being fought."
Doing Paul Proud Antiwar protesters take over the Minnesota office of Sen. Norm Coleman, the same office that was previously occupied by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone and his staff.
NPR guest discovers that toeing the antiwar line doesn't follow the right script. Earlier: 'I was almost a stooge for NPR.'
Sorting out the claims and counter claims as the fog of war thickens. Plus: U.S. propaganda effort bogs down.
In an interview with Editor & Publisher, Norman Solomon suggests that U.S. journalists also embed themselves with Iraqi families, "But it's obviously better to be on the sending rather than the receiving end of missiles."
While more than 500 correspondents have been officially embedded with the troops, almost three times that many have obtained credentials as "unilaterals." A U.S. Army Colonel has rebuked some of them for "sneaking into" Iraq.
Al-Jazeera launches English-language Web site. It has already been hacked.
Delisted! New York Stock Exchange bars Al-Jazeera reporter from trading floor.
Salon reports on a Florida web-hosting company's decision to shut down YellowTimes.org for posting screen captures from the videotape aired by Al-Jazeera of U.S. soldiers captured and killed by Iraqi troops. More here.
As (Not) Seen On (U.S.) TV The Memory Hole collects unforgiving images of civilians, POWs, and soldiers on both sides.
UPI reports on what it says is the sole Iraqi refugee to make it to the Jordanian border since the beginning of the war. He's stuck in a tent in a no man's land between the two countries.
The St. Petersburg Times profiles an exiled Iraqi editorial cartoonist who skewers Saddam from Jordan.
In a link-rich analysis of the war, Justin Raimondo writes that "Hubris turns out to be the chief weakness of the Americans, who, since 9/11, have seen events through the prism of a distorting self-righteousness that has blinded them – until now – to the consequences of this war."
U.S. missiles take lives in Northern Iraq, 'raise ire' of Turkish villagers.
Self-aggrandizing blogger takes share of credit for "breaking" story about "chemical weapons plant."
Vice President Cheney's office has denied reports that one of his daughters was considering becoming a human shield in Iraq.
March 24
Robert Dreyfuss asks: "Is Iraq the opening salvo in a war to remake the world?" Plus: 'Ideologues reshape world over breakfast.'
Elijah Wald predicts 'a familiar future for Iraq,' that keeps "the Baath Party in power, perhaps with a change of name, but otherwise managing everything more or less as it has been."
Supporting the Troops CorpWatch reports that thousands of employees of Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, are working alongside U.S. forces in Kuwait and Turkey under a package deal worth more than $800 million. Plus: "We have a winner in Iraq" and Halliburton is forced to reconsider its operations in Iran.
The Nation gets worldwide reaction to war in dispatches from 13 countries.
Brendan O'Neill writes that "Watching the coverage (and trying to see through the 'fog of war'), it seems that American and British forces faced some fairly average wartime problems over the weekend... Yet some reports now claim that it's all going horribly wrong, and that the invasion, and the military strategy itself, are on 'very shaky ground'. What's going on?"
Was Saddam In the Can? His speech cited several units and commanders for their "heroic feats in the battlefield,” including the commander of the 11th Iraqi Brigade in Basra, who surrendered along with many of his troops in the early hours of the war.
President Bush reportedly used strong language in a March 2002 vow that the U.S. would take out Saddam.
U.S. news outlets struggle with decision on airing of videotape showing captured and killed American soldiers. Plus: The view from Europe and YellowTimes.org shut down by hosting provider for posting video pics.
Cable newsfolk said to be too busy patting themselves on the back to offer perspective.
Retired military generals lead TV's charge to war and CNN 'gets a dose of itself' in an Aaron Brown interview with Al-Jazeera's chief Washington correspondent.
In a commentary titled "In This War, We Report What They Decide," Michael Ryan argues that "The American media, essentially, have become an extension of military psychological operations."
MTV memo recommends steering clear of war-related music videos.
Texas newspaper cancels column following publication of "Who are the real, useful idiots?"
A National Review article by former White House speechwriter, David Frum, questions the patriotism of anti-war conservatives, including columnist Robert Novak.
War dissidents take a beating in 'clash over who is a patriot.'
Minnesota poet and essayist Bill Holm writes that had Paul Wellstone lived, "he would certainly have said a large and eloquent No, and given strength and courage to millions of ordinary people to stand behind him. He would have made fierce dissent not only respectable, but patriotic -- even noble."
Chris Floyd says that the Bush administration is engaged in a "hugger-mugger strangulation of the 'Independent Commission' appointed to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks."
A Guardian report from Baghdad quotes an Iraqi filmmaker as saying that "Normal people don't understand that the Americans are just going around towns. They think the Americans are weak. The government has brainwashed them that they are coming here to invade Iraq, and it will be their country, not Iraq's. That is why they are giving battle."
Mail
shields got deported (on 24/25/26 March) all of them missing since than,
maybe they are suspected of espionage or something, we don't know because we
lost all contact with Bagdad.
The shields went on their way to Syria or Jordan, also 2 journalists missing
from Newsday.com who travelled on 24 feb with shields on a touristvisa
because the iraqi goverment was'nt issueing special visa anymore. We fear
for their life's because the road from Bagdad to Jordan and Syria is
extremely dangerous to travel because off US/UK army bombing and shooting
cars, buses, bridges and gasstations on the route.
Two german citizen, members of the Iraqi Peace Team managed to reach Amman
yesterday, saying they have seen bombed buses and civilian cars where the
drivers got directly targeted by apache helicopters, the frontwindows of the
cars had hole's as big as a football. On the route all petrolstations and
several bridges and crossings had been bombed.
They also told about one autobus they believe to have seen was still full of
burned corpses, and that there where no iraqi solders outside the range of
50 kilometer from Bagdad, on are next to the road. We videotaped their
horrible story as soon as they got in the hotel were is also the office of
the human shields in Amman.
Another big worry is the news about a missile attack on a
telecommunicationcenter in Bagdad, because one of the site's were the human
shields are staying in Bagdad is located in a communicationcenter, we don't
know if this is the one.
The last contact with Bagdad is at least from two days ago, that's how we
found out about people being on their way to Amman, there might also be more
journalist, writers and individuals on their way from Bagdad who got
expelled from Iraq. That's about all the information we have at this moment.
We will publish the names of the people we believe that are missing later
this day. All the people travelled in different groups.
Johan Groeneveld, Human Shields Office, Amman