iraq
vietnam on internet time
I've noticed that this war has been unfolding very fast and, as much as the White House and the Pentagon are trying to hide things, Al-Jazeerah and the Intenet are accelerating the flow of information at a rate that is breathtaking. A comment at The Agonist used the term Vietnam on Internet time. So true.
For a continous war update see: The Agonist
For analysis see: dailyKOS and Talking Points Memo
For a blog of an unembedded journalist: Back to Iraq 2.0
Images of war
Fleeing Basra
An Iraqi girl peers out of a vehicle in which she and her mother managed to flee from Basra, in southern Iraq, on March 29. British forces have surrounded Basra and say they want to open the way for badly needed humanitarian aid, but face resistance from Iraqi troops and paramilitaries.
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Josh, at Talking Points Memo, is on a roll. These posts are all a must read: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Robert Fisk: In Baghdad, blood and bandages for the innocent
The piece of metal is only a foot high, but the numbers on it hold the clue to the latest atrocity in Baghdad.
At least 62 civilians had died by yesterday afternoon, and the coding on that hunk of metal contains the identity of the culprit. The Americans and British were doing their best yesterday to suggest that an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile destroyed those dozens of lives, adding that they were "still investigating" the carnage. But the coding is in Western style, not in Arabic. And many of the survivors heard the plane.
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Nick Guttmann: Wanted: 32 Galahads a day
Coverage of the looming humanitarian crisis in Iraq has been dominated over the past few days by two images. The first is of battle-trained British troops struggling, almost panicking, over the task of distributing food and water to populations that are unwilling to form an orderly queue. The second is of the supply ship Sir Galahad, after many delays, finally docking at the port Umm Qasr with its eagerly awaited aid cargo. Both give an equally distorted picture of what is needed now by the people of Iraq.
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Does the West understand how this hated war is altering the Arab world?
Al-Jazeera has changed everything ? the agenda is no longer dominated by Western news outlets or state-controlled media
They do not know what they are doing or why they are doing it
From before 11 September Iraq was "on the agenda" of the divided Bush administration for reasons that would require the assistance of a psychiatrist, as well as political and military analysts. They decided on war long ago and then went about searching for the precise reasons. Even less thought has been given as to how the war will end and what will happen in the immediate aftermath. In Britain, Clare Short was quite open about this in a Commons debate held last month. She said then that the UN did not want to contemplate the aftermath of a war that many of its members strongly opposed. Of the many statements from the Bush administration about the war none conveys a clear sense of what will happen afterwards. It has been a constant theme in US newspapers, most of whom support the war, while despairing over the lack of planning. That is what is so worrying about the shifting arguments and statements from the political leaders. They do not know what they are doing or why they are doing it. They are fighting an unnecessary war and are still trying to find the reasons to justify it, even though the conflict has started and lives are being lost.
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Victory no longer inevitable
Scorned general's tactics proved right
Profile of the army chief sidelined by Rumsfeld
Standoff at Basra Hints at Tough Time in Baghdad
Ten days after U.S. Marines and British troops stormed into southern Iraq, Basra is still under siege. Iraqi army regulars and members of the Saddam's Fedayeen militia have interspersed themselves among civilians, leaving British commandos wondering aloud whether they will have to enter the city and face house-to-house combat with hard-core fighters.
As the stalemate drags on, many soldiers and even some nearby Iraqi villagers are asking: If Basra has proven so difficult, how much more problematic will it prove for U.S. troops to conquer Baghdad, President Saddam Hussein's capital and the seat of his Baath Party power?
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New Fear Dawns over Baghdad
A Hot Summer Siege?
U.S. Orders 4-6 Day Pause in Iraq Advance-Officers
Conflict sapping forces' morale
U.S. Tactics May Seem Original, But History Offers Some Lessons
Patton's Sweep Is Cause for Confidence; While Bombings Didn't 'Awe' in Vietnam
‘We Will Turn Bush Into a Dog’
The Americans badly miscalculated by believing that the Iraqis would welcome them as liberators
thanks to drat fink |
