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Tuesday, March 9, 2004
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Obesity May Be a Killer, but It Could Help Bush Create More Jobs
The U.S. Department of Health sounded a warning today: obesity will overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
I can't help but think back to the docs who told me to quit smoking and "not to worry" about gaining weight.
Fortunately, I didn't listen. Smoked more. Lost more weight. Obesity won't get me.
But... I do have an idea.
To combat the evils of smoking, we banned indoor smoking and forced us poor, kind, nicotine-starved people outdoors. We raised tobacco taxes. It worked in large part (no pun intended).
So, the simple solution to cut down on obesity? Keep the fat people outside.
This means they'll have to move around to stay warm - and thus lose weght. That's good for the health of the American population.
It also means, though, that corporate America will come to a screeching halt, unless the thinner smokers are willing to work indoors again.
What a way to create new jobs!
Congres should forget its attempt at blocking lawsuits against restaurants. Let the suits begin. It'll put fatness on the outcast list, just as it has done the smokers.
We'll begin seeing , "eating here is bad for your health" ads from the nation's food chains.
Think of the possibilities.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:49:41 PM
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Sunday, December 14, 2003
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The Thrill of Rumor
"The scars on the body of this man match the scars of Saddam Hussein."
Talabani 'confirms' the arrest of Saddam Hussein."
High-ranking Pentagon officers began taking press phone calls as early as 4 a.m.
May have been; is reported to be; seems to be; would be; appears to be...
Amazing words from journalists trained to report observations, but apparently paid to proffer opinions.
So many different, cyncial scenarios can be invisioned. Saddam captured during Thanksgiving dinner while Bush ate Turkey in Baghdad. Saddam captured the day before Christmas, before Christmas eve, while people still watch news. Saddam captured at the beginning of the war, but 'capture' announced at a politically appropriate time.
One wonders.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:23:04 AM
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Tuesday, November 4, 2003
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Not Much to Say
Other than I believe.
I believe in individuals and individual ability and power. I believe in work. In research. In listenting to all sides.
And, I believe, that the conclusions I draw then - based on all the above - are founded in reality.
That's all.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:02:09 PM
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Dean Just Lost My Vote
As soon as a policitician, who understands language and tone and innuendo, can say "those people"... sorry Governor. You just blew it.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:13:31 PM
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
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Death of Idealism
I've known for a while now, not overly long, but certainly not just yesterday or last year, that idealism is for the young. And that's where it has the stongest chance of influencing our tomorrows.
Today, a colleague-friend committed a stupid act. He's a he and of course, the act was perpetuated against a woman.
Hard part is, I understand it. I understand the whys behind it; I understand the abhorence of it.; I see the grays.
A definite sign of age.
The story goes thusly:
An employer, an over-achiever, very smart, very multi-tasking guy is hosting a public event on a college campus that involves a guest speaker who's offered to autograph books. Near the end of the presentation, the book sellers, who happen to be his employees, move from the presentation room to the hall.
Not knowing why, and watching a line of prospective buyers queue where the booksellers were but now aren't, he jumps from the stage, finds the employee in charge, and in a hallway with only one witness (another employee), grabs her shoulders and gives her a shake.
Ohmigod.
I understand frustration. I understand parental desire to shake sense into someone. I understand.
I also understand thefeeling of being on the receiving end - and it is not pleasant, at all.
The main point is, I understand. My other colleagues, several decades younger than I, are outraged. As well they should be. Because if they remain outraged, maybe we all will - even as we approach advanced age. And maybe then, there will be no thought of ever using force to make a point... like no wars, no domestic violence, no bullies, ad infinitum.
Maybe.
In the meantime, some of us who have worked with idealism, who've envisioned better worlds, only to watch our dreams thwarted, can understand how idealism dies.
And we choose to go on, and make a difference in the minimal ways we can.
That's not enough. We need to encourage and nurture the idealism of the young.
But, it's hard when faced with realities.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:35:52 PM
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Is the United States Paralleling Pre-2003 Iraq?
I'm reading NPR correspondent Ann Garrels' book, Naked in Baghdad. At one point, after discussing how continuing sanctions combined with a lack of news, entertainment and hope seems to have increased attendance at the mosques, she writes:
"Though once emphatically secular, Saddam launched the so-called Faith Campaign in the '90s to boost his legitimacy at home and in the rest of the world... Professor Muhammed al-Sayed [president of Saddam University] says the Faith Campaign has helped Iraqis withstand difficult circumstances. He believes it has also given the once strictly secular Iraqi government greater authority... What he doesn't say is that mosques under tight state control have become another vehicle to proclaim Saddam's policies."
Then I think about Bush's faith-based initiatives where the administration has eliminated more and more regulatory and policy barriers in an attempt to enable faith-based organizations to partner with the federal government. Changes have occurred in the departments of HHS, HUD, ED, DOL, DOJ, and VA.
And I wonder about our own populace's increasing concern about economic conditions, failing schools, distrust, etc and have grave misgivings about where we are headed.
This, combined with a quote from George H.W. Bush this morning (see below) puts my thoughts in harmony with this savagely-windy, overly-gray day.
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"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in Ômission creep,' and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."
George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (1998), pp. 489-90
permalink posted by: jgh 10:28:28 AM
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Sunday, September 14, 2003
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Stepping into Near Reality... and Away
Four hundred yards from the back of my house is the ocean - not the beach, but the ocean. The beach part is about a mile away.
It was a hot summer here. For a variety of reasons, I haven't been to the beach in nine or 10 weeks.
Today I went.
It was cloudy, breezy, beautful and quiet.
As I sat there, I realized what others likely know. I was basking in the silence, salt, sea, and sand, and it dawned on me that soldiers are dying, Jews and Palestinians are being blown up, children are dying, women are starving, families are homeless, HIV is infecting.... and I couldn't sit there anymore.
I'd been there 20 minutes.
Information overload.
For months, between dealing with family health and wellness issues and being Internet-connected 15+ hours a day, I realized there's only so much that can be taken in.
Information overload is overstated and little understood. We all know how to scan though our essential readings, delete spam with a keystroke, and go about our lives. But there are times...
There are times when the ways of the world spin so far out of control, that one becomes more plugged in, more aware of something other than self. And if s/he who becomes aware actually processes the information, the findings are staggering.
So more is read. More is listened to. More is processed. And the brain expands. And expands. And expands.
Then, it eiether works itself into a frenzy, explodes and ends up in a nut house, shuts down, or shares.
And when there is no sharing, as is the case for many million of people who live alone or live alone with very young children, there's a problem.
No matter what one's skills or talents, they are needed in this troubled mess we've created. But with all intake and no output, the soul can implode.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:53:44 PM
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Sunday, September 7, 2003
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$87 Billion and Wherever Else It Leads
...But, I know children kids who help support their families, so they can all eat hotdogs... I work in educational settings that merely perpetuate the old ways - "the proven methods" - that no longer apply or work... I have a president that I become increasingly convinced is intent on being dictator of the world...
And, I shudder.
He says we shall destroy the terrorists "wherever that may lead us;" we'll work to enlist the support of other nations to help free the Iraqis; and we'll "help" allow them to run their own country....
For an additional $87 billion dollars. The "average" American last year earned $25,633. She'd need to work 3.4 billion years to earn that amount of money. Or, she'd need to stack single dollar bills, face-to-face, on the drive from Boston to Los Angeles and almost all the way back.
Or, she'd need a new-age rocket ship, not yet designed and lay them end-to-end, from here to the sun and back. Almost five times.
And a kid a few doors down has trouble getting to school, because the education budget's been hit and there is no school bus - unless he can pay for it. And I pass many homeless - vets, discharged pyschiatric patients, fathers holding their children - each day I travel to the city. And I wonder what we are doing and why.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:20:20 PM
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Monday, August 25, 2003
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A Day's Events
And, although this is not a normal one, I've come to understand that there are no such creatures in my life. Nevertheless, here is part of today:
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My son needed to go to the emergency room at 3:00am for asthma treatment.
- Hundreds were wounded; dozens died in a bombing in India
- I met a remarkable young man, recently graduated from MIT, with a brain that sees possibilities, who also understands how to make those possibilities real
- I worked two full-time jobs
- I was offered another
- North Koreas still has nuclear capabilities
- My daughter couldn't tape 'General Hospital' at school because I don't understand VCRs
- CNN interviewed a 12-year old medical student
- I had two cyber friends and colleagues offer me their shirts (figuratively)
- My dad didn't yet die from multiple myeloma
- Mars is orange and not red - at least through plain eyes, viewing from Cape Cod
- The kids a few towns over got interviewed because they made it into (but lost) the Little League World series
- No one at work mentioned Daniel Pipes
- 38 people (unbenounced to them) tried to infect me with the SoBig virus
- 2 tried to tell me how to avoid the virus
- I use a Mac
- I didn't kill anyone driving the 92 miles home (alhtough a few choice words escaped in the privacy of my car)
- I heard interviews with prison officials about the hows and whys and what-nots regarding the killing of a prison inmate convicted of 150+ counts of child molestation
- I learned more reasons not to believe in God's benevolence and omnipotence
- I didn't get too many emails about Arnold- the Terminator - Shwarzenager (apologies for any gross misspellings)
- I learned I will never, no mattter how much I desire, learn all there is to learn...
And I realize that most people live similarly fragmented disjointed days. And the puzzle we each need to solve lies (I think) in understanding ourselves, the world we live in, and our relationship with those we know (and don't) that inhabit the same space... and...
And tomorrow, the fun begins again.
permalink posted by: jgh 8:46:38 PM
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Saturday, August 23, 2003
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Something Worth Considering
Soul meanders...
Then, as a reader, whether one agrees or not with the passage, a self-analysis of why follows - that is, if one can think and envision, imagine, feel empathy...
The fact that a few scribbled words can provoke this is the marvel of the mind. And, sometimes, certainly, a constraint. But for all the times it is a constraint, the fact that such words have emanated from a wo(a)ndering mind, brings to the forefront the wonders of the world and those who live here.
Life is very short for some, too long for others. And for others, it is consumed by a burning desire to know - even if the questioner has no idea what (s)he questions. The questions themselves are the life support.
And then, once in a rare while, the silence (after reading such words) comes and lets us breathe - for a bit - and process (also for a bit)... before we commence again.
Where is the silence I now need?
permalink posted by: jgh 8:12:00 PM
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Two Political Notes
I got an email for Senator Orin Hatch today. Why he has my email address is beyond me since we have very different perspectives on the way the world should be,
Earlier in the day I received a contract with a government agency - their addition was wrong. They needed to add two whole round numbers. somehow that was a bit too much, I guess. I laughed, albeit a bit wryly.
In any event, what accompanied Senator's Hatch's email, turned the laughte to astonishment. The SoBig virus - which of course, since I'm using a Mac and have religiously updated all my security and virus patches on my PC - didn't really matter. But I quickly began to wonder if the goverment had any clue at all what it was doing.
Well, the contract is real - and the math still wrong (I wonder if government officials should take the standardized high school graduation tests now required all over the place?). But, of course, Senator Hatch hadn't really emailed me - unless he's using TerraWorld. Then again... who knows?
permalink posted by: jgh 2:50:20 PM
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Sunday, July 27, 2003
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An Ending
Screenplay #1
Act 1
[Curtain rises]
[Actor 1] Talk. Converse. Talk, talk.
[Stage fades to darkness]
[Dim lights rise]
[Actor 1] In summation: ah, shit.
[Curtain drops]
Act 2
[Curtain rises]
[Actor 1, looking into a dark distance] Hope the trips were good ones.
[Curtain falls]
Epilogue
[Curtain rises on empty stage]
Applause.
People leave the theatre.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:30:24 PM
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Friday, May 30, 2003
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Nightime on the Coast
It's a small coastal community I live in; quiet for most months of the year. It's 3:00 a.m and everything has been closed for the equivalent of a standard U.S. workday. The black skies envelope the silence... even the coyote and skunks are quiet.
Imagine what it's like away from here... where the barrage of gunfire still sounds; where the screams of injured might be heard; where women submit to beatings quietly; where children die of hunger...
It is time to move on.
permalink posted by: jgh 3:08:41 AM
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Friday, May 16, 2003
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Simple Note
Never settle. Learn. Grow. Move past and on.
permalink posted by: jgh 10:05:03 PM
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Thursday, May 15, 2003
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Another Good Reason to Vote American
We've learned how to sacrifice humans and save inanimate structures. Thus, our population will never explode... and we can decrease such in overpopulated countries... along with simply annihilating people we don't care for.
(AP) - U.S. tactics in the war with Iraq - including use of a new kind of missile that kills people without destroying buildings - demonstrate why the military must evolve into a lighter, faster force, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:03:08 PM
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Sunday, May 11, 2003
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Shh, Don't Say a Word
Freedom of speech isn't exactly free. You can't yell "fire!" in a crowded room and you can't threaten the president of the United States - whether in anger or jest. But, what constitutes a "threat"?
Last month the Secret Services descended on a California high school to interrogate two students who, in an English class discussion, said "Bush is whacked." The students' teacher had called the SS.
A month earlier, other SS agents asked an American-Arab student if "he had ever dreamed or hallucinated about President Bush, and if he wanted to kill him."
There's more, too. Look at Houston's tiny Art Car Museum. The FBI showed up, looking into anti-American activities when Secret Wars, "an exhibit on US covert operations and government secrets, opened.
Lest we think this is all a result of our new need for a secure homeland, consider what occured before Septemeber 11.
The Secret Service investigated a college student "who wrote a satirical editorial asking Jesus to 'smite' President Bush.
They also questioned a man in Georgia whose truck has bumper stickers that say "hell with Bush" and suggest that Bush is a "two-faced murderer."
The Supreme Court, through myriad rulings, has said that U.S. government restrictions on free expression are valid if:
- "the regulation furthers an important or substantial government interest,
- the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression, and
- the incidental restriction on alleged First Amendment rights is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest."
Too bad we don't have much say in what the interests of our government are.
permalink posted by: jgh 8:44:35 AM
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Saturday, May 10, 2003
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Maybe We Could Try This, Too
People visiting Gaza must now sign waivers, exempting Israel from responsibility of their death or maiming that might result from military activity.
We could ask those entering Iraq to do the same - one way to deal with the recently arrived Ayatollah al-Hakim who stirs memories of Iranian rule. That way a missile could accidentally land on him with no repercussions.
We could do it for people entering the US, too. Might cut down on lawsuits brought against the government for invasion of privacy - which seems to be an action that results fron our war on terrorism, which is certainly a military action.
Maybe even ask parents of newborns to sign waivers for their kids too. We could even tie it to healthcare benefits. No sign, no insurance. Then we'd have a whole generation of people who would have no recourse if something happened as a result of our military.
Think of the possibilites...
permalink posted by: jgh 10:08:35 AM
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Thursday, May 8, 2003
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Where We Are Headed?
Along the path of a political philosopher whose views were "elitist, amoral and hostile to democratic government?"
Given the dearth of voices, could be.
In which case, we have worked hard to earn it, I suppose.
Someday, pehaps, strong minds will co-opt, rather than mere might.
Maybe not, too.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:30:22 PM
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Thursday, May 1, 2003
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Conversations with Colleagues
For the past year, I have spent some time at a nearby university teaching freshman English. I sent my colleagues the following question:
Hello all people nearing the end of the semester:
First, I am not instigating a fight, although I would like to perhaps
restart the once pretty interesting conversations that occurred here. And I
have a question I am hoping you can help me with.
In the course of some research for a paper I'm writing, I found an
interesting quote from Prime Minister Sharon from October 2001: I want to tell you something very clear: Don[base ']t worry about American
pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the
Americans know it. - Knesset, Tel Aviv, October 3, 2001.
Relatively inflammatory, yes? It's also been reported to be a hoax.
This, combined with the message of today's noontime library browsing area
speaker, Maryknoll Fr. Ray Bourgeois, of the School of America's Watch, the
watchdog who founded a grassroots organization to keep tabs on a school
which has recently been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation, made me question what I am doing.
I teach part-time because I love teaching and I love learning from students.
I am fortunate in that I can indulge that love. But, I also teach because I
thoroughly enjoy the interchange among those who so love learning that
they've dedicated their careers to furthering their own along with that of
their students. And it is to you, I address my question.
I am stymied. I think we've entered a very serious era in our culture - one
that can influence generations to come and yet I find the vast majority of
my students do not care about much going on in the world - as long as they
are "trained" to be employable. So my question is what role does awareness
of (notice I did not say (dis)agreement with) international events and
policies have in an academic institution> An, in particular, what role, if
any, does this play in my teaching - as a teacher of (more often than not)
first-generation college freshman?
I have been both educator and corporate trainer and find the lines getting
very blurred. Whatever ideas or suggestions you have, I would like to know
and would appreciate them greatly.
I would really like to know...
...from anyone....
permalink posted by: jgh 7:58:46 PM
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Wednesday, April 30, 2003
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Creating Alternative Reality
We've just participated in a war, fought for shifting reasons, designed to bring freedom to a people now gunned down for protesting.
We've learned of Iraqi "news" for the past 12 years from a television station that admits to reading government propaganda and not reporting reality so it could retain access to the area.
Last October, Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services, received a letter from several House members which read, in part:
"...a pattern of events at the Department of Health and Human Services suggesting that scientific decision-making is being subverted by ideology and that scientific information that does not fit the Administration's political agenda is being suppressed... Scientific information that does not serve the Administration's ideological agenda is being removed from HHS websites."
We have a department of education that apparently removes content from its Web site if it does not support the current administration's policy, which includes initiatives such as: the No Child Left Behind campaign and faith-based initiatives.
We have a department of defense that purchased exlusive rights to images of Afghanistan from a privately-operated satellite. After reports of heavy civilian casualties near Jalalabad, the department shut down access to those satellite images.
The mottoes of Big Brother's part in George Orwell's 1984 appear prophetic: war is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength. Beware the Thought Police.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:00:13 AM
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Tuesday, April 29, 2003
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The Problem With Words
Remember all the "bad Syria" talk of recent weeks? It's making news again.
Reuters reports Rumsfeld as saying today, "I think it's a mischaracterization that we threatened Syria. We are not in the business of threatening. It was a fact, not a threat and that's all I have to say."
Here are some of the things that have been said. Are these facts? Threats?
Ari Fleischer said Syria is a "terrorist state" and a "rogue nation."
Colin Powell says Syria should "review its action and behavior" and the US will "examine possible measures of diplomatic, economic or other nature."
Jack Straw says Syria must prove it's not a rogue state and explains that "given the changed reality," Syria must understand and cooperate.
More recently, "Israel's ambassador to the US called for 'regime change' in Iran and Syria yesterday as players in the Middle East staked out their positions before a crucial Palestinian vote that is expected to trigger publication of the American-backed 'road map' to peace."
When does a fact become a threat? Or, do we just assume now that threats are part of all facts?
permalink posted by: jgh 9:33:00 AM
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Monday, April 28, 2003
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Saturday, April 26, 2003
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Separation of Church and State
I believe in everyone's right to worship as they see fit (or not). At the same time, I firmly believe in separation of church and state.
I am listening to my president at this moment cite scripture while addressing an American journalist conference tonight.
No more. No more god, buddha, allah, jehova, whom-the-fuck-ever in political speeches. I am not a part of a fundamentalist society ( on bended knee, praying to a pagan)...
There is a reason for this. We (my country) is a vast conglomeration (not amalgamation) of people with varying beliefs. We all deserve respect - especially from he whom governs.
Mr Bush, I actually admire your ability to hold onto your beliefs; however, do not dare to presume that those whom you rule (word was chosen carefully) share your viewpoint. There are some who do share that, of course. There are, of course, others who do not. Those of us who do not are still Americans (well, at least for now we are, till the next absolutely stupid regulation comes down... then I suppose I could move to Cuba and feel reasonably at home since they don't like dissidents either).
Is this the direction Americans want America to go>
permalink posted by: jgh 10:13:18 PM
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On a Related Note
After the debacle at American Airlines, where top execs ensured their bonuses and parachutes while the drones gave up wages to keep the company afloat, CEO Don Carty has been ousted.
He should have been, no matter how well or poorly he had done to that point. One should not expect sacrifices of others without willingly sacrifice himself. It's called principles, morals, compassion, humanity.
But Carty is not alone. We have Enron, Worldcom, Halliburton... yes, I know Halliburton is not defunct... far from it with their latest rebuild Iraq contracts. Hmmm.
Walter Shapiro, in USA Today, writes:
"In recent decades, the nation's corporate leadership has lost any sense of what constitutes fair play. At some companies, workers are seemingly viewed as interchangeable parts that can be jettisoned at the slightest hint of a profit squeeze. But corporate executives apparently regard themselves as a mandarin class who are entitled to all the benefits of the free market with none of the risks. The question is, when do these glaring inequities emerge as a full-fledged political issue?"
Perhaps now. Particularly when one considers "corporate personhood" and reads what General Smedley Butler had to say about war and corporations - even a long time ago. Mike Ferner, of the Programs on Corporations, Law, and Democracy quotes Butler:
"'I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested." Ferner continues, "Butler acknowledged that he'd spent most of his 33 years in the Marines as 'a high class muscle man for Big Business, Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.'"
permalink posted by: jgh 4:18:01 PM
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Praying for George W
A friend forwarded a wonderful read - full of intelligence and humor. It begins:
"Let's get to the point. All sources are telling me that you are more than a little outta control. Way out of line. Off-leash and lost and drunk on dreams of global supremacy and in deep need of major karmic spanking, a divine colonic. The various world deities are shooting me urgent e-mails left and right. We gotta have some words, brother. Are you sitting down? Thinking cap on? Pretzels out of reach? Excellent.
Word is you're reborn Christian. Great. Didn't quite get it right the first time, is what they say, what with all the inebriants and daddy's silver spoon and dodging Vietnam and, hey, nothing snags those God-fearin'-fundamentalist votes more than claiming you rediscovered Jesus while recovering from another gin bender on Dad's yacht, am I right? Fine and good. Whatever works, I always say. "
Read it at SF Gate.com.
permalink posted by: jgh 11:10:15 AM
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Where Is the News?
I've been watching CNN for the last hour and a half. I've seen gold guns, gutted palaces, and the statue that toppled several times over now. I hear (again) of Saddam's "love nest." I wonder where Salam Pax is. I wonder whether the power has been restored. I wonder if the hospitals yet have the supplies they need. I wonder...
I wonder why I don't know.
Why don't we see interviews with or even pictures of Iraqi doctors scrubbing in dirty well water? Or hear of those dying slowly from gangrene infections, untreated for lack of supplies? Why are we no longer reminded "how far Baghdad is from being pacified 17 days after U.S. troops took the city?"
Why is there no mention of Britain's Military of Defense offer to test soldiers to determine the level of depleted uranium in their blood because 'coalition' forces used depleted uranium shells (which by the way happens to be illegal if one believes in the UN)?
Why do we sit idly by listening to Rumsfeld say the three boys (aged 13 - 16) held by us in Guantanamo Bay are "not children"?
permalink posted by: jgh 7:05:04 AM
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Friday, April 25, 2003
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Free Speech, the Media, and the Future
On June 2nd, the FCC, headed by Michael Powell (yes, the son of the more famous Powell), meets to vote on ownership of media outlets. The FCC will decide whether "decades-old ownership restrictions belong in a market altered by satellite broadcasts, cable television and the Internet." Current rules say media companies can't own more than one media source in an area.
Current news opinion is sharly divided on where Powell, noted for his preference for big business, stands - which is reasonable given that six companies control most of the U.S. media: AOL Time Warner, Disney, General Electric, News Corporation (Fox), Viacom, and Vivendi Universal.
Powell has said these rules need to be changed.
However, he appears to be getting a bit concerned.
Look at Clear Channel, the Texas-based (!) owner of 1200 U.S. radio stations garnering 50 percent of the radio audience (who also financed several pro war, middle America rallies and banned anti-war songs on its stations). Clear Channel has recenlty filed two station transfer requests, and Son Powell has blocked them - the first time since the 1960s such a block has occured.
At the heart of the matter is the bedeviled 1996 Telecommunications Act, which is a bitch to understand. One of the clearest summaries is from MetroActive News:
"Some say the real war on the delivery of independent thought over the airwaves grew its wings seven years ago, when, by congressional order, the Federal Communications Commission passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In the name of creating healthy competition, it promised to bolster diversity in the public interest. Instead, by all critical accounts, the act deregulated media ownership by lifting caps on how large and broad-based network conglomerates could become."
But that still leaves us with six companies, an FCC chairman who is considered suspect by many independent media, and a very important vote on June 2nd. Recent FCC actions related to media ownership are at the FCC web site.
Anyone for donating more money to public radio and public press?
permalink posted by: jgh 12:46:05 AM
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Thursday, April 24, 2003
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Tariq Aziz
Former Iraqi foreign minister whos name means "glorious past, who was number 43 on the 55 most wanted list, is now in U.S. custody according to CNN. Apparently turned himself in.
permalink posted by: jgh 4:55:10 PM
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Tuesday, April 22, 2003
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Reality TV
I am trying (in vain) to grade a batch of student essays. Larry King Live is on in the background because I have lost the remote and am too lazy to get up and change it. Besides, I am trying to work (still in vain).
The show is about Laci Peterson. Well, not exactly. It's a bunch of lawyers talking about Scott Peterson. And people from throughout the country are calling in offering their insight into the murder.
Ahem.
There are at least two families and untold friends who are grief sticken at what has occured intheir family. A woman has been brutally murdered. Her to-be-child did not survive the mayhem. What business is this of ours?
Here are some things to consider:
- One person is murdered every 60 seconds throughout the world.1
- 8,000 - 16,000 children are killed by landmines each year (that's 21 to 43 kids each day).2
- In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner.3
Where are the tv shows about this? Why do we not raise our voices and question this? Why is it that we focus on a single person simply becuase that is what the media has decided w should look at?
--
References
1. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/03/health/main524231.shtml
2. http://www.unicef.org/sowc00/map6.htm
3. Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003
permalink posted by: jgh 9:56:30 PM
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Murder as Leading Cause of Death in Pregnant Women
So implies Dr. Cara Krulewitch, an epidemiologist at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, who was among the first researchers to find a link between pregnancy and homicide.
Excuse me while I shudder.
I've been pregnant. I've had pregnant friends. All of us were concerned for our babies and yes, if one is realistic, about ourselves too. What would happen? Would the baby be okay? Would labor be awful? Were my genes okay? What about genetic defects, chromosomal anomalies, toxemia, preecplamsia, gestational diabetes, AIDS, learning disabilities... the list goes on.
Now, all these concerns may not matter. According to a two-year old report from ABC News, in which Krulewitch was a primary source, almost 40 percent of the deceased pregnant women studied had been murdered, making homicide the leading cause of death for mothers-to-be.
Anyone thinking gender wars? Or genocide? Or that we, as a civilized, super-power nation, may have a problem?
permalink posted by: jgh 7:14:44 PM
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A Land of Profits and Sheep
Speaking about Carnival Cruise's recent decision to ban those from Toronto, Canada from boarding their ships because of the Sars outbreak, a Carnival Cruise representative said on ABC New Tonight, "it would be devasting for our company and the cruise industry in general."
Not to mention the people infected. Cross Carnival off my list of 'maybes' as a vacation choice.
On a related (but yet to be connected note), USA Today named LeBron James as the national player of the year. They did this today. Clearly they sweated this call. Mr. James has been alleged since Novemebr to be the only logical first pick at the NBA draft.
And this is the point... We all site back and wait. Wait for someone bigger than us to come out with what we will say and who we will be. And disssenting voices grow quieter for fear of jobs, threats, safety.
Doesn't say much for the strength of that Constitution of ours that guarantees us this right, does it?
permalink posted by: jgh 6:46:57 PM
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Karbala, Clerics, and Electricity
In Karbala, there is power, according to a CNN report this morning. There is also little looting. And Americans have been asked to stay away and not provide security.
Shia clerics have managed to do what 'coalition' forces have not. They have maintained order and public safety in a city where perhaps millions will gather by tomorrow.
But all is not happy. Chants of "No to America, No to Israel, No to the Devil" morphed into to "Death to America. Death to Israel."
Carl Penhaul of CNN reports:
"These pilgrims are sending a very serious political message to U.S. and coalition forces. They are saying: 'Thank you for the help in ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein, but now your work is done.' They are telling them they now want to set up their own form of government, possibly based on some form of Islamic law."
This latter statement is what worries some. Yesterday the 'coalition' arrest of Shaikh Muhammad al-Fartusi, who had spoken to 50,000 at Friday prayers, created a protest outside the Palestiine Hotel by thousands of Shiites.
Reasons for the arrest are sketchy at best. The increasingly angry protestors though are clear. They welcome their newfound religious freedom, but want their own government, taking into account their religious preferences. Sheikh Hussein al-Assadi, a student of Sheikh Fartusi, "warned that, since U.S. forces had set foot in Iraq, they should be aware of Muslim sensibilities, 'otherwise there will be an explosion.'"
Does this mean they don't want to be American?
permalink posted by: jgh 6:10:10 AM
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Monday, April 21, 2003
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Mosul-Haifa Oil Pipeline
'Coalition' forces closed the Karkuk-Banias oil pipeline in early April, which "supplied Syria approximately 200,000 barrels of oil a day... at a preferential price." This destabilizes an already weak economy where 20 percent of the population is unemployed given that "the illicit Iraqi oil allowed Syria to double its oil exports, reaping an estimated extra $1.2-billion (U.S.) annually.
More recently, troops closed the Basra-Syria line.
Now there is talk that the pipeline from Mosul, Iraq to Haifa, Israel will be reopened. To whose benefit? To whose detriment?
The pipeline has closed for 55 years. In part because of constant attacks by Arab guerrillas. Also in part because of the redirection of the pipeline from Palestine to Syria in 1948, when the British mandate in Palestine ended.
A Washington Post article notes the Mosul-Haifa pipeline would need to pass through Syria, not a fan of Israeli policy. However, there is also discussion that the line could be diverted to run through Jordan instead, who would receive transit fees and thus help bolster the economy, but some say that would be too expensive. Given that Syria and Israel are at odds:
"The Assad government seems unlikely to allow such a plan to proceed. Pumping oil from Mosul to Hafia via Jordan may be an option, but it would be too expensive. So a second regime change in the region, this time in Syria, would make the Israelis much happier. Given all this, Washington's pointing the finger at Damascus makes much more sense now. Reopening the pipeline would also serve US interests in the long run."
UPI reports that "Some oil experts view the United States as having, at best, mixed motives for toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein. The stated objective of disarming Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is considered - important but convenient cover for Washington to reduce its dependence on Saudi oil, as well as to guarantee U.S. supervision of Iraq's oil bounty."
Given our desire to set up military bases in close proximity to these pipelines and given our rhetoric against Syria, one wonders if the conspiracy-theory people are more cognizant of reality than the rest of us.
Does it all boil down to this?
"This American-blessed joint venture will reduce Israel's dependence on Russian crude and the cost of its energy imports. It would also require a regime change in Syria, whose territory the pipeline would cross."
permalink posted by: jgh 9:31:24 AM
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Sunday, April 20, 2003
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The Coolness of Cluster Bombs
They are dropped from the plane and disperse... creating an ability to "disrupt" many in a wide area. My country said it wouldn't use them in residential areas in Iraq. But, we did.
Why?
Twenty-eigth of these lovely things were deployed on February 16... a month before the 'official' start of the now 12 year old war. But then, we dropped 250,000 of these cluster bombs in Afghanistan and few sent outraged cries... so why not?
Cluster bombs are notorious for not always detonating. They lie buried in ceilings, parks, desert sand. And when they are stepped on or picked up, they remember their purpose. They explode.
I am glad Saddam does not currently rule Iraq. I admire the military plebes whose service and dedication helped make that happen. I do not admire the methods of the military commanders or the lies that have consistently come from my government.
I no longer believe anything my government tells me; the statements are too often changing and dichotomous. And, they're beginning to sound like the PRC government saying SARS isn't so awful... only later to say that the infected population is close to ten time times larger than they had stated.
Arrgh.
permalink posted by: jgh 5:54:44 PM
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After an Invasion
'Coaltion' forces entered Iraq with the intent of disarming it. Or, so we were told. Then the reason was to remove the regime. Then it was to bring freedom and democracy to the country. Although I think the reason for the invasion is important, now that it has been done, we need to figure out what these forces do next - and what happens as a result of those choices.
The New York Times reported last night that a Pentagon official said the US wants to maintain four bases in the country, but apparently doesn't yet know why those bases are wanted. But, as the article points out:
"As American forces withdraw [from Iraq] in the months ahead, the Bush administration plans a military relationship with the new government in Baghdad that would give the Pentagon permanent access to four air bases in Iraq. These would serve as a foothold to project American influence into the heart of the unsettled Middle East. The scope of the partnership and access is not yet defined. But coupled with the American military presence in Afghanistan, the bases in Iraq would be felt in Syria and would flank Iran on both sides."
One wonders what "influence" we want to project, especially in light of the current situation in Afghanistan, where things are not going all that smoothly. The "Taliban remnants are staging a slow but steady comeback in the countryside," according to a Newsweek article. The same article also points out that the reach of Karzai's central government still is limited to Kabul and women in some areas can be forced to have a hospital virginity check if they ride in cars or walk with men other than their husbands or relatives.
What influence are we exerting there, since our original goals were to find bin Laden and route out the Taliban? Did we have a plan then of how we would influence or rebuild a nation or did we act impetuously because as Colin Powell said, "Bush was tired of rhetoric. The President wanted to kill somebody?"
Given the recent rhetoric against Syria and Iran, the idea of military bases in close proximity to either country is not comforting since it makes it easier to conduct affairs impetuously before having a reasonable plan of follow through.
One wonders also what "influence" we want to project, especially in light of Donald Rumsfeld's March 20th assertion that 'coalition' troops would stay in Iraq "only as long as necessary to finish the job and not a day longer."
In addition, such actions give rise to the formation of new consequences, such as the establishment of an Islamic defense alliance. The Iranian paper Siasat-E Rouz reports:
"A Muslim activist in human rights affairs, based in Belgium, has proposed to set up an Islamic defense alliance similar to the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to protect Islamic countries
against attacks of foreign forces."
We all need to think... and listen ... and plan. And, be careful of whos words we believe.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:32:09 AM
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Saturday, April 19, 2003
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The New Privacy Overseer
Haven't heard it mentioned on the news. Little has been written about it. But, a few days ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security named Nuala O'Connor Kelly as its chief privacy officer.
It's her job to make sure that "the use of technologies within the department sustain, and do not erode, privacy protections." She's a lawyer, recently with the Department of Commerce, and once the vice president of data protection and chief privacy officer for emerging technologies at DoubleClick, which had been found running amuck by capturing personal data.
"She may do an excellent job, but the choice of someone who was doing PR cleanup for one of privacy's greatest monsters may be a bad sign," says Jason Catlett, head of anti-spam and privacy group Junkbusters Corp.
But Ari Schwartz, associate director for the Center for Democracy and Technology, says he liked what she did at DoubleClick because "she worked hard to build relationships with the privacy community and to vet their new policies with these groups."
Personally, I would have preferred to see Larry Lessig assume the role. PR isn's something he's terribly good at, but he sure does know the Constitution and technology. In fact, he goes so far to say the 'Net is built upon the same values as the American Constitution.
Imagine having a consitutional lawyer being responsible for constitutional rights... what an idea.
permalink posted by: jgh 3:23:48 PM
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Organizing Looters in a Collapsing Society
We've seen pictures of young Ali with no arms, an older child with burns covering her face and body, and the ministrations by the 'coalition' to their wounds. But what of the people whose faces and pain haven't been splashed across the television screens? What of their treatment when hospitals are stripped of medicine, water, and electricity?
Iain Simpson of the World Health Organization, who noted that health data and records were burned and looted, says :
"They turned up with a truck and with equipment, which enabled them to get into a safe. This clearly was not simply an outpouring of popular feeling. We have no idea who they were. And, they came with the intention of taking what they could see, and loading it up into a truck, getting into the safe, taking vehicles as well, which were parked in the WHO compound. This was more an organized looting than anything else."
Wouldn't looters find it a waste of time to hang around burning material that had no monetary value? And, what's this bit about "organized" looting?
Were organized looters the reason that the Save the Children organization's plane full of medical supplies was told by US authorities that they couldn't land in Iraq yesterday?
As the occupying forces, the 'coalition' becomes responsible for the safety and welfare of the people. But as ministry offices and hospitals continue to be looted and burned, while the ministry of oil remains heavily guarded and untouched, one wonders if Robert Fiske's observations are insight into a new evil:
Because there is also something very dangerous - and deeply disturbing - about the crowds setting light to the buildings of Baghdad, including the great libraries and state archives.
For they are not the looters. The looters come first. The arsonists turn up afterwards, often in blue and white single-decker buses.
I actually followed one of them after its passengers had set the Ministry of Trade on fire and it sped out of town.
Now the official American line on all this is that the looting is revenge - an explanation that is growing very thin - and that the fires are started by "remnants of Saddam's regime", the same "criminal elements", no doubt, who feature in the Marines' curfew orders to the people of Baghdad.
But people in Baghdad don't believe Saddam's former supporters are starting these fires. And neither do I.
So, what's going on? Why can't supplies get in? Why are some things saved and others ignored?
permalink posted by: jgh 10:52:44 AM
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Wednesday, April 16, 2003
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Excerpts from European and Asian Newspaper Editorials
About the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq:
The Daily Mirror (London) - Anyone who thinks this war is over is not living in the real world. ... The task ahead is huge. Far greater than overcoming a ragged army and deposing a hated ruler. ... Now Saddam has gone, we want to see this tragic country helped into a peaceful, fear-free life. But we also want our troops home as quickly as possible.
Apoyevmatini (Athens, Greece) - The fall of Saddam Hussein brought celebrations from Kurds, Shia Muslims and all the Iraqis who endured years of poverty, humiliation and a U.N. embargo that caused the deaths of little children. In a few days the celebration will stop, the cameras will leave and questions about the cause of the war and the future of Iraq will remain unanswered. The United States, with its huge military advantage, sent a clear signal from its hawks in Washington. It has still to prove that it can help shape a new century with less wars, bloodshed and barbarity.
La Stampa (Turin, Italy) - George W. Bush knows he won. But he would be making a grave mistake now if he were give in to the temptation to overdo his victory, humiliating the United Nations and the institutions of the international community, confining their work to a humanitarian role in the difficult peacemaking in Iraq.
The Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan): American and British forces practically routed the Iraqi troops on the strength of overwhelming military might. The battles were one sided ... But brute force alone cannot win the hearts and minds of the people. Without a stable peace - even if the war is won - there can be no true victory.
The New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): Politics is different now. The United States has the power to alter governments it disapproves of. The imperious and arrogant in Washington believe the rights of man come not from God but from the generosity of Uncle Sam.
The News (Karachi, Pakistan): The war on Iraq has ended without any victors ... but there were many losers. The Americans, theirs was a hollow victory. The Islamic states which did not perform their fundamental duty to respond to a brother Islamic state in distress. The international community for its failure to put up a stronger opposition. The Arab states for their inability to fulfill their statements. The Western media for betraying its professed impartiality. The lessons are many, but the most important is that the world is no longer safe for states which chart a course that might not be in conformity with American plans for a brave new world.
Vremya Novostei (Moscow) - The capture of Baghdad may go down in history as one of the fastest and most successful military operations in urban conditions. The predictions of most analysts that the Iraqis could create a ``second Stalingrad'' for the Americans were wrong.
The Nation (Bangkok, Thailand): There is now a new environment (in Iraq), new feelings and a new mode of life. It may take some adjusting to, and there may be a lot of uncertainties, but at last it's a future tinged with hope. That is why the U.S. must exercise humility. Now that they have liberated the Iraqi people, Washington must not let its troops linger any longer than local hospitality will allow.
From AP
permalink posted by: jgh 7:20:12 AM
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Tuesday, April 15, 2003
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Hate Groups Increase by Five Percent
So says Peter Jennings of ABC tonight - a Canadian high school scholar of international status in the US.
Don't get me wrong. Of all the U.S. network news people, he is my favorite since often he is able to tell the news rather than "interpret" it for us.
But, where are the sources? He didn't mention where the figure came from... there's no quick Google news search that provides the source. Does that mean it isn't true?
Sadly, I doubt it.
It's likely higher... We (the U.S. population) are becoming increasingly smug, proud of our (not yet proclaimed) victory, waiting to let in our Christian missionary angels of mercy, and rhetoric flies about Syria, Iran, North Korea...
I belive in democracy (sort of). I do belive in the orginal Constitution... all of us are created equal - regardless of what god we believe in... all of us have rights, no matter where we live or under what dictatorial regimes (catholicism?)...
There is nothing I have read though that says we (US) are the best and only right way to interpret all that....
permalink posted by: jgh 6:55:34 PM
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Syria and Reality: Ours, Theirs, WhomeversApparently we're on a name-calling role again; this time with admonitions about how people and countries should behave:
- Ari Fleischer says Syria is a "terrorist state" and a "rogue nation."
- Colin Powell says Syria should "review its action and behavior" and the US will "examine possible measures of diplomatic, economic or other nature."
- Jack Straw says Syria must prove it's not a rogue state and explains that "given the changed reality," Syria must understand and cooperate.
Isn't reality reality? Can it change? Is this a matter of semantics or something more?
I learned, through my Constitution and Bill of Rights, that people were innocent until proven guilty - the presumption of innocence principle. Now, that we are requiring others to prove their innocence, rather than presuming that they are innocent, have we changed reality?
The Guardian reports that although Rumsfeld had "ordered contingency plans for a war on Syria to be reviewed following the fall of Baghdad," the White House has" privately ruled out suggestions that the US should go to war against Syria following its military success in Iraq, and has blocked preliminary planning for such a campaign in the Pentagon." Is this the real reality, or the changed reality?
As Richard Bernstein (NYTimes) writes in Echoes of Empires Past:
"Does the policy remain on this trajectory and they go off hunting other regimes that are judged undesirable and dangerous?" said Michael Emerson of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. "Or do they say: 'Whew, that was a sweat politically, the Iraqi campaign. We better slow down and attempt to reconstruct multinational understanding and consensus.' "
Perhaps we simply alter the trajectory a bit in our zeal to dictate behavior. After all, the US, apparently in charge of humanitarian aid efforts also houses the evangelists.
"Among the largest aid groups preparing to provide humanitarian assistance to Iraqis ravaged by the war are a number of Christian charities based in the southern United States that make no secret of their desire to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and win over Muslim souls."
This ought to wiin us more friends, and then perhaps in a few years (months?), as U.S. citizens, we'll have several more states to call our own.
permalink posted by: jgh 5:09:48 AM
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Saturday, April 12, 2003
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Death, Destruction, and the Blaming Game
"it's a wealthy, educated country," says one CNN pundit. Another says, "They've lived in repression for 30 years." (He doesn't add, with the help of the US)... "Death to Saddam and Death to America" says another....
Apparently, (if you've been minus TV for a few days), we, as leader of the coalition forces have a problem. Umm... perhaps more than a few.
We have found no WMDs .. All of CNN's reports of chemical finds, biological nerve gas finds, or whatver, have been later found to be... invalid. Meanwhile, one begins to wonder, since this is the reason the US made this pre-emptive strike, and since we were so bloody sure, why didn't we just go in and find them and vindicate ourselves? God/Buddha/Allah/Nobody, you mean these weapons might now have been shipped to Syria?
Another add to our hit list...
Do you know about "Operation Northwoods"? Or about the airline manifests** on September 11th - none of which puportedly contained any Arabic names?
Or about... what else don't we know? I am not a conspirisist. I am perplexed though... concerned... frightened... and wondering if it is time to leave.
** See also
PBS
leading conspiracist site
our increasing fascination with syria
what if...
permalink posted by: jgh 8:08:31 PM
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Thursday, April 10, 2003
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Holy Places
If Allah, Buddha, God, Jehovah, or whomever is around to help us find our way, how in the world can one place be holier than another?
permalink posted by: jgh 10:04:22 PM
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Blair, Bush, and Arabic Captions
Can anyone tell me the point in conveying , over American-controlled Iraqi television, statements by Bush and Blair, in their own languages, the fact that neither country is out to control the Iraqi people? Sure, there were Arabic captions - in a country, where the "estimated" literacy rate is hardly above 50%. Who were we really broadcasting to?
Would it have been so costly to hire an Arabic translator or two minutes?
Or was the point that the English language is so dominant in the world,...
permalink posted by: jgh 9:03:57 PM
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Wednesday, April 9, 2003
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The Toppling of Saddam
It happened - at least to his statue in Firdos Square in Baghdad. A few Iraqi men spent many minutes getting a rope around the neck of the massive statue of Saddam and then seemed to wonder how they could topple it. They worked together; apparently talking and taking suggestions from the maybe 50 people in the crowd surrounding the statue. After maybe half an hour, the Marines came in with a tow tank - and an American flag they draped over Saddam's face. No one cheered.
Perhaps the Iraqis asked the Marines to help. Perhaps the Marines wanted to offer assistance, illustrating their helpful nature. Perhaps, even if it took days, it would have been more rewarding, more symbolic, and more patriotic, if the Iraqis had done the toppling.
As it stands - or as the statue no longer does - it was the U.S. who through their tank power superiority toppled it and where does that leave all of us?
Yes, many men rushed the toppled statue and threw their shoes at Saddam's head - one of the ultimate insults there. And yes, many men jumped up and down on the head. And yes, a few attached an Iraqi falg to the still remaining massive pedastel on which the statue stood.
But there are reports now questioning where the 4.9+ billion inhabitants of the city were. And some questions about their perceived fears. What happens now...
permalink posted by: jgh 11:25:17 AM
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Tuesday, April 8, 2003
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No Life
Depression has take a hold recently. While that may offer the creative ones solace and inspiration, I, to my long time dismay, am nor there. Thus, more shall be written later, as it eases, which of course, as human beings we know that it does - though sometimes we might wonder how long it will take,,, or whether it should, or ...
permalink posted by: jgh 8:24:39 PM
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Saturday, April 5, 2003
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I am Thinking of Moving to Canada
I even have the possible areas figured out: the beaches or Bloor Street in Toronto, or "old" Montreal.
"The World Health Organization is receiving reports of growing numbers of civilian casualties in and around Baghdad, Basra, and many other towns in southern and central Iraq,'' United Nations Secretary General spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Meanwhile, half of those surveyed in the US favor an invasion of Iran if they don't stop their nucelar weapons program.
And, still under the radar (why?), North Korea warns it will ignore any U.N. resolution over its suspected nuclear weapons development.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:47:44 PM
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Thursday, April 3, 2003
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Jessica's Future
It is assured for the moment. The governor of West Virginia has presented her family with a four-year full scholarship for her to college. Her high school is keeping a teaching job open for her for when she graduates. (I wonder how this fits into affirmatie action decisions, credentialing issues, and GPAs.. or perhaps for those who are fotunate enough to be struggling in school now, we just want them to know, none of that matters if you become a media hero?)
Jessica deserves praise and gratitude and she does have mine. She had a goal and chose a path that might help lead her there; she knew her route might be fraught with discomfort and danger, and still did it; she knew the route she chose nobly advocated protecting others; she endured (and none of us reading this have any clue what that entailed - something even anti-war protestors admire); and she is courageous, for she (likely) went into a situation that scared the crap out of her, assuming she was human.
But, so have millions of others. What do they get, besides being shot at?
Heroism comes from actions, not circumstance. This is not to diminsih PFC Jessica's work. It is to acknowledge that others deserve the same. There are still veterans of other U.S. wars who cant even find a place to live... or people to listen to them, or...
permalink posted by: jgh 12:40:22 AM
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Why Is This a Surprise?
"Two weeks into the war in Iraq, some senior military commanders are beginning to admit that American understanding of the Arab world is limited and that they still have to convince the Iraqis that they are liberators, not occupiers," writes a reporter.
Ummm... Let's see. As a monolingual, melting-potted so to be mono-cultural, mono-maniacal society, why are we surprised? You mean, not everyone thinks like us? Talks like us? Reasons like us? Believes as us?
Wasn't dissension in the UN a signal that this could happen? Wasn't all that was written - prior to our invasion - by military experts also a signal? Weren't the worldwide protests?
I find myself, quixotically, 'feeling' more American... perhaps in desperation, perhaps as a response to the perceptions of us that I want to ameliorate... Perhaps our military overseers could read (the not-even leftist) Dinesh D'Sousa? Or better yet, follow Marilyn Manson's suggestion in Bowling for Columbine, "I wouldn't tell them anything. I'd listen. I'd listen to what they'd have to say. Nobody did that."
permalink posted by: jgh 12:02:17 AM
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Wednesday, April 2, 2003
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Iraqi Republican Guard Pulls Back - Into City
An exhausted, almost-desparate sounding CNN correspondent changed some persepective tonight by saying the 'coalition' advance into Baghdad wasn't really that at all; instead, it was a move by the Republlican Guard to move closer to Baghdad... yet, still, again, pulling us in.
Pulling us into the urban war where "coalition' technology matters not as much. Where street fighting happens. Where many, many people die... ours, theirs, others, people not involved. An Italian correspondent reports a different story; but it's in the exact same tone... exhausted, resigned... And CentCom says we dropped 40 smart bombs on a single military storage facility in the Karhk district of Baghdad.
I hope the 'coalition' forces - the we I guess I mean most times - are smarter than our smart bombs... I wish we would see beyond a military victory and understand the ramifications of what we are doing. I wish no more barely-adult Jessica's would be filmed with broken bodies and held up as heroes. And no more stories of charred Iraqi children...
President Bush, are you listening, watching, understanding?
permalink posted by: jgh 11:32:23 PM
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Tuesday, April 1, 2003
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Winning the Hearts and Minds
Another civilian was killed today in a checkpoint shooting. This comes after yesterday's shooting of women and children in a vehicle that didn't stop at a checkpoint.
Certainly the soldiers involved are not cold-blooded murderers; rather they are young people who know that sometimes, such cars, trucks, and vans may carry explosives with their names on them. Yet, it will likely be quite difficult to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people as they see their brothers and sisters die in such instances. The Iraqis may wonder just how much the 'coalition' forces can be trusted. The soldiers may wonder just which Iraqi citizens are the 'good guys.' And the fissure of distrust deepens to cavernous proportion.
What's the answer? I wish I knew. The soldiers need to protect themselves. The Iraqi citizenry need to protect themselves. A clear plan involving warning shots needs to be instilled, explained, and understood - by all sides.
How have we grown to a world where anyone can be seen as threat to another? Where have we gone wrong? Certainly beliefs in religious idealogy - either the peace and humility of the 'real' Islam or the love-thy-brother message of Christianity - are being obscured, perhaps forgotten, perhaps dismissed... along with the compassion that makes us all human.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:04:31 AM
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Monday, March 31, 2003
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The Toll of Fear
A pretty powerful human emotion that we can push away as much as we want, that still manages to resurface.
I saw a woman today walking down the street (of a not metropolis), wearing a surgical mask. I got four spam emails trying to sell gas masks.
Between a war war many of us do not believe in; watching people we don't know (on many sides) die; learning that women and children, riding in a bus they didn't pilot were fired upon; watching angered Arab men pour into Baghdad to fight against the apparent oppressors; hearing of hospitals closed because of SARS; what can we do? Fear and desperation take hold.
Some of us write. Some fight. Some become immobile. None of these does any good. There must be something else. What is it???
permalink posted by: jgh 6:59:53 PM
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Clashing Cultures
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says, "when it is over, if it is over, this war will have terrible consequences; instead of having one bin Laden we will have 100 bin Ladens." Is this an over-exaggeration?
Already, some groups, including the Islamic Jihad which claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack in Netanya, say they are sending Palestinian suicide bombers to Iraq. Add to this the hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis who demonstrated in Peshawar, hearing the call for jihad against the US and a demand for Muslims to go to Iraq to fight 'coalition' forces. Add also the Islamic clergy in Damascus and the Algerian opposition parties who called for the same. And consider Naji Sabri's, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, statement in a press briefing this morning that already 5000 suicide bombers from all Arab countries have entered the country to help.
To many Americans this willingness to kill one's self while killing others is difficult to understand. But, understand it, somehow, we must. Dr. Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist and founder of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights, says:
"What propels people into such action is a long history of humiliation and a desire for revenge that every Arab harbors. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the resultant uprooting of Palestinians, a deep-seated feeling of shame has taken root in the Arab psyche. Shame is the most painful emotion in the Arab culture, producing the feeling that one is unworthy to live. The honorable Arab is the one who refuses to suffer shame and dies in dignity."
What feelings of shame are engendered when one's country is invaded - even if you can't stand the one who runs the country? What feelings of shame are created when soldiers, wary of civilians who may be military or suicide bombers, ask the people to lift their shirts to show they have no bombs? What feelings of shame are instilled when Jordanian youth protest, chanting "shame on all indifferent Arabs?" What feelings of shame begin when you see your country attacked by outsiders?
Dr. Abdul Razak, the president of Peace & Friendship Society makes a comparison many of us can understand:
"I respect your privilege as a patriotic American to hate those doing harm to the American interests in the U.S. If you don't do that you are not a good American... Me as an Iraqi love Iraq and defend Iraq..."
According to the Qur'an, "God has allowed for force to be used to check nations, who exceed their limits, and engage in disturbing the peace and freedom of other nations on earth." This is jihad. And although the Prophetic traditions (hadith) prohibit suicide, eventually Shii and Sunni began to equate suicide-bombing with martyrdom and the belief that suicide bombers were sacrificing themselves rather than committing suicide. And the Quran, according to law professor Ali Khan, "does seem to allow 'terrorism' [suicide bombings] to combat, for example, the state of zulm, that is, exceptional circumstances of oppression, misery and helplessness."
What could be simpler to understand? Especially, when put in context with the accurate meaning of jihad, which is the 'struggle within' and the struggle for self-improvement.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:03:28 AM
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Sunday, March 30, 2003
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If My Country Were Invaded
I would likely try and defend it - even though I have problems with it. I certainly wouldn't fight in the name of George W, Bush. But, I still would fight , if I could. Because, I am an American and this is my home.
Why are we so surprised that expatriate Iraqis feel the same way?
permalink posted by: jgh 7:26:29 PM
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Tommy Franks' Plan
While a fireball burns in downtown Baghdad in the background, Gen. Richard Myers, joint chiefs chairman, spent many minutes with Wolf Blitzer, stating, restating, and reiterating that the strategy used in Iraq is all "Tommy Franks's plan." Is this to give credit where due or to begin to point blame on someone other than Rumsfeld and Bush given today's reports that Franks wanted to wait until there were more troops?
permalink posted by: jgh 12:19:19 PM
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More CentCom
Franks says, "our targets will remain the Iraqi regime and not the Iraqi people and we'll continue to provide humanitarian assistance... this campaign has made remarkable progress... the outcome has not been and will not be in question."
During reporters' questions, Franks denies he requested additional tropps before the beginning of the war. he does not know whether Kuwait incident and yesterday's suicide bombing are related. "Not at all remarkable that a dying regime" would use suicide bombers, says Franks. "We see the regime claiming credit," for suicide bombings he says, tying such occurences to terrorism and thus America's war on terrorism. Franks suggests military will review how soldiers interact with Iraqis, and probably greater attention will be paid to stand off of vehicles. Says it shouldn't effect relationship with non-combatants.
Franks, when questioned about tomorrow's New Yorker, says he doesn't agree with the assertion and says very few people know the truth about how the war plan was put together and no one has driven the timing of the operation except the operational commander. He asks how many deployment orders had been issued over the past 11 days and says there are none, implying that the plan we see is the plan we've been on. Says the "best plan assures ultimate success and permits the chance of early success." Interesting comment about timing and early maneuvers by troops, implying that we didn't really plan to win right away, but perhaps hoped to.
He sees no recent credible evidence that Saddam is in control.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:34:51 AM
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Gen. Franks CentCom Briefing
An exhausted looking Franks reading from a prepared statement says, we are "one day closer to liberating Iraq... [and] everyday we erode the regime's grip over the Iraqi people." He says that coalition forces have destroyed massive terrorist facility in Iraq in last 48 hours. Coalition forces and special ops in northern Iraq represent a "serious" northern threat to regime forces. "The regime is in trouble and they know it," he says. Iraqi civilians come forward each day to join up with Free Iraqi forces. "This military campaign will be like no other before." CNN lost voice transmission.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:19:08 AM
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Kuwait Civilian Truck Attacks Soldiers in Kuwait
An attacker drove a truck into a group of soldiers lined up outside a military "PX" shop at a U.S. base in Kuwait (article). Clearly giving more credence to Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan's threat: "One day, we will see that one martyr operation will kill 5,000 instead of the 500 you kill with your bombs."
Fifteen injured according to CNN.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:01:14 AM
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Too Few Troops
A BBC article gives a preview of a piece to be published in tomorrow's New Yorker magazine. It's not pretty.
Claiming that Secretary Rumsfeld reduced the number of troops military specialists said they needed to win - in an effort to save money - the article says Rumsfeld "wanted a cheap war" and commenced the fighting over General Franks' advice to wait for more troops. A former intelligence official is quoted as saying, "The only hope is that [the troops there now] can hold out until reinforcements arrive."
permalink posted by: jgh 5:25:07 AM
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Saturday, March 29, 2003
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Watch Out, NRA
The rules of engagment in Iraq changed tonight. Now, any person carrying a gun is to be "taken out." And, any home found that has guns or weaponry in it, allows soldiers to takes its residents as prisoners of war.
Given the Patriot II Act, one might wonder what could happen here...
Be careful.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:48:32 PM
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Getting Out - and Back Into - Basra
The Brits look at the taking of Basra of primary importance, seeing it as a test for how things might go in an attack on Baghdad. Given that the city didn't greet the 'coalition' forces with open arms; the subsequent lack of electricity, food, and water; and the death of 22 and injury of 68 by recent bombing; and the footage of Al-Jazeera tapes showing devastation, it's clear that the message of liberation hasn't quite been believed. In the first Gulf War, there was an uprising in Basra, but because the occupying forces left, Saddam's repressive regime killed more than 250,000, so it's understandable that some have doubts as to how to react today, although a CNN television report says there are signs of the banned Shi'ite flags around the city.
While the taking of the city has not yet happened, the Brits are now in control of the bridge that leads to sources of food and water. Women and children are allowed to cross, but men and young men of "fighting age" are not let back in if they leave for fear that they may be part of the groups fighting the 'coalition' forces.
If Basra is eventually taken, there's a good suggestion for what should be done afterward:
"Because the allies need a swift political as well as military success, Basra ought to be declared a free city immediately upon liberation. It should not be run exclusively by allied military officers, but by a provisional committee of public safety composed of free Iraqis from all the democratic opposition factions."
permalink posted by: jgh 3:41:58 PM
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How Much More?
How many more will die? How much more death and destruction can we watch?
President Bush says we must expect "further sacrifice." We've already sacrificed 36 Americans, as well as an estimated 283 - 391 Iraqi civilians and soldiers.
What are we doing to the lives of our military men and women, some of whom now write, "I have tried to stay motivated and upbeat, but every day over here kills another part of my optimism. I remember in high school I thought I was miserable. Now I almost laugh about that stuff. "
What are we doing to their families who witness the war videos played 24 hours a day? What are we doing to ourselves, watching it all? Robert Butterworth, a Los Angeles psychologist, says we're "going to have to come to terms that we're in a real war here, and we haven't had that since Vietnam." The barrage of almost immediate reports from the battlefield means that those of us back here are also stressed: ''In a sense, we're in the battlefield because we're experiencing a lot more than we ever did.''
Will we become numb? Will the anguish turn to action?
There is only so much sacrifice one can withstand - especially when one is still not really sure why we are doing this in the first place.
permalink posted by: jgh 1:08:04 PM
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Gender Considerations in War
"Some women, following the courage of their convictions are making their way to the frontlines of war, [while] many of their sisters worldwide, affirming that women by their very nature are the purveyors of life, are painstakingly attempting to construct frontiers of peace."
And although women now comprise about 15% of those in active duty, there still exists a split in how genders view war in general and "has seldom been more glaring than it is right now."
Certainly there are men who oppose the war, but even then, how each gender reacts to it varies. How much of that reaction is the nature/nurture issue and how much is an effect of sometimes feeling part of an oppressed group?
permalink posted by: jgh 10:18:32 AM
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International Relationships
Where we stand in some of the world:
Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines warns U.S. troops not to enter any of the territories held by the New Peoples Army.
"Any US combat forces that enter the territories of the revolutionary movement or deploy in adjacent areas will be targets of attack by the NPA, warns Communist Party of the Philippines spokesman Gregorio Rosal.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi officials have complained that U.S. missiles are landing in Saudi Arabia. The US has suspended some routes used for missile firings until it can "fix the problem."
India
India's External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha says U.S. "advice to India about resuming dialogue with Pakistan in the aftermath of the killings of Hindus in Kashmir this week was just as gratuitous and misplaced as we asking them to open a dialogue with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein."
South Korea
Students under the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils reportedly demonstrated in front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul recently, concerned about the danger of war from the Korean Peninsula." Their statement said, "It is as clear as noonday that the next target of the U.S. invasion is the Korean Peninsula."
North Korea
As an explanation of why North Korea has refused nuclear inspections, an editorial in Rodong Sinmun says that if it had done so, it "would have already met the same miserable fate as Iraq's." Pyongyang also said it needed to stop honoring its commitments to the 1953 Korean War armistice "because of 'persistent war moves' by the United States in and around the Korean Peninsula."
Iran
Iranian Government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh dismissed Rumsfeld's statement that Iranians who interfere will be considered combatants. "The Badr Brigade's decisions have nothing to do with Iran; they are independent, like any other Iraqi opposition group," he said. He also accused Rumsfeld of creating propaganda that had "no logic" behind it.
Good News from Ukraine
Deputy Leonid Kravchuk, leader of the Social Democratic Party in Ukraine says since there is nothing to do to stop the war, he "will vote the way [his] conscience dictates in order to protect at least one individual there in the Persian Gulf, instead of gesticulating and shouting condemnation."
permalink posted by: jgh 9:38:55 AM
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War Strategy and 'Arab Streets'
The Asia Times reports that "Saddam's strategy... is to sacrifice open spaces, but to hold urban areas and conduct guerrilla-style harassment operations in coalition rearguard areas. All this is to gain time... Saddam's calculation is simple: Baghdad under lengthy siege could not only lead to ever-growing mobilizations of the 'Arab street' in neighboring countries, but also prompt condemnation in the UN by the France-Germany-Russia axis with demands for a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement."
And it is the 'Arab street' that we need to pay attention to. "Arab societies are torn between the dictatorial regime of Iraq which they reject and an American superpower they don't trust." Yet with the pause in the push on Baghdad, Saddam is gaining time and "is banking on rallying world public opinion."
Already there are indications that anger and hostility is rising to dangerous levels. In Cairo, 15,000 demonstrated against the war, raising concerns that the war "may inadvertently contribute to a revival in radical Muslim politics." And in Iraq itself, a taxi, driven by a man in civilian clothes, approached a checkpoint in Najaf. and as the soldiers approached it exploded."
Even those who want Saddam ousted are angry with 'coalition' forces. Mohsen Hakim, senior member of the Supreme Assembly of
Islamic Revolution in Iraq says, "We, as representatives of the Iraqi nation, do not need the US
permission or coordination for dismissing the oppressor regime of
Baghdad. This is a right that has been officially recognized at the
international level."
As more time passes, more time can be spent harnessing this anger and rage. Then where will we be?
permalink posted by: jgh 8:45:34 AM
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Friday, March 28, 2003
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Good News!
Kuwaiti officials say there were no casualties in bomb blast in city. Let's hope then it was one of our errant missiles. Would be nice to have made an error and not caused harm. (What a horrible thing to hope. Why is it so difficult for me to say, "Yeah, Saddam missed again?")
permalink posted by: jgh 7:31:22 PM
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You're Powerful, Smart (and Some of You Blog, Too)
The refrain heard in a Pizza Hut advertisement on U.S. television, was the reason for the headline (although they didn't mention blogs. They did though say one chose their product becuae they were powerful and smart. All this while a powerful explosion in Kuwait City wreaked havoc. All this while
I have brothers anywhere."
I am not powerful; I am smart. And I sign this:
"I stand for peace and justice... I stand for democracy and autonomy. I don't think the U.S. or any other country should ignore the popular will and violate and weaken international law..."
There are better things than ads. Some include the following smart and powerful blogs blogs worth a look.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:19:52 PM
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Iraqis Report 50 Dead in 2nd Market Bombing
A Reuters report has confirmed there are bodies in a hospital morgue. The explosion happened in the Shula area. Abu Dhabi television says it may have been an American cruise missile. CentCom says it "cannot confirm this." This is a separate incident from yesterday's market blast,
At the same time Secretary Rumsfeld is warning Syria and Iran not to intervene. And some German historians are prophesizing an Allied defeat in Baghdad.
permalink posted by: jgh 3:02:52 PM
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Pres. Addresses Veterans
"Welcome to the People's House," began President Bush. "We are enforcing the demands of the United Nations," he continued a few minutes later.
Well, in part, that is true since Iraq did not comply with resolutions spanning a decade or so. But it seems that it's a selective view of the truth since there was not even a vote in the UN on the use of armed force this time around. So, I guess, once again, we know best. After all, as the President said, "we will accept no outcome but victory."
permalink posted by: jgh 2:49:02 PM
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Defending Home
Apparently, Iraqi expatriates are re-entering Iraq by the thousands, ready to fight, to prtect their homeland. It seems, on the whole, that most expatriates who do not like Saddam (look at Horror and Hope) and are vehemently opposed to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Defending homeland, a place of significance given one's birth and learned values and culture, is an admirable reason to fight if fighting must occur. I know many Americans in the US who would also join to defend their homeland for the very same reasons. Kim Jong Il is ready to defend his homeland, as well. When personal security is threatened, outside attack occurs , and a fear of loss of that which binds you begins to consume, fighting might make sense.
These occurences united the people in the US after September 11. We are now though on different soil. Are we guilty of instilling these fears in others, thus giving a call for more to rise up and fight us?
More than 130,000 U.S. troops to be deployed over the next month.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:57:36 AM
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The Money EffectUS military admits that Iraqi resistance is slowing war plans. Gen. William Wallace, says, "The enemy we're fighting is different from the one we'd war-gamed against." The longer it takes, the more adverse effects.
In addition to increasing numbers of casualties, there are economic casualties as well. The International Monetary Fund has warned of a global recession. David Bowers, head investment strategist of Morgan Stanley, warns that investors may be less willing to lend money to Americans, "a trend that would have unimaginable economic consequences."
One of those consequences is that current U.S. account deficit is highly dependent on foreign investment to finance borrowing. Already we're looking at $74.7 billion to help finance the war for 30 days. If the fighting persists, obviously the amount increases. Meanwhile, education and healthcare spending are being cut.
What costs are justified?
permalink posted by: jgh 7:06:11 AM
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Thursday, March 27, 2003
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First-hand Account of Waiting for SARS to Catch You
"Now I understand what it's like to be a leper," writes Jan Wong. An interesting, poignant account of being under quarantine - with a family that hopes she finds out what the rules are.
Today's Thursday; I have classes and so there will be fewer updates during the day.
permalink posted by: jgh 5:45:20 AM
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War Could Last Months
According to military officials cited in a Washington Post article, "The combination of wretched weather, long and insecure supply lines, and an enemy that has refused to be supine in the face of American military might has led to a broad reassessment by some top generals of U.S. military expectations and timelines.." (See article)
permalink posted by: jgh 4:34:46 AM
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36 Civilians Killed in Yesterday's Market Attack
Iraq's health minister says that 36 people were killed in the previous day's US and British air strikes on Baghdad. CNN TV, reporting on the health minister's briefing says that he said "a couple dozen or so," but that's "not yet confirmed."
permalink posted by: jgh 4:22:39 AM
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Preventive War vs. Pre-emptive War
President Bush calls the current action a 'preventive' war. Some analysts however, suggest that "strict conditions exist to undertake pre-emptive war" and by not having met those criteria, we have, in essence scrapped the UN Charter on war. The Malaysian Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), told the UN that the war in Iraq is iilegitimate and in "violation of the principles of international law and the UN Charter."
At the heart of the debate seems to be the definition of imminent attack - the unwritten, agreed upon standard that okays a preventive war.
Does Pakistan pose an imminent threat - a clear and present danger- to India or vice versa? Does North Korea pose and imminent threat to South Korea or the west coast of the US? Does this mean if we choose to add bias or perception to the definition of a word, we'll see more pre-emtpive wars?
permalink posted by: jgh 4:16:38 AM
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003
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Times (May Be) a Changin'
CNN TV just showed a short segment about "world coverage" of the war - complete with some video from the chosen TV stations - which included Isreal (is that a surprise?), France (that was a surprise), Abu Dabai, and even the infamous folks at AL-Jazeera. They even said that most places focused on civilian casualties.... and went so far as to say the both Abu Dabai and Al-Jazeera "attempted" to be unbiased - since they had bothe Powell and Bush on air (live) today. Maybe there is hope... Maybe the world, if it communicates together, can help our global bone-headed leaders figure out how to progress diplomatically and civily.
Did this have anything to do with a posted report at SFGate about 45 minutes ago? Unlikley, given the video footage that was played.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:04:56 PM
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Parachuting In
"Coalition forces pound" iraqi army near Basra says a headline on CNN TV. And, U.S. Army troops parachuted into and took control of a key airfield in northern Iraq on Wednesday, becoming the first sizable American military presence in that part of the country, defense officials said." Apparently 1000 troops. But earlier, it was reported that the column of Iraqis was also 1000... Apparently this is now reported as "mis-information [CNN TV].
The U.S. government has suggested all Iraqi citizens stay in their home until the change over of power... Ummm. Yes, I will stay inside becuase I don't want to be shot. But what about food? Shall I starve? What a morass.
Imagine the adrenalin, fear, complete discomfort of sand in every pore of your body...
permalink posted by: jgh 6:12:45 PM
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Consequences
When I was young my parents instilled in me that I was responsible for my actions. I learned that, often the hard way. Now, it appears that not all agree with this philosophy. "Any casualty that occurs is the direct result of Saddam Hussein's policies," says Clarke at the Pentagon briefing.
I don't believe Saddam is a good man; he is evil and murderous. However, by choosing - for whatever valid and invalid reason - to conduct a preemtpive strike, we - and that means all of us (even those who disagree with policy - are responsible for what we do and how we do it. It is currently our actions - as well as Iraqi actions - that are causing deaths. That this stemmed from Saddam's policy has been explained again and again. But "direct" response is the bombing... we need to understand that the bombing, which we do, also creates its own direct effect.
permalink posted by: jgh 2:31:02 PM
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About the Market Strike
"We know something landed in the district but don't know whether it was US or Iraqi," said the Maj. Gen. McChrystal. He also said, "where they want to come and fight, that's what we will do."
Clarke said, "it is a sign of the brutallity of this regime... in that they put military assets in and around civilians."
permalink posted by: jgh 2:11:22 PM
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The 1,000 Headed South
" A column of Iraqi tanks and armored personnel carriers poured south out of the Iraqi city of Basra on Wednesday and came under attack from U.S.-led forces, a British military spokesman said."
permalink posted by: jgh 2:07:57 PM
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Pentagon Briefing
Victoria Clarke, Pentagon spokeswomen, at press briefing, "military is now closing in on Baghdad... one of military objectives is to secure oil fileds for Iraqi people... " She spoke a great deal about the Iraqi soldiers using the hospital in southern Iraq yesterday and made it clear that the hospital was clearly marked and as such is considered safe during war. Went on to talk about chemical weapons... She spent an awfully long time talking about the hospital.
"Six days into war we've made remarkable progress in land, sea, and air."
permalink posted by: jgh 2:04:40 PM
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21 Arrested in Washington DC Anti-War Protest
Among them, Daniel Ellsberg, and a number of prominent ministers and rabbis, according to CNN TV.
permalink posted by: jgh 1:54:25 PM
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A Few Days Makes a Difference
The Pew Research Center reports that in two days the percentage of Americans who think the war is going well has declined from 71 percent to 38 percent. Bill Schneider on CNN said this was the "beginning of the credibility gap - a Vietnam we don't want to see again."
permalink posted by: jgh 11:48:51 AM
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Conflict of Interest
Halliburton gets approval to fight oil well fires in Iraq. Of course, Vice President Cheney is the former CEO and President of Halliburton. When Ari Fleischer was questioned about the possibility of a perceived conflict of interest, he suggested the question be directed to "agencies that award the contracts and bids." Apparently the U.S. Agency for International Development is the agency involved. (Check here for more about the RFPs.) By the way, foreign companies were excluded from winning contracts. Hmmm... Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, is under scrutiny also.
But, it's not just individual interests that can influence us. Look at Iran's view of the war, as explained by Middle Eastern Media Research Institute in Washington, DC, or how Jordan's King Abdullah allows U.S. troops to operate out of his country, while publicly opposing the war. Even the strained relationship between Russia and the US seem s in part based on the future of Russia's oil interests in Iraq.
Our individual, community, national, and global interests - and our pereptions of them - make things murky.
permalink posted by: jgh 9:52:56 AM
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Cent Com's Take
CentCom says "mistakes can occur", but "we do not know" what occured in the Baghdad market. And Saddam's forces are "shooting civilians."
permalink posted by: jgh 8:25:47 AM
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About 'Residual Damage'
CNN TV just showed a short video clip of a 'civilian area' in Baghdad and said Reuters (which reports "scorched bodies litter streets") claims it say "at least 15 bodies of civilians." CNN says it's hard to tell whether they were the result of bombing because "Saddam Hussein has been known to tell his soldiers to kill civilians."
permalink posted by: jgh 7:35:57 AM
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"Let Me Help You Understand"CNN TV has taken to "capsulizing" the news every so often in an effort "to make it easier" for us "to understand." I appreciate its succinctness; but I don't really see how a brief timeline aids in understanding anything - other than when things were reported.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:26:21 AM
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Tuesday, March 25, 2003
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(Very) Limited Coverage
According to an Australian paper Tim McLean, a New Zealand pilot, disobeyed a U.S. order to drop a bomb. But I can find no coverage - other than that Aussie paper - that deals with this. Did it happen?
permalink posted by: jgh 7:51:15 PM
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More Perception and Media, and It All Sort of Boils Down to HOW We Choose to See
Wampum blog offers a bit of insight into .the influence of bias in media coverage... not just in the US but all around.
A feature writer on the (UK) Sun has resigned over the tabloid's "gung-ho" stance on the war against Iraq. Even the Wall Street Journal suggests that the world media has become wary of the United States. But in reality, we (around the globe, not just Americans and not just with American press) are wary now of all information - and with just cause.
A link from Australia's Air Force military site to an explanation of Plato's Allegory of a Cave, is an allegory of people basing their perceptions of reality on mere shadows of the true reality. Timothy Thomas, of the Foreign Military Affairs Studies Office in Ft Levenworth, Kansas says, "The complexity of today's national security environment has offered many opportunities for combatants to alter perceptions and facts and to complicate the United Nation's decision-making process." (That was in 1995, by the way.) And, as Norman Solomon of Fair, writes "the perception of an operation can be as important to success as the execution of
that operation."
Another look. Not at all pleasant.
permalink posted by: jgh 7:37:59 PM
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Arrgh
Well, a small car fire, a tow truck, classes, life, my inability to hack a firewall, and the needs of animals have all drawn me back to reality. Thus, no updates for an entire day (almost). May need to rethink all this.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:45:11 PM
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A Matter of Perception
There's more than one way to look at things.
Christina Lamb is an independent journalist - not embedded and says she is not restricted by the 'coalition forces' in what she can say. She says "the situation in Iraq is much different on the ground than what she is seeing reported in the US and UK, and to what the military is giving as official versions of events to reporters." But many, disagree. It's "historic," insists Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who added, "I doubt that in a conflict of this type, there's ever been the degree of free press coverage as you are witnessing."
The Washington Post reports that many newspapers are choosing not to run photos of the US POWs because they "are too painful." Others disagree, including Jerry Lanson in a commentary at the Christian Science Monitor.
permalink posted by: jgh 11:08:37 AM
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Patriotism and Protest
Can they coexist? One of the freedoms U.S. soldiers fight for is our right to free speech. As a UPI writer says today, "The solidarity of support for our troops, however, must not create the impression that criticizing the administration's policy toward Iraq is unpatriotic."
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has defended the right of Australians to protest against the war in Iraq; however, school children have been warned not to attend.
It's about perceptions of right and wrong, fear about loss of freedoms, morals, confusion, and ambivalence. But as an attendee at a future military leaders lunch wrote, "If this nation's future military leaders can harbor qualms about this war, civilian critics ought to be able to harbor them, too."
permalink posted by: jgh 5:10:34 AM
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Sandstorms, SARS, and Stupidity
Sand and rain making life difficult near the Euphrates River... increasing risk of "friendly fire" says Alessio Vinci on CNN, who had been in black out conditions until coming under American friendly fire.
Beijing may have as many as 100 cases of SARS.
$74.7 billion for 30 days... Basra, 1.7 million people, no water or electricity, Euphrates River contaminated with sewage. Nearby humanitarian aid can't get in.
Does anyone seriously care who wore what to the Oscars?
permalink posted by: jgh 4:46:32 AM
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In the Early AM
4:06 am (EST) - Concern of mines in the Waterways. Those sleeping below the water line of Australian ship Hmsa Kanimbla asked to move to upper levels, according to Becky Diamond, CNN. A number of mines have been found on Iraqi vessels, but none have been found in the water yet.
4:07 - Kevin Sites in northern Iraq has heard about a dozen explosions. "Things are heating up... [sounds like] powerful, rolling thunder coming in our direction."
4:11 - British officials say Basra is "legitimate military target," but apparently tanks will only be at the outskirts to minimize "collateral damage." Hope it works.
permalink posted by: jgh 4:25:24 AM
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Monday, March 24, 2003
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Movies
I am tired, but figured part of it out. We are watching a movie. The (perceived} plot is simple: good vs. bad; each side desperate to win. And although we may hope for one or the other, we know there will be drama along the way. But the movie goes on and on and has instant replays. Those who know fighters on either side cannot turn the movie off. Those who don't, don't want to be the last to know... and perhaps, by watching and reading, they (me) feel as if we are doing something... Rather sad all around in many ways.
An acquaintance wrote about his new 300 million channel TV upgrade. He's found the music channels... and finds solace and reprieve in Mozart and Bach - and George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".
permalink posted by: jgh 9:05:54 PM
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A Note to Several Critics: This Is Not an Anti-American SiteRather, it is one that is skewed from an individual's perspective, biased by that perspective, but what is reported as news is always corroborated (by more than simply what is linked to) and my opinion, of which there is much, is distinctly separate from that. It is an attempt to provide a multicultural, multi-worldly view of that which we see and read in our own living rooms.
permalink posted by: jgh 6:38:30 PM
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Miscellaneous Notes
Aid may take weeks to get to Iraq, including desperately needed water.
Bahrain blast was a propane tank brought by protester according to CNN TV.
Three young teenagers, trying to hang peace symbol signs on an underpass of I-195, (under the same bridge where hundreds of American flags have been placed since 9/11), were approached by police from two police cars. The signs didn't get hung. Viva la freedom of expression. [eyewitness account]
And life goes on (for some).
At least 200 special ops have been inserted into northern Iraq, according to CNN TV.
permalink posted by: jgh 5:05:48 PM
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Death (and Hatred) in Other Forms and a Warning to Media
Suspected militants lined up 24 Hindu men, women and children and gunned them down in Indian Kashmir yesterday. Today, up to 160 people died in a shipwreck in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today, there are now 386 cases of SARS - the "severe acute respiratory syndrome." Yesterday, the Riverton, WY, Chamber of Commerce declared the city a '''hate-free
zone'' in response to a white supremacist organization that moved there - three months ago.
"What endangers the world is not war, it is the hatred of the two sides,'' says
Phra Paisal Visalo, a Buddhist monk. There's seem to be lots of sides hating today.
The Pentagon briefing just warned independent media to be careful and said that some Iraqis had dressed as civilinas and posed as journalists. An attempt to be concerned over people's welfare or to further cut press reports?
permalink posted by: jgh 3:44:38 PM
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Battle of Pictures
An email reads: "Besides in France we have some independent media showing pictures and documentaries ... [of] US-UK troops [who] do not stop showing the Iraqi prisoners and their humiliations, but when the US prisoners
are concerned, president Bush claims the strict respect of those conventions." Seems Islam Online News agrees, which isn't much of a surprise. Anyway, didn't Ari Fleischer just say this wasn't so? (See four posts down.) British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon tries to explain the difference.
permalink posted by: jgh 2:22:12 PM
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Japan and Baghdad
Two projectiles were fired late Wednesday at a U.S. military base in Tokyo, but no damage or injuries were reported.
Salam is back online after a few days of no Internet access in Baghdad.
"Today's (and last night's) shock attacks didn't come from airplanes but rather from the airwaves. The images Al-jazeera is broadcasting are beyond any description. First was the attack on (Ansar el Islam) camp in the north of Iraq. Then the images of civilian casualties in Basra city. What was most disturbing are the images from the hospitals. They are simply not prepared to deal with these things. People were lying on the floor with bandages and blood all over. If this is what "urban warefare" is going to look like we're in for disaster. "
permalink posted by: jgh 1:40:58 PM
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Battle of Red Zone Underway
5th CORPS ASSAULT COMMAND POST, near NAJAF, Iraq American forces have begun the battle for the Red Zone, the area around Baghdad that is defended by Iraq's Republican Guard.
permalink posted by: jgh 1:20:31 PM
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More Sticky Messes
From Ari Fleischer's press briefing: A bill will be sent to Congress to pay for war costs (70 - 90 billion dollars). .. "Very concerned of reports of ongoing support of Iraq by the Soviets." (I guess we can probably then add the Soviets to the pissed off list created earlier.) Bush made three phone calls: Blair, Aznar, and Putin. "Soviet actions are disturbing." (The Dow Jobes is down 284 points with all the good news running around.) "President knows we area making good progress in the war against Saddam Hussein." (Hussein, meanwhile, urges Iraqis to fight the 'evil' US.)
Helen Thompson asked if we were following the Geneva Convention in Guantanemo and Iraq... Fleischer hesitated.. said they were different situations and that of course we followed it in Iraq... "we treat them humanely" in Guantanemo Bay. Hmmm... and we're chastizing Iraq for ignoring the Geneva Convention? (See four posts down.) I'm confused.
permalink posted by: jgh 1:10:27 PM
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It's Begun Again
Bombs started a while ago on televised Baghdad again - and there are still no air raid warning sirens heard. Apparently, the 'coalition' forces wrecked them, although that would seem to fly in the face of trying to minimize 'collateral damage'.
What a nice anniversary reminder for four years ago.
permalink posted by: jgh 12:06:25 PM
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Who Else Can We Annoy?
We seem to be adding to the list of those who aren't too pleased:
Meanwhile, President Bush tries to lower our expectations of the war.
 10:48:31 AM
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Well, after spending the last three hours messing this up, I'm ready to begin again.
Iraq Violates Treaties
Donald Rumsfeld said, "Iraq has a practice of violating
international law and ignoring international conventions and treaties," which is rather ironic given US practices. In fact, one criticism of current policies is that "the United States is criticized for riding roughshod over world opinion and acting without the sanction of the United Nations [and] its apparent willingness to wreck such institutions as NATO, to reject treaties covering global concerns" creates havoc. And one only need ask the indigenous population of the U.S. to recognize that it/we have abrogated numerous treaties along our historical path.
8:56:44 AM
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8:45:17 AM
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permalink posted by: jgh 12:02:34 PM
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© Copyright 2004 Jennifer Hicks.
Last update: 3/9/04; 6:54:26 PM.
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