Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's Iraq Report and "Winds of War" coverage of the wider conflict is brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.
Top Topics:
* JK: Representative Jim Marshall [D-GA] has recently returned from a visit to Iraq - and he isn't impressed with the media coverage coming from the remaining 27 in-country (or is that in-hotel?) reporters. He was joined in that criticism by colleagues from both parties, incl. Rep. Ike Skelton [D-MO] and Rep. Gene Taylor [D-MISS] (Hat Tip: Trent Telenko). Glenn Reynolds was ahead of the curve, as usual - and Howard Veit has more.
* An attempted mass casualty suicide bombing at the UN headquarters has left 2 dead and raised serious doubts about the future of the organization in the country. ICT has the details. The FBI is on the case.
* As we've said before: [1] Send Toys! Here's how to help, and what to send. (it seems The Chief had a predecessor Wiggles, too, in the aftermath of WWII); and [2] Please step up to The Chief's other request, and help us get the Generals released!
Other Topics Include: Iraqi minister dies; Spanish take over in Najaf; Northern front proggress; Terrorists attacking commuter buses, cinemas; The WMD hunt; Al-Jazeera gets the boot from new Iraqis; Baghdad's unusual hit CDs; Another Ba'ath Poker surrender; Support the troops.
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
* JK: Ms. Aquila al-Hashimi of Governing Council and Iraq's future U.N. Ambassador, died Thursday despite efforts to save her, five days after she was shot in an ambush. As Charles Johnson noted, the implicit Islamist message to "uppity" women is crystal clear.
* A retired military intelligence officer is claiming that Iraqi arms may have been held underneath of mosques.
* The Shi'ite holy city of An Najaf has been handed over to Spanish troops under the command of General Alfredo Cardona.
* The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent story on the progress in the northern regions of the country.
* The guerrillas appear to be taking their war directly to the Iraqi people by attacking commuter buses and cinemas. (JK: Note the Hezbollah/Hamas modus operandi parallels.)
* Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed has been reportedly given immunity in return for helping the US on the WMD front.
THE WMD HUNT
* US senators were recently briefed on progress of the hunt for Iraq's WMDs.
* To get a look at what David Kay has to go through in order to check out claims of WMD sites, I would recommend this story about a two week hunt for a cylinder about the size of a phone booth that allegedly contained a precursor to VX nerve gas.
THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
* Iraq's governing council is going to open up the economy to foreign investors in order to revive a nation damaged by warfare and sanctions.
* JK: Dan's Special Analysis today says it was Europe, specifically Germany, rather than the United States, that politicized its intelligence during the lead-up to war with Iraq, in particular regarding Iraqi links to al-Qaeda. He makes a strong case.
* JK: On the other hand, Nitin at Hawken Blog has a roundup of coverage re: Bush and Schroeder's meeting. Seems Germany has a much more conciliatory attitude these days. Actually, some Germans have been downright noble. But none of them are in the German Media.
* President Bush is willing to allow a larger U.N. role in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
MISC.
* The US is continuing to prosecute the human shields who went to Iraq.
* The Iraqi governing council has closed the offices of al-Jazeera and al-Arabiyyah for one month for promoting violence.
* Contrary to popular belief by the media, most Baghdad residents seem just happy with the idea of Saddam Hussein not coming back.
* CDs of the brutality of the Saddam Hussein regime are apparently a big seller in Baghdad these days. People don't seem to want to forget just how brutal the old regime was.
* On which topic, Iraqi leader Izzat Ibrahim is negotiating his surrender, following the example of such notables as Tariq Aziz. Which other "cards" have we captured so far? The CENTCOM list. And the visual version of "Ba'ath Poker."
* The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated August 19, 2003]
Regarding:
" * The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent story on the progress the coalition is making in the northern regions of the country."
This links to the wrong article.
True, thanks. Fixed.
Open italics tag. after "The Christian Science Monitor".
With all due respect and accepting that the media does manipulate the message, and that the complete story and picture of what is actually happening in Iraq in uncertain and unclear, - one abuse does not excuse the other.
We all must accept that "The Iraq war has predictably evolved into a guerrilla conflict similar to Vietnam. Our currently stated objectives are to establish reasonable security and foster the creation of a secular, representative government with a stable market economy that provides broad opportunity throughout Iraqi society. Attaining these objectives in Iraq would inevitably transform the Arab world and immeasurably increase our future national security.
These are goals worthy of a fight, of sacrifice, of more lives lost now to save thousands, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands in the future."
The news is bleak, and to argue otherwise is denial. Yet we do deserve and must demand as these gentlemen point out - equal access to news of America's success in Iraq as well.
Tony, not to ride you too hard, but have you ever studied the history of the war in Vietnam?
I'll suggest that you check out one metric: the amount of military aid the Soviet Union gave the North Vietnamese.
Exactly how different would the history have been had there been no USSR to offer that support?
And who will be the supporters - on the same scale - of the combatants in Iraq?
A.L.
More to the point, even ignoring the difference in professionalism and training between US and Russian soldiers, thus far this hasn't been all that bloody war even by Islamist insurgency standards. Right now we're losing, off and on, about 1 soldier a day. Now compare that with Kashmir or Chechnya, where between 6 and 9 soldiers being killed is a good day.
Ah, but making an analogy to Vietnam means that Bush critics need not either think or formulate a real alternative.
All such analogies reveal is a lack of understanding of Vietnam, a lack of understanding of Iraq, a lack of understanding of the Middle East and a fundamental lack of seriousness.
A total examination of the reporters sitting in the hotel and demanding U.S. soldiers make them safe, and paint the hotel was printed in the Calendar Section of the LA Times. The link may now be down unless you pay. The LA Times link is: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-et-williams19sep19,1,4413077.story If it is blocked, I have excerpts at: http://oraculations.blogspot.com/2003_09_01_oraculations_archive.html#106426374438823712
The article is praising these bastards but I think you will be as pissed as I was if you read it. Since the LAT link is not a week old you should be able to get to it.
For some reason I screwed up the links above so here's the *LA TIMES*
And *Here's mine*