Monday, December 01, 2003

Opprobrium

Partisan Politics

On Salon.com today I find this headline about Dubya’s Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad: “ ‘Mission Accomplished’ footage is no longer usable, so Karl Rove recalls his cast and crew to shoot a new Bush commercial in Baghdad.”

I’m no booster of the President, but give him a little credit, please. First he isn’t going to troop funerals, and he’s a heartless jerk. Now he’s visiting a war zone, and he’s an opportunistic SOB. Isn’t it possible that once in a while he just remembers to act Presidential? The “left” is going to have to stop demonizing the guy if they’re going to make any headway.


Posted by Johno on 12/01/03 at 09:14 PM
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Proportional Representation

Just So You Know

Want to get educated on Proportional Representation, which just might be able to fix a lot of the problems we face as a society?  Start here:

PR Library


Posted by Ross on 12/01/03 at 07:37 PM
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The Great Divide

War

Here’s a little reading...the gap between the western and arab press never ceases to amaze me…

Hearts and Minds - US style

Dozens killed in Samarra carnage

Thwarted Ambush Was Highly Coordinated, U.S. Officials Say

U.S. Forces Kill 54 Iraqis After Ambushes

You can see the dramatic differences…

Here’s the thing: Last night the lead on Aljazerra was this:

“Innocents killed in Samarra bloodbath
Al-Jazeera, Qatar - 17 hours ago
US troops in the Iraqi town of Samarra have admitted to perpetrating a bloodbath,
with one occupation spokesman confirming nearly four dozen people were killed ... “

I just cut and pasted that from google’s news cache...now, if you click through that same story reads like this:

“US occupation authorities in Iraq have raised the Samarra carnage toll to 54.

An unnamed military spokesman on Monday did not specify if those killed were resistance fighters or civilians.”

The Aljazeera headline was revised between last night and today.  The question is, what does the Arabic headline say?  Who revised it?  Who wrote it in the first place?  I am still trying to find a cached version of the page from last night, which basically said that US forces went in and shot up a bunch of civilians, in a “bloodbath”.

At first I thought that was completely ridiculous.  I still do, but this morning I heard another report describing a number of civilian casualties during this event.  It is clear that at least some civilians died.  It is also very clear that the “resistance” fighters melt into the local population, and therefore put that population at risk.  A US soldier has the right to shoot back, when he’s being shot at.

My old line about Arabs applies in this situation.  What the Arab should fear the most is that we begin to think about him the same way he thinks about us.  If that ever happens...they only think they know suffering.

The sheer level of disinformation that the average Arab must wade through is incredible.  Read this piece by John Burns.  It’s a conversation between Iraqis and a reporter.  It’s amazing.  These are smart people; how did they get to this point?  How are their information sources so corrupt, so inaccurate?

If you’ve got the time, I also suggest reading Greg Packer’s New Yorker article, which gives us great examples of the hope and frustration on both sides.  It’s lengthy, so set aside some time, but well worth it.  I read the print version, but this online version has additional content.


Posted by Ross on 12/01/03 at 05:21 PM
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