NPR this morning mentioned "house to house fighting" in Hindiya.

Correction: They mentioned street fighting. There's a difference, I suppose.

part 2 of Terrified of Saddam
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=24516

It was just announced on the Today Show that NBC and National Geographic have severed their relations with Peter Arnett.

It was just announced on the Today Show that NBC and National Geographic have severed their relations with Peter Arnett.

Because he tells what everyone sensible already knows?

Sean Paul,

Would you (or anybody else) be able to provide a link to a faq explaining how to do italics, bold, links etc in the comments. I have had a look around The Agonist but haven't found anything (which is not to say it isn't there!).

Thanks

Peter Arnett that is what you get for telling the truth. We desperastely need more independant journalists not embedded ones

Wow, it is really sick and twisted that the simple reporting of facts on the ground, as they are seen from inside the country, based on interviews, eyewitness, and thorough reporting, with solid conclusions drawn from that material...

results in the media outlet severing connections with the reporter.

Is the truth really that dangerous?

Do we really refuse to accept what we can see with our own eyes, should we actually take the daring step of opening them?

The military plan put forward and followed by this administration and its war planners is and was a failure.

It is not working.

It has been, apparently, abandoned.

Why should Arnett be "severed" for saying that?

The only "command and control" centers being "decapitated" at the moment are those at the center of American Representative Democracy -- specifically government by the consent of an informed and active public.

What a travesty.

Sean Paul -

Recruit Arnett for the Agonist...

Further on the Today Show announcement re. Peter Arnett, it was reported that Peter had apologized profusely for "his stupidity".

To SeanD:

italics = [i] to begin, [/i] to end
bold = [b] to begin, [/b] to end
blockquote = [blockquote] to begin, [/blockquote] to end
URL = [a href="your URL here"] to begin, [/a] to end.

"It was just announced on the Today Show that NBC and National Geographic have severed their relations with Peter Arnett."

Funny, as of the (local) NBC news this morning (6:30 EST) NBC was still standing by Arnett for his "analytical" report. I guess things have changed.

kachumbali:

Thanks for that, and goodnight all - it was a pleasure (more pleasant tonight for a greenhorn than it has been at other times=). )

Re: Arnett

It is one thing to criticize the war in the New Yorker or via the internet. It is quite another thing to praise Iraqi defenses and find fault with the allied war plan on Iraqi TV. This is called, giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Arnett better stay in Iraq where he is "respected." If he returns to US, he may find himself charged with treason.

Yes, recruit Peter Arnett for the Agonist.

Peter must have other outlets for his reports. Does anyone out there know of any that we can link to?

It wouldn't hurt to e-mail NBC and give them an earful of your opinion!!!

one of the miscalculations of the Shock and Awe campaign was the assumption that the islamists love life. they most explicitly don't - therefore, they can't be threatened successfully. Love of life is a characteristic of any sane culture, however.
joke: the martyred get 60 virgins when they reach their heaven- what they don't know is that the 60 virgins are the previous 60 martyrs...lol

Peter Arnett that is what you get for telling the truth. We desperastely need more independant journalists not embedded ones

How many embedded reporters does the Iraqi army have? You would seem to imply that a journalist in Baghdad is somehow more honest than those that are embedded? Yet I don't recall any embedded journalists being expelled, nor do I recall any journalists being barred from CENTCOM briefings, while Baghdad doesn't hesitate to expell journalists it doesn't like.

I hope it was just trolling ... but I'm scared that people truly do have those sentiments.

Re: Peter Arnett

To all those who oppose Bush because of loss of civil liberties-- They can only take freedom away from those willing to give it up.

Looks like there are plenty of people willing to throw away a free press!

Arnett wasn't satisfied with just reporting the news, he wanted to be a part of it, that was his fatal mistake!

<b>text</b>=text
<i>text</i>=text
<a href="http://agonist.org">web link</a>=web link

The story in the Post is a pretty good read. Some of Bush's advisors are trying to get him to dump the chickenhawks, but:

Bush, who appears to value tension among his top advisers, "has been very Delphic on this and hard to read"

Now, that's scary. Delphic oracles used to stand on the mountain and inhale weird gases before they prophesied. I hope the President is not inhaling anything these days.

And the article later includes a comment from someone that the only one who can get through to Bush is his father. (!)

CNN Online is reporting Iraqi TV has been taken out by american bombing. Any confirmation, SP? Seems like I've seen that headline about 20 times since this started...

good morning everyone, here is a very good contrarian article an SARS its worth the read

http://www.fumento.com/disease/sars.html

dave,

several embedded journalists HAVE been expelled, some have had their sat-phones turned of, two israeli journalists have been arrested, and one CSM reporter has had his materials and camera taken away and actually (last I read two or three days ago) hasn't been heard from since he was escorted from the premises by MPs.

'kay?

sjct,

that report could hardly be called "aid and comfort" by anyone other than the likes of Drudge, David Horowitz, or Ann Coulter, who think that voting for a Democrat is worse than murdering children.

[i] Love of life is a characteristic of any sane culture, however.
[/i]

'Sane' culture? How do you define a 'sane' culture?

I suppose for you the American culture is sane...if so, I really feel sorry for you.
This is a totally concieted view of the world.

Because he tells what everyone sensible already knows?

He gave an interview to Iraqi State television.

It is not working.

It has been, apparently, abandoned.

Dan,

You have *no* idea what you're talking about.

UK's 'uphill PR battle' on Iraq

The UK faces an uphill struggle if it is to win the public relations battle over Iraq in the Arab world, Alastair Campbell has acknowledged.
Tony Blair's director of communications suggested that news channels such as al-Jazeera were, in some cases, spinning "complete fiction".

He gave as an example a story that suggested British soldiers had executed Iraqi prisoners.

Mr Campbell's comments were broadcast just after the prime minister had given a series of interviews with Arab newspapers in a bid to get the UK perspective on war across.

Mr Blair told Arab readers that "history would judge" whether the US and UK had made the right choice to wage war on Iraq insisting that the conflict was about liberation and not conquest.

UK preoccupation

Mr Campbell was speaking as he flew with the prime minister to last Wednesday's Camp David summit with US President George W Bush.

"When you look at some of the output from not just al-Jazeera, but some of the other Arab media, we have got a huge uphill battle on our hands and we have got to engage in it," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"So, for example, we had a meeting this morning (last Wednesday) with the prime minister and [Foreign Secretary] Jack Straw and other ministers where we were discussing this very problem.

"The fact that, for example, you had a report in al-Jazeera the other day where the guy in Baghdad was asking their correspondent in London whether the issue of British troops executing Iraqi prisoners of war came up in the debate.

"Complete fiction, but there it was aired. Now that is something that we have to get out there, knowing that it is happening, dealing with it, challenging it, rebutting it."

The following day at a post-summit press conference Tony Blair accused Iraqis of executing British soldiers - a claim which was at odds with what relatives of one of the dead were told by the UK military.

Mr Campbell also bemoaned the sort of PR coups available to dictators such as Saddam Hussein who were able to lie and not be subject to the sort of scrutiny that a Western regime was liable to get.

Advantage of lying?

"In democracies we are expected to explain, we cannot tell lies in the way that dictatorships tell lies all the time, both about themselves and about us," he said.

"And I think that gives them - I am not suggesting, by the way, that we should be telling lies - but it gives them an advantage in the way this thing is prosecuted.

"Saddam Hussein can go up and do a broadcast, and how many of our media then stand up and say what an amazing propaganda coup that was.

"[Osama] Bin Laden can sit in his cave and throw out a video and you get BBC, CNN, all these other guys, saying 'What a propaganda coup'.

"All that has happened is they exploit in their eyes the weaknesses of our democracy, the weaknesses of our media systems, they exploit them to their own advantage and I think sometimes our media allows them to do that."

Mr Campbell also said that explaining the British government's position in the Arab world was a major concern of the UK government.

Fighting media war?

He said an Arabic media unit had been set up at the Foreign Office and that a government spokesman from that unit frequently appeared on Arab news stations to explain the UK position.

Mr Campbell argued that the media had "changed the nature of conflict".

But he insisted that the war would be won by coalition forces and implied that the biggest battle was winning people's hearts and minds.

"The only doubt [in Kosovo] was actually whether we could sustain public opinion sufficient to make sure that the democratically-elected governments that make up Nato would see through the mission that they had set themselves upon," he said.

"We saw the same thing with the Taleban, we are seeing the same thing now.

"Militarily, there is no question at all, this thing will be won and it will be seen through."

Mr. Campell, Blair's communication chief complained that Al-Jazeera aired: a story, which suggested that British soldiers are executing Iraqi POW.
Of course a news agency or politician would never tell lie

Peter Arnett didn't tell the simple truth, he gave aid and comfort to the enemy with his twisted opinions and offered them a strategy to endure. People may die thanks to Arnett's ill-advised remarks -- especially if the Iraqis decide to create Iraqi civilian carnage for the purposes of the TV camera.

I'm glad NBC fired him. If he returns to the U.S., they should arrest him.

He gave an interview to Iraqi State television.
Which is wrong because?

Watch this happen and remember these words. While the neocons are still willing to kill our troops to prove their point, the President is looking for a way out that doesn't expose his shrivaled manhood.

CNN Online is reporting Iraqi TV has been taken out by american bombing. Any confirmation, SP? Seems like I've seen that headline about 20 times since this started...

Posted by nator at March 31, 2003 08:18 AM

My understanding is that the Iraqis have mobile transmitters. All transmitters put out a radiation signature. Each wave of air raids takes them out. The Iraqis then set up new ones. This will go on until the Iraqis run out of mobile trasnmitters.

Do not post full text articles

Haider,

Do everyone a favor please, and simply post a *link*.

You don't need to post the whole article. It wastes bandwidth, causes comments to come up much slower, and (most likely) costs folks money.

Please -- links only. And if it's not linkable, then it's probably not worth posting.

Peter Arnett didn't tell the simple truth, he gave aid and comfort to the enemy with his twisted opinions and offered them a strategy to endure. People may die thanks to Arnett's ill-advised remarks -- especially if the Iraqis decide to create Iraqi civilian carnage for the purposes of the TV camera.

I'm glad NBC fired him. If he returns to the U.S., they should arrest him.

You know. People on this page are also saying that the US employs the wrong strategy, and how the Iraqi would benefit from it. So Sean-Paul should be arrested?

Peter Arnett was fired because he got too close to the enemy in wartime - period. Nobody lost any freedom today. NBC just got rid of a "reporter" who thought he was the story.

Many on this site reference their potential loss of freedoms. Like your forefathers you must be willing to fight for it not whine about it. Those young men fighting this war are ultimately protecting your freedoms not taking them away. And I ask the following question to all who think they are losing their freedoms ..... What would you be willing to personally fight for?

"8:16 EST More from the political machinations file. There is a big fight going on in Washington right now.More, here. And of course here is The New Yorker article. More can be found here."

Hmmmm... sounds like week two of the Kosovo war all over again.

Dan,
I voted for Gore in the last election. I agree with almost everything Arnett said. BUT, saying it on Iraqi TV was incredibly stupid. It does indeed give the Iraqi regime "aid and comfort" to believe that they are winning the propaganda war and it harms our troups by encouraging the Iraqis to continue their resistance.

I don't feel particularly strongly about Arnett being dumped. However, is he even an American citizen?

Those young men fighting this war are ultimately protecting your freedoms not taking them away.

Maybe they need to be back over here in America, then, doing something to protect our Bill of Rights from John Ashcroft and Congress.

>What would you be willing to personally fight for?

I would be willing to fight for my family and country, to defend it against any foreign invaders...and this seems to be a widespread opinion

Powell should have implemented that policy 20 years ago, and perhaps this all could have been avoided. How about abandonning existing settlements.

I voted for Gore in the last election. I agree with almost everything Arnett said. BUT, saying it on Iraqi TV was incredibly stupid. It does indeed give the Iraqi regime "aid and comfort" to believe that they are winning the propaganda war and it harms our troups by encouraging the Iraqis to continue their resistance.

My sentiments exactly

Do everyone a favor please, and simply post a *link*.

You don't need to post the whole article. It wastes bandwidth, causes comments to come up much slower, and (most likely) costs folks money.

Oh yes, the 3 kb (expanded) will ruin everyone, especially since the 3000 letters will need about 1 kb on the line. If you enter your URL it may use more bandwith.

Those young men fighting this war are ultimately protecting your freedoms not taking them away.

Maybe they need to be back over here in America, then, doing something to protect our Bill of Rights from John Ashcroft and Congress.

Posted by: Ellen on March 31, 2003 08:37 AM

I say again "What would you personally be willing to fight for?"

Are there any websites that translate - for free - arabic into english?

Illicit Taxonomy,

I don't know what I am talking about??

Well, gee, taxon, seems to me that the seige of baghdad was slated for Teusday last, then it was slated for saturday, then it was slated for sunday.

Seems to me that Umm Qasr has been "secured" about 4 times now, that Basra has been "secured" once, there has been an uprising in Basra, there was a column of 170 armored vehicles coming SW out of Basra...

Seems to me that there was a 1000 vehicle strong column of armor coming south from Baghdad.

That Nassirya has been "secured" two or three times

and so on.

Look, support the runup to the war if you choose (I didn't), support the war's justifications if you choose (I think they are hype and camouflage), support the stated and ultimate aims if you wish (I support the stated aims, but I think those are being used as window dressing and will never be achieved, regardless of the outcome)...

But don't lie to yourself or hide from the truth.

The truth is that this situation is, right now, really dicey. There is a serious weakness in this warplan, and there has been from the start. It was premised on false assumptions, hopeful scenarios, and ridiculously optimistic "war gaming" that ignored real conditions and real people.

That plan has been scrapped, they are trying to salvage the gains that were made in the first days of unopposed driving (that were probably a honey trap), and consolidate and fortify their positions. Wait out the next weeks, and hope that the 4th, the 1st, and the other units arrive soon enough to finish this thing off before June.

When it will become even more horribly hot dusty and sandy in that hellhole.

I think I'd be willing to fight for my town and neighborhood, and if there were troops in my town trying to deprive me and mine of my rights under the Constitution, illegally, I'd fight.

Here's a question for you: At what point would you say Bush has gone too far in this war against Iraq?

ABC News Australia

Iraqi chemical and biological weapons may be hidden in Syria, a senior Israeli intelligence officer told a parliamentary committee, Israeli public radio said.

"It is possible Iraq transferred missiles and weapons of mass destruction into Syria," General Yossi Kupperwasser told the committee.

One of the things Americans fought for and achieved(?) was civil rights and against racism.

That was noble, it took many years and it certainly wasn´t easy.
Their victory was a victory for the American people (society in general) and lesson for everyone on this planet.

No guns and no bullets. Patience and determination was enough.

This is an excellent interview with an retired air force dude who managed the air force during Clinton years.

http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1048770098290210.xml?oregonian?fpfp

The Iraqis are not my enemy. The enemy of freedom loving peeople worldwide is the Bush regime.

aa

The correct word for Arnett is traitor.

Those poor bastids eating sand in and around Nassiriya, Najaf, Kum, Karbala, Umm Qasr, Basra, and the other cities are NOT fighting for my freedoms, because, as has been amply demonstrated numerous times in numerous places, with large volumes of verification and proof....

Saddam Hussein never presented a clear and present danger, or immediate threat to me or mine.

No WMD, no uranium deals in Niger, no links to Al Qaeda, no active chem weapons, no active bio weapons, and no invasion force poised on the Border.

See?

So, unfortunately -- nay, tragically -- those brave, devoted, and patriotic men and women who have given their lives already, who are willing to give their lives now, who have for many reasons decided to join the military and swear to fight to defend the constitution and the territory, and me and my loved ones and our precious freedoms...well, it seems that those to whom I am very grateful and extremely proud -- those soldiers -- are being wasted, misused, thrown away...for not much of value to me.

ever read anything by Smedley Butler?

Perhaps you should.

Bam these neocon Chickenhawk fools.
How can he be a traitor, he is not a citizen of a country that is at war with Iraq.

Dan

It must be nice to be important enough to receive a copy of the US War Plan so that you can comment intelligently on it.

Since the plan is such a failure can we assume that the Republican Guard divisions South of Baghdad will defeat the coalition forces?

Warthog,

Is was awfully nice, actually. It did crowd up my mailbox quite a bit, and the reading was a bit tedious, but it was awfully kind of the Pentagon to send it over.

Actually, from the amount of blathering about the "grand plan", and from the experiences that the Iraqi Army and generals had in the Gulf War, coupled with their (presumably) careful observations of Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan, and simply from reading the western press and the state department websites, doing the historical background on the warplanners and reading between the lines...

Don't you think that the Iraqi warplanners had a pretty decent idea of what was coming down the pike?

I certainly did.

And don't you think based on the screech-level volume of infighting, leaking and other nastiness coming out of DC right now, that perhaps the "plan" is getting trashed, and the "planners" are getting themselves some new nether orifices reamed?

Warthog - Arnetts words to Iraqi TV strike me as traitorous as well.

Dan - thanks for the heads-up on Smedley Butler. Reading him now, agree so far.

Dan

The facts on the ground as reported here and elsewhere simply do not support any notion of a "failed " plan, and that includes not having the 4ID already in combat.

Consider what has not happened:

Oilfields NOT on fire.
Oil spigots into the Gulf NOT opened.
NO scuds on Israel, Jordan, etc.
No mass of refugees.
And thank God no chem weapons so far.
Baghdad is invested. The initiative is entirely with the coalition.

For any responsible analyst or journalist to say that the planners did not expect to meet resistance is absurd. If that were the case Tommy Franks could have sent Saddam the final score and have been done with it.

Thaere will be tough fights ahead. I think Tikrit will be a very tough nut to crack. But there is no doubt about the outcome. The Iraqi forces that stand and fight are being destroyed in detail. Point to a single credible news source that says otherwise.

I don't know of a conservative wrap of the Sunday shows... Maybe punditwatch -- but they have declared a fog of war break and they will resume after things settle down.

I like the stance they have taken -- to not enter the fray of speculation.

Re: Peter Arnett.

Gee, and here I thought we were spending our precious blood and treasure to defend things like freedom of speech.

Gets more Orwellian every day.

Chemical warfare suits had to be worn because of the threat from the depleted uranium used in the American weapons.

That from the Independent article on the A-10 British tanks kill.

Apparently our allies think DU is dangerous.

Sorry, The Guardian, not The Independent

You know. People on this page are also saying that the US employs the wrong strategy, and how the Iraqi would benefit from it. So Sean-Paul should be arrested?

No. Sean-Paul or any other American can say (almost) anything he likes in Texas. But if that American goes to Iraq, and appears on Iraqi television, and describes a strategy for military defeat of the U.S., and offers words that comfort the enemy and encourage them to continue the fight, that's a different story. Then it would be [arguably] treasonous.

From a legal standpoint, where, when and with whom you speak matters as much as what you say and how you say it. You may say things to one group of people that would be "fighting words" under U.S. court rulings to another group of people. You may say things to Americans that constitute treason if you say them to the enemy.

Peter Arnett didn't tell the simple truth, he gave aid and comfort to the enemy with his twisted opinions and offered them a strategy to endure.

Aw, horse poop. Arnett observed what was going on, saying nothing more than the major media have aready observed and reported. He offered opinions just like a guest on a cable news show.

If that violated his terms of employment with NBC, they should have fired him. If it didn't, NBC just dumped a hot potato, which is the network's right.

Treason? Should we then prosecute those who are giving aid and comfort to Osama bin Laden by invading Iraq?

I would like to add that I believe the warhawks and neocons are also providing "aid and comfort" to the enemy by even starting this war. They have just sent the number of new terrorist recruits through the roof! We were attacked by terrorists. What happened to that war? By creating a war to further thier own political agenda they have personally, increased the threat to the future of this great nation and are wasting the lives of our great military men. Are any of you watching TV? Do you see the hordes of people around the world who now have a new reason to hate us and want to see our ultimate downfall? For all those who keep repeating Sept 11th changed everything....just remember if the terrorsts changed anything at all then they have won. Their agenda is exactly to change the way we live. Therefore if we change then they win. We have played directly into thier hands...way to go!

Also has anyone considered the fact that if they have been so short sighted as to leave our men on the supply lines without adequate security, that they might be creating the same lack of security here at home? If Rumsfeld believed we need so many fewer troops to conduct this war, perhaps he also believes we have a lesser need for our own security needs.

Col. Kurtz: Your methods are unsound.

[always wanted to say that.]

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