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Saturday, March 22, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:34 PM:
War seems to be going well, according to Fox, WaPo, etc. We'll check back in in a bit.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:41 AM:
Natalie Solent worries about European "identity" - and with good cause.The source of the identity is dislike of Anglo-American supremacy and the English-speaking world. Pretty embarrassing when you can't figure out who you are, only who you aren't. Probably why the US/UK alliance is doing the war its way and France is pouting.
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posted by gbarto at 1:26 AM:
Den Beste has a lengthy post on what's up with France, along with one correspondent's "yes buts". That correspondent is right about French nationalism and right that if he plays it right, no one in France will care how awful he is or has been. But... the French are also very sensible about how France is perceived. They like to imagine themselves the leaders of the civilized world, both through prestige and through influence. If they're shown to have nil, things will be rough for Chirac. If the French again find themselves being mocked, treated as fools, etc, Chirac will have a difficult balancing act to get people to defend him in the name of French dignity instead of dumping him to restore it. The one thing in his favor is that dumping him would require admitting to having been duped by him.In short, things are as bleak for France as Den Beste says, but probably not quite so bleak for Chirac himself.
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posted by gbarto at 1:05 AM:
Here they are, your French news headlines, in which we ask the burning question: Have they given up trying to come up with a peaceful solution?Le Monde: Baghdad pounded, Basra threatened. The story is pretty matter of fact, though a little too flip in noting that we had met at least a little resistance since two Marines were killed.
Le Figaro: Flood of Fire over Baghdad.
Libé: Rain of bombs over Baghdad.
The answer to our question is, of course, yes, they have. While editorials and citizens still screech, the tone of the actual reporting has moved to pretty neutral and it appears France is beginning to understand that their protests - by citizens or diplomats alike - are now purely symbolic, their ability to influence resting at approximately nil.
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posted by gbarto at 12:47 AM:
U.S. Official: Saddam Seen on Stretcher After March 19 StrikeBut was it really him?
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posted by gbarto at 12:43 AM:
Attn: California Pro-Liberationists:
Leave French's Cleaners Alone
I detail some of the idiocy of the anti-war folk below. But, alas, some jackholes just had to make sure the Bay Area media would have a "they're not the only ones" story. It goes like this: Guy comes here from Lebanon to get away from the violence. Opens a bunch of dry-cleaning shops. Goes through 9/11, etc., without a hitch.
But the place is called "French's Cleaners". Why? Because he needed a name. Maybe he wanted people to get their French cuffs pressed there. Or are they freedom cuffs now? I don't give a damn. The point is my morning cheer at what the "get Bush at any cost" idiots were doing to their movement was marred by the vandalism of two dry-cleaning shops and potentially arson against a third. What the police will ultimately find I don't know. But I would ask anyone with any information about attacks against French's Cleaners (or French's mustard or whatever else) to call the cops. The pro-Liberation crowd would be better off without these bozos. So would everyone else.
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posted by gbarto at 12:13 AM:
War Protesters Cost San Francisco Taxpayers Half a Million Dollars!
It may be just me, but these anti-war protesters are starting to look like real assholes to me. Today's San Francisco Chronicle was surprisingly unimpressed with the way the anti-war crowd wreaked havoc on their fair city. The ordinary workers who couldn't get to work to clock in or to their shops to open them weren't too happy either.
"You suck," motorist Larry Chu yelled from his car near the Transamerica Pyramid. "Why don't you all go to North Korea and do this?"...Maybe seeing kids who go to UC-Berkeley largely on the California taxpayer's dime deciding to take the day off to take a stand against you earning a living while their sensibilities are offended rankled. Nor is the cash-strapped city government, facing cutbacks in state matching funds under Boy Genius Gray Davis' proposed budgets happy at all the money it's spending on overtime.
"I'm definitely anti-war, but at the same time, we're trying to live our lives here," fumed Mark Thedis as he spent 30 minutes in his idling Range Rover in an alleyway off Folsom Street trying to get to work. "If they're trying to get people on their side, it's not working."
Computer systems administrator Owen Rowley was so furious he could barely spit out his words after having to struggle 20 blocks, on a mending broken ankle, from BART to his job on Union Street.
"These people have nothing better to do," he sputtered after finally arriving. "Those hippies blocked my bus. They made me walk on my bad leg. [He was recovering from a broken ankle.]
"This goes far beyond someone expressing their views on the war," [San Francisco City Supervisor Tony] Hall said, upset after being stuck in traffic for more than an hour at Market Street and watching two ambulances also struggle to move. "Look at what these people are doing. What has this got to do with the war?"
It was a long day for protesters and police alike. Officers in riot gear hustled to keep up with roving bands of demonstrators. Roughly 1,500 of the Police Department's 2,300 officers were on street duty, officials said, costing the city $500,000 in police overtime.But that's okay, because the activists are all very proud of the strong signal they're sending to Washington.
Kind of like the message they sent Secretary Rumsfeld when they trashed his properties in New Mexico:
We are arrogant jerks with no respect for other people, their time, their work or their property!
The arrogant attempts at moral superiority show only one thing: the total cluelessness of people who talk a great game about the poor, the struggling, the oppressed, but don't give a shit about anything but their own navel-gazing self-righteousness.
I can't find it now, but here's a paraphrase of my favorite comment from one angry commuter to a Chron reporter:
I wish that you'd publish the addresses of these people so me and my friends can go stand in their driveway tomorrow and not let them leave and see how they like it then.By the way, here's the Chron on the second day of protests.
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Friday, March 21, 2003
posted by gbarto at 10:04 AM:
Non, Non and Still NonChirac pre-vetoes U.N. resolution for administration of post-war Iraq
Chirac is doing his damnedest to delegitimize us and this operation. But if the Iraqi people seem happy with the result, it's going to be a lot harder to portray us as menaces to all that is good. And if he makes the UN hostile enough to our aims that we have to do the reconstruction "alone" with our compadres in this, then France can forget about the TotalFinaElf deals, etc.
Forgive me for expressing the sentiment, but is Jacques Chirac jeopardizing France's national interests for a generation in service of a delusion that he is the reincarnation of Charles de Gaulle? And how will the French feel when they realize this?
update: I read at Instapundit that there's also been some tension at the European summit and that the scuffling between Chirac and Blair has been getting pretty nasty. Nasty enough that England is highlighting the figures for French and German trade with Iraq and noting that England's understanding of the sanctions policies would have pretty much shot to hell and hope of getting that much. Of course Germany and France, with their violations, were cravenly propping up the Iraq regime, even if - a big if they weren't providing weapons.
So rather than "Axis of Weasel," we should be calling them the "Handmaidens of Evil".
Or is that hyperbole?
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posted by gbarto at 9:59 AM:
'No Saddam Hussein! Bush!'Residents of captured Iraqi border town happy to see Marines
Granted, if Saddam had captured it, they'd probably chant, "No Bush! Saddam!" if the occasion seemed to call for it. But I think this sentiment was a little more heartfelt. It sounds like the liberation is underway and let us say thank God and il-hamdu lillah and all the rest for that.
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posted by gbarto at 9:55 AM:
'SHOCK AND AWE' CAMPAIGN UNDERWAYGreat. The TurkeyBlog lives high in the mountains where the tv reception is lousy to non-existent, so I was elated to discover a television last night in the restaurant where I dined. I thought maybe I'd get a picture of what we're capable of, how America can project military power, etc. But nooooooooo. I got an hour of Aaron Brown discussing sand and fixing tank treads.
But now we're underway.
Then again, I'm glad not to be getting the up close and personal look our trips are and will be getting.
The TurkeyBlog offers prayers for those who have died, both in that helicopter crash and for our first Marine casualty. And for the Iraqis, few of whom are actual manifestations of the evil that defines Saddam but all of whom get to bear its wrath and be its shield.
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posted by gbarto at 9:47 AM:
Noting the French military triumph yesterday (see Le Monde item below), I'm wondering if boycotts of French products are enough. But what is there that is so evocative of France that making ass---es of ourselves over it would send a correspondingly petty message of hyper-adolescent nationalism? I can think of no place where France has made an equally significant inroad into American culture, and destroying the small projects of individuals would be an attack on "the little guy" with an anti-American character.Guess we'll have to settle for being the most powerful nation on earth.
But if your hamburger goes up to $.80 next week, you'll know what they need the penny for.
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posted by gbarto at 2:23 AM:
French news round-up:Le Monde: Hundreds of thousands against the war. Also against McDonald's windows, it would seem. They went postal (and messed up a Paris McDonald's near the US embassy) over the U.S.'s actions.
Le Figaro: Saddam number one target
Libé: Americans and Brits together on assault on Iraq, including Baghdad?
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posted by gbarto at 12:05 AM:
Iraq Calls U.S. a 'Terrorist State'Says it will ask U.N. Security Council to respond to the U.S.-led war
Iraq Fires Forbidden Missiles
Those fired at U.S. forces in Kuwait appear to be banned by U.N.
Oops.
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Thursday, March 20, 2003
posted by gbarto at 5:09 AM:
Iraqi Missiles Fired at U.S. Troops InterceptedBy a Patriot. God, it takes me back to my old college days.
Anyway, so far the news - as much as I've seen - looks ok.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:52 PM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: The War has begun.
At 3:50 Paris time, the White House announced that "the first of of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime has begun. The first bombings targeted the Iraqi capital at dawn. The American President, George W. Bush, declared in a speech: "We have no ambition in Iraq other than to remove a menace and put control of this country in the hands of its own people. According to Washington, the first strikes targeted "highly placed" Iraqis. The Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, in military dress, compared the American attack to "a shameful crime against humanity" in a televised speech. "We will resist the invader," he assured.So that's the first thing we learn at Le Monde. Let's also check editorials. Yesterday, we had the "American setback." Today, it's a "Setback for Blair". For all these "setbacks" Le Monde keeps finding, you'd think their writers had a shortcut key for it. Unfortunately, the article won't come up ("Echec pour Le Monde") so I can only guess it's about Mr. Blair's having to settle for strong support in his party and widespread support among the opposition instead of unanimous support from his own party, in much the same way that American setbacks have forced us to renounce our dreams of French support and limp along with the most powerful army in the world and a not unimpressive British force supplementing that.
Le Figaro: The Second Persian Gulf War has begun. Also, Le Figaro has this editorial: A pyrrhic victory for the war camp. You see, it's a pyrrhic victory if you lose French approval to win your fight. After all, what counts more? A battlefield strategy to minimize your own and civilian casualties or the French imprimatur? Ask the folks in the Ivory Coast. They'll tell you how much better things go if you have the French on board. The pyrrhic victory editorial, incidentally, starts, "The United States' stubborn insistence on getting Saddam ran right up against France's determination to stop any war." That the next sentence doesn't say, "And rolled right over it like a tank over a Yugo" lets us know that the writer is living in a fantasy land where France's upset over recent developments is the number one thing on everyone's minds. It should be safe to dispense with it, but we have to quote this one other sentence: "The affront was Homeric..."
Sing, goddess, the anger of George Bush's son, George W!If there's an awful epic here, it would seem like the actors would be the US and Iraq, with France a mere sideshow. But if you're going to pretend that France is anything but a major hassle we decided to do without, you ought to tell your story in style, like my suggestion. Le Figaro's sentence limped to the conclusion, "but in the end, it was the story of the iron pot against the clay pot." Which means they lose points for puffery, lack of creativity and lousy metaphor mixing. (Not that this page doesn't experience its share of the above.)
Who, reckless, wracked the multilateralists with a thousand pains,
Sent to the edge of insanity myriads of strong minds
Of pacifist ministers, who gave their rituals useless to be discharged
To diplomats, and UN lackeys, as the will of BUSH was to be done....
- a parody after Homer by yours truly
Libé: Three series of raids against Bagdad. And here's, Germany "in consternation," Paris demands that the conflict "be ended as rapidly as possible." Finally, Bush and Chirac agree! I'm pretty sure Bush would like the conflict ended pretty damn quick too. Saddam Hussein, if you're listening, if you will just move to Tunisia (Arafat seemed to like it) then Jacques Chirac's number one wish of the hour will be fulfilled! C'mon, be a pal. After all, he's done so much for you...
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posted by gbarto at 11:07 PM:
Sharp Washington Post article on what's up. Is it just me, or has WaPo pretty much supplanted NYT as the serious newspaper for the nation?Nice editorial ("First Strike") too.
And a very too the point thought column by Richard Cohen.
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posted by gbarto at 10:50 PM:
From the second story linked below:The diplomatic wheels turned still at the United Nations where foreign ministers were meeting in the Security Council at the request of the French and Germans, prominent critics of the American military operation.They just don't give up, do they?
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posted by gbarto at 10:48 PM:
Indeed we were. The war has, in case you missed it, begun. More about that in a minute, but first I thought I'd offer this from FNC:U.S. Troops Raid Afghan Villages
About 1,000 GIs take part in the operation, dubbed 'Valiant Strike'
Interesting. Of course we're looking for terrorists who might have thought the start of the war was the time to come out from underground. No such luck for them. Now, on to the big story:
United States Launches 'Decapitation' Strike Against Iraq
Curiously, Saddam is simultaneously labeling our attack a crime and announcing his intent to fight to the end, engulfing us in a fiery inferno. I guess the first part's for France and the second part for those who might be thinking now's the time to resign their commission with Iraq.
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posted by gbarto at 6:06 AM:
Looks like we're on the move:'Forward Battle Positions'
Coalition forces have moved into the demilitarized zone separating Kuwait and Iraq, Fox News has learned
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posted by gbarto at 4:22 AM:
Cicero's also having troubles with Blogger. Lots of other stuff too, if you scroll up and down.* * *
posted by gbarto at 4:10 AM:
Natalie Solent had advice for children upset by what they read in blogs. Among her reassurances,Always check the facts if you read a nasty post - it might not be true or it could be exaggerated, or even written by a Republican!A hilarious spoof on a BBC "What to tell your children" release.
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posted by gbarto at 4:03 AM:
Here's Bjørn on something most upsetting to the Norwegians: they're being told the UN-Norway friendship isn't just about the US helping Norway but Norway helping the US. Some are calling this blackmail, but Bjørn points out that those most upset have been less than grateful for the US's presence in Europe, making it curious that they'd even want our support. Perhaps they're motivated by the memory that those they now back are none other than a Germany that the US saved them from and a France that had fallen to Germany early on.* * *
posted by gbarto at 3:53 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Tony Blair can go to war against Iraq (covered in post below). Also, a thoroughly odious editorial about the "American setback." Says Le Monde, the US misjudged French resolve, Turkish opinion, etc. and embarrassed itself while Paris established itself as a moral leader. Too bad it destroyed its two main platforms - the UN and the EU - to win these victories. But the contempt of the editorial belies the "We are all New Yorkers" headline of two years ago while its sniveling tone reminds that for all its augustness, its puffery and its pride, Le Monde remains French, and thus possessed of a self-righteous arrogance to which George W. Bush hardly dare aspire.
Le Figaro: Saddam Hussein rejects Bush's ultimatum. Again, the sniveling. The French are too caught up in "their" win at the UN and in not letting us keep up the pressure on Iraq through the UNSC to notice that the result is war.
The US tried like hell to create what Paris claims to have wanted. Tried to bluff Saddam into making concessions here, concessions there, until he could be dealt with. But perhaps lacking the sophistication to understand, the French through the sort of tizzies designed to make Saddam think he should call our bluff. But, to continue our hackneyed metaphor, the French had an ace of clubs - their veto. Saddam an ace of hearts, his consummate instincts for mischief and survival. These cards did not need to be played. This could have been finished much more quietly. But once Paris showed its hand and upped the ante, the US had no choice but to drop the ace of spades: the best and biggest military in the world wedded to the strongest culture in the world.
France may be proud of itself for forcing our hand, but it won't like the results. Tant pis.
Libé: Chirac or America's Nightmare. Notes Libé, the US and UK are placing the blame for everything on France. And rightly so, as I explain with an awfully chosen and poorly constructed metaphor above. But soon, the headline will be America or Chirac's Nightmare as the institutions he used to battle us fall off into oblivion and the UN joins the League of Nations as a casualty of French indifference to madmen with mustaches.
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posted by gbarto at 3:34 AM:
British PM Blair Wins Legislative Votes on IraqSome of Labour's ticked, but with the Conservatives at his side, his support from 2/3 of Labour was enough to give pretty impressive vote totals in favor of his policies on Iraq.
Damn glad to see it.
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posted by gbarto at 3:31 AM:
France May Help U.S. in Case of Chemical WarfareRight generous of 'em. And so magnaminous. Lord knows the US would never mess around with helping France out if it got itself in a tight spot... (Insert your own history essay or other snide comments here)
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posted by gbarto at 3:28 AM:
Tritt: Celebs Should Support TroopsCountry great blasts Dixie Chicks
This seems to be a fairly common phenomenon. I ran into all sorts of anti-American expats during the times I spent in France. They seem united in one thing: an obliviousness to the way in which our culture allows them the time, the money and the other resources needed to go have a look.
And then, you see all those cathedrals and you think, wow! this culture's really old, really enduring. As if. We hear a lot about Bush's arrogance, but this is one place where a little more arrogance is called for. The US and England have the oldest enduring democratic structures in the world today. Our democratic institutions' ages are measured in centuries, not decades. Our ideas about freedom have not of late known regular interruptions by absolute monarchs, emperors and dictators. We have not had dictatorships within living memories. The UK has the longest stop and start tradition of gradually increasing freedom in the world today. The US has the longest enduring written Constitution. France and Germany have governments built on the ashes of Hitler and Vichy. Have every reason to remember the dangers of letting tyrants grow in strength and power. And yet they don't take it seriously. Never have. Letterman wasn't joking when he said the last time France needed more evidence they got it in the form of German tanks in Paris. He was just stating a fact. And so as we hear about American hubris, about the US-UK alliance in unpleasant terms, etc., it is time to remind our critics that we of the English-speaking world have been successful in the freedom and democracy biz a damn sight longer than anybody else and don't need lectures from still brash and immature child nations who think that the monuments of their grandparents' tyrannies confer anything at all upon free societies that haven't yet reached 60.
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posted by gbarto at 2:55 AM:
GOP Blasts Daschle for War RemarksDemocrat criticized after saying Bush failed 'miserably' at diplomacy
Said Daschle, "Let them criticize all they want. I looked presidential! I sounded presidential!"
Well, at least he had the hair.
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posted by gbarto at 2:53 AM:
Time Running Out for SaddamU.S. troops ready for combat in Iraq as Saddam Hussein mocks President Bush's ultimatum
I fear we're just about at the starting point. Good luck to our troops and may God watch over them. And over the Iraqi people too. Let's hope that soon we'll be talking about Free Iraq. That is: one more victory in the war against Arab/Islamic fascism and one more people out from under its yoke.
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posted by gbarto at 2:49 AM:
Blogger trouble:I tried to start another blog the other day. Got this:
"Oops, your blog was not quite ready..."
Guess it won't be. I gave up on it after fooling around a half-hour and discovering that the only working function was "Delete this blog."
Guess I'm not the only one. Here's a support page on Yahoo. There are lots like it. I've been a longtime fan of blogger and continue to use it here. And I think that for the lead it took in making self-publishing to the internet, Ev and friends deserve some slack.
But if Blogger, now united with Google, can't figure out how to make happen what came with ease when I launched this site a year ago, they may find the market readjusting itself enough that they have a more manageable size of clientele.
Some folks are recommending CrimsonBlog or others in these posts. The TurkeyBlog will, for the foreseeable future, be a blogger site. But if you're trying to get started and blogger won't let you on, sniff around the Yahoo pages here. You may be in the market for a different service.
I'll say again that I'm rooting for Ev all the way. But I'm also rooting for the blogging community. And that community won't grow if you can't get your message out.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:56 PM:
Powell: 30 Nations in CoalitionJust a little reminder that this is hardly "unilateral".
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posted by gbarto at 12:47 PM:
Drifters Arraigned in Smart CaseHusband, wife charged with kidnapping and sexual assault
I'll leave it at noting that we know the implications of this. Sad.
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posted by gbarto at 12:44 PM:
American, Canadian Killed in YemenAnother Canadian wounded; gunman took own life after shooting oil workers
No word on whether it was terrorism, a personal dispute, or the random sort of violence which frequently pops up in parts of Yemen.
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posted by gbarto at 5:25 AM:
Churchillean musings at Common Sense and Wonder. Here's Winston's sharpest indictment of the pacifists of his age - and all ages: They suffer from agenuine love of peace and pathetic belief that love can be its sole foundation, [revealing] obvious lack of intellectual vigour...
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posted by gbarto at 5:12 AM:
Natalie Solent has amusing thoughts on Robin Cook's departure from the Blair government.* * *
posted by gbarto at 4:53 AM:
Den Beste puts the pieces of the puzzle together to show why the UN messing around was worth it. He's right.He is especially right in his diagnosis of the exposing of French pretentions to Empire as the most salutary benefit. Indeed, the NY Post "Axis of Weasel" front pager alone is worth every bit of fiddling around we have done: Mr. Chirac approached this crisis as being about America, not Iraq, and he made it about France, not Iraq. This is of incalculable value, for the ensuing debate has reminded an America that was very interested in world support that other countries exist as independent entities with their own understandings of their interests, not as impartial tribunals on "how we're doing" as a people. This will, I think, make the public far more clear-eyed than it would have been about other attempts by different interests to hijack the process underway and increase American resolve, rather than weaken it, when we find ourselves dismissed by those who always seem to have a kind word about how great we'd be if we were only more like them.
Still, the most significant benefit in this will accrue not to the United States, but to the nations of Europe, which have finally been given a forum in which to openly discuss the future the heads of the EU would plan for them behind closed doors. Eastern Europe has been warned about growing too entangled in a Franco-German Weltanschaung and the Franco-German "center" has found out that it will not resurrect an Empire on "traditional European values". Poland seems already to be thanking us for the exposition, along with several of the Baltics. Irony of irony, while destroying NATO and the UN, this may just prompt enough clear thinking for the EU to save itself yet. Good thing, too. We hillbillies over here always seem to wind up in one mess or another if them crazy Europeans don't resolve their misunderstandings well and early.
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posted by gbarto at 4:40 AM:
Sing it, Greg! Very nice demonstration of clear and resolute thinking on this war over at A Dog's Life.* * *
posted by gbarto at 4:28 AM:
Thugs carve a Star of David on a young, Jewish coed(see below for sourcing)
AIX-EN-PROVENCE (AP) - Three hooded criminals used a sharp metal object to carve a Star of David on the hand of a 21 year-old female, Jewish student after attacking her at her home in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhone), judicial sources indicated Wednesday.
Investigators of the Police Commissariat of Aix-en-Provence indicate they are pursuing leads relating to a racist act or a personal dispute.
The young woman had recently attended a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the "Renoir" cinema at Aix-en-Provence when she was attacked in her home two or three hours later.
An investigation for "aggravated assault" has been opened, according to a judicial source.
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posted by gbarto at 4:14 AM:
Marcus has been watching too much Fox again, but he's got some comments on what he's seeing there that should be of interest.* * *
posted by gbarto at 4:01 AM:
Found at Sullivan: A French Jew stuck up for Israel in a debate at the local theater. Within hours, three Frenchies had tracked her down, attacked her and carved a Star of David on her hand. (Cicero has a link for a lousy translation).It's not the first time French society has produced people who think forced labeling of Jews is an appropriate way to behave. It's sad that such barbaric and backward thinking persists. Sigh. What the French will do for men with mustaches...
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posted by gbarto at 2:57 AM:
Turkey Says It May Alter Decision on Use of BasesMove Could Come Too Late for U.S.
Interesting. Now that they know we're really serious, they're deciding to take us seriously. But it probably is too late, though how Turkey plays this could determine whether they're our partners in the north or about to face a new neighbor in Kurdistan when the dust settles.
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posted by gbarto at 2:50 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde has the Iraq Countdown, including a note that the "French presidency" calls the US's intentions illegal. No word on what the actual French president thinks.
Le Figaro: Bush's ultimatum to Saddam. Get out or else is the jist. Le Figaro elsewhere notes The Ball is now in Baghdad's Court and advises that Robin Cook has bailed on Tony Blair (my wording, not theirs).
Libé: Bush starts the countdown.
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posted by gbarto at 2:36 AM:
I suppose we should have reams of analysis, etc. Frankly, though, people who hang out in the blogosphere have seen pretty much everything there is to be said, said, about the situations with Iraq, etc. The soldiers are in our thoughts and prayers. We hope, for everyone's sake, to see more of the Iraqi defections like the ones that were tried last week. But a war is, it would seem, to be fought. And it's too much to make promises about where that will take us. Be careful out there.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:29 AM:
Anti-War Protests Cost Big MoneyMany groups that sponsor rallies are funded by enemies of the U.S. gov't
But this should have been guessed at long ago.
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posted by gbarto at 2:27 AM:
You can't say we haven't been generous about second chances, etc. Now Saddam has one last chance, one last choice: get going or get moved. Would that he were half as compassionate with people he thinks have offended his interests. Here's the story:Bush Offers Saddam 48 Hours
In address to the nation, Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his sons two days to leave Iraq to prevent invasion
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Monday, March 17, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:45 AM:
Thanks, Blogger. Funny, but since the google buyout, there have been more and more problems. Just adjusting to a new setup, I hope. If google can't make Blogger more reliable, rather than less, one wonders whether they're as good as advertised.Here, for the second time, a shot at the French news:
Le Monde: Iraq: March 17 the "moment of truth". But with all the chatter about the UN, one wonders if Le Monde has actually read its own headline.
Le Figaro: The picture shows Blair, Bush and Aznar, but the headline just mentions one of them: Bush's ultimatum to the UN, namely that it start doing the things august international bodies are supposed to do, like standing by their own resolutions, etc. One wonders if Milosevic would have been so cavalier about UN and EU action if he had seen something out of those two bodies other than an eagerness to toady to Saddam, lest he let word slip that they weren't doing anything about him.
Libé: UN observers in Kuwait cease operations so they can hightail it out of there before things get ugly.
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posted by gbarto at 12:14 AM:
Den Beste appears to have hit the nail on the head the other day:'Moment of Truth for the World'
Bush urges other nations to support immediate disarmament of Iraqi leader, suggesting vote or war could come today
Bush is talking about Iraq's reconstruction, Blair explaining that a UN resolution without an ultimatum and an authorization for war is what we already have, we need something with teeth. And it looks like the UN now has about 20 hours to produce something with teeth that convinces us they won't to be on board, not just jerk us around.
Doubt they'll come through.
So fill the car this morning; you might find a gas station that hasn't gotten around to raising prices yet but by tonight you probably won't be so lucky. There's a war on.
Of course, there's been a war on - we've been blowing up stuff for years, and intensely the last few days; Saddam's been shooting at the planes enforcing the surrender he signed for ages now; and there's the little matter of global terrorism that has now - it seems - killed five Indians who had the audacity to ride the bus, though their deaths will doubtless generate less outrage than that of a girl who thought laying in front of a military bulldozer would be a great way to give peace a chance. The irony is that the Israelis probably would have stopped if they had realized. Don't count on any such failure of nerve from Saddam, Osama and the others who have lately taken to the most profound of blasphemies against a religion that surely shudders with horror each time it invokes itself as a religion of peace.
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Sunday, March 16, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:59 PM:
American Student Killed by Israeli Bulldozer in Gaza StripGAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (March 16) - An American woman in Gaza to protest Israeli operations was killed Sunday when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer, witnesses and hospital officials said.I don't mean to be unnecessarily callous about this, and there is of course every reason to be upset. But... Rachel's fate was, alas, the fate faced by many Palestinians on a daily basis. In throwing in her lot with them, she took that risk.
Rachel Corrie, 23, a college student from Olympia, Wash., had been trying to stop the bulldozer from tearing down a building in the Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said. She was taken to Najar hospital in Rafah, where she died, said Dr. Ali Moussa, a hospital administrator...
Groups of international protesters have gathered in several locations in the West Bank and Gaza during two years of Palestinian violence, setting themselves up as ``human shields'' to try to stop Israeli operations.
Corrie was the first member of the groups, called ``International Solidarity Movement'' and backed by Palestinian groups, to be killed in the conflict. Several activists have been arrested in clashes with Israeli forces, and some have been deported by Israeli authorities.
So, why are the bad, mean Israelis bulldozing houses and taking less than absolute caution in doing so? Maybe because until a little bit ago you were taking your life into your own hands if you decided to eat dinner in a restaurant, or get an ice cream on a balmy afternoon. The Palestinian cause may be worthy and it may be noble. But the means by which some have sought to advance are not. Unwilling to accept the compromises they agreed to at Oslo, were offered by Barak, etc, the Palestinians have decided that war is the way to settle their struggle with a nation that has overwhelming military superiority. They turned to terrorism and to attacks on civilians that violate all the modern conventions on war. As they have sown, so have they reaped. Seen in one light, an American died trying to prevent the destruction of a house. But there is another view, the view that she had abandoned the freedoms and protections she enjoyed as an American citizen to go defend a way of life that is in fact a way of death. Sadly, she has met the fate that lies in store for the cause she was defending. It's a damn shame, but human shields are... only human. We offer prayers and condolences for her family, but hope they understand that when Rachel decided to do this, she accepted the risk. Whether clear-eyed or naive, I know not, but that's the risk you implicitly accept when you become a human shield. We hope it will give pause to others who might have mistaken this for fun and games.
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posted by gbarto at 2:30 AM:
French news:Le Monde tells us that Paris, Moscow, Berline: A Solemn Appeal do offer, noting their push for "a peaceful solution" and the planned US-UK-Spain summit in the Azores. Bottom line: I don't think the "solemn appeal" is going anywhere, because it's hard to negotiate with people when you've tried to handcuff them only to have them find a way out.
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