Category: Internet

Cathy Young’s latest Boston Globe column deals with feminism and Iraq. Here she quotes Tammy Bruce:

”The feminist establishment’s political game with women’s lives is particularly disgraceful as they, of all interest groups, have a special duty to support ridding the world of Saddam,” Bruce writes in a recent column. She recounts the horrific story, reported by Amnesty International, of a 25-year-old Iraqi woman known as ”Um Haydar.” The wife of a man suspected of illegal political activity, Um Haydar was beheaded in the street in front of her children and her mother-in-law (all of whom disappeared).

Addressing Gandy, Walker, and the other feminist antiwar protesters, Bruce writes, ”Think of Um’s children, her daughters, whom you have abandoned. . . . There are thousands of dead Iraqi women who know how you betray them, in the name of politics, in the name of hating George W. Bush, in the name of your own cynical political hypocrisy.”

There has been a lot of male-bashing coming from the pillars of the Old Feminist establishment over Iraq, which may signal the passing of the torch to a New Feminism based on love instead of hate.

The Frisco paper ran an interesting story on the role of networking in the execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom:

In network centric warfare, U.S. forces are held together by a global communications grid. Ships, aircraft and land vehicles are all plugged in and can exchange information with each other — just like PCs and servers on the Internet.

One advantage of this approach is that forces can disperse, so they are less likely to be spotted and can maneuver with more agility. Because everyone on the net can share battle data with everyone else, each unit has a better picture of the battlefield.

Up to now the United States has had a clear edge in these kinds of military operations. Indeed, the British army may be the only other military force in the world that can operate with U.S. forces.

That last point underscores why the support of nations other than Britain is tactically irrelevant, even if it is politically desirable.

On the question of unilateralism, there’s an interesting exchange of e-mails between Andrew Sullivan and Tom Friedman on Sully’s blog.

The videotaped speech Saddam Hussein’s lackeys showed on Iraqi TV tonight was probably recorded before the invasion started. There was nothing in it specific to any actual event that’s occurred since the invasion, and some folks are saying some of the generals he praised for their courage surrendered without a fight. The analysis of Fox News and NBC correspond with mine, but ABC’s John McWethy thought it was genuine and contemporary. ABC has sunk mighty low.

Frisco police found two stashes of Molotov cocktail paraphernalia during Friday’s peace rally:

San Francisco police spokesman Dewayne Tully said Friday that police found a duffel bag containing glass bottles and incendiary fluids at 158 11th St. near Mission Street around 11 a.m.

Police then made a second find at 12:30 p.m. at 757 Market St. in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. Police there found a collection of rags, lighter fluid, and “other materials to make incendiary objects with,” Tully said.

Don’t they know “bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity”? Silly hippies.

Meanwhile, coalition forces are 100 miles from Baghdad, two-thirds of the way from the border.

U.S. in talks for peaceful surrender

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Iraqi expatriates have been facilitating negotiations among CIA operatives, U.S. military officials and senior members of the Iraq Republican Guard inside Iraq aimed at a achieving a peaceful surrender of Iraq, CNN has learned.

It shouldn’t be long now.

The Associated Press reports on the greeting received by coalition forces in the town of Safwan:

A man identifying himself only as Abdullah welcomed the arrival of the U.S. troops: “Saddam Hussein is no good. Saddam Hussein a butcher.”

An old woman shrouded in black — one of the very few women outside — knelt toward the feet of Americans, embracing an American woman. A younger man with her pulled her away, giving her a warning sign by sliding his finger across his throat.

In 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died after prematurely celebrating what they believed was their liberation from Saddam after the Gulf War. Some even pulled down a few pictures of Saddam then — only to be killed by Iraqi forces.

Gurfein playfully traded pats with a disabled man and turned down a dinner invitation from townspeople.

“Friend, friend,” he told them in Arabic learned in the first Gulf War.

“We stopped in Kuwait that time,” he said. “We were all ready to come up there then, and we never did.”

The townspeople seemed grateful this time.
“No Saddam Hussein!” one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. “Bush!”

This comes pretty damn close to the “dancing in the streets” some of us predicted, and it’s happening all over Iraq. There’s more violence going on in San Francisco right now than in most of Iraq, actually, and that’s our “peace protesters” at work:

San Francisco — Sirens wailed through downtown San Francisco and helicopters whirred above it all day Thursday as anti-war protesters poured into the city by the thousands and seized streets, blocked buildings and left beleaguered police and commuters fuming.

Authorities described the day’s demonstrations, which began peacefully before dawn and grew increasingly antagonistic and occasionally violent as the day wore on, as the largest seen in years.

Up to 1,400 had been arrested before the protests finally began to wind down after 11 p.m., and about 1,000 remained in custody. Most face citations for blocking traffic and failing to follow police orders, but at least 18 face felony charges.

Strange war, this.

Vietnam was the first televised war, and this is the first fully-blogged war, since Iraqi citizens, coalition soldiers, in-country journalists (and) and the Usual Suspects (and and and) are blogging it, many in real time. Fortunately, there’s not that much to report when you net it all out – Saddam’s in hiding, possibly injured, coalition forces are racing to Baghdad with no opposition, the Iraqi army is in disarray, the people are celebrating, and Chirac’s still up to his old tricks.

Strange war, this.

UPDATE: The Washington Post’s war site is kick-ass, with video, and Rantburg is doing some fine stuff.

Times Online reports:

BRITAIN and the United States will today press the chief UN weapons inspector to admit that he has found a “smoking gun” in Iraq. Such an admission could persuade swing voters on the Security Council to back the March 17 ultimatum.

The British and US ambassadors plan to demand that Hans Blix reveals more details of a huge undeclared Iraqi unmanned aircraft, the discovery of which he failed to mention in his oral report to Security Council foreign ministers on Friday. Its existence was only disclosed in a declassified 173-page document circulated by the inspectors at the end of the meeting — an apparent attempt by Dr Blix to hide the revelation to avoid triggering a war.

The discovery of the drone, which has a wingspan of 7.45 metres, will make it much easier for waverers on the Security Council to accept US and British arguments that Iraq has failed to meet UN demands that it disarm.

And the Washington Post quotes Colin Powell:

Disclosure last week by U.N. weapons inspectors that Iraq had developed drone aircraft capable of dispensing chemical weapons “should be of concern to everybody,” Powell said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Francois Fall of Guinea.

This is yet another reason why we can’t allow the UN to dictate our foreign policy: they lie.

“We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last 100 years . . . and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in.” — Colin Powell on charges of American imperialism

Hussein Translator on CBS Used Fake Accent?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The man who spoke Saddam Hussein (news – web sites)’s words in English during a CBS interview with Dan Rather late last month was an actor using a fake Arabic accent, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

Rather also asked fake questions, so the circle is complete.

The following advisory for American travelers heading for France has been issued.

It was compiled from information provided by the State Department, the CIA, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the FBI and some very expensive spy satellites that the French don’t know about. It is intended as a guide for American travelers only.

General Overview

France is a medium-sized foreign country situated in the continent of Europe. It is an important member of the world community, though not nearly as important as it thinks. It is bounded by Germany, Spain, Switzerland and some smaller nations of no particular consequence and with not very good shopping.

France is a very old country with many treasures, such as the Louvre and EuroDisney. Among its contributions to western civilization are champagne, Camembert cheese and the guillotine.

Although France likes to think of itself as a modern nation, air conditioning is little used and it is next to impossible to get decent Mexican food. One continuing exasperation for American visitors is that the people willfully persist in speaking French, though many will speak English if shouted at. As in any foreign country, watch your change at all times.
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