Antiwar.com Blog

I came across this article and suddenly realized they’re right…Tony is trying to slip away unnoticed and miss the gala one year Shock and Awe Anniversary Party.

Hey, Tony, no speeches or Liberation Parties? Nothing?

Remember this, Tony?

The future of the Iraqi people is one reason why much of our discussion has focused on humanitarian issues. Again here we have the ship, the Sir Galahad, loaded with tonnes of supplies destined for the people of Iraq. The other immediate humanitarian priority is to re-start the UN oil for food programme which the President and I discussed and which I will be discussing with Kofi Annan later this evening, and this is urgent. We also discussed the post-conflict issues. Contrary to a lot of the comment on this, the position is exactly as the President and I set out in the Azores, namely that we will work with the UN, our allies and partners and bilateral donors. We will seek new UN Security Council resolutions to affirm Iraq’s territorial integrity, to ensure a rapid delivery of humanitarian relief, and endorse an appropriatepost-conflict administration for Iraq.
[…]
And the other reason why I think it is important that we act, and why indeed we have many, many allies, is because people do know that this is a brutal regime. That is not the reason for us initiating this action, that is in relation to weapons of mass destruction, but it is the reason why if we do so as we are doing.

You guys pretty much blew that deal, didn’t you? No wonder you aren’t celebrating.

Scroll down for my exchange with Steven Horwitz. That’s all for today.

George “Howdy-Doody” Will inserts one of the warbots’ favorite new formulations (“Neocon” = Jewish = You’re an antisemite) into his March 15 op-ed in the Washington Post. Big mistake, George.

Karen “Bunker-Buster” Kwiatkowski lets him have it.

Wendy McElroy connects the dots to expose the CNN blunder:

A headline in the Pakistan “Daily Times” reads “CNN ends up with `much egg on its face.” Yesterday, I mentioned that — after providing blanket coverage of the imminent capture of al-Qaida’s #2 man al-Zawahiri (which has not occurred and is unlikely to do so) — CNN abruptly dropped the story and barely mentioned it for hours. The background on what happened is an instructive glimpse into the media’s mindset and the influence it exerts. Aaron Brown — CNN’s lead anchor and host of NewsNight With Aaron Brown — was in Pakistan to cover US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s “anniversary” visit when the opportunity to interview President Pervez Musharraf arose. Musharraf told Brown about a military operation in South Waziristan, stating that the resistance being offered suggested militants might be defending a “high-value target.” He said it was “very likely” the possible target had been surrounded. Sensing they had a global exclusive — the biggest story since the capture of Saddam Hussein — CNN ran with it, sensationalizing both the form and substance. Suddenly, al-Zawarhiri by name was surrounded and about to be captured any moment, thus raising worldwide expectations and tensions. (Note the contrast between Thursday’s article from CNN and one today on the same matter.) As events unfolded and non-US media began to comment, it became clear that nothing about the battle was “imminent” and fierce conflict might rage for days or weeks. And, so, in live satellite broadcasts, Brown began to backpedal, lowering time expectations. It became unclear that al-Zawahiri was still among the besieged or ever had been there. And, so, top news executives at CNN exerted fast control. No retractions. Just bury the story as though it had not been reported. It was a blunder of Biblical proportions that made the world a little more nervous and news a lot more untrustworthy.

William Marina reads Pilger’s article and sees it as a discussion of “Israel and the Neocon Connection.”

Steven Horwitz reads the same article and calls it an “anti-Israel screed.”

Horwitz’s reaction demonstrates why Pilger’s piece, The Unmentionable Source of Terrorism, is aptly titled.

Things are getting better in Iraq, right? Riverbend, an Iraqi blogger in Baghdad, comments on this today, March 19th:

It’s like Iraq is suffering from intellectual hemorrhaging. Professors and scientists are being assassinated right and left- decent intelligent people who are necessary for the future of Iraq. Other scientists are being detained by the Americans and questioned about- of all things- Al-Qaeda. It seems like everyone you talk to is keeping their eyes open for a job opportunity outside of the country. Whatever the reason, the brains are slowly seeping out of Iraq. It’s no longer a place for learning or studying or working… it’s a place for wealthy contractors looking to get wealthier, extremists, thieves (of all ranks and origins) and troops… read more