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Monday, Mar 31, 2003

hearts and minds

"Amid the wreckage I counted 12 dead civilians, lying in the road or in
nearby ditches. All had been trying to leave this southern town
overnight, probably for fear of being killed by US helicopter attacks and heavy artillery.

Their mistake had been to flee over a bridge that is crucial to the coalition's supply lines and to run into a group of shell-shocked young American marines with orders to shoot anything that moved."

inseitz

"After six years on this beat, I know one thing for sure: expecting TV to be coolheaded, complex and forward-looking during times of global panic is expecting it to act against its nature. It's like asking a shark to eat salad."

shock and awe

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American television network NBC said on Monday it had severed its relations with veteran reporter Peter Arnett after he told Iraqi television that the U.S. war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed."

Saturday, Mar 29, 2003

rakes egress

"The military has gotten very good at using the media for its own purposes. I should know�I taught them how to do it.

As a public affairs officer in the Marine Corps, I taught military-media relations to commanders and staff officers. In other words, it was my job to teach Marines how to work with the media. To begin with, here�s what I usually said: �Think of them as an offensive weapon. Plan for their employment just as you would plan for any of your other supporting arms�your artillery, your close air support and your naval gunfire. They�ll be there and there�s nothing you can do about. It�s a fact of life."

the more things change

doonesbury cartoon from thirty years ago today.

worst law ever

"NEW YORK, March 29 (UPI) -- Saturday was the last day smokers could light up in most bars and restaurants in New York City."

the horses mouthpiece

state dept press releases

uneven steven

asymmetical warfare links

money for schools

useless scrip

"Pentagon war games pit "Red Force" (simulating the enemy) against "Blue Force" (the United States). In this war game, as in many war games over the years, Van Riper played the Red Force commander. In his e-mail (which was promptly leaked to the Army Times then picked up, though in much less detail, by the Guardian and the Washington Post), Van Riper complained about Millennium Challenge 02, writing that, "Instead of a free-play, two-sided game � it simply became a scripted exercise." The conduct of the game did not allow "for the concepts of rapid decisive operations, effects-based operations, or operational net assessment to be properly assessed. � It was in actuality an exercise that was almost entirely scripted to ensure a Blue 'win.'"

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