UPDATED - ColdType

www.iraqbodycount.net/bodycount.htm
“Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he
knows that too many people have died? – Bob
Dylan
With experts like these
HERE’S one on those obscene “experts.”
TomDispatch.com reports on an exchange heard
on CNN. I think it must have been NBC because
that’s where the ex-Drug Czar is busting balls
these days, but you can’t blame him for confusing
the channels because they all tend to meld
together.
“I turned on CNN briefly this afternoon and
caught their military expert, General Barry
McCaffrey (U.S. Army, ret.) answering questions
about war strategy from a CNN anchor in a distinctly
belligerent tone to interspersed clips of
convoys and American foot soldiers moving
through blowing sand. Here are a few phrases I
managed to jot down: When asked about ‘the
battle for Baghdad,’ he said, ‘We gotta get into
town, bust their chops, and get outta there.’ And
a little later he asked rhetorically, ‘Do you bust in
there, take them down, or do you end up in a 90day
stand-off?’ On the subject of sand storms
grounding planes, he commented, ‘But thank
God for the U.S. artillery. Without that we’d be in
trouble out there.’
“And so on and so forth, his face perched on a
red (and orange lettered) graphic ‘Operation
IRAQI FREEDOM.’ Here, on the other hand, is a
telegraphic private note to a friend of mine from
a Brit reporter, who in a few well-chosen words ,
offers a distinctly more realistic vision of this
war as it’s unfolding: ‘had a hairy weekend in
southern Iraq since last I messaged. the south,
BATTLEFIELD BLUES
117
which was supposed to hate Saddam, has turned
out not to be very welcoming.’”
U.N. to meet. Who knew?
THE U.N. Security Council meets today to discuss
concerns about the war by the Non-Aligned
Movement and Arab League. They will also discuss
the need for humanitarian aid, which has
yet to flow into Iraq. I found out about this in a
rather circuitous manner, while listening to news
on the South African Broadcasting Corporation,
during an interview with me about media coverage.
I had just spent two hours flipping from
channel to channel but had not seen any mention
of it, a clear sign that the networks have no
interest in covering, much less encouraging,
efforts to resolve this conflict peacefully.
There doesn’t seem to be an embed in with the
humanitarian crowd. Kofi Annan has been
enraged by the way this issue is treated. Secretary
of State Powell was on CBS last night bragging
about how “we” now have most of the water
supply running again in Basra. The BBC
reported that it is the International Red Cross
which is trying to fix the water works, which was
apparently bombed in one of those precise targetings.
The water was, in fact, still off.
At least one CNNer experienced her own
shock and awe. Anchor Connie Chung, who had
been brought in to tabloidize the network’s programming
with a steady diet of child kidnappings
and sex scandals, is out. Collateral damage.
Fired! And that, despite a $2 million contract
with one year to run. Reports the Times, “She
was very shocked and extremely disappointed,”
the associate said. “She did the show she was
asked to do even though she argued that she