UPDATED - ColdType

A call for a strong man
EMBEDDED: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
FUNNY, how much we like “strong men” preferring
authoritarianism to democracy, which in
Iraq anyway, could easily lead to the selection of
anti-American politicians. If only because weeks
after the never-doubted successful invasion, the
U.S. occupiers have still not managed to get the
lights and water back on in the desert town of
Baghdad. As we know the eve of destruction is
always easier than the morning of construction.
It was odd to hear about “thugs.” a word that
may even understate human rights crimes in
New York. What about Guantanamo? CNN was
reporting on that, offering more dirty details
about the incarceration of suspects detained in a
high security hole in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. I
learned we still don’t know how many there are,
who they are, what they are being charged with,
and why there are children among them. This
latter disclosure raises still more questions
about U.S. violations of international treaties
governing the treatment of prisoners. But no –
this is not “thuggish” behavior. The New York
Times reported yesterday that the detainees are
provided with new Korans and lots of fattening
food twice a day. They reportedly have gained
ten pounds apiece. I am waiting for the
Newsweek cover on OBESITY in our prisons: is
it humane punishment?
Was The New York Times used?
PROFESSOR Gary Leup writes in Counter Punch
about Judith Miller’s recent article in The New
York Times, “Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an
Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert” (New York
Times, April 21). According to a report on Media
220
news, it raised eyebrows in The Times newsroom
where its veracity was questioned by some. Leup
believes the Administration used The Times:
“You allow a New York Times reporter, who
was not permitted to interview the scientist, nor
visit his home, nor permitted to write about this
momentous discovery for three days, whose
copy was submitted for a check by military officials,
to reveal this information to the world. You
announce that this is the best evidence ‘to date’
(as though one or more other shreds of evidence
had been unearthed recently), adding, ‘it may be
the discovery,’ so others might not be necessary.
Quite brilliant. You have to admire such audacity.
But I think of the opening passage of the
samurai epic, Heike Monogatari, that chronicles
the inevitable downfall of a ruling circle less
obnoxious than the one now wreaking havoc on
Iraq. “The proud do not endure, they are like a
dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last,
they are as dust before the wind.”
In the meantime, let us not let them throw dust
in our eyes.
War games lead to . ..war games
IF you missed the Iraq War, you can play the
game. Maureen Clare Murphy of Electronic Iraq:
“The war on Iraq has not caused any severe disruptions
to the generally comfortable American
lifestyle. Even Americans’ favorite prime-time
sitcoms have been spared from pre-emption.
What many disconnected Americans conceive,
as the war is what they see on CNN: green video
of explosions over Baghdad narrated by a correspondent
in a flak jacket.
“However, many young men in America have
decided to ‘participate’ in the war by purchasing