UPDATED - ColdType

PBS to the Rescue
SURELY there were journalists who could have
been found to question all of these assertions and
assumptions? Bill Moyers found one in Walter
IsaacsFon, the ex CNN chief who in his middle-ofthe-road
fashion said he believed another outcome
was possible. That was on PBS after HOURS
of reprises of Frontline documentaries (more on
them in a moment) and some fine reporting by
Roberta Baskin. PBS was clearly better in its
reporting than the nets. Earlier the NewsHour
had an excellent report by Elizabeth Farnsworth
from northern Iraq who interviewed human
rights lawyers detailing abuses by Turkey.
Ankara appears likely to shift positions to let the
U.S. military roll through its borders while it contains
Kurdish demands for self-determination.
Krugman in print,not on the air
THIS morning, Paul Krugman was his usual incisive
self on the op-ed page of The Times, but it
was not his voice we heard on Charlie Rose but
that of another Times reporter who seemed
agnostic on the war and its likely aftermath.
Krugman did not get the same platform, but his
words bear repeating: “What frightens me is the
aftermath and I’m not just talking about the
problems of postwar occupation. I’m worried
about what will happen beyond Iraq in the world
at large, and here at home.
“The members of the Bush team don’t seem
bothered by the enormous ill- will they have generated
in the rest of the world. They seem to
believe that other countries will change their
minds once they see cheering Iraqis welcome our
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troops, or that our bombs will shock and awe the
whole world (not just the Iraqis) or that what the
world thinks doesn’t matter. They’re wrong on all
counts.”
The PR firm behind the war
WELCOMING the onslaught is former leftistturned-conservative
Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz
protégé, the Iraqi dissident Keyan Makiya,
who was interviewed by Bill Moyers. Makiya was
pictured as an idealist with suggestions that
hopes for democracy are likely to be dashed. (He
cited a report in the Los Angeles Times last
week of a State Department document that
made clear that democracy is not a likely outcome.)
A PR firm, Benador Associates, which
places pro-administration speakers on TV
shows, represents Makiya. They say they are
“proud to present a highly qualified cadre of
inspiring, knowledgeable speakers who are available
to address your group or broadcast audience.
Each of our experts is nationally and internationally
recognized on issues of the Middle
East and national security, among others.”
Their list of clients reads like an A to Z of the
right. Here are a few of their big guns:
James Woolsey
Richard Perle
A..M. Rosenthal
Charles Krauthammer
Michael A.. Ledeen
Dennis Prager
Frank Gaffney Jr.
Amir Taheri
Keyan Makiya
Richard Pipes
So the next time you see a member of this