UPDATED - ColdType

“crew of the cantankerous” on the air, as you do
almost nightly, think of the PR pluggers at
Benador “working the phones” to spin media
coverage. Makiya, incidentally, was at the American
Enterprise Institute where President Bush
made his most recent policy speech reinforcing
his commitment to regime change over disarmament.
Baiting Chomsky
EMBEDDED: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
ON Moyers’ NOW program, Makiya typically dismissed
critics like Noam Chomsky and Edward
Said (who, of course, were not interviewed anywhere
on the air last night). Writing in The
Guardian last May, Nik Cohen explained that:
“He dates the schism between supporters of universal
human rights and those on the Left and
Right who regard any Western intervention as
imperialism to the moment when the opponents
of Saddam were denounced. Israel was built on
the destruction of 400 Palestinian villages,
Makiya says; Saddam destroyed at least 3,000
Kurdish villages. Makiya, like every other Iraqi
democrat you meet in London, has lost patience
with those who will oppose the former but not
the latter and is desperate for America to support
a democratic revolution.”
Richard Perle, another Benador bookee,
looked tired and worn on CNBC last night. Earlier
on Frontline, he was well made up with the
kind of Hollywood lighting that many marvel
over. That was on video. Live, his eyes have
blackened, his hair has thinned and his pomposity
seemed more strained. Watching all the
Frontline shows last night certainly offered the
context, history and background missing on the
news shows and networks.
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It was a march down memory lane to cast light
on the origins of the crisis, but was I wrong to
feel that it was drenched with middle of the road
experts, mostly policy wonks, and in effect
rationalized the administration’s course. It was
strong in showing how Wolfowitz’s doctrine of
pre-emptive bullying went from a minority view
to become policy, but otherwise, I came way feeling
that it was showing the logic for war as the
consequence of U.N. failures and Iraqi belligerence.
It took some shots at the right but treated
its arguments with reverence. Moyers was certainly
better and Charlie Rose, was, well, very
Charlie Rose-ish. Maybe Kissinger was busy last
night.
Missing in the media
FAIR reports: “Despite daily reports about the
showdown with Iraq, Americans hear very little
from mainstream media about the most basic
fact of war: People will be killed and civilian
infrastructure will be destroyed, with devastating
consequences for public health long after the
fighting stops. Since the beginning of the year,
according to a search of the Nexis database
(1/1/03-3/12/03), none of the three major television
networks’ nightly national newscasts – ABC
World News Tonight, CBS Evening News or NBC
Nightly News – has examined in detail what longterm
impact war will have on humanitarian conditions
in Iraq. They’ve also downplayed the
immediate civilian deaths that will be caused by
a U.S. attack.”
Pharmaceutical calmatives
DEBORAH STERLING, a journalist writes: “What