Category Archives: War Commentary

And Speaking Of WW II

Go read VDH today:

We do have a grave problem in this country, but it is not the plan for Iraq, the neoconservatives, or targeting Saddam. Face it: This present generation of leaders at home would never have made it to Normandy Beach. They would instead have called off the advance to hold hearings on Pearl Harbor, cast around blame for the Japanese internment, sued over the light armor and guns of Sherman tanks, apologized for bombing German civilians, and recalled General Eisenhower to Washington to explain the rough treatment of Axis prisoners.

Who is Armed Liberal?

Over at Winds of Change my favorite member of the WoC crew has decided to drop the pseudonym and let us know that Armed Liberal is Marc Danziger. He’s the new C.O.O. of Spirit of America, a charity that’s working to make life better for Iraqis and in doing so portray America in a more favorable light. I’ve said before that the current conflict is all about perceptions. Spirit of America is on track to make us all safer by making it harder for the enemy to recruit. I believe that efforts like this will have a greater effect in the long run than any purely military operation (which is not to suggest that military operations are unneccessary in the short term). Check out the site and see if you can help out.

Extrapolation

Andrew Sullivan points out that Susan Sontag is vying for one of his Susan Sontag awards:

…the cover story in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine is a Susan Sontag essay. Yes, she’s going to write about Abu Ghraib. And – yes! – the headline is: “The Photographs Are Us.”

Fine, Susan. I’ll consider the possibility that “the photographs are us” when you and other people in the intelligentsia and media will admit that people like this are you.

Happy Grafitti

Mohammed at Iraq The Model has an encouraging story of a trip to the southern part of Iraq:

The point behind all these pictures and stories I mentioned is that the people started to speak out and express their feelings and here we

For What It’s Worth

I’ve had several people find their way to this site today with searches on variants of “Berg Decapitation Beheading Video etc.”

Not a single one came searching for information on Abu Ghraib.

Those stupid people. They won’t let their betters tell them what’s news.

[Update at 4:30 PM PDT]

Here’s a weird one–“Arab locust beheading”

[Update on Friday afternoon]

Brian Linse disagrees.

In a sense he makes my point. There probably are many people looking for this item merely for the dubious pleasure of watching a snuff film, but the fact remains that demand for it is relatively high because the same news outlets that couldn’t wait to show us pornography that reflected badly on the administration remain unwilling to show something that might arouse “the American street.”

For What It’s Worth

I’ve had several people find their way to this site today with searches on variants of “Berg Decapitation Beheading Video etc.”

Not a single one came searching for information on Abu Ghraib.

Those stupid people. They won’t let their betters tell them what’s news.

[Update at 4:30 PM PDT]

Here’s a weird one–“Arab locust beheading”

[Update on Friday afternoon]

Brian Linse disagrees.

In a sense he makes my point. There probably are many people looking for this item merely for the dubious pleasure of watching a snuff film, but the fact remains that demand for it is relatively high because the same news outlets that couldn’t wait to show us pornography that reflected badly on the administration remain unwilling to show something that might arouse “the American street.”