Allan Johnson, a high school English teacher and debate coach from Fairfax, Va., held a sign saying “U.S. Troops Out of Iraq. Bring Them Home Now!” at Saturday’s “End the Occupation” rally in Washington. In fact, though, Johnson isn’t sure he wants to bring the troops home now, or to end the American occupation of Iraq. At least, not yet.
“We’ve made a giant mess,” said Johnson, a handsome man who wore his long snowy hair in a ponytail and had a sparkling stud in one ear. “I would hate for the Bush administration to halfway fix things and then leave, and then blame the Iraqis if things go wrong. Once you go to somebody’s house and break all the windows, don’t you owe them new windows?”
Why, then, was he marching at an End the Occupation rally? “I don’t agree with all the people here, believe you me,” he said. But his own sign? He glanced at it, startled, and explained that someone had handed it to him. “I didn’t even look at it,” he said. “I was just waving it.”
Well actually, Mr. Johnson, the Ba’ath broke most of the windows, plumbing and electrical systems before we got there. But if you’re willing to attend marches sponsored by groups whose politics you don’t agree with and wave signs they give you without reading them, facts are clearly not going to have much effect on you.
[source]
Attack Is a Media Coup for Iraq Resistance, Experts Say
— Alissa J. Rubin, LA Times Staff Writer
Perhaps Ms. Rubin should ask why it’s a media coup. Maybe that has something to do with the media?
Iraqis like to point out that after the 1991 war, Saddam restored the badly destroyed electric grid in only three months. Some six months after Bush declared an end to major hostilities, a much more ambitious and costly American effort has yet to get to that point.However, [source, source, source]
Iraq had the most sophisticated power grid in the middle east during the eighties. It was damaged heavily during the first Gulf war. After which Saddam ordered that electricity be restored in Baghdad before his birthday on April 28.[…]
Other provinces had to suffer 12-16 hours of outage just to supply the capital. It remained that way throughout the whole of the nineties.
Just another honest mistake by Big Media which just happens to put the USA in a bad light.
As noted in the Corner earlier, suicide bombers used a vehicle packed with explosives to kill about 10 people at the offices of the International Red Cross on Monday. “Of course we don’t understand why somebody would attack the Red Cross,” said Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani. “It’s very hard to understand.”
Yes, the Caliphascists have always respected those of other faiths and countries if they’re pure of heart, unlike those Evil Americans.
To compile this ranking, Reporters Without Borders asked journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists to fill out a questionnaire evaluating respect for press freedom in a particular country……
Special situation of the United States and Israel. The ranking distinguishes behaviour at home and abroad in the cases of the United States and Israel. They are ranked in 31st and 44th positions respectively as regards respect for freedom of expression on their own territory, but they fall to the 135th and 146th positions as regards behaviour beyond their borders.
29. Benin
30. East Timor
31. Greece
31. United States of America (American territory)
…
130. Palestinian Authority
131. Morocco
132. Liberia
132. Ukraine
134. Afghanistan
135. United States of America (in Iraq)
136. Yemen
If only Bremer hadn’t strung up those Iraqi bloggers and Michael Moore were still alive…
[source]
The forces of resistance to civilization in Iraq have started off Ramadan in their distinctive style.
Someone told me yesterday that a woman carrying a baby just a few months old was arrested in front of Al Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad after trying to enter. The IP and FPS found out that the baby was wrapped in explosives between his clothes. After questioning the woman she confessed that the baby was kidnapped and that some Arabs had offered her a considerable amount of money to get the baby inside the crowded emergency hall in the hospital, leave it there and they would do the rest.Car bomb attacks:
Striking in rapid succession, suicide car bombers bent on death for “collaborators” devastated the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations Monday, killing three dozen people and wounding more than 200 in the bloodiest day in Baghdad since the start of the U.S. occupation.