] I know that the only truly powerful country on the planet
] is continuing to manufacture the perilous,
] conscience-stunting myth that technology can make war
] relatively safe. Indeed, we are so delusional on this
] subject that we believe that bombing the shit out of the
] Iraqis is a humanitarian act. This is a continuation of
] the same national system of denial that we began to
] construct during Gulf War I. Ask a knowledgeable American
] how many people died in that conflict and you will
] probably be told that the death toll was somewhere around
] 150.

JPB offers a (mostly) reasonable critique

] A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to
] Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across
] the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all
] shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth
] Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church
] of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to
] reality."

Anti-War human sheilds change their minds about the war upon meeting Iraqis

] When asked to explain what is actually happening in these
] violently pretty pictures, politicians contemptously
] refuse to give "a running commentary", while press
] secretaries hide behind the sandbags of "classified"
] information. This trick of appearing open while being
] closed is also seen in the military tactic of attaching
] reporters to army units. It looks fantastically
] democratic but even the most skilled journalists risk
] becoming, in the jargon, "clientised": coming to share
] the fear, excitement and eventually triumphalism of the
] troops beside them. And if heaps of charred bodies should
] occur on either side, these "embedded" journalists will
] be kept well away from them.

Many thanks to the Guardian for being the first commercial news outlet that I am aware of to have the guts to actually say that this is all a bunch of bullshit. Hear that sucking sound? Thats the complete information vacuum surrounding this campaign. The propaganda coming from both sides is so transparent that you really can't buy into it unless you care about feeling a certain way about it and are looking for justifications.

I don't really need to rip the Iraqi propaganda. The press is happy to offer every imaginable question about it whenever it is released. However, at least the American press is never, ever seen to question the information coming out of the U.S. Military. I've turned my TV off serveral times simply because I didn't feel like I wanted to be treated like an idiot anymore. They are covering this like a football game, and they seem completely naive about how they are being manipulated.

Seriously, in Bush's talk on Monday he gave the EXACT time when the conflict would begin. We ALL turned on our TVs at that exact time. We all saw exactly what we expected to see. The bombing began. And we are supposed to beleive that this was a surpise? Their plans had changed?

Please...

Whether its "Target of Opportunity" or "Shock and Awe" (two words I am so sick of hearing that I hope they are elminiated from the language), these are obviously ways of creating "drama" for the television viewers to follow. They bare little or no relationship to what is actually going on on the ground or in the war room. We have little or no information about what is actually going on other then what is being shown on camera. All the talk is just chatter.

I don't want to see a webcam in baghdad. I want to see 24/7 satellite coverage... 2 meter resolution at least. I want raw data.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Military mind games

] The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division met strong fire and
] resistance when it tried to enter An Nasiriyah, where it
] would cross the Euphrates, sources in the Russian
] military say. Iraqi infantry units supported by the
] Republican Guard reportedly blocked the U.S. forces'
] advance. The sources said the 3rd Infantry declined
] further combat and moved down the western bank of the
] Euphrates.

1. This is a great blow by blow war blog.
2. Yup, it appears at least possible that a US military unit "retreated." The Iraqi information minister was not lieing about that in the statement made around midnight CST. He was spinning it hard, but he wasn't lieing.

The Agonist--by Sean Paul Kelley

] In other words, Iraq is a means toward an end. It is not
] an end in itself. It achieves nothing definitive by itself.
] Its purpose is to enable the United States to achieve other
] ends later, ends that will bring the nation closer to winning
] the war -- or so Washington hopes.
]
] ...the primary purpose of the Iraq war is to set the stage for
] undermining the foundations of al Qaeda in particular and
] of radical Islam as an effective paramilitary force in
] general.
]
] If the campaign goes well, two points will sink in: First,
] that the international system, alliances and institutions
] cannot contain American power; there is no protection there.
] And second, that the American ability to exercise warfare at
] extreme distances is overwhelming. Therefore, resistance to
] the United States is less rational than accommodating the
] United States.

Stratfor explains US strategy really well...

[IP] Stratfor Weekly: Beyond the Iraq Campaign

] This war, should it come, is intended to mark the
] official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged
] global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority
] as planetary policeman.

A number of interesting links here. I don't like the AJC, but its NOT a left wing journal.

ajc.com | Opinion | Bush's real goal in Iraq

] "This is a very intriguing decision (by Beers)," said
] author and intelligence expert James Bamford. "There is a
] predominant belief in the intelligence community that an
] invasion of Iraq will cause more terrorism than it will
] prevent. There is also a tremendous amount of
] embarrassment by intelligence professionals that there
] have been so many lies out of the administration -- by
] the president, (Vice President Dick) Cheney and
] (Secretary of State Colin) Powell -- over Iraq."

United Press International: Top White House anti-terror boss resigns

] If the nation escalates to "red alert," which is the
] highest in the color-coded readiness against terror, you
] will be assumed by authorities to be the enemy if you so
] much as venture outside your home, the state's
] anti-terror czar says.

politechbot.com: 'Red alert' means New Jerseyans may not leave their homes

] Six months after President Bush first appeared before the
] United Nations and urged a confrontation with Iraq, the
] United States appears to have lost diplomatic ground, not
] gained it, leaving it in a precarious international
] position as it prepares to launch a war.

U.S. Missteps Led to Failed Diplomacy (washingtonpost.com)

] Profound changes have been taking place in American
] foreign policy, reversing consistent bipartisan
] commitments that for more than two centuries have earned
] our nation greatness.

Jimmy Carter's recent essay.

Just War - Jimmy Carter