Posted 3/22/2003 10:16:10 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE DISTANCING OF HOLLYWOOD FROM ITS AUDIENCE CONTINUES: I guess if you support the war, they don't want your money, similar to Apple's recent highly politicized hiring and uber-PC ad campaigns. The studio moguls who ran Hollywood in its golden era were very, very wise to carefully manage their stars' images. Yet paradoxically, I'll bet the majority of celebrities back then were far more naturally careful to avoid controversy. And its nice to see such a diversity of opinion on display isn't it? Incidentally, what's with all the stars who've said they'll sit out the Oscars tomorrow? Is it simply because they fear for their safety (of course, I doubt Cary Grant, John Wayne, or Bette Davis ever missed an early 1940s Oscar awards for fear of a Japanese attack on the theater), or is it the weird belief that "if enough of us don't show, America will wonder why and turn against the war?" Hey Martha, I don't see Meryl Streep and Will Smith! That's it, this war stinks. I'm joining the protestors!

Posted 3/22/2003 06:37:50 PM by Edward Driscoll
I WONDER HOW THIS WILL BE COVERED BY CNN. UPDATE (6:40 PM): Well that didn't take long to find out the initial take. The reporter embedded with the troops in Kuwait interviewed by Larry King has been asked "not to release certain details about the soldier" by the US military. Wonder what happens when those details are released. UPDATE (9:10 PM): I can understand how both the US military, and the press, for very, very different reasons, want to keep a lid on this story. But the genie is out of the bottle, boys. Everybody who reads blogs knows what that the accused soldier is both black and a Muslim--and it's starting to filter into Internet discussion forums. Not surprisingly, Charles Johnson has a post on this, and the comments section is quite long and interesting, also not surprisingly. Back in the early 1990s, I remember watching a show on PBS with a reporter from the New York Times commenting on how the first Gulf War made CNN. "But if all you did was get your news from TV, you didn't get anywhere near the full story, he said. This time around, if you're not reading a variety of blogs and other Internet news sources, you're really not getting the full picture (especially if all you do is watch CNN and read the Times!). UPDATE (10:40 PM): This AP article reports that one soldier is now listed as dead. And no details about the accused solider other than that he's "an engineer". UPDATE (11:53 PM): Wow, very interesting newsreading, with lots of long pauses by Anderson Cooper(?) on CNN's Headline News: After giving details about the grenade tossing incident, he said "He is..I'm hesistating to report something, because I'm not sure I can at this point" and a moment later, after a few more details, added "a young american soldier who is described as having recently converted to Islam is in custody".

Posted 3/22/2003 03:53:15 PM by Edward Driscoll
TERRORIST ATTACK INJURES 10 US TROOPS IN KUWAIT: "From our reports it appears that a terrorist penetrated Camp Pennsylvania, one or more terrorists threw two hand grenades into a tent," said George Heath, spokesman at Fort Campbell, home base of the 101st", who added that 10 people were wounded, six seriously.

Posted 3/22/2003 03:03:30 PM by Edward Driscoll
IS IRAQ REPOSITIONING ITS MOBILE LAUNCHERS to lob missiles at troops moving north? That's the gist of this New York Times article.

Posted 3/22/2003 01:44:03 PM by Edward Driscoll
ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER! One of these things does not belong. Spot which one, in this latest series of AP headlines on my My.Yahoo page:

500 Cruise Missiles Hit Iraq: Pentagon Iraqi TV Declares Saddam in Control Allies Seize Airport, Bridge in Basra

Posted 3/22/2003 01:26:19 PM by Edward Driscoll
"DO WE KNOW HEROES WHEN WE SEE THEM?": Good article by Peter H. Gibbon on the growing gap between reality and rhetoric in our schools:

War is a terrible thing. Students should know its dark side. But they should also be asked to consider that America goes to war reluctantly, only after agonized debate or after years of provocation by reckless tyrants. We do not have to love war to understand that some wars may be necessary or to appreciate the soldier’s values: self-sacrifice, honor, loyalty, and endurance.

Posted 3/22/2003 01:12:53 PM by Edward Driscoll
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "You're late. What took you so long? God help you become victorious...I want to say hello to Bush, to shake his hand!" Meanwhile, this story is a must read.

Posted 3/22/2003 01:05:34 PM by Edward Driscoll
CHECK OUT THIS ASTONISHING EXCHANGE between the BBC and General Tommy Franks, as spotted by a reader of Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan continues his thorough job of cataloging the excesses of the BBC and the New York Times. In another example of the growing gap between reality and rhetoric, not surprisingly, the Village Voice has been caught using the D-word.

Posted 3/22/2003 12:12:43 PM by Edward Driscoll
TODAY'S PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: While no method is 100 percent safe, if you're going to get in bed with France, make sure you wear protection!

Posted 3/22/2003 10:39:01 AM by Edward Driscoll
AMERICA, THE MIDDLE EAST AND VIETNAM: Since, as Rod Dreher recently noted, for the left, "every war is Vietnam", let's look at how Vietnam has led directly to our current state of affairs. Reading this recent post by The Volokh Conspiracy, and watching the protestors last night, I figured I'd discuss a geopolitical theory that I'm surprised I didn't post yet (and because this a blog, this is going to be grossly simplified--I'm just trying to connect the dots, not paint a detailed landscape): how Vietnam is related to our current war on terrorism. On TV last night, I saw a guy in his late 40s or 50s (he looked trim, clean shaven, with a nicely cut shock of graying hair) asked by an interviewer, "why are you here"? He replied, "Well, we made a difference during Vietnam, and I think we're making a difference now." As for the latter, it's hard to say how--except, as Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds have recently noted, making your cause look distinctly bad to the rest of the country. As to the former, yes, you may have made a difference, but it wasn't the one that you think. Its possible to tie 9/11 all the way back to Vietnam if you wanted to: the combination of Johnson and MacNamara's "carrot and stick" tactics because they were scared witless that the Soviets would enter the war, causing us, especially during the critical early phases of the war to hold back our strength, not bomb critical military targets, etc. This, slow, grinding style of warfare, coupled with the 1960s protestors, caused many to be demoralized by the war, causing that era's Democratic Congress to cut the budget for fighting the war, causing our eventual pullout. (Read Stephen Hayward's excellent document of that era, The Age of Reagan: Volume One, to put that period in perspective.) Watergate was tied directly to Vietnam, via Nixon and his "Plumbers'" reaction to Daniel Ellsberg leaking the Pentagon Papers, and Watergate would of course cause Nixon to resign, but not before his appeasement of the dictatorial Soviet Union and China. America's appearance of weakness, both post-Vietnam, and (after Gerald Ford had a quick cup of coffee at the White House) under the uber-dovish Jimmy Carter, led directly to one of America's lowest periods: letting the Shah of Iran fall, the takeover of Iran by a radical Islamic regime, and the Iranian hostage crisis.Perhaps the lowest point was Carter's response to it: lots of nail biting, the bungled Desert One rescue mission, and even more nail biting. While Reagan's build up of our defense, and our liberation of Kuwait helped our rep in the Middle East a little (and yes, I know I'm really simplifying here for the sake of space), leaving Saddam in power, those dreadful images of American soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, and Clinton's lack of military response to the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center kept us looking largely as a paper tiger, especially when it came to responding to Islamic terrorism. And we all know the rest. As Alvin Toffler wrote in War and Anti-War, the American military's tactics were radically changed after the debacle of Vietnam. How different things might be today had we fought that war to win--and didn't abandon the country afterwards.

Posted 3/22/2003 10:05:18 AM by Edward Driscoll
LIFE IMITATES THE ONION: "Don't Hurt Zoo Animals in Iraq War, Pleads UK MP". Malcolm Muggeridge, call your office. (Via The Brothers Judd.)

Posted 3/22/2003 10:01:34 AM by Edward Driscoll
FUNNY NUMBERS: Orrin Judd looks takes a look at wartime polling data.

Posted 3/21/2003 07:26:00 PM by Edward Driscoll
PROPPING UP THE HOME FRONT: Stephen Green shows support for the war in a way that only he can do.

Posted 3/21/2003 06:22:06 PM by Edward Driscoll
ON THE OTHER HAND, GIVE LIZ CREDIT FOR SOMETHING: She at least identified a link between Saddam and terrorism on American soil, something that much of the left has been unable to do.

Posted 3/21/2003 06:14:53 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOUND IN A DAILY VARIETY FROM JANUARY 1942: I was going through some of my father's old World War II-era memorabilia, and was flabbergasted by this article, which began, "Up and coming childhood starlet Elizabeth Taylor shocks Hollywood by her pro-Hitler remarks:

The beautiful young brunette from National Velvet said, "What the [bleep] are the Americans doing by saying to Hitler, 'Pack up your bags, hop a train, and get out of town!' What if someone said that to Roosevelt? "You don't think Nazis are going to retaliate? You don't think they're going to bomb the s--- out of us? It's going to be terrifying."

Posted 3/21/2003 05:32:14 PM by Edward Driscoll
FUN WITH PHOTOSHOP: The The Command Post Blog catches CBS doctoring a photo of B-52s over Baghdad. Be sure to read the comments.

Posted 3/21/2003 04:44:57 PM by Edward Driscoll
THREE BLIND DEAD MICE: ABC reports, "Three Key Iraqi Leaders Believed Killed", including "Chemical Ali", Saddam's cousin.

Posted 3/21/2003 04:35:17 PM by Edward Driscoll
8000 (YES EIGHT THOUSAND IRAQI SOLDIERS SURRENDER: AP reports, "Entire Division of Iraqi Army Surrenders". Fantastic.

Posted 3/21/2003 04:11:34 PM by Edward Driscoll
IS SADDAM DEAD? Steven Den Beste puts the week's events, along with Saddam's command structure in crisp perspective in this excellent post.

Posted 3/21/2003 03:59:51 PM by Edward Driscoll
COULD SADDAM FIND EXILE IN AFRICA? Stephen Green says its possible.

Posted 3/21/2003 03:46:06 PM by Edward Driscoll
GOOD QUESTION: Andrew Sullivan looks at one group of protestors who've defecated(!!) on a San Francisco sidewalk and writes, "If these Saddam-enablers are ticking off Bay Area liberals, can you imagine what the rest of the country thinks?"

Posted 3/21/2003 03:38:05 PM by Edward Driscoll
NOT ONE IRAQI PLANE OR SAM LAUNCHED, according to Fox military expert. Scuds launched into Kuwait yesterday were the only Iraqi missiles launched. Now that's my definition of US air superiority. UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan writes, "No use yet of any biological or chemical weapons; and only relatively "minuscule" sabotaging of the oil wells. Early days yet - but these tactics were expected early on as well."

Posted 3/21/2003 03:31:59 PM by Edward Driscoll
LOVE IS THE DRUG: Eric Olsen writes that British pop star Bryan Ferry of the legendary group Roxy Music, is getting divorced from his wife, who's replaced another woman who left him for another man: Jerry Hall, who dumped Ferry for Mick Jagger, in 1979. Olsen has lots of details on Ferry and Roxy Music, who've made some great--if criminally under appreciated in the US--albums in the 1970s and '80s.

Posted 3/21/2003 01:33:07 PM by Edward Driscoll
PERFECT: This is a riot. In other important strategic news, I'm pretty sure that John Gibson and Kent Brockman share the same barber. And Tom Daschle just can't seem to get anything right. (Daschle and Helen Thomas links via Andrew Sullivan, who has lots of other good--and serious material up today.)

Posted 3/21/2003 12:41:56 PM by Edward Driscoll
D'OH! Brit Hume: "General, when did the B-52 first fly?", General, "about 1948, 1949, Brit." Hume: "But it's jet powered now, right?" Oy.

Posted 3/21/2003 12:37:09 PM by Edward Driscoll
LOTS OF SURRENDERS: The Times reports, "The commander of Iraq's 51st division and his top deputy surrendered to United States Marine forces today, according to American military officials", in an article whose headline says, "Military Sees Indications That Other Division May Give Up". Meanwhile, "Hundreds of [other] Iraqis eagerly surrender". And on Tuesday, the French bought themselves a rare clue:

Liberation reported that Dominique Dord, a deputy from the majority UMP party, said during Tuesday's assembly debate, "We would look really stupid if Iraqis applaud the arrival of Americans."

Posted 3/21/2003 11:57:40 AM by Edward Driscoll
ROCKET HITS OIL REFINERY DEPOT IN SW IRAN, according to this Reuters article. Wow--I didn't realize that Barbra Streisand programmed guidance systems! UPDATE: Stephen Green has some plausible--and even more worrisome--explanations.

Posted 3/21/2003 11:38:49 AM by Edward Driscoll
MORE VIETNAM: A female reporter just asked Ari Fleischer about "will the massive bombing" require massive additional humanitarian efforts. Fleischer told her that the destruction of some of Saddam's palaces doesn't necessarily equate to massive civilian hardship. No wonder the media has such sympathy for the "peace" protestors--they seem stuck in 1969 along with them. And why on earth are these reporters fixated on how much TV coverage President Bush watches?? Fleischer just reminded one reporter that freedom is a basic human desire. I'd love to see him throw some of these questions back to the reporters, or even a simple, "Don't you agree, Helen?" just to see their responses.

Posted 3/21/2003 11:12:58 AM by Edward Driscoll
BAGHDAD BY MONDAY, says H.D. Miller , who also owned the story on Uday's "hemorrhage", long before the rest of the media picked up on it.

Posted 3/21/2003 11:09:28 AM by Edward Driscoll
WELL THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: In the middle of recieving emails from other bloggers, I just opened my first X-rated spam with the headline of "Shock and Awe". Bet it won't be the last!

Posted 3/21/2003 10:58:12 AM by Edward Driscoll
GEEZ--Some reporter just mentioned Haiphong Harbor in a question to Rumsfeld. What an idiot. UPDATE: The other reporters around also sound like they're stuck in 1972, covering the Linebacker II mass B-52 bombing of Hanoi. Rumsfeld is handling them deftly. It must be seem strange to be a 40-something reporter listening to a 69-year-old man who's more modern than you are.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:53:15 AM by Edward Driscoll
MORE TO COME: Myers said, "Several hundred military targets will be hit in the coming hours".

Posted 3/21/2003 10:51:19 AM by Edward Driscoll
GOOD FOR RUMSFELD: He's slagging the reporters who compared the bombing of Baghdad to WWII bombing campaigns. In other words, this isn't Dresden, Brian.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:43:15 AM by Edward Driscoll
RUMSFELD BRIEFING FROM THE PENTAGON: First words: sympathy for US soldiers killed yesterday from Donald Rumsfeld. When and if a transcript is available, we'll post it here. Rumsfeld is joined by Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rumsfeld's comments were very similar in their phrasing to President Bush's recent pre-war speeches. He mentioned that our efforts will allow the people of Iraq "to chose their own leader", but didn't actually say the word "democracy", which is disappointing, of course. Gen. Myers did tell the Iraqi soldiers to stop fighting "so that you can enjoy a free Iraq". Good deal.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:34:46 AM by Edward Driscoll
DRUDGE: "A senior U.S. official said the escalation of the aerial campaign might not be as intense as originally planned because U.S. surrender talks with senior Iraqi officials were continuing..."

Posted 3/21/2003 10:33:02 AM by Edward Driscoll
BOMBING CONTINUES IN OTHER IRAQI CITIES: Meanwhile, there appears to be a lull in the bombing in downtown Baghdad.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:19:34 AM by Edward Driscoll
"I HOPE KIM JONG IL IS WATCHING THIS RIGHT NOW": Great line by a retired general who's one of Fox's military experts.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:14:02 AM by Edward Driscoll
NBC HAS DRAMATIC FOOTAGE OF SADDAM'S MAIN COMPOUND with a huge black cloud of smoke and intense red flames rising from it.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:11:39 AM by Edward Driscoll
SKY NEWS SAYS ABOUT 30 BOMBS HAVE FALLEN: (Sky is Fox's sister network.) And Shepard Smith says Saddam's main palace is in ruins, as about 12 bombs fell on it.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:09:45 AM by Edward Driscoll
MUSHROOM CLOUD SHAPE RISING: Some kind of bunker buster bomb?

Posted 3/21/2003 10:07:27 AM by Edward Driscoll
IF YOU'RE NEAR A TV, TURN IT ON NOW--astonishing images from Baghdad, and I don't know how long they'll last, until the power gets cut, satellite uplinks get blown, or Saddam cuts communications.

Posted 3/21/2003 10:00:08 AM by Edward Driscoll
BIG EXPLOSIONS IN BAGHDAD ON FOX: Looks like Shock and Awe to me. UPDATE (10:19 AM): AP: "U.S. Launches Massive Air Strikes on Iraq".

Posted 3/21/2003 09:55:33 AM by Edward Driscoll
JUST CURIOUS: I wonder if all of the lights on in Baghdad is a sign that Saddam and his lieutenants have lost control. UPDATE (10:22 AM): Fox's general-in-residence says that we haven't targeted Baghdad's electrical generator, to signal to Iraqi people that are battle with Saddam, not with them, even though it increases risks to our pilots.

Posted 3/21/2003 09:53:38 AM by Edward Driscoll
REUTERS: LARGE EXPLOSIONS HEARD WEST OF BAGHDAD, according to Fox News Ticker.

Posted 3/21/2003 09:51:20 AM by Edward Driscoll
NBC SAYS CRUISE MISSILES LAUNCHED TOWARDS BAGHDAD.

Posted 3/21/2003 09:46:38 AM by Edward Driscoll
WILL THE TURKS ATTACK THE KURDS? Are they beginning to do so right now? Interesting (and very speculative) post by Rich Lowry, transcribing a phone call from David Pryce-Jones.

Posted 3/21/2003 09:42:36 AM by Edward Driscoll
PENTAGON DECLARES "SHOCK AND AWE" OFFICIALLY UNDER WAY, according to Fox. So far everything looks calm in Baghdad, but the shock and awe could hit the fan at any moment... UPDATE (9:47 AM) Lots of anti-aircraft fire coming from Baghdad. And apparently a few bombs have already been dropped.

Posted 3/21/2003 09:27:27 AM by Edward Driscoll
SATELLITE SCOOP: Virginia Postrel notes that a blogger "picked up Iraq's torching of southern oil wells three hours before CNN." The "is it or isn't Saddam" meme was also all over the Blogosphere hours before the rest of the media picked up on it, thanks to NRO's Corner, Stephen Green, and our little corner of cyberspace. Obviously, this early information is going to be raw, and frankly, often wrong--but no more wrong than some of the gaffes that the media have made. But just as CNN came of age during the first Gulf War, then this will be the war that makes Blogs. As to some of the reasons why, if you haven't read it already, be sure to check out my essay from early 2002 in SpinTech.

Posted 3/21/2003 09:14:45 AM by Edward Driscoll
"IF I'VE LOST AARON BROWN, I'VE LOST THE IRAQI PEOPLE!" That seems to be what Saddam is thinking, as four CNN reporters were expelled from Baghdad today. For a look at what it was like for reporters under Saddam, click here.

Posted 3/21/2003 08:23:23 AM by Edward Driscoll
JUST CURIOUS DEPARTMENT: How would the left react if a couple of B-52s or B-2s made a detour to drop a few ordinances into North Korea's nuclear facilities? Or if a cruise missile or two went a bit off course, and ended up there. Would they say, "finally Bush, we kept saying you had to do something about North Korea", or would they turn on a dime and condemn the man? As I said, just curious.

Posted 3/21/2003 07:18:52 AM by Edward Driscoll
MUGGERIDGE'S LAW IN ACTION DEPARTMENT: Hans Blix may have actually found an actual by-God violation of Iraq's agreement with the UN yesterday! Here's a flashback to April Fool's day of last year, when in the midst of all sorts of silliness and cutting up in the Blogosphere, I posted:

MUGGERIDGE'S LAW: When Malcolm Muggeridge was the editor of the British satirical magazine Punch in the early 1960s, Khrushchev had announced he was going to tour England alongside its prime minister. Muggeridge wrote up a list of the silliest tour stops he could think of, and then put the article to bed, ready for publication. When the actual tour list was drawn up. he had to massively rewrite the article. At least half the tour stops in his satirical piece were actually on Khrushchev and the British PM's agenda! Which is why Muggeridge's Law is: there is no way that a writer of fiction can compete with real life for its pure absurdity.

Posted 3/21/2003 06:35:18 AM by Edward Driscoll
THIS PRO-WAR RIOT in California's Central Valley is just as idiotic as the "peace" protests yesterday in San Francisco, Berkeley and LA. As Joanne Jacobs writes, "What's next: Firebombing a French's mustard plant?"

Posted 3/21/2003 06:19:19 AM by Edward Driscoll
MEANWHILE, OVER IN IRAN: Glenn Reynolds has some thoughts on why students at Tehran University seem rather pleased that the "Great Satan" is setting up shop next door.

Posted 3/21/2003 06:15:50 AM by Edward Driscoll
AXIS OF EVIL, SOUTHEAST ASIA BRANCH: A reader of The Corner on National Review Online has some thoughts on what Kim Jong Il is thinking as he watches CNN this week. Scroll up to the next post for Jonah Goldberg's reaction.

Posted 3/21/2003 05:49:13 AM by Edward Driscoll
DECAPITATION: James S. Robbins writes:

Beyond logic and utility, targeting dictators is a moral approach to war. If it must be fought, this is a very humane way to do it. No innocent Iraqis should be killed by Coalition arms in pursuit of their liberation. Some probably will be, but striking at the leadership decreases the probability that innocents will die. In fact, it limits both civilian and military casualties, on both sides. And if successful, it ends war quickly, which also spares lives and decreases destruction overall. It is much more humanitarian than resorting to mass slaughter on the battlefield, or destroying the infrastructure of cities and creating tens of thousands of refugees. It is worth noting that this technique is only effective against dictatorships, in which a single person or small group comprise the center of gravity, the focus and source of power. It would not be effective against a liberal democracy like the United States, because in our system, power is fundamentally divorced from personality. The system itself is the power, and clear rules of succession guarantee that the government will continue to function regardless of changes at the top. Dictators rarely focus on making lines of succession clear, because it only encourages the successor to speed up the process, and the enemies of the heir apparent to try to preempt the transfer of power. The infighting between Saddam's sons is a case in point — both suffered assassination attempts when considered the leading candidate to take over power. (Note that there is a report that the elder son Uday suffered a brain hemorrhage yesterday after an attack by a member of the Saddam Fedayeen militia he commands. He was also alleged to have been killed in the decapitation strike.)

Posted 3/21/2003 05:00:21 AM by Edward Driscoll
FOX TICKER: B-52s LAUNCHED FROM RAF BASE IN UK: "Group Captain Mandrake" actually mentioned the first of the "BUFFS" taking off earlier yesterday.

Posted 3/21/2003 04:54:10 AM by Edward Driscoll
TOM DASCHLE IS ON FOX RIGHT NOW, playing it very close to the vest, and initially saying nothing in perfect political non-speak. When pressed about his remarks on Monday, he smiled, flashed those dead eyes of his, and stressed that "a unified message" is important to our troops, with only a hint of nervousness about being pressed. "So at this point you stand behind the President and our troops?", the blonde Fox talking head asked him. "Absolutely." William Kristol just remarked "I think Senator Daschle is retreating faster than the Iraqis". Jacques Chirac, if you ever need a running mate, here's your man.

Posted 3/21/2003 04:42:49 AM by Edward Driscoll
FIRST COMBAT CASUALTY REPORTED: "U.S. Marine Killed in Iraq Combat". Kathryn Jean Lopez reports from NRO's Corner that "In his memory, the U.S. flag flies over the seaport town [of Umm Qasar] now."

Posted 3/21/2003 04:35:26 AM by Edward Driscoll
SHOCK AND AWE: Just woke up for a few minutes in the middle of the night and saw my stats. "Wow!" doesn't even begin to cover the jump in traffic. A warm thank you to everybody's who's logged in here yesterday and late Wednesday night--and thank you to everyone who's linked to us, and especially to Glenn and Stephen, for mentioning us in your Weblogs, whose stats counters are probably reading tilt! right about now. If you're new to our site, be sure to use the navigation buttons to the left, check out our faqs and about us pages, Google Search, and our links page, where lots of other great bloggers and journalists await as well. And if you like what you see, why not hit the tip boxes and visit the stores on the left? Your contributions help to keep this site online--thanks.

Posted 3/20/2003 08:32:02 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOLLOW THE MONEY, says Stephen Green.

Posted 3/20/2003 07:59:26 PM by Edward Driscoll
DARING RIVER BOAT RAID DEEP INSIDE IRAQ: HBO's currently showing Hot Shots: Part Deux right now. Best line? Phone rings, Charlie Sheen answers, and then hands Saddam the phone and says, "It's your wife, Hillary Rodham Hussein". It doesn't really answer my earlier question though, as their Saddamalike is most definitely on tape. Also in the "art imitates life imitates art department" (or something like that), last night TNT showed Dave, a film about a world leader being impersonated by an actor.

Posted 3/20/2003 07:15:59 PM by Edward Driscoll
ARMY'S 3RD INFANTRY DIVISION IS IN DMV, quickly moving into Iraq. Fox's Greg Kelly is one of the reporters "embedded" with the troops. I think he was the reporter streaming the images mentioned in the post below.

Posted 3/20/2003 07:14:02 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOX IS SHOWING LIVE IMAGES FROM US TANKS, via a reporter's videophone. Very cool looking stuff, as we march towards Baghdad. UPDATE (7:17 PM) Shepard Smith is drooling over the technology behind these images, and the US military's authorization to allow these images to be shown.

Posted 3/20/2003 07:08:31 PM by Edward Driscoll
16 DEAD: 12 American, four British soldiers killed in Marine helicopter crash in Kuwait. UPDATE (4:09 AM 3/21/03): This number has been revised downward to 12 dead:

[The first known U.S. or British military casualties were reported early Friday, however, in the crash of a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in the Kuwaiti border area just south of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, at the head of the Persian Gulf. Marine officers said the aircraft, carrying four U.S. crew members and eight British Royal Marines, went down after encounter- ing haze from burning oil as it sought to reinforce a British position on the Faw peninsula. All aboard were reported killed.]

Posted 3/20/2003 07:03:26 PM by Edward Driscoll
BLESSED BY THE GODS DEPARTMENT: Or goddess, in this case, as Postrel linked to my piece on Hollywood stasists versus Silicon Valley dynamists in Tech Central Station. Stasists and dynamists were of course the terms used by Postrel in her book, The Future and its Enemies, and as I've written before, Postrel's Weblog was one of the main inspirations for this blog. Thanks!

Posted 3/20/2003 06:42:31 PM by Edward Driscoll
VIRGINIA POSTREL IS NONE TOO THRILLED THAT AL GORE joined the Apple Board:

Maybe I'm nuts, but trying to grow your market share by excluding everyone who doesn't share hippie-dippy Bay Area politics strikes me as a dumb strategy. Of course, there is a way to make amends: diversify those black-and-white portraits.

Want a nominee for the Apple portraits? I hate to sound like Floyd R. Turbo, but Rush Limbaugh comes immediately to mind. The guy's probably sold more Apples to conservatives by simply mentioning repeatedly how much he likes their computers on his radio show than Apple ever would have through their ad campaigns. (At least, he always used to mention he was an Apple man when I listened to his show more regularly a few years ago--I don't know if he's now a PC user, but I would doubt it.) Yet there's a not a shot in hell that they'd consider using him in their advertising.

Posted 3/20/2003 04:14:28 PM by Edward Driscoll
SPORTS IN IRAQ: There's only so much coverage of protestors I can watch, when the local stations break away from Fox and other network coverage, so I went surfing, and came across a devastating piece on ESPN about how brutally Iraq treats its Olympic athletes--Uday Hussein led its Olympic program. One former volleyball star says that Uday is insane, and "urinates on athletes". He's showing the scars he has from being chained to the wall for days at a time. A former top soccer player says, "I was lucky: I was only tortured four times", including once after his team lost, when "we're were beaten, and nobody knows why." When he tried to quit, his feet were whipped 20 times a day, and he was dragged on his back until it was bloody. I think it was taped some time ago--here's a companion piece from December of last year from their Web site.

Posted 3/20/2003 03:50:55 PM by Edward Driscoll
LOTS OF GOOD STUFF--and even more links, via James Taranto and Best of the Web Today.

Posted 3/20/2003 03:27:52 PM by Edward Driscoll
KTVU ANCHORMAN DENNIS RICHMOND SPEAKS BEAUTIFULLY PRECISE ENGLISH: So why the "uh" every time he says "the war in Iraq"? Just curious.

Posted 3/20/2003 02:48:20 PM by Edward Driscoll
I'M WITH STOOOPID, PART DEUX: "San Francisco protesters stage a 'vomit in'". Glenn's right: Karl Rove has to be behind this--no "sane" protestors would do something this idiotic.

Posted 3/20/2003 02:40:34 PM by Edward Driscoll
GLASGOW KNOWS HOW TO HANDLE PROTESTORS: Group Captain Mandrake reports:

Anti-war protestors in the UK earlier stopped the London to Glasgow train, by sitting in front of it when it was stopped at a station. They moved when several Glasgow football supporters, travelling to watch their team, had an err, polite word with them. People outside the UK may not know that Glasgow is a tough city, and it is generally best not to annoy football fans there.

Posted 3/20/2003 02:19:21 PM by Edward Driscoll
I'M WITH STOOOPID: KTVU just mentioned that a protestor took a swipe at one of their cameramen. Err, guys, TV is on your side--they live for those images! You don't want to upset them. UPDATE (3:30 PM): Ken Wayne of KTVU just mentioned some looting occurred today, possibly connected with the protesting. There's a shock! Wayne also mentioned that a number of the protestors are "upset with the type of coverage they're receiving". They certainly shouldn't be upset with the quantity of coverage they're receiving, however.

Posted 3/20/2003 02:16:21 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOG OF WAR: Steven Den Bestes notes a photo misidentified by CBS.

Posted 3/20/2003 02:01:05 PM by Edward Driscoll
US TROOPS CROSS INTO SOUTHERN IRAQ.

Posted 3/20/2003 01:32:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
MSNBC NEWS INFO-BABE Natalie Morales (and she is a babe) just compared Al Jazeera with MSNBC. That's not a comparison I'd want to make.

Posted 3/20/2003 01:19:38 PM by Edward Driscoll
DANIEL PIPES: "Why the Left Loves Osama [and Saddam]".

Posted 3/20/2003 01:17:36 PM by Edward Driscoll
"MORONS ANNOY LOS ANGELES" is the title of this post by Charles Johnson, who has a photo of their riot du jur.

Posted 3/20/2003 01:11:57 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOX NEWS ALERT: Neal Cavuto reporting that traces of "Ricin" posion were found in a Paris railway station. Gee, and Chriac thought staying out of the war would keep France safe. UPDATE: (2:05 PM): Here's a WaPo article on it. UPDATE: (3:41 PM): Chris Regan says there's an Iraqi connection to this story. "Ironically enough!", as Reuters (and James Taranto when he tweaks them) would say.

Posted 3/20/2003 01:05:58 PM by Edward Driscoll
AIR RAID SIRENS IN KUWAIT CITY: William La Jeunesse, the Fox News man in the field (and hopefully his cameraman) has his gas mask on. UPDATE (a couple of minutes later): All clear signal sounds, gas mask comes off.

Posted 3/20/2003 01:04:55 PM by Edward Driscoll
WE'RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S 1969! Several shots of protestors in tied-dyed T-shirts from KTVU, channel #2. Guys, the 1960s are over. As I wrote in December:

Vietnam is doubly instructive here--it was the high-water mark of the anti-war movement, which gained traction because the US military was ineffective in Vietnam, partially due to using tactics developed 25 years earlier in World War II. (And yes, that's a gross simplification, and Robert McNamera, Westmoreland, and Johnson's rules of engagement didn't help things. But you get the idea.) But each component of the military radically changed its tactics after Vietnam. The anti-war movement is still stuck in a 30 year old timewarp. And it's got to feel strange for them, to find the military's thinking more modern than theirs.

Posted 3/20/2003 12:52:08 PM by Edward Driscoll
UNILATERAL UPDATE: Here's a list of all of the countries that are supporting us, as well as those who supported us during our last go-around in the Gulf.

Posted 3/20/2003 12:47:40 PM by Edward Driscoll
"YAWN": Brian of Eminent Brain has some thoughts on the SF riots.

Posted 3/20/2003 12:31:59 PM by Edward Driscoll
GEEZ: Channel 2 just reported that one jail in San Francisco is completely full with protestors, and they're opening up another jail for all of them. The video is astounding: nothing like watching "peace" protestors taking swipes at cops. Whatever happened to passive resistance?

Posted 3/20/2003 12:21:19 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOX TICKER: "Air raid sirens heard in Mosul", Iraqi city located on border of Syria and Turkey (I think I heard Sheppard Smith say--I'm trying to type as fast as they're talking--and losing.) Key city with important oil reserves--and "substantial air fields", Fox's man in Northern Iraq says.

Posted 3/20/2003 12:17:40 PM by Edward Driscoll
SADDAMALIKE: Andrew Sullivan writes, "The more I look at it, the likelier it seems." UPDATE (12:33 PM): But Fox ticker says, "Admin officials: it was Saddam on TV last night".

Posted 3/20/2003 12:13:15 PM by Edward Driscoll
UNILATERALISM UPDATE: CNN ticker just announced that President Bush says that 40 nations support us.

Posted 3/20/2003 12:07:39 PM by Edward Driscoll
DIANE FEINSTEIN'S MINI-ME WORKS FOR CNN: Just watching Barbara Starr, their Pentagon reporter.

Posted 3/20/2003 12:06:12 PM by Edward Driscoll
SADDAM IS DOOMED: Optimus Prime is on his way to the Middle East. No, really! (Link via The Corner.)

Posted 3/20/2003 12:02:09 PM by Edward Driscoll
MORE TICKER: "Captured town [Umm Qasar] is only major seaport for goods to enter Iraq."

Posted 3/20/2003 11:54:54 AM by Edward Driscoll
GREAT QUOTE from the Fox ticker, which says "Pentagon: 'If you have to ask, it's not shock and awe'."

Posted 3/20/2003 11:44:05 AM by Edward Driscoll
NBC NEWS' Pete Williams is announcing that law enforcement officials are looking for an Al-Qaeda terrorist named Adnan G. El-Shukrijumah "who could be here, or could be anyplace in the world". And he's a pilot. Apparently from Yemen, he speaks English fluently, carries multiple passports with a variety of aliases, who could be involved in planning a terrorist act against the US, or overseas.

Posted 3/20/2003 11:27:57 AM by Edward Driscoll
US LAUNCHES SECOND ATTACK ON BAGHDAD, according to AP, and dramatic video on the networks.

Posted 3/20/2003 11:20:00 AM by Edward Driscoll
HEAVY FIGHTING, MASSIVE DISRUPTIONS IN INFRASTRUCTURE BREAK OUT...in San Francisco. Check out this quote:

"We don't want to alienate people. I hope people realize that political murder merits action that inconveniences them," said Quinn Miller, 32, who took the day off from his job for a banking company and said he expected to be arrested for the first time in his life.

Posted 3/20/2003 11:07:05 AM by Edward Driscoll
WAS SADDAM'S ELDER SON UDAY in the bunker that we struck yesterday? Interesting post by H.D. Miller, who says that Uday suffered a brain hemorrhage "following conflict with a member of Saddam's Fedayeen on Thursday." Miller adds, "Sound to me like Uday just suffered a 2,000 pound, JDAMS-guided hemorrhage." Heh.

Posted 3/20/2003 10:15:04 AM by Edward Driscoll
JOHN McCAIN REBUTS ROBERT BYRD on the Senate floor. Here's a link to Byrd's comments, and our take on them.

Posted 3/20/2003 09:53:51 AM by Edward Driscoll
BOMB SCARE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: Expect more of this stuff over the next few days--all of them fakes, God willing.

Posted 3/20/2003 09:49:20 AM by Edward Driscoll
HOT SHOTS PART TRES: Do we know the whereabouts of this man? (Very funny interview with the original "Saddamalike", Jerry Haleva, from the Hot Shots movies. "Now I will kill you until you die from it!")

Posted 3/20/2003 09:36:41 AM by Edward Driscoll
INSTAPUNDIT DOES MELLOW MUSHROOMS, or something like that.

Posted 3/20/2003 09:26:24 AM by Edward Driscoll
GROUND WAR BEGINS, according to this AP report:

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's artillery opened fire Thursday on Iraqi troops with Paladin self-propelled howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems in the first stage of the ground war. Maj. Gen. Bufourd Blount, the division commander, had said that the artillery barrage would signal the first phase of the ground war against Iraq.

Posted 3/20/2003 08:35:44 AM by Edward Driscoll
MORE UNILATERALISM: AP reports that "Turkey OKs U.S. on Airspace".

Posted 3/20/2003 07:44:17 AM by Edward Driscoll
INTELLIGENCE: Rich Lowry posts an email from a reader who says that it's working quite well: "we flushed out [Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq] Aziz, followed him, and made him drop a dime on Saddam without him knowing it."

Posted 3/20/2003 07:21:57 AM by Edward Driscoll
WHY DID PETER JENNINGS BURY A POLL showing increased support for the war? ABC seems to be doing a lot of stuff like that lately. (For our previous coverage of Peter, click here.)

Posted 3/20/2003 07:17:03 AM by Edward Driscoll
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE: When you have to resort to language, tactics and visuals like this, you've already lost the argument, as Eric Alterman recently noticed. UPDATE: But this protest could certainly succeed.

Posted 3/20/2003 07:06:47 AM by Edward Driscoll
"A DIFFERENT KIND OF FRENCH KISS": Dave Barry is doing his best to patch-up US-French relations. Maybe Bush should start a conversation with Chirac in French. Something like... "'Parole! Vous ne sentez pas demi aussi de mauvais que j'ai prevu!'' He'd get through immediately, if he just tells him that he's Jerry Lewis...

Posted 3/20/2003 06:38:17 AM by Edward Driscoll
HANDY FACT-PAGE ON GULF WAR I, or the real start of the war last night, or whatever you want to call it, via Matt Welch. It's a CNN page cached by Google, whose highlighting makes it obvious how many countries fought in the first Gulf War: 34. No wonder CNN was flashing tickers that said (paraphrasing) "Bush claims over 35 nations backing U.S."--that's one more than the last go around. Of course, based on this definition, we're still unilateral. UPDATE: Or maybe unilateral simply means any coalition that Madeleine Albright doesn't approve.

Posted 3/19/2003 11:42:31 PM by Edward Driscoll
THERE'S A BOTTLE OF BAILEY'S WITH MY NAME ON IT: Night all.

Posted 3/19/2003 11:24:49 PM by Edward Driscoll
SIDE BY SIDE PHOTOS OF Dr. Evil and Mini-Me, Saddam (with Dan Rather on February 26) and "Saddamalike" (click on each photo to enlarge):

Posted 3/19/2003 11:21:26 PM by Edward Driscoll
I SHALL CALL HIM MINI-SADDAM: Stephen Green writes, "Until we can postively comfirm that any public appearance by Saddam is really Saddam, I'll be calling him Saddamalike."

Posted 3/19/2003 11:15:01 PM by Edward Driscoll
2.5 MILLION PROPAGRANDA LEAFLETS DROPPED ON IRAQ in the past day or so, with information on where and how to surrender, what radio stations to tune into, and a reminder not to use WMDs, according to CNN's Frank Buckley, reporting from the USS Constellation. (Isn't that the one that William Windom commands?)

Posted 3/19/2003 11:05:39 PM by Edward Driscoll
WOLF BLITZER IS QUESTIONING at least the date of when Saddam's tape was shot.

Posted 3/19/2003 11:03:39 PM by Edward Driscoll
AT WAR: IRAQ: Timely graphics--and timely articles--now up on National Review Online.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:59:47 PM by Edward Driscoll
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: This bumper sticker, and other products with that noble and timely message are available via Patrick Ruffini.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:51:41 PM by Edward Driscoll
BET THIS KID GROWS UP TO BE THE NEXT ANN COULTER, purely out of spite.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:45:16 PM by Edward Driscoll
RAINES WATCH: Andrew Sullivan is monitoring the Times "focus on dissent at home", and is seeking emails from readers who spot it as well.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:41:04 PM by Edward Driscoll
NICE TO SEE: "A bit of sanity from Eric Alterman".

Posted 3/19/2003 10:36:23 PM by Edward Driscoll
LIVE OR MEMOREX: Was that really Saddam on TV? John Podhoretez says "it's not him. It's a double. I'm sure of it." Read the posts below it, also. UPDATE (11:10 P.M.) Read the post above it as well-there are links to compare photos of Saddam with Dan Rather and "Saddam" today.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:29:52 PM by Edward Driscoll
NBC's Lester Holt reporting that the initial attack in Baghdad involved a pair of F-117s, which each dropped two GBU-27 bunker busters, with satellite guidance in Baghdad. (Lester seemed to have problems with the right designation of the bomb--hopefully he--and I--got it right.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:25:08 PM by Edward Driscoll
SURPRISED I DON'T HAVE MORE FROM FNC? Me too. But I'm stuck in a hotel room tonight, as our home is being remodeled, and we have no plumbing. The hotel doesn't have Fox News. Only the local Fox station, channel #2, which alternated from 7:30 until 8:30 tonight with Fox News and CNN. Then switched over to American Idol. Of course.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:22:56 PM by Edward Driscoll
LOVE THE PHOTO: Click on over to James Lileks.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:16:44 PM by Edward Driscoll
NBC NEWS TICKER: "US Special operations forces have begun work in Iraq".

Posted 3/19/2003 10:11:06 PM by Edward Driscoll
NOT TOO SURPRISING: "Bush Put In Long Day Leading to Iraq War".

Posted 3/19/2003 10:08:26 PM by Edward Driscoll
MINOR CRITICISM: AP ran a headline earlier today on Yahoo that read "Bush claims over 35 countries support US". CNN's ticker just read "Bush: "Over 35 countries support us". Why the equivocation? Why not, simply: "OVER 35 NATIONS SUPPORT THE US"? Just curious.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:00:16 PM by Edward Driscoll
USA UP ALL NIGHT: Stephen Green has a list links to of first strike bloggers.

Posted 3/19/2003 09:58:00 PM by Edward Driscoll
ADVANTAGE VODKAPUNDIT! Gen Wesley Clark, on CNN, just reiterated the same thoughts that Stephen Green posted earlier tonight: That Saddam's generals really don't want to tell him any bad news.

Posted 3/19/2003 08:57:21 PM by Edward Driscoll
TAKING A BREAK--BACK IN ABOUT A HALF HOUR. UPDATE (9:55 P.M.): Back.

Posted 3/19/2003 08:53:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
AIR RAID SIRENS IN BAGHDAD, ACCORDING TO CNN.

Posted 3/19/2003 08:46:29 PM by Edward Driscoll
CNN IS SHOWING F-14s and other Navy aircraft launching from the USS Lincoln live, via their reporter with a videophone. According to Aaron Brown, they're routine flights to guard the no-fly zone, though.

Posted 3/19/2003 08:43:32 PM by Edward Driscoll
SADDAM TO ADDRESS IRAQI TV SHORTLY, according to CNN. But will he be live, or Memorex?

Posted 3/19/2003 08:40:39 PM by Edward Driscoll
"HIDING FROM REALITY" Great point by Stephen Green.

Posted 3/19/2003 08:20:42 PM by Edward Driscoll
DRUDGE: "NBC: Saddam was having a meeting with his Generals; Bunker Buster bomb was dropped..." UPDATE (8:35 PST): The Brothers Judd have links to a couple more articles on this. UPDATE: (8:45 PST): Stephen Green examines the above MSNBC article and comments, "Nighthawks launched off a carrier? I don't freakin' think so."

Posted 3/19/2003 08:08:05 PM by Edward Driscoll
SEN. BYRD: "Today I weep for my country". I guess, given Byrd's advanced age, and background as an ex-KKK Grand Dragon, that "my country" would be the Confederate South of 1862.

Posted 3/19/2003 07:55:37 PM by Edward Driscoll
TOP WHITE HOUSE ANTI-TERROR BOSS RESIGNS: "The top National Security Council official in the war on terror resigned this week for what a NSC spokesman said were personal reasons, but intelligence sources say the move reflects concern that the looming war with Iraq is hurting the fight against terrorism", according to UPI.

Posted 3/19/2003 07:53:16 PM by Edward Driscoll
WE'VE CAPTURED IRAQI RADIO, APPARENTLY. Brilliant move--it will allow us to contrast the images broadcast out of Iraqi TV, which we haven't taken control of...yet.

Posted 3/19/2003 07:41:09 PM by Edward Driscoll
DEN BESTE: "There are going to be mass surrenders; that's beyond dispute. The real question now is how many will actually hold on and try to fight, thus forcing us to kill them. Because the last thing they all believe about us, beyond any doubt, is that we keep our word." RTWT.

Posted 3/19/2003 03:24:21 PM by Edward Driscoll
LOOKING FOR LINKS ABOUT THE WAR? Steven Den Beste lists his favorite sources, and links to them. Good list to refer, as things heat up. And be sure to check out our links page as well. Speaking of which, Drudge is reporting that "President Bush will be speak to the nation at 9pm ET..." UPDATE (7:26 PST): Obviously, Bush went on at 10:15 EST, not at 9:00. And we've apparently launched cruise missles--or guided bombs from F-117 stealth fighters at a target--possibly senior Iraqi officials--in Baghdad. I loved Bush's lines that "This will not be a campaign of half measures" and that "we will accept no outcome but victory". In other words--this will not be Vietnam part II. UPDATE (7:55 PST): Here's the text of Bush's speech. UPDATE: (8:15 PST): Here's an AP article about the opening salvo.

Posted 3/19/2003 03:17:22 PM by Edward Driscoll
"SADDENED" BY TOM DASCHLE'S COMMENTS: Jonah Goldberg's syndicated column is now online.

Posted 3/19/2003 03:06:18 PM by Edward Driscoll
AL GORE JOINS APPLE COMPUTER BOARD: No word yet (but I'll bet it's coming) on what avid Apple user Rush Limbaugh thinks of this.

Posted 3/19/2003 02:31:40 PM by Edward Driscoll
SENATE REJECTS DRILLING IN ALASKA REFUGE. For our previous look at the rhetoric versus the reality of opening up America's vast pestilential wasteland, click here.

Posted 3/19/2003 02:19:18 PM by Edward Driscoll
I JUST LIVE HERE FOLKS. Don't blame me for these two bozos. UPDATE: Stephen Green has posts (with comments) about each of these two incidents.

Posted 3/19/2003 01:45:37 PM by Edward Driscoll
AS A LONG TIME TIME FAN OF STANLEY KUBRICK, I think he'd very much enjoy this. Don't know if the French would, however....

Posted 3/19/2003 01:36:25 PM by Edward Driscoll
LET'S ROLL. Good luck to all of the brave men--and women--fighting overseas.

Posted 3/19/2003 09:39:06 AM by Edward Driscoll
HOLLYWOOD STASTISTS VS. VALLEY DYNAMISTS: My latest piece is up on Tech Central Station, applying Virginia Postrel's Future and its Enemies "meme" to the entertainment industry.

Posted 3/19/2003 12:59:05 AM by Edward Driscoll
LE MATRIX: The Jacques Chirac/Cypher Connection. For a previous look at The Matrix and 9/11, click here, then be sure to follow the link. As Virginia Postrel wrote, "What are the odds of a National Security Advisor who'd look good in a catsuit?"

Posted 3/18/2003 11:56:37 PM by Edward Driscoll
SMART MOVE: "NYPD on lookout for terrorist takeover of TV outlets". There's a lot of terrorist-bang-for-the-buck that could be obtained through taking over just one studio in a TV facility. (Heck, they've already taken at least one Weblog*.) And just as the killing of Daniel Pearl sent shockwaves through the media community--arguably far more than any other single terrorist related death--so could broadcasting 24 hours a day from a TV studio increase what Charles Paul Freund, writing on the day of September 11, 2001, described as "The scale of potential terror [as it] meets the scope of available media". And I wonder if the NYPD are just being cautious, or if this is based on information from Khalid Shaikh or one of our other captured terrorists. (*Yes, I'm joking of course about the blog.)

Posted 3/18/2003 11:17:43 PM by Edward Driscoll
"SALUTE TO A VISIONARY FOUNDER": It's difficult to imagine what more Joe Coors could have achieved with his life as an entrepreneur--and then some.

Posted 3/18/2003 09:03:24 PM by Edward Driscoll
GREAT MOMENTS IN EBAY HISTORY: For the man who blogs just a little...too much, I give you item number 2916669204 in the eBay catalog...The Instant Girlfriend Kit!

Posted 3/18/2003 08:22:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
KEY DEFINITIONS TO HELP UNDERSTAND the media's coverage of the war bettter, courtesy of Juan Gato.

Posted 3/18/2003 08:03:46 PM by Edward Driscoll
FIRST SHOTS FIRED, "killing at least one Iraqi during a suspected operation to mine the waters off Kuwait", according to the Times of London:

But that opening skirmish is about to be dwarfed by the most formidable military assault in modern warfare: 250,000 British and American troops — backed by more than 1,000 aircraft, 400 tanks and a 110-strong armada — are poised to unleash their awesome power on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq the moment the order is given.

Posted 3/18/2003 02:38:02 PM by Edward Driscoll
GUESS TONY BLAIR IS KEEPING HIS JOB: Britian's Parliament Votes 412-149 For War.

Posted 3/18/2003 02:13:41 PM by Edward Driscoll
VIRGINIA POSTREL SPOTS A POSSIBLE AL QAEDA TARGET, and comments that "the L.A. Times stinks" (literally). UPDATE: Do the Oscar folks read The Scene? Latest Drudge headline reads, "SOURCES: OSCARS LIKELY TO BE POSTPONED... ACADEMY SETS 4 PM PT PRESS CONFERENCE..." UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: "Academy Awards show producer Gil Cates says the red carpet arrivals portion of the pre-show will be 'truncated' this year."

Posted 3/18/2003 10:54:30 AM by Edward Driscoll
IRONY OVERLOAD II: Nice to see a member of Congress "disappointed" at Tom Daschle's remarks for a change. UPDATE: Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) adds, "I think that Senator Daschle clearly articulated the French position". ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's more on Hastert and Santorum's take on Daschle's remarks, from the Washington Times.

Posted 3/18/2003 10:51:32 AM by Edward Driscoll
IRONY OVERLOAD: InstaPundit on Janet Reno. David Koresh and Elian Gonzalez unfortunately (and for various reasons), couldn't be reached for comment.

Posted 3/18/2003 10:31:37 AM by Edward Driscoll
WHY REPORTERS DON'T GET THE PRESIDENT: Great post by Orrin Judd on GWB's modus operandi:

This weekend, Daniel Schor was on NPR expressing bewilderment at how the President could demand a vote on an 18th resolution on Monday and by Friday be telling Tony Blair it was fine by him if it was just withdrawn. Mr. Schor said he'd never seen an administration that could reverse course so easily and make so little of it. It seemed as though it had never occurred to Mr. Schor that the President could do so because he genuinely didn't care one way or another about the UN--having them along, at least rhetorically, would have silenced some peoples' concerns, but the UN has no role to play in the actual waging of the war and is too debased an institution to offer a meaningful moral imprimatur. The important thing, from Mr. Bush's perspective, is and has been to remove Saddam. No amount of background noise was ever going to deflect him from that aim. And, at the end of the day, once again, he's achieving his goals. Mr. Broder, though he may be alone, appears to have figured this out. Whether he's correct that Mr. Bush did not anticipate all the side effects--like the delegitimization of the EU and the UN--we'll only know for sure in a few years. But, considering that the President stocked his administration with advisors who are hostile to such transnational institutions and considering that they now done them significant damage, it seems like Mr. Broder might want to consider that this too was a goal that was within the President's sights.

George Bush has now, for the third time, used a diplomatic gambit. The first time it happened, I referred to it as "making them an offer they cannot accept". He didn't invent this, but he's proved rather adroit at using it. About a year ago, he presented the Taliban with an ultimatum: Turn bin Laden over to us; shut down all al Qaeda facilities; eject all forces associated with al Qaeda from your country. Otherwise you'll face the consequences. Since bin Laden effectively was the ruler of Afghanistan at the time, and since al Qaeda forces represented the most trustworthy core of the Taliban field army fighting against the Northern Alliance, this was something that the Taliban couldn't do. So what appeared to be a reasonable offer was in fact couched in terms which could not be accepted. He did it again a few months ago, to the Palestinians. In the most significant change of American policy toward the Palestinians in decades, he declared that the US would no longer seriously negotiate with them until they implemented serious political reforms, including removing Arafat from power. (And he was roundly condemned for it. And it seems to be working. But the real point of it was to disentangle the US from that situation so it could start concentrating on Iraq again, despite the efforts of various bodies to simultaneously make that situation intractable as possible and to claim that we couldn't even think about Iraq until after we'd solved it.) Now he's doing it again, only this time with the UN.

AP headline: "Iraq Rejects U.S. Ultimatum for Saddam".

Posted 3/18/2003 09:55:47 AM by Edward Driscoll
YOU DON'T SAY! Reuters headline: "Computer Virus Writers Mostly Obsessed Males -- Expert".

Posted 3/18/2003 12:03:43 AM by Edward Driscoll
THE PRICE OF "PEACE": "What will cost America more, taking the war to our enemies, or continuing to let our enemies take the war to us?", asks Nicholas Stix, in an interesting economic essay.

Posted 3/17/2003 05:23:05 PM by Edward Driscoll
EXCELLENT SPEECH: Firm resolve, no histrionics, or podium pounding. And very smart of Bush to call for Iraqis to surrender with honor. As Stephen Green just wrote, "Expect more incidents like last week's "premature" surrender to British troops." I think the shortness of the speech is commendable--I suspect Bush knows he will change few minds. At this stage of the war, whoever's for the liberation of Iraq has made up their minds, and whoever isn't--for whatever reason--is unlikely to change. UPDATE: Not surprisingly, Glenn Reynolds has an Insta-take on the speech, as well as several links to other bloggers. For the Corner's take on the speech, start here and scroll up and down as appropriate.

Posted 3/17/2003 05:02:17 PM by Edward Driscoll
STEPHEN GREEN IS DOING LIVE BLOGGING OF PRESIDENT'S BUSH'S SPEECH: Click on over.

Posted 3/17/2003 04:33:44 PM by Edward Driscoll
48 HOURS: The Washington Post says, "Bush to Give Saddam 48 Hours to Flee Iraq". Talk about giving them an offer they can't accept: Saddam will be in his bunker rather than leaving Iraq. And Iraq, which Hussein swears has no weapons of mass destruction (but did at one time. W