Thursday, August 07, 2003

Car bomb in Baghdad. Today's car bomb in Baghdad outside the Jordanian embassy which killed 11 people is obviously disturbing in its savagery. But what's more ominous is the question of whether this marks a long-anticipated change in tactics by guerilla resistors to more deadly, less focused attacks on "soft" targets such as markets, apartment buildings and lightly protected official buildings? Or does it mark the arrival of a new member of the anti-U.S. resistance? [Back In Iraq 2.0] It doesn't seem like the work of the guerillas. So far they've been attacking sensible targets--if they were shifting to soft targets, why on earth would they attack the Jordanian embassy? 6:53:09 PM    comment () Learning a Trick from the Ba'athists. The military is curtailing its embedded journalist program in the wake of news stories reporting on troop dissatisfaction with longer-than-expected tours of duty. The move effectively puts journalists on notice that preferential access depends on reporting through rose-colored glasses. Families of soldiers are also being warned not to talk to journalists "in a negative manner regarding the military and this deployment." [Hit & Run] That's one way to deal with discontent in the ranks--pretend it doesn't exist. Incidentally, although officers can order their troops not to talk to the media, they certainly have no legitimate authority over the families of soldiers. Anyone sending a warning like that should certainly be thrown out of the service, if not court-martialed. 6:09:40 PM    comment ()

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