Monday, March 31, 2003

Baghdad - Its history of conflict and its influence on Saddam An excellent backgrounder on Baghdad and the Context for the War and Saddam Rocking the cradle What's at risk when bunker busters and patriot missiles rain down on the birthplace of modern civilization? From his vantage point in the heart of stricken Baghdad, PAUL WILLIAM ROBERTS recalls Iraq's glorious past and predicts the nation will rise again, as he watches the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates reduced to rubble one more time 1:49:35 PM    comment []

So here it is - the dagger at Rumsfeld's throat. The words have been spoken and what we all suspected has been put on the public record. The clock and history tick for both the forces in Iraq and for Rumsfeld himself OFFENSE AND DEFENSE. Here is the New Yorker article. Read it. You can chose to believe it or not but it will affect the way many people view this war. Here is a relevant quote: Rumsfeld further stunned the Joint Staff by insisting that he would control the timing and flow of Army and Marine troops to the combat zone. Such decisions are known in the military as R.F.F.s?requests for forces. He, and not the generals, would decide which unit would go when and where. The article also describes several incidents where Rumsfeld then tried to deny ANY responsibility for the war plans or their execution. Some of this article, even most of it, may just be the whinings of some malcontents, except that these malcontents seem to also be in military intelligence, the CIA and the State Department, as well as the Pentagon. The rest of the world will have a very easy time believing what this article says. I think I can start to see why we screwed up the diplomatic side of things the last few months so much that even our friends have problems with us. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog] 8:06:36 AM    comment []

First Stop Iraq. Well researched article that provides some depth and background on the four people most responsible for where we are now: Buch, Cheney, Powell, and Wolfowitz. Good read. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog] An excellent article - most of what the press is putting out is very disappointing but here are two important pieces extracted by Richard that start to set the stage for a key story - Why are we in this war? How did we get here? Who was involved? 8:03:25 AM    comment []