*GIRD YOUR LOINS

*ISRAEL TANKS GAZA

*REPORT ON HUMAN SHIELDS

The 50th anniversary of “Uncle” Joe Stalin’s demise went unmarked in New York which was experiencing one of those 4 seasons in one day weather shifts. It was 50 yesterday; it snows today. Stalin of course was hated and feared, as he should have been, in part because it was said he threatened the world. In many ways, Saddam is pictured as his spiritual successor in the media even while, in much of the world, the newest threat to world stability is widely perceived as–not a Commie Killer, but a Crusader for Christ–the American president whose war-no-matter- what strategy strikes so many as irrational if not evangelical. William Safire at the New York Times, a better wordsmith than political analyst, has turned a phrase over in its grave and you may be hearing it more: “GIVE FREEDOM A CHANCE.” The trumpet has been sounded from the safety of the Op-Ed page: “Rather than wring our hands, Americans should gird our loins. That is, to fight to win with the conviction that our cause is just.”

LOINS AWAY

It is Animal Farm time again where and Shock and Awe is offered up as a prescription for freedom and war is the road to peace. At the same time, and you wouldn’t know it by watching CNN this morning, Washington is more and more isolated and getting ready to jump off alone, with its stitched together “Coalition of the Willing” in tow. After months of hearing government officials speak of the need for security, there are more and more reports being deliberately leaked which purport to spell out the “War Plans”

One of them does not auger well for our right to know or find out what is happening on the ground. The Pentagon plans to order journalists (and UN inspectors et.al) out of Baghdad and then make communications impossible by electro-magnetically bombing out the whole communications infrastructure. So no reports can be filed. Fancy that. Is it possible that they don’t want us to know what’s going on behind the smart bomb curtain? So much for that talk of more open access to the media. THE WORLD MEDIA WILL BE BANNED FROM BAGHDAD: THE MOST DECISIVE INITIAL BATTLEFIELD.

UN SKIRMISH CONTINUES, US ISOLATION GROWS

On that other battlefield, The United Nations, US isolation grows. I had to tune into BBC to hear about and hear from China which has joined France, and Russia to say NO to the new US resolution. Oddly BBC was not talking about a new compromise resolution that Tony Blair is said to be drawing up. (Perhaps in time for his “town meeting” with viewers on MTV Europe. See below for more on MTV USA.). The Washington Post explained what is happening yesterday, as does the Times today. The Post: “The Bush administration this week has become increasingly isolated in the world over its determination to topple the Iraqi government, leaving it in a diplomatically difficult position in advance of a critical U.N. Security Council meeting Friday.

By contrast, Iraq has made great headway in splintering the Security Council, making it less likely it will approve a U.S.-backed resolution authorizing military action..” The Times calls it a “fissure:” “A Fissure Deepening for Allies Over Use of Force AgainstIraq” Reports Patrick Tyler; ‘The declaration issued by Germany, Russia and Franceagainst war in Iraq may go down as the loudest “No!” shouted across the Atlantic in a half century or more.” Secretary of State Powell seems on the verge of abandoning the UN all together.

PLAYING THE CHINA CARD

But why? China’s role in all of this can be more significant that we think. One of our e-mail correspondents, Garry (last name unknown, writing from London, has a theory worth considering: “It is really all not about Iraq - it is *about* China — because during this millennium it is clear that the next superpower it is most likely to be China. Such a threat must be, of course, entirely unacceptable to the USA. In which case all the illogic and relegation of the UN to the dustbin of history etc all makes sense. The motives of the administration become clear, as does the transformation of Colin Powell– as does the resurrection of the missile shield technology and also the sacrifice of any other nation orprime minister—

‘Of course the Chinese are in the UN smiling blandly and abstaining from interfering in USA’s hemisphere with reasons— like technology and trade. . Therefore, France and Russia and Germany ganging up against the world’s only superpower appears suicidal !!- until one remembers that China is in on it. In addition, the EC and Russia might well like a bigger slice of China’s business in technology and there is plenty of nuclear brainpower in Europe and Russia - and ALL of it WITHOUT the future and growing menace inherent in China’s present main trading partner arrangements.

“This theory also explains all the illogical blustering - because now Iraq becomes merely a *tactic* and not the main strategy - and also explains the necessity of demonstrating (on the unfortunate Iraqi and Kurdish populations this time and a few others in due course) what is the fate of ‘any nation’ which appears to be overtaking - let alone challenging the USA for total economic and technological world supremacy..” Interesting — and I haven’t seen this anywhere.

WAR IS UNDERWAY

General Franks says he is ready to rumble: US troops he says, are awaiting orders, “trained, ready and capable.” At the same time, the Iraqis are saying according to the LA Times. “The next war in the south has begun,” referring to a step up in bombing under the guise of protecting no fly zones. The wires report: “U.S. officials said the fighter jets struck only military targets near Basra in the “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq. Baghdad claimed that six civilians were killed and 15 hurt. Official Iraqi media have denounced the aggressive tactics and broader targeting by U.S. and British jets that patrol the zones over northern and southern Iraq as the disguised beginning of a new war.” US officials are not denying the step up of sorties, just minimizing it while most of the media is not reporting it as the actual beginning of hostilities even though a quantitative escalation of attacks represents, in the eyes of some analysts–a qualitative change in the situation.

JOHN ROSS REPORTING FROM INSIDE IRAQ

Inside Iraq, here’s a story we have not seen much about, the anti-war human shield movenent is having problems with the Iraqis even as it protests the US. “At a mass meeting of all volunteers last Saturday in the ballroom of the ritzy Palestine Hotel, the chief of the minders, Dr. Al-Hasimi of the Peace and Solidarity Committee, ordered all potential Shields to immediately deploy to 60 government-selected sites or leave the country the next morning. The Human Shields, who have voluntarily set up camp at water treatment, food storage, and power plants in addition to the refinery here, took umbrage at such ham-handed manipulation and once again, demanded that they be allowed to place their trainee corpses on line at hospitals, schools, and archeological sites which the Iraqi government, in a supreme political blunder, has time and again denied them. The rebellion resulted in the over-night exodus of nearly 30 Shields who fled overland to Amman in protest at such coercion. Nonetheless, nearly a hundred volunteers remained in Baghdad and utilized the moment to deploy to sites where they had already established a presence.

“But the government men were not to be satisfied. Instead, they forced dozens of volunteers aboard buses and ferried them out to the installations, temporarily taking back the initiative. The newcomers’ ranks were padded out by an assortment of dangerous-looking types who seemed more like volunteers from the French Foreign Legion or escapees from Devil’s Island than Human Shields….

“One after another, snide young reporters for whom the imminent war is little more than a crass career move, come to us with worst-case scenarios: we will be taken hostage as happened in 1991; we are worth more to Saddam dead than alive; we will be swallowed up in the civil unrest that will follow the war and swing from local lampposts; or even the worst of the worst in which we are rescued by the Yanqui troops and earn a free trip to Guantanamo Bay. George Bush will motorcade triumphantly down the boulevards of Baghdad as the Liberator of Iraq. Ad nauseam. Given our uncertain status, trapped as we are between governments, we are susceptible to panic attacks….

“Maybe I’m delusional but it sometimes seems to me that war is not inevitable. The Turkish parliament has thus far resisted the sledgehammer pressures of Powell, Rumsfeld, and Cheney to land 40,000 GIs on their turf for an invasion from the north, and key Kurdish leaders have nixed Bushwa’s ploy to exploit their fierce opposition to continued Hussein rule. Most of all, Baghdad does not seem to be preparing for doomsday. Each Monday and Thursday evenings, young couples marry to the tumultuous honking of horns, the blaring of trumpets, and the pounding of drums. Frontloaders dig trenches to lay fresh sewage lines, old men wash cars in the street, the candy store man down the avenue just took in a fresh inventory of sweets.”

KST ON OBL ON F-O-X

Over on Fox News Channel this morning, anchors are calling Sheikh Khalid Muhammad KST, in the way that Osama bin Laden is nicknamed OBL by newsies. (The Onion’s first page takes a poke at Fox with this headline: “”FOX News reporters ask the questions others are too smart too ask.”) They are predicting the latter’s imminent capture because of information squeezed out of the former. They say Osama is on the run on the Iran Pakistan border. CNN places him on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. And the BBC, reporting from Pakistan with a Pakistani journalist, says little is known at al, He expressed doubts that Muhammad told the US anything of value. Meanwhile, the Paknews.com puts a pox on the whole affair:

“There are shrill cries of success and sighs of relief surrounding a news report that is being hailed as the biggest catch so far: No.3 man, Sheikh Khalid Muhammad, of the dreaded Al Qaida is captured, alive! The biggest success in the global war against terrorism. This is certainly excellent news and both the Pakistani and the American authorities deserve congratulations.

“Unfortunately, while the coalition is claiming success, there is a run for taking the credit. The American version of the news from likes of CNN, Foxnews, MSNBC hardly mentions the Pakistani role and makes it sound like Sheikh Khalid Muhammad was captured somewhere in Texas, not from Rawalpindi. The Pakistani version earlier claimed this to be a joint operation but now it is claimed to be 100% Pakistani operation

“…..Now, about his role as the key planner of all past terrorism acts and all future acts. It is said that Khalid was the chief/key planner of 9/11 attacks? But wasn’t that attributed to Osama Bin Laden? But wait! It was not too long ago that it was claimed that a “key planner of the attacks on World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh” was arrested. …..

“So, maybe all this very confusing to an average bunch of people like us, but perhaps someone can tell us who the real Sheikh Khalid Muhammad is? How can Sheikh Khalid Muhammad be in America, Pakistan and Kuwait at the same time? If he died in the gun battle on Sept 15, 2002 in Karachi, who has been raided and arrested on March 3, 2003?”

SIX FEET UNDER, THE GAZA EDITION

For the first time in months news from Israel topped the cablecasts. CNN’s Mike Hanna was talking to camera from Israel, but the BBC had dramatic footage from inside Gaza which showed an Israeli tank shell blasting into a building where emergency crews were battling a fire. 140 bystanders were wounded, many seriously, and 11 killed in this latest incident coming a day after President Bush allegedly gave Israel a “caution” which sounds like a referee warning a fighter about hitting below the belt but not stopping the fight. (CNN had no interviews with Palestinians at all. Israel said this was NOT a retaliation for yesterday’s bus bombing in Haifa, which killed 18, most of them students–the first terror attack inside Israel proper in two months. (To correct my own report. I said it was the first inside Israel.) Saeb Erkat on BBC called on President Bush to take one hour away from war planning on Iraq to get peace talks back on track

RUMMY WITH FOOT IN MOUTH

Donald Rumsfeld was asked about US policy towards Israel on the BBC earlier this week. (He is not asked much about in the US.) Here is part of his exchange with David Dimbleby:

DD: … America is seen as applying double standards in this, isn’t it? I mean, using the UN against Iraq, for instance, and then you yourself saying - repeating two or three times, in the context of Israel and the UN resolutions there, that the occupied territories on the West Bank are so-called occupied territories. That’s the kind of thing that makes people think, well, actually America is not serious about this, they’re so pro-Israel that they’re not.

DR: Interesting -

DD: Well, you said that.

DR: Well, first of all, I did not repeat it two or three times. You’re just factually wrong.

DD: You said it twice in the same series of remarks. You used the expression “so-called.”

DR: Fair enough. I was in a meeting, and I was asked a question, and thephrase came out.

DD: But is it what you think that they’re so-called occupied, or do you think they’re occupied and should be given up?

DR: I think that that’s what a negotiation is going to solve. I mean, that is what the negotiation is about. Obviously Israel has offered to give back a major portion of the occupied territories. We know that. The agreement was there. It could have been solved if Arafat had accepted it. He didn’t.

DD: But your use of the word “so-called”.

DR: If it bothered you, then don’t use it.

DD: It’s not me it bothers. It’s the other Arab states it bothers.”

WILL ISRAEL BE RESTRAINED?

“The British Foreign Secretary has been far more outspoken on this issue. Jack Straw who is quoted by the US media on Iraq all the time blasted Israel two days ago. I didn’t see it anywhere. He said: ‘Some 36 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 20 February. I am deeply concerned by the number of civilian deaths, including that of a pregnant woman in Bureij refugee camp at the weekend, when her neighbour’s house was demolished. The indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli Defence Force only fuels the cycle of violence, denying both Israelis and Palestinians the security they deserve. I have repeatedly championed Israel’s right to take steps to provide security for its citizens, but these must be within international law.”

HOLLYWOOD TO RATHER’S RESCUE

In our media news this morning, we have the New York Post reporting that CBs NEWS hired an actor to affect the translation of Dan Rather’s interview with Saddam Hussein.”"The Arab-accented translator who delivered Saddam Hussein’s answers in English during Dan Rather’s “60 Minutes II” interview with the Iraqi leader last week was actually an American voice-over artist.”

Steve Winfield, a professional actor, adopted the Arabic accent for the role, according to the Los Angeles Times. CBS says the translation was “100 percent accurate,” and defended using Winfield as “a voice compatible with the piece.”

The New Yorker also slammed the interview in a piece by Nancy Franklin: She writes in part:

“CBS made the most of its ostensible triumph by parceling out tidbits of the interview over four days, like a striptease artist showing a little skin, and then the network took it all off Wednesday night on “60 Minutes II.” The program drew seventeen million viewers — an impressive figure, though it is about ten million less than the number of people who watched the season première of “American Idol,” in January. Saddam came across in the interview as thoughtful, confident yet not cocky, and open to whatever Rather might throw at him. … On Paula Zahn’s CNN morning show on Friday, Rather, asked if there was one question he wished he’d asked Saddam during the interview, said that there were a hundred questions he wished he’d asked. Good answer; it expresses humility and deflects criticism. But what prevented Rather from asking, say, five or ten of those hundred questions? (He spent a good five minutes on Saddam’s suggestion that he debate President Bush on TV.) Her best line: “Rather got the ‘get,’ but he let it get away.”

MTV would not run that anti-war commercial by Not in Our Name but did report on it in its news last night. MTV is being challenged by activists who complain that the channel runs military recruiting ads but not criticisms of the war. MTV officials say off the recordd that if they take the anti-war ads they can be inundated by ads from pro war groups who have deeper pockets.

YOUR LETTERS LET IT RIP

In our email this morning, a dated missive from Seth a reader with a pseudonym, who came to my defense from a nasty critic: “why is it that whenever someone tries to discredit a progressive thinker, all they can ever come up with is attacking that person by calling out their “ego”? nader - ego, michael moore - ego, now it seems even you have a head too big for your shoulders! here’s a newsflash to detractors and haters alike - everyone has an ego! and to think that one’s opinion is the “right” or only “reasonable” one there is, one may as well carry around a mirror at all times to see how much prettier one has gotten since lunchtime! ….as always, keep up the good work. i look forward to hearing more insightful opinions and eye-opening news from you and all of mediachannel.org in the future. good luck!

Our old friend Vidura writes from upstate New York:

“I was listening to NPR today while driving to NYC, and there was a report onthe news (at approx 9am) about N.Korean interception of US spy plane, and Rumsfled [sic] ordering 24 B52/B1 bombers to be deployed in Guam in retaliation.This was discussed in detail, and then came an interesting fact. The news reporter said that the order to deploy the B52/B1 bombers to Guam came onFriday, a day before the spyplane incident! So either Rummy has a time machine, which he used to go back in time to order the deployment in ‘retaliation’, or the journalists in US have some different version of logic and sense of time. If the bomber deployment was made in friday, how in the world did it become a retaliatory measure for a spyplane interception on saturday? Did you hear about this before?” Answer: NO.

Benjamin Parke sent us a letter he sent the LA Times challenging John Daniszewski of the LA Times: “This story rightly questions the veracity of the Iraqi claim that civilians were killed in the latest American attacks on Iraq. Unfortunately, it does not apply the same rigor to U.S. administration pronouncements, namely Ari Fleischer’s statement:

“Here’s the Catch-22 that Saddam Hussein has put himself in: He denied he had these weapons [Al-Samoud 2 missiles], and then he destroys things he says he never had.”

“After this factually incorrect statement, which goes unchallenged by the LA Times, the story goes on to reprint an extended hyperbole from Fleischer based upon this inaccuracy. The spokesman even seems to eerily adopt the language of Saddam Hussein himself, with his “mother of all distractions” phrasing. In any case, Fleischer certainly seems to be in the running for a successful imitation of Hussein’s credibility, and the LA Times’ uncritical regurgitation of his statements is a serious lapse in journalistic standards and a disservice to readers.”

MY LATEST

It is time for me to move on now. Went to see AMANDLA, the new film on South African music at the Film forum. Check it out. The music is so moving. I will be interviewed on BBC TV tonight so that may be interesting. In the last week I was on German TV, Slovenian Radio and now BBC. What about the US media? I guess critics need not apply. Also yesterday, I received the galleys of Rowman and Littlefields US edition of my book Media Wars. They preview it on their website for anyone interested.

http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com

Keep your emails, items, and commentary coming. We are still looking for new office space in New York. Please pass the word to anyone who might be helpful. You can write me at dissector@mediachannel.org