Thursday, April 03, 2003

Those Elite Troops   Reuters has this bit of second-hand news ... word of which hasn't reached their regime apologist hacks in Baghdad <g> "Iraqi deserters and civilians are flooding out of Baghdad by the busload on Thursday and surrendering to U.S. forces advancing on the Iraqi capital, said a U.S. television reporter traveling with Marines. "There are so many people on the road now that it's impossible to further conduct military operations and so our unit has stopped now and set up a hasty prisoner of war compound," said ABC correspondent Mike Cerre." OOH! A new 'pause'! "Reporting from central Iraq, south of Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division, Cerre said U.S. support aircraft had counted more than 60 buses filled with Iraqis fleeing Baghdad. "What is stopping us now is the flood of deserters and civilians, on buses, trucks, taxicabs and whatever they can catch a ride on, trying to make their way south to their families or American forces to surrender" he said. 2:28:10 PM    comment []

Babes, Babes, Babes: 17  Not an awfully flattering photo of Molly Bingham, the freelance photographer who was held captive by the Iraqis thugs in Baghdad for a week or so until lately. But it's the best I could find! She was animated, serious and rather appealing at her press conference. Also, read her own account of her imprisonment, given to the London Guardian. CREDIT: Marco Di Lauro 2:19:14 PM    comment []

Renaming Airports   So what shall we call "Saddam Hussein International Airport" from now on? We need to know, quite soon ... How about: "Jessica Lynch International"? 2:05:47 PM    comment []

Quick, Hand Me Another Nightmare Scenario   Another hoot of a Rumsfeld/Myers press briefing just now. The usual idiotic questions, which are more like the lede para of an op-ed piece with a question mark on the end ...  ... none worth repeating here ... And then, cut to Wolf Blitzer, looking as always like an anxious ferret who didn't get his piece of raw ground beef, with the question of the day: "Why are the lights out in Baghdad?" A: I guess they didn't pay their bills. And immediately to the permanently concerned Judy Woodruff -- actually, I quite like her, she has a little gravitas -- who intros a piece from New Delhi, an interview with a Maharishi-like Indian general who 'trained the Iraqi Army.' Well, what do you know? General Chapati -- I didn't catch his name -- trotted out the next 'nightmare scenario' of street fighting, already aired by some of the Pentagon press corps. I suppose it's possible. But then I found myself thinking: "wow, you did a damned good job of training these guys. Must have involved a lot of cross-country running, eh?" And, "is shooting civilians and using human shields part of the advanced course?" and, more pertinently: "when was the last war the Indian Army won?" Anyone know? The Indian Army -- mixed Moslem, Sikh, Ghurkas and others -- was quite an effective military force, when run by the British. Since then?  I can put my finger on a total rout by the Chinese on the Himalayan/Northeastern border in 1962, when the Indian Army did the backwards boogie in record time and the defence minister resigned, some intervention in Bangladesh in 1971, some posturing in the Punjab in 1984, and an endless stand-off in Jammu/Kashmir with the Pakistanis. A troll through Encarta didn't provide much illumination beyond these memories. Am I missing something? And if not, how good could this guy's CV possibly be? 1:59:42 PM    comment []

Springtime In Maine   Yes, it's springtime! It's snowing, and about 35 F. Maybe next week ... although, we often have snow in April, and even May ... 1:40:08 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Peter Savage.