Friday, May 28, 2004

GWOT Medal As I have mentioned before, the U.S. military, thanks to a presidential decree, is awarding troops a Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for post-9/11 service in the Global War on Terror. Despite complaints to the contrary, Rumsfeld insisted that there were no political reasons for awarding one and the same "Global War on Terror" medal for service in either Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom. There's another aspect to the story that's curious. You might think that one would have to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq to get a medal. But according to an article in Air Force news, one qualifes for the medal if one serves for 30 consecutive or 60 nonconsecutive days for either operation in the following countries: Afghanistan Bahrain Bulgaria (Bourgas) Crete Cyprus Diego Garcia Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lebanon Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Romania (Constanta) Saudi Arabia Somalia Syria Tajikistan Turkey (east of 35 degrees east latitude) Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Yemen I'm curious about what our armed forces are doing at all these locations to merit a medal for service in the Global War on Terror. 11:52:39 PM    comment [] I'm John Ashcroft, and I approve this message Perhaps you wondered along with me why Ashcroft's terror alert wasn't accompanied by a change in the nation's terror alert level. It turns out that Ashcroft took the White House, Tom Ridge and the Department of Homeland Security completely by surprise in making the announcement. (Link to CBS video, via Buzzflash) Atrios notes that Ashcroft may have broken the law in making his terror alert announcement. However, perhaps it wasn't, strictly speaking, a terror alert announcement, since it did not involve any new intelligence or information. It was, rather, more of a political commercial. As Ashcroft noted, The Madrid railway bombings were perceived by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to have advanced their cause. Al Qaeda may perceive that a large-scale attack in the United States this summer or fall would lead to similar consequences. Woops, I suppose making a political commercial with taxpayer money would also break the law. Oh well. 1:15:28 AM    comment [] Vicious Circles The Baltimore Sun's David Folkenflik on the NY Times' pre-war coverage: By The Times' account, the false claims of the Iraqi defectors resounded in an echo chamber: They were repeatedly confirmed by Bush administration officials who were pushing for war and who had received the same information from the same dissidents. The phenomenon confused reporters who thought they were carefully vetting their articles, Keller said. Media Matters on the teamwork of Matt Drudge and the Moonie Times in reporting a Kerry "story": On May 24, the Drudge Report linked to a Washington Times article on comments Senator John Kerry allegedly made about President George W. Bush's May 22 bicycle accident, completing a conservative misinformation-laundering operation that began when Drudge first reported the alleged comments the day before. Sandwiched between a photo of Kerry in a bicycle helmet and a photo of Bush waving, his hand and face scraped and bleeding, the May 23 Drudge Report featured the following blurb: President fell off bike Saturday.. Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?'... Reporters are debating whether to treat it is as on or off the record... [All ellipses and typographical errors in original] By 6:12 GMT, May 24, the Drudge item was joined by a link to a Washington Times article titled "Kerry pokes fun at Bush mishap"; the Drudge link to the Times article read "Kerry pokes fun at Bush mishap..." The Washington Times article cited Matt Drudge as its source for the Kerry quote. 1:02:40 AM    comment []

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