Interview with Richard Miniter

Last weekend I interviewed Richard Miniter, author of the new book, Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror.

Check out the interview at Blogs for Bush

36 Journalists killed in 2003, 13 in Iraq

Hello, I’m George and I’ll be sitting in for Matt all week. The style may be a bit different, but it should still make for good reading while he’s off soaking up the sun.

The AP reports that the watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists listed 36 journalists killed in 2003. 13 were killed in Iraq, the rest elsewhere. Iraq had the highest journalist deaths since Algeria in 1995, where 24 jounalists were killed, almost twice as many as in Iraq.

CPJ said it was particularly troubled by the deaths of four journalists in Iraq killed as a result of U.S. military action. It has called on the Pentagon for a public accounting. Three of the four were killed in April, when the buildings they were in came under fire from U.S. forces; the fourth died in August after being shot by U.S. soldiers.

I think we should instead demand an accounting of which side the journalists are on. Obviously, the CPJ is particulary troubled because, well, they were killed by the evil American BushRove fascist hegemonic oligarchy’s vast war machine, gosh darn it!!! Maybe the journalists will learn that putting a big camera on your shoulder and aiming at US troops who face ATGM and RPG attacks is a really stupid move. However, since this is obviously going to be an ongoing problem, it would perhaps be wise to find a way to make journalists clearly distinguishible from combatants. I suggest having them wear a bright yellow conical hat, at least three feet tall, and clearly labeled with the word “DUNCE”.

Of course, we also face the problem of identifying journalists from guerillas, now that guerillas are posing as journalists, or journalists are acting like guerillas, whichever the case may be. As has been reported today in several places, after one of our helicopters was shot down a group of either guerillas or journalists fire on the US troops guarding the crash site.

Soon after, five men “wearing black press jackets with ‘press’ clearly written in English” fired on U.S. paratroopers guarding the crash site, Kimmitt said. He said it was the first time he had heard of assailants in Iraq posing as journalists

I’m not sure whether the guerillas are working harder than the journalists at attacking our forces, with the respective tools, but both need to start believing in the goal of creating a functioning Iraq where people aren’t summarily executed.

Bringing Down The House

[size=18][b]Dead[/b][/size]

So much to talk about today… I’ll write more soon… I’ll leave you with this: This is is a good day!

Closing The Book

Unless I change my mind at some later date, this will be the last post in the “War Journal.” Fighting has been over for a while, and even though stablization of Iraq is still underway, the war is essentially over – with an amazing victory of the United States courtesy of our armed forces, the coalition, and our commander-in-chief, George W. Bush.

If news related to war comes up that I feel merits a post within this section of the blog, I may decide to return.

For now, please check all other sections of the blog for new postings.

The Two Faces of the Democrats

So here it comes… An al Qaeda terrorist attack in Saudia Arabia is going to be another vice for Democrats to try and criticize the Bush Administration for not doing enough on the War on Terror.

Okay, lets get a few things straight. Most Democrats/liberals were against going into Iraq, and yet, when it is convenient for them, they’ll criticize Bush for “not doing enough” on the War on Terror. Some may even suggest going into Iraq was a diversion of military resources on the War on Terror… which is just as ridiculous. We have an incredibly large military, and we have the manpower to fight a war on several fronts… We’d never be diverting resources – we’d be bringing more in to do another part of the job.

Democrats will with one hand will hinder the President’s efforts in fighting the War on Terror, and with the other they’ll criticize him for not doing enough.

This has been, (and will be) a major attack strategy for the Democratic candidates for President. They’ll take an issue that is important to the American people, one they’ve been extraordinarily weak on, and start pulling an “I can do it better” routine.

In the days ahead, we’ll see them go about their usual ways… looking for ammo where there is none.