BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

March 30, 2003

Divide and conquer
: Nick Denton goes to plan B: divide Iraq and conquer, whenever.

The French Army Knife
: Visual humor, thanks to a German site, IT&W. "I know," he says, "it's politically incorrect -- but funny." Politically incorrect for a German (now that's funny). But it's not politically incorrect here, my friend.

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It's not easy being pro-war: a vlog
: I've just done another video post (vlog), this one about being pro-war.
The full text is below.
Normally, I put these on Screenblast but I can't upload to it today. So I'm going to risk putting this on two sets of servers. Since there's not much to see (just me) try the dialup version; if that's too awful, try the others.
Server 1: Real dialup ... Real high-speed ... Windows high-speed
Server 2: Real dialup ... Real high-speed ... Windows high-speed

Transcript:

It's not easy being pro-war.
Don't think for a second that I'm enjoying my membership in the Donald Rumsfeld fan club.
In fact, I think that George Bush did a terrible job making the case for this war -- to us and to the world.
Bush screwed up the diplomatic alternative -- and the only thing that saves him is that Jacques Chirac screwed it up worse.
And I'm hardly a hawk. I spent most of my life as a Vietnam-induced pacifist. Thanks to a lucky lottery number -- the only lottery I've ever played -- I never had to choose between Canada and jail. Instead, I went on Moratorium marches. I wore peace signs.
But now I'm wearing the American flag -- and waving an M-16.
And that is because, on September 11th, men fueled by hate tried to kill me and did kill thousands around me just because of who we are -- American -- and who we are not -- Muslim.
I faced evil that day. I met my generation's Hitler. And I soon realized that I had no choice but to support force against such a force.
I'm not saying that Saddam Hussein was responsible for that attack. I'm saying that I lost my pacifism that day and so, I now have to make an honest choice about supporting force or not, supporting the President or not, defeating Saddam or not.
And I've decided that as with Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Slobodan Milosevic, and Adolf Hitler, we bear a responsibility to defeat tyranny and to free its prisoners.
But do not think that I come to this decision with glee. I am torn apart about resorting to sin to fight sin. I miss the apparent moral clarity of my former anti-war confreres. I dislike the moral smugness of my new pro-war confederates. I was appalled the other day when a newspaper called me "conservative" just because I am not anti-war in my weblog.
Do not paint me with your Dr. Strangelove brush. Do not think that by choosing to support this war in Iraq, I am conservative, or bloodthirsty, or happy about it. This was a hard decision.
It's not easy being pro-war.

: Gray -- a regular reader from Russia -- posts his response in Russian and English. This is what makes the Internet so f'ing wonderful. This is what will fix the world.

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Anti-warism and anti-Semitism
: The Anti-Defamation League released its annual survey of anti-Jewish incidents in the U.S. Note the increase on campuses; note also my earlier post on the ties between anti-warism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism. The ADL stats:

A total of 1,559 anti-Jewish incidents were reported against Jews and Jewish institutions in 2002, a slight increase from the 1,432 incidents in 2001. [Ed: I wouldn't call that "slight."]
At the same time, anti-Jewish incidents reported on campus were up by 24 percent in 2002....
Anti-Semitic incidents on campus increased for the third straight year to a total of 106 incidents, an increase by 24 percent over 2001, when 85 acts were reported. Many of the 2002 incidents grew out of anti-Israel or "anti-Zionist" demonstrations or other actions in which some participants engaged in overt expression of anti-Jewish sentiments, including name-calling directed at Jewish students, placards comparing the Star of David to the swastika, or vandalism of Jewish property, such as Hillel buildings.

: Meanwhile, in France... Haaretz reports that Jewish communities fear the war will inflame anti-Semitism around the world, especially in France:

Some 5,000 policemen and security personnel accompanied the tens of thousands of people participating in an anti-war protest in Paris on Saturday. But unlike the security at other anti-war rallies around the world, which aimed to prevent attacks against United States targets, the French policemen were there to prevent anti-Semitic acts similiar to those that had taken place at previous anti-war rallies in France....
It seems that the anti-war movement in France has become anti-Israel in nature, and the anti-war protests serve as an opportunity for Muslims in France to attack Israel and Jews.

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Strategy
: Gen. Tommy Franks said at this morning's briefing that a good strategy assures eventual victory while allowing the possibilty of short-term victory. I'm buying it.
More on the briefing here.

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Saddam's fall
: A former Saddam aide tells Bild in Germany that Saddam will escape within two weeks (link in English). Meanwhile, Bild has some fun suggesting Saddam will dress up as a G.I. to escape (Translation: Saddam's escape plan: Is Saddam disguising himself as a U.S. soldier?).
And while we're at it, Bild also compares Saddam's Republican Guard to Hitler's SS. (Links in German)

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Bloghdad
: Greg Allen got the domain Bloghdad.com and he has been wondering what to do with it. He finds my use of the word to be the first. So may I make a suggestion? When Salam Pax is liberated, give it to him, for he is the true Bloghdad blogger.

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Inside Basra
: A British reporter -- exhibiting the kind of stupid bravery reporters are born with -- ventures into Basra for the Telegraph.

The younger men look sullen and angry. Few speak English but one, his face streaked with dust and dirt, holds up a fist, brandishing it above his head. An older man speaks angrily to him, pulling his hand down. The young man's eyes smoulder with hatred. "Enemy," is all he can say in English.
Earlier last week, British special forces are said to have deployed in Basra. "It's a living hell in there," I am told by one military official who is believed to have operated alongside them.
"People are too afraid to come out of their homes. They don't know who is friend, who is foe. Water and food is scarce, there is no electricity. No one is starving yet, but supplies are running very, very low."...
We find two teenage boys who have not seen their father, a soldier, for two nights, since his unit moved to the south of the city at dawn on Thursday. Their mother died in November and now they are fending for themselves in the basement of what was once a family home....
Inside one doorway, a family sits huddled around a small fire. Short planks are burning, wood that they have clearly pulled from their window frames. Inside the house, on the wall behind them, hangs the only ornament - a framed photograph of Saddam Hussein, in paternal pose.
No one speaks. Their gaze is neither angry nor welcoming; it is instead a long, lingering look, perhaps of resignation. Bundles of clothes lie in the corners and a stack of tomatoes and eggs nestles in a recess that may once have been a fireplace. They slam the door shut....
[At a British checkpoint outside the city...] As he checks vehicles, L/Cpl Ryan Robinson reaches inside one to calm a sobbing mother. "We need to help these people, to reassure them," he says, clearly moved by their plight. "They are scared of everyone - fear is their norm now."

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Over there
: We keep hearing about the radically different Arab perspective being broadcast on Arab TV but, of course, we don't get to see that for ourselves.
In the English-language Arab press, there are occasional glimpses of that perspective. Take this from the Jordan Times:

Eyes fixed upon the images of the Iraq war flickering across the television, Musa Tawil (Abu Hamed), 58, from Hitteen refugee camp said he would rather be oppressed by harsh leadership than accept the will of an invading foreign force.
For the embittered Abu Hamed, displaced from his home in Palestine in the wake of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the current aggression against Iraq is part of a pattern of aggression he knows only too well.
�This war is not justified on any grounds. It is pure and simple aggression. It is an injustice on a people living on their own soil,� he exclaimed while sitting on a mattress beside his wife and grandchild.
While he said it is true that Saddam Hussein is not an ideal leader, Abu Hamed believes his presence does not justify the use of �such overwhelming force� by the US and the UK.
Tuning into one of the two Arabic stations available to him, Abu Hamed said his resentment of the situation grows because he sees still more injustice being put upon the already suffering Iraqi people.

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