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November 27, 2003

Covering the Bush Thanksgiving mission
: The Independent put this headline on it: "The Turkey Has Landed."
: The Guardian seems to have ignored it on their home page.
: The BBC tried to find a dark lining to this silver cloud, below.
: The Ranting Profs say this regarding media coverage:

when the subject comes up (and it will) as to whether this was a PR stunt, consider that it was an awful lot of trouble to go to for a stunt that would be covered by the B, C, or D team on every network, when one cable network isn't even staffed, on what has to be the worst watched news night in American family life of the year with the exceptions of Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Eve. And then look at the tears welling up in the man's eyes and tell me you think this was a cynical ploy, even if you think everything else he has done in Iraq has been a terrible mistake.

" The Profs also predict that some will try to stir up a stink about the White House telling the press a lie to make this event happen. Tough noogies, I say. Security was everything. The press was on the trip. Wack that gopher.
: And in the San Francisco Chronic, Mark Morford wrote this turkey before the President's trip:

Be thankful that you do not have to suffer Dubya's massive crushing karmic burden, as wrought by inflicting heaps of environmental disaster and vicious unnecessary war and a stunning string of lies lies lies like a firehose of giblet gravy splattered all over the planet.
For it really is all too plain: G.W. Bush is one of the most reviled and openly disrespected major world leaders in modern history. America has never been so embarrassed and reluctant to send a president abroad. We cringe when the man takes the stage.

My, what bad timing you have, you twit.

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Thankful
: George Bush's words thanking our troops in Iraq:

I bring a message on behalf of America: we thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands solidly behind you. (Applause.) Together, you and I have taken an oath to defend our country. You're honoring that oath. The United States military is doing a fantastic job. (Applause.) You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq, so that we don't have to face them in our own country. You're defeating Saddam's henchmen, so that the people of Iraq can live in peace and freedom.
By helping the Iraqi people become free, you're helping change a troubled and violent part of the world. By helping to build a peaceful and democratic country in the heart of the Middle East, you are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful. (Applause.)
You're engaged in a difficult mission. Those who attack our coalition forces and kill innocent Iraqis are testing our will. They hope we will run. We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins. (Applause.)
We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive. And we will win because you're part of the finest military ever assembled. (Applause.) And we will prevail because the Iraqis want their freedom. (Applause.) ...

(Applause)

: He's not the only person who's thankful today. On the occasion of the Muslim holiday Eid (aka Id), he also has words of thanks:

This is the first id after Saddam's gone. I’d like you my brothers of all religions and convictions to share my happiness with me....
decided to break the tradition of visiting the relatives and exchanging gifts with them, instead of that I went out to the streets to share the largest no. of Iraqi people the joy of the id.
As this time it's not official, but it's the people's id.
Yes I admit there was some sort of worry in the eyes of people that one can not miss, as the future is still vague for most of the Iraqis, but you also won't miss the optimism in the eyes of the young generations.
Mixed with that there was the grief and heartache for our brothers who we still miss.
Rise my brother from your mass graves for without you our happiness will never be perfect.
We won't forget you, for it was your struggle and your blood which was shed fighting the tyrant.
Without you the world would have never even heard of our misery and we would have never been free.
You ask me not to feel gratitude to those who set me free, ask for what is more realistic.
I say it with all my heart: may Allah bless America, UK, Italy, Spain, Australia, Poland and Ukraine.
For through the sacrifices of their sons and daughters on this land, smile has found it's way to our faces.
You have to be proud for what you have done.

: And Iraqi blogger Alaa also gives thanks:

I didn’t know about the Thanks Giving Holiday until I heard on my way back on the car radio the news of the President’s landing in Baghdad Airport. The news stirred very strong emotions in me....
Happy Thanks Giving to you all.
God Bless
P.S. I remember that the Thanks Giving occasion has a very moving origin of persecuted people thanking God for their delivery....
The visit of the President has produced quite an effect. I am personally very moved by it. Also I notice the effect on those around me.

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The electric revolution
: Winds of Change says that tomrrow it will Hungarian Ambassador Andras Simonyi's speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland ("Rocking for the Free World: How Rock Music Helped to Bring Down the Iron Curtain") as a guest post.

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Supporting free speech
: I've received separate notes from blog readers who are each trying to send cameras or other support to Iraqi bloggers. I like this: We with free speech and resources supporting those who are trying to create their own.
: See the post below and please continue to share suggestions on how to send material and support to Iraq.

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British Bias Corporation
: The BBC gives an instant analysis of the Bush trip to Baghdad:

President Bush's visit to Iraq was a morale-booster for troops far from home on the most important family day of the year for Americans.
But the need for secrecy also emphasised the difficulties of the US-led occupation of Iraq.
It was notable, too, that Mr Bush chose the "war on terror" as a major theme of his visit, linking Iraq to that worldwide war.
He is already making it the highlight of his gathering campaign to win next November's presidential election.

Twaddle.
Of course, the trip was executed in secrecy. There are still dangerous people -- I'd call them terrorists -- there trying to shoot down cargo jets, and kill Iraqi children, and murder Red Cross workers, let alone Presidents. (Hey, read your own service and see that there are terrorists being arrested even in Britain today. Guess that indicates you're losing a war at home, eh?)
And, of course, the "war on terror" (why is that in quotes?) is a theme of what he said because (a) he has been saying that consistently and (b) it is a war on terror.

: Uh, Mr. Dyke, head of the BBC, is this what you were talking about when you said U.S. TV is not giving balanced coverage and you are? Your own "journalists" are making a liar of you. But then, you did a pretty good job of that yourself.

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What should inspire
: The New York Times adds to the collective shrug that has met the World Trade Center memorial designs.

The eight memorial designs being considered for the World Trade Center site seem to have done almost everything they were supposed to do. Except resonate in the public imagination.
They may not have been greeted with the impassioned hostility from some quarters that first met Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. But neither have they been fervently embraced....
Yet the plans seem to have left people hungering for something else.
``There is a remarkable sameness to these designs,'' said the New York metropolitan chapter of the American Planning Association.
``None provide a well-designed urban public gathering space, none make use of the artifacts from the World Trade Center buildings and none convey the urban and international texture of the place that made it a target for attack... Most glaring, the designs as they stand do little to recall the actual horror of the destruction of the towers or the void left at ground zero.''
In general, said Michael Kuo of the Municipal Art Society, the public feels the designs ``did not communicate really what happened here, at this place'' and ``did not go beyond the victims to reflect the sense of community that held us together after our city and our lives were torn apart.''

The Times questions whether one memorial can do everything it should. It goes on to argue that the memorial is already being built:

...start thinking of the memorial collectively - the sphere, the pit, the chapel, the wall, the cross, each and every firehouse and all the other unplanned shrines where 9/11 has already been marked. Because in some respects, while the city has been planning a memorial, the memorial has already been built.

I don't agree that the memorial already exists. But I do fervently agree that the elements listed there in New York's ad hoc memorial are exactly what are missing from the proposals: Contributions from us.
I don't mean to keep coming back to my proposal, as if plugging it, but this is why I included a place where people could leave their memories and this is why I devised a video memorial that could be updated with new views and new perspectives over time, because we must help build this memorial.
We are all mourners. We are, together, the memory of that event.

: MommaBear also comes out against the proposals, saying that the World Trade Center site is a battleground and should have a battleground memorial.

: In some ways, it would have been better if the proposals had evoked the strong emotions of Maya Lin's Vietnam memorial.
Evoking a shrug is the last thing this memorial should do.

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The war we must win
: Tom Friedman wrote an important column today that he should have saved for Sunday, not a holiday. Writing as if he were Saddam Hussein sending a note to George Bush, he says:

You see, Bush, this really is "The Mother of All Battles." You may not have meant to, but you have triggered a huge civilizational war — the war within Islam. Who wins in Iraq will have a big impact on this war — which is now spreading to Indonesia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
By now you've realized that I was prepared for this war. I got rid of all my W.M.D., hid explosives and set up an underground network to fight you once you were in country. But God bless the Turkish Parliament. By not allowing you to use Turkey to invade from the north, my boys in the Sunni Triangle were spared....
We have a business plan and we're executing it: We started by eliminating the U.N., the Red Cross and attacking oil pipelines. Then we moved against the countries that have sent troops or might — Italy, Jordan and Turkey. And now we're killing all Iraqis who collaborate with you — police, army, judges, technocrats. We know who everyone is and where they live. We're "a learning enemy." When you adapt to us, we re-adapt to you. Yes, we're secular Baathists, but we've made contact with Islamic militants from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Syria, and they drive our suicide vans. So many volunteers, so many good targets.
What we all believe is that if we can defeat you here, American cultural, political and economic influence in this part of the world will be finished for a long time....
Yes, Bush, you and Blair have kicked off something very big — a war of ideas with, and within, Islam. It's as big as the cold war. But to win, you have to mobilize your whole society, as you did in the cold war. You are talking about trying to change a whole civilization, whose backward, fanatical elements — when combined with modern technology — now threaten you.
Yet your Pentagon only talks about pulling troops out of Iraq, when you should be putting more in. What are you thinking? You should have brought every soldier you have in Europe and Japan right here....

Every Democratic candidate should read that column. Every nervous Republican should read that.
If we lose in Iraq, we lose World War III.

: Mark Steyn lists five more nations where we have to win the war.

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Amazing
: What a great move:

In a stunning mission conducted under enormous secrecy, President Bush flew into Baghdad today aboard Air Force One to have dinner with United States officials and a group of astonished American troops.
His trip -- the first ever to Iraq by an American president -- had been kept a matter of absolute secrecy by the White House, which had said that he would be spending the Thanksgiving weekend at his ranch outside Crawford, Tex....
The trip was an extraordinary gesture, with scant precedent, and was seen as an effort by Mr. Bush to show the importance he attaches to the embattled United States-led effort to pacify and democratize Iraq.

Bravo. [AP pool photo]

: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton goes to Afghanistan.

: Ryan Pitts says he doesn't much care how much Bush's team calculated the political benefits of the trip.
Right. This is above politics. This is presidential. This shows the support for the troops that they need and deserve.

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Cold
: A flight attendant who should have been on one of the death flights of September 11 -- but who took a vacation day -- has been unable to work since but she was just denied workers' comp. From the Star-Ledger:

This is the legacy of Sept. 11, 2001: Even the lucky ones suffer.
United Airlines flight attendant Kim Stroka had been scheduled to work Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, but took the day off to look after her daughter. She was on her way to pick up the girl from school when she learned the plane had been hijacked by terrorists and crashed in Shanksville, Pa., killing all aboard.
Distraught that a co-worker had died in her place, Stroka had difficulty eating and sleeping. She could not return to work. A psychologist treated her for post-traumatic stress disorder and a workers' compensation judge awarded her medical and disability payments.
Yesterday brought her more bad news. A state appeals court ruled Stroka, 43, of Howell is not entitled to collect workers' compensation because "her disability did not arise in the course of her employment."

They're afraid of setting a precedent. Jeesh. The judges and the airline should be ashamed.

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Flim flam at 11
: Will Farrell is lampooning TV news in Anchorman, a movie coming out next summer. But you can see the trailer now. [via Lost Remote]

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