Barbarism on Display

Surely, by now you have heard of the barbaric treatment and execution of US prisoners of war by Saddam Hussein's regime. God reward their suffering, and comfort their loved ones.

Alas, we can hardly be surprised at this: Saddam Hussein and his minions have treated the Iraqis far worse for far longer. Hopefully, this will strengthen our resolve to get this over with as soon as possible — "anti-war" protestors be damned.

It is being brought home to me — to all of us? — that our failure to remove Saddam Hussein in 1991 was a horrific mistake of catastrophic proportions.

P.S. See Goldberg, too.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 08:13:07 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

The Command Post

Susanna says go here; that does seem to be where it's happening.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 12:42:34 PM
Categorized as Other.

Let Us Pray

Let us pray for peace. Let us pray for justice. Let us pray for a swift and decisive victory over the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Let us pray for our men and women in the military, especially those in combat. Let us pray for other agents of our government who are conducting special operations in enemy territory. Let us pray for journalists who risk their own lives being with our armed forces. Let us pray for those who have already lost their lives.

Let us pray for those who have been brutalized by Saddam Hussein's regime. Let us pray for the innocents who will be hurt or killed by warfare. Let us pray for those who have already lost loved ones due to combat or accident or treachery.

Let us pray for our police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and others who safeguard our homeland.

Let us pray for our leaders: for their safety, for wisdom in their choices, and for humility in the face of their awesome responsibilities.

Let us pray for a better future for all of us, the world over.

Let us pray.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 11:13:12 AM
Categorized as Religious.

Credentials: Hollywood vs. Washington

A revealing comparison, by Cindy Osborne, over at G. Thomas Fitzpatrick's Verus Ratio.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 07:19:14 AM
Categorized as Political.

Are "Black" and "Muslim" Being PC-ed Out of the News?

About the grenade attack on the Tactical Operations Center of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, yesterday, a reader writes:

I clicked on AOL to read a CBS account of the attack on troops in Northern Kuwait. The article said that an American soldier was being held as one of the grenade throwers into the command tents. He was described as a "black Muslim." I e-mailed a couple of friends about this news and said, "I wonder how long it will be before the words "black Muslim" disappear from the account. Then I decided to go back to the story to copy and save it as proof of my statement. In that short time, AOL was featuring a Reuter's version without the "black Muslim" description.

I searched on Drudge to see if he was posting the CBS account I had read. He linked to the CBS account, but the description of the American soldier as a black Muslim were deleted. I hurried to Lucianne.com to see what that site had and what the posters were saying. Their links (3 at the time) were the expurgated version, but some of the posters were talking about the American soldier as a black Muslim.

The question I have is whether the story was changed because the first description was inaccurate or was it because it wasn't PC? I heard a radio commentator talking about "fragging" and going on and on about Vietnam as though attempting to explain this treasonous action as typical in combat. Why not discuss the horror of having enemy agents embedded amongst our own soldiers? As if they aren't in enough danger from the Iraqis, now they have to worry about their fellows?

P.S. See also little green footballs.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 07:07:17 AM
Categorized as Media.

Third Sunday of Lent

Sermons by Ven. John Henry Newman.

I cannot find any sermons by Cardinal Newman for this particular day. Allow me to refer you generally, then, to all his Lenten sermons blogged on Ash Wednesday.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 06:47:19 AM
Categorized as Religious.

"I Was a Naive Fool to be a Human Shield for Saddam"

How reality can shock a man out of his fantasies.

From Daniel Pepper in today's London Telegraph:

.... We on the bus felt that we were sympathetic to the views of the Iraqi civilians, even though we didn't actually know any. The group was less interested in standing up for their rights than protesting against the US and UK governments.

I was shocked when I first met a pro-war Iraqi in Baghdad - a taxi driver taking me back to my hotel late at night. I explained that I was American and said, as we shields always did, "Bush bad, war bad, Iraq good". He looked at me with an expression of incredulity.

As he realised I was serious, he slowed down and started to speak in broken English about the evils of Saddam's regime. Until then I had only heard the President spoken of with respect, but now this guy was telling me how all of Iraq's oil money went into Saddam's pocket and that if you opposed him politically he would kill your whole family.

It scared the hell out of me. First I was thinking that maybe it was the secret police trying to trick me but later I got the impression that he wanted me to help him escape. I felt so bad. I told him: "Listen, I am just a schmuck from the United States, I am not with the UN, I'm not with the CIA - I just can't help you."

Of course I had read reports that Iraqis hated Saddam Hussein, but this was the real thing. Someone had explained it to me face to face. I told a few journalists who I knew. They said that this sort of thing often happened - spontaneous, emotional, and secretive outbursts imploring visitors to free them from Saddam's tyrannical Iraq.

I became increasingly concerned about the way the Iraqi regime was restricting the movement of the shields, so a few days later I left Baghdad for Jordan by taxi with five others. Once over the border we felt comfortable enough to ask our driver what he felt about the regime and the threat of an aerial bombardment.

"Don't you listen to Powell on Voice of America radio?" he said. "Of course the Americans don't want to bomb civilians. They want to bomb government and Saddam's palaces. We want America to bomb Saddam."

We just sat, listening, our mouths open wide. Jake, one of the others, just kept saying, "Oh my God" as the driver described the horrors of the regime. Jake was so shocked at how naive he had been. We all were. It hadn't occurred to anyone that the Iraqis might actually be pro-war....

(Thanks, Karen.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 03/23/03 06:35:19 AM
Categorized as Political.