Yes, indeedy, the press certainly has more freedom in this war. Why, just look at what the Washington Post reported before the war even started. Without any irony, in the middle of an article about much latitude the press is getting, we read this from Kuwait City:

The PAOs also warn that no photos can be taken of a wooden sign erected by an Indiana-based National Guard unit. It's a totem that gung-ho soldiers display in every conflict: Fort Wayne, 6,770 miles; Hanoi or Berlin, or wherever, so many miles that way.

Censors have forbidden us to identify the capital of a certain Arab country on the sign. An earlier photo ran on the wires and it offended the "host nation," as military officials describe Kuwait.

So Kuwait didn't want the U.S Army to advertise its military intentions toward a particular nation?

"It may sound silly but that's the guidance we got," says Sgt. Maj. Larry Stevens, another spokesman at the base.

Anybody have a copy of that photo?

posted 30 March 2003 | thanks to Sam Smith

The story "Bush Lowers Expectations for Swift War" by Tom Raum of the Associated Press (26 March 2003) has some interesting tidbits. First, we learn that although the Bush Administration has been saying that the only quarrel is with Saddam Hussein and his minions, now the country of Iraq is going to be made to pay dearly for its insolence:

President Bush said Wednesday the war in Iraq is far from over and the toughest battles lie ahead as coalition forces near Baghdad. After rallying troops, Bush flew to Camp David for a war council with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"I can assure you there will be a day of reckoning for Iraq, and that day is drawing near," Bush told hundreds of cheering American troops and their family members in a packed hangar in Florida.

Also, we learn that a key phrase in the speech was dropped by Bush at the last minute:

"Our military is making good progress in Iraq, yet this war is far from over" he said, making a last-minute change of wording that dropped a reference to the U.S. military being "ahead of schedule."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, briefing reporters on the way here aboard Air Force One, said Bush would tell his audience "Our progress is ahead of schedule, yet this war is far from over."

Bush decided to delete the "ahead of schedule" phrase during a final review of the speech on the plane, aides said later.

posted 31 March 2003 | thanks to Arpad

The Memory Hole's new "Pick of the Week" has to do with documents the ACLU has uncovered. Using FOIA requests, the civil liberties group pried loose a bunch of heavily redacted documents showing that Ashcroft's Justice Department is trampling our rights even worse than we feared, which was still plenty bad. Turns out the FBI is getting lots of sensitive records with no judicial oversight, and they're doing wiretaps and secret searches without meeting the accepted definition of "probable cause." One item on the list brings it all to a head:

5. The government plans to use all of its new surveillance powers aggressively, including by turning the powers against ordinary Americans and permanent residents

An Oct. 2001 FBI memo explains the way in which the PATRIOT Act expanded the FBI's surveillance powers under FISA. One interesting thing about the memo is the great emphasis it places on the fact that the FBI is authorized to use many of its new surveillance powers not only against suspected terrorists and spies but also against Americans who are suspected neither of crime nor of working for a hostile government or terrorist organization.

Typical authoritarian trick. Tell the people that you need your expanded police-state powers to protect them, and that these measures will only be used on the "bad guys." But really, all long, you intended to these new fascistic powers on everybody.

You can read all about the ACLU's detective work here, with the actual documents reproduced on this page.

posted 26 March 2003

From "The Missing Iraqi POWs and the Geneva Convention," by Eric Garris, AntiWar.com, 23 March 2003:

Yesterday, Saddam Hussein issued a statement that all Geneva Convention rights of POWs taken by Iraq will be respected. However, he has already broken this by showing films of allied POWs on Iraqi TV (horribly, these also include shots of dead allied soldiers, also a violation of the same article). They have also been shown on al-Jazeera. Donald Rumsfeld says that this violation will be prosecuted. In a news conference, he also said that the US would never show Iraqi POWs on TV.

However, Fox News filled the airwaves on Saturday showing Iraqi POWs, up close and looking humiliated. Military handlers guided the camera crew through the groups of POWs. This story was shown at least 5 times on Saturday on Fox, and there was a news story on their Website, but the story has been pulled. Fox has quickly moved to airbrush any evidence of their "violation."

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia accepted a free speech award in Cleveland, he demanded—as he always does—that no broadcast media be allowed to film or tape his speech. The irony was not lost on the media. But the big news was from the day before, when Scalia spoke at a university in Cleveland. Print journalists were graciously permitted to attend, and they reported some scary thoughts from the Justice. From "War Means Rights May Be Scaled Back" by the Associated Press, 18 March 2003:

The government has room to scale back individual rights during wartime without violating the Constitution, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, said Tuesday.

"The Constitution just sets minimums," Scalia said after a speech at John Carroll University in suburban Cleveland. "Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires."

Scalia, one of the court's most conservative judges, was responding to a question about the Justice Department's pursuit of terrorism suspects and whether their rights are being violated.

Scalia did not discuss what rights he believed are constitutionally protected, but said that in wartime, one can expect "the protections will be ratcheted right down to the constitutional minimum. I won't let it go beyond the constitutional minimum."

posted 21 March 2003

Watch as CNN entertainer Connie Chung tries to spin a correspondent's comments to bring them in line with US government propaganda. From Connie Chung Tonight, CNN, 19 March 2003:

CHUNG: With the deadline so perilously close, I can only imagine that the anxiety has reached a level that's almost indescribable.

[NIC] ROBERTSON [in Baghdad]: Indeed, many people here have been so fearful that this event is coming that, for many people, it's really almost a relief that the time has arrived and it's going to happen. Of course, having said that, people are tremendously worried and tremendously scared about how they're going to survive. This is a city of five million people. And many of them cannot afford to take their families out or have nowhere to take them to. So, of course, many people staying here, and they do wonder how they'll be able to feed their families and keep them safe at this time. And, also, it's true to say there is still a feeling of anger among some people that they're being invaded.

CHUNG: But, Nic, there are those who would believe that the Iraqi people will welcome the American soldiers and even the Iraqi soldiers will put down their arms. You're finding evidence of the ordinary person truly angry at the United States?

ROBERTSON: People are so concerned about what will happen in the time after the bombing. What will happen? Will there be civil disorder? Will their family -- will their houses be looted? Will there be discrimination? Will old scores be settled? Will it be a very bloody revolt? And for that reason, they're very scared about what's going to happen.

But they're also angry, because they have pride in their country and they don't want it to be invaded. It's a mixture of many emotions, as well, for many people, feeling that this particular president has not brought them anything that they would desire, has brought them initially a wealthy country. But they've seen that dissipate and they've seen the country turned into a very poor place.

posted 20 March 2003

Vice President Cheney's incredible performance on Meet the Press 16 March 2003 mustn't slip down the memory hole. Speaking about Iraq and nuclear weapons, he offered several contradictory statements within ten minutes. From the Eschaton blog:

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Dick Cheney, on Meet the Press

From penalcolony in comments:

1. Saddam will try to get nuclear weapons: "I think that would be the fear here, that even if [Saddam] were tomorrow to give everything up, if he stays in power, we have to assume that as soon as the world is looking the other way and preoccupied with other issues, he will be back again rebuilding his BW and CW capabilities, and once again reconstituting his nuclear program."
-- Cheney, three or four minutes into Meet the Press, 3/16/03

2. Saddam is now trying to get nuclear weapons: "We know he’s out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons . . ."
-- Cheney, less than two minutes later

3. Saddam has succeeded in getting nuclear weapons: "He’s had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
-- Cheney, less than two minutes later

4. It's only a matter of time until Saddam succeeds in getting nuclear weapons: "We’re now faced with a situation, especially in the aftermath of 9/11, where the threat to the United States is increasing. And over time, given Saddam’s posture there, given the fact that he has a significant flow of cash as a result of the oil production of Iraq, it’s only a matter of time until he acquires nuclear weapons."
-- Cheney, less than two minutes later

Thanks to Cursor | posted 20 March 2003

Anonymous in Bethesda, Maryland, writes to The Memory Hole (7 March 2003):

I just got off the Pentagon City Metro station and overheard two Air Force Officers discuss Nuclear Material possibly being stolen by a North Korea spy as part of potential blackmail/bargaining tool with the new S. Korean president Roh.

I went to Google and this was the only related news article I could find.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=040000&biid=2003030725058

Radioactive Container Stolen in Seoul
MARCH 06, 2003 22:19

A container holding radioactive material was stolen in Ahnyang City, Kyung-gi Province, police sources said. An investigation is currently under way.

Kyung Do Enterprise, Ltd., a company that manufactures radioactive isotope products, reported to the police yesterday that it had lost the container which held a radioactive isotope (CS-137) some time between midnight to 10 a.m. on Wednesday. It was in a car parked on a street in front of DPT Korea, Inc. in Hokye Dong, Ahnyang City.

"We rented the container to DPT Korea, Inc. at around 2 p.m. on March 4th. DPT Korea asked for use of the container to test the performance of a remote controlled industrial robot. Then, DPT Korea informed us that it had lost the container, which, they said, was in a Carnival van. We reported the case to the police," the company spokesperson said.

The stolen radioactive material was in a steel container 120mm by 200mm. It contained 15mmci of radiation, and a yellow radioactive warning sticker was attached to the surface of the container.

Kyung Do said that the container can sustain light impact and if a leakage occurs at all, however, it could burn or damage the human body in various ways.

posted 17 March 2003

From "Videographer Pleads 'Not Guilty'" by Sean Wolfe and Myles Murphy, Ashland [Oregon] Daily Tidings, 11 March 2003:

In a written statement, Brain detailed what he did the day of the protest.

"That day I shot one hour and 41 minutes of raw footage which shows the colorful march and rally with 500 or 600 (some say more) students demonstrating that money for war should instead be spent on education (books not bombs)," Brain wrote.

"This footage shows some of the things not reported by the local mainstream media like the SWAT team that was called in from a neighboring county to square off against our peacefully protesting students. This footage looks like it is taken from another planet, I mean can you imagine riot cops squaring off against young kids?… My footage also shows the tail-end of a scuffle in the street which shows the Ashland police throwing people to the ground. I did not capture the beginning of this incident but do have an interview of someone who says she saw it from the start and that the police instigated the scuffle."

The SWAT team in question was actually a mobile response team and an arrest team - 26 in all - contributed by the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, according to county sheriff Mike Winters.

With respect to the scuffle, police and demonstrators have come forward with different accounts.

Some photos of the SWAT/MRT team are here and here.

Thanks to: Unknown News | posted 17 March 2003

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