December 28, 2005

What I heard about Iraq. An essay of all the embarassing statements and actions regarding Iraq in 2005. As you can imagine, it's quite long, but it's also well written, and sobering.
posted by Paranoia Agent 18 years ago
  • In 2005 I heard that Coalition forces were camped in the ruins of Babylon. I heard that bulldozers had dug trenches through the site and cleared areas for helicopter landing pads and parking lots, that thousands of sandbags had been filled with dirt and archaeological fragments, that a 2600-year-old brick pavement had been crushed by tanks, and that the moulded bricks of dragons had been gouged out from the Ishtar Gate by soldiers collecting souvenirs. I heard that the ruins of the Sumerian cities of Umma, Umm al-Akareb, Larsa and Tello were completely destroyed and were now landscapes of craters.
    The dawn of modern civilisation, and a bunch of shitheads bulldozed it. But hey, let's support the troops!
  • God was that depressing..... :-(
  • And..The quote of the day: "I heard a man who had been in Abu Ghraib prison say: ‘The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house."
  • When you click over to the Information Clearing House homepage, they have some stuff posted that's a little over the top. It hurts their credibility. I wish the article included footnotes, so I could follow up on some of the things he said. I would like to be able to pass along some of the information- but without sources, I won't.
  • I heard that a short article is better than a long article.
  • You can easily cut and paste the quotes in Google to find original source, if you are concerned, Jatayu das. Example: I heard General Barry McCaffrey say, after returning from an inspection of Iraq: ‘This thing, the wheels are coming off of it.’ Source: http://tinyurl.com/7bbot (Washington Times) I get annoyed when people say stuff like that. Lack of critical thinking. If you like the article, but are concerned, check it out yourself on Google. Find sources you trust. Reminds me of the Wikipedia thing. Wikipedia is a great resource, but if you don't trust what is there, by all means verify it. Maybe you'll learn something. Seems easy enough to me. Meh.
  • "I heard that a short article is better than a long article." I hope you are joking.
  • I recognize that some long stories are worth reading. Many are not. But this might be me. To me, long lists of transgressions and sins are counterproductive. I am more interested how to make things better or stop bad things from getting worse. So Iraq is a fiasco of suffering created by an incompetent administration. Tell me something i don't know. No, scratch that. Tell me how we should fix it.
  • "I recognize that some long stories are worth reading. Many are not." That's an odd statement. Many tall people are nice. Many are not. Hm. I don't think it's the responsibility of every journalist/pundit to outline exactly what they should do to fix the problems they are describing. Take the beginning paragraph. It's an elegy on the priceless artifacts that were destroyed during the invasion. What would be the solution to that? Build a time machine? Rebuild the relics? Taking it from a purely journalistic view, I'd rather just hear what the problem is. I wouldn't want to hear editorializing about what should be done, theoretically. In the case of the person simply stating what they've heard(in this case), they have no obligation to do so at all. Why not make up your own mind what should be done?
  • "I recognize that some long stories are worth reading. Many are not." That's an odd statement. Many tall people are nice. Many are not. Hm. Tall people can't help being tall. Long stories on the other hand can often be shorter and be better for it. I don't think it's the responsibility of every journalist/pundit to outline exactly what they should do to fix the problems they are describing. I totally agree. I guess what i'm saying is I'd rather read someone else's article...
  • Of course I could check out the scores of things he said myself, but I believe it's the responsibility of the journalist to name his sources. None of the things he talked about happened to himself personally, it's all stuff he heard someplace else. If Eliot Weinberger wants to be taken seriously, he should credit the journalist who first reported the facts. All this article really does is provide a liberal complement to Rush Limbaugh. It gives the anti-war crowd a nice adrenaline rush of righteous indignation, but that's about all. I'm sure Weinberger is fine with that.
  • You can easily cut and paste the quotes in Google to find original source, if you are concerned, Jatayu das. or better yet, go to Reuters, the BBC, or AFP in the first place.
  • "I totally agree. I guess what i'm saying is I'd rather read someone else's article..." Fair enough. I'm not saying a longer story is a better story, but it does give room for greater detail which is nice. I guess what I was trying to say is they both have their place, and I'm not prejudiced against either. I take em as they come. Most of the great articles of any year are multi-part, like the last one I linked, which I believe should win a Pulizer. "It gives the anti-war crowd a nice adrenaline rush of righteous indignation" It's a list of facts. If you're too lazy to find that out yourself, don't whine about it. It's embarrassing. "All this article really does is provide a liberal complement to Rush Limbaugh" I love this argument. Keep telling yourself that. Rush Limbaugh: On corporate layoffs: "Why is it that whenever a corporation fires workers, it's never speculated that the workers might have deserved it?" Speculating as to how a Mexican won the New York marathon: "An immigration agent chased him for the last 10 miles." On Race: "Why should Blacks be heard? They're 12% of the population. Who the hell cares." -Rush Limbaugh Yeah, he sounds JUST like someone who's sad about the dead in Iraq, on our side and theirs. You're wrong, but thanks for playing! Idiot.
  • PA, we try not to call each other names here (you fuckstick)
  • *walks the plank* Got a little carried away.
  • Argh...cut him some slack, I think the "idiot" tag might be correct... /never, NEVER, mention Rush again!!!!
  • He's slightly less rabid and nonsensical than Ann Coultier, but thats like saying migraine is better than a boil on your ass. They're both to be avoided, period.
  • If you like the article, but are concerned, check it out yourself on Google. Yeah, but:
    (A) I'm usually very busy and don't have time to do the kind of research this would require; and (B) If it's so easy (and it is not very difficult; I agree), the author should have done it him/herself.
    And yes, I speak from experience.
  • I guess I don't understand the argument. Are you totally against these type of opinion pieces? Because 99.99 aren't going to have footnotes, and never will. That doesn't mean they aren't factual, it just is.
  • Ah, yes. Time for some tags... MonkeyFilter: A nice adrenaline rush of righteous indignation, but that's about all. MonkeyFilter: Thats like saying a migraine is better than a boil on your ass. I suppose I could go on...
  • I'll admit it. I read the first third, and then started skimming. Anywaze, some time later, I wasn't surprised to discover that this article is also a book ... Eliot Weinberger's What I Heard about Iraq, which first appeared in the LRB in February, has been published as a book by Verso; 9/12 is published by Prickly Paradigm; What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles is forthcoming from New Directions. copyright © LRB Ltd, 1997-2005
  • I posted Weiberger's earlier article here. I saw this on the LRB site earlier in the week, but didn't find it as affecting as the first version so didn't bother to add it to the old thread.
  • It would be nice to have a handy overview of all the problems with Iraq. Reorganise this thing in themes and add sources?
  • I get the idea that Jatayu das et al would prefer to have us discuss the messenger(s) as opposed to the message(s). Almost all of the comments in question were in the print or television media during the last three years. The Rush apologists are still in denial and will be until Bush is caught wanking in the oval office.
  • I have to admit to zoning out about a third of the way in. Not because it wasn't interesting, just because it was too hard to take that much in all at once.
  • Also, if Bush is caught wanking in the oval office, it will somehow be explained as Freedomsturbation and he'll be hailed as a hero.
  • StoryBored: Tall people can't help being tall. You see, it's NOT MY FAULT!!! / blames parents
  • Storybored: long lists of trangressions and sins are useful if it gets people to notice the transgressions and sins. And this administration has committed oh, so very many. You could even go so far as to say that the good things this war has brought to Iraq are just about equal to the bad things the Administration has done to bring about those good things. But you don't let a criminal off the hook just because he does good things, too. In politics, you get the extra added dimension of being able to punish bad judgement. Which I say we should do. With all appropriate fervor.
  • *f8x considers posting comment, sees impending dogpile, ducks back out to enjoy another year instead*
  • Woof!
  • This would be one of our quieter dogpiles.
  • I for one would like to see what you'd have to say, f8x. And I promise not to dogpile. Well, can one person dogpile? I promise not to join a dogpile. I have to say I really do enjoy your commentary, even if I seldom agree with it.
  • Oh really, Lara? Well what if I were to tell you that f8xy is a filthy communist and if you read his words you will go BLIND and MAD and your pee-pee will turn into a thin stream of bloody, bloody BLOOD - eh? What then? Actually - I might be thinking of Wolof. Sorry, it's just that I'm BLIND and MAD.
  • And your pee-pee turned into a thin stream of grape juice. No wait, that's blood.
  • If you're gonna be a Communist you should at least bathe regularly. (In a communal bath, of course.)
  • Ah, Lara, you are most kind! Nevertheless, I think I will abstain. Consider it a New Year's resolution started early.
  • As long as your resolution isn't to stop posting here. 'Cause that would make me sad, and I would be forced to bite quid in my sorrowful confusion.
  • Grape juice? Blood? Forgive me if this reminds me of a certain religion.
  • the one where they like to preach to the choir?
  • Here's what I heard about Iraq in 2005, or at least what I could make out from all the voices in my head talking at once: "I think it's great that the US finally made a whole country where all the fucking terrorists who want to kill us can live together in peace". "Yeah, I think you rock hard dude, but Sabbath - they rock harder. Just sayin'." "Any country starting with "I" is just being selfish and asking for trouble. Look at Iran, Ireland and Iceland. There's no "I" in "The States", man." "The trouble with Iraq is that when Saddam was in power, he called his own tribe "the Sunnys" and called his opponents "the Shits", or "the Turds". It's gonna take a while for those wounds to heal." "The geopolitical realpolitik is predicated on a mistaken worldview of how individuals actually participate in traditional, social and political power structures, and Bush fucking sucks ass". "I think Jesus and Mohammad should just duke it out and leave the rest of us out of this."
  • f8x: but my bark is much worse than my ferocious muzzling and intense tail wagging. on preview, why does that sound so overly homoerotic?
  • That's it... I want to have quidnunc's children.
  • He'll drop them off at six.
  • Let freedom reign.
  • You know he did, terra terra.