[ale] Quiet

[jimmyc at speedfactory.net (Jim Philips)]

On Friday 07 May 2004 08:51, Chris Fowler wrote:
> On this stuff,  I do not want to start a topic war but IMO I'm seeing
> the US media do stuff that they would not have done during WWII.
> I understand that there were some bad apples in Iraq that might had
> tortured prisoners but it appears the media is starting to run it into
> the ground.  I have no idea why they would want to do this to their own
> nation.

Two points:

1. We jumped into WWII only AFTER we were assaulted by an enemy.

2. "The media" didn't do this to "their own nation". The events at Abu Ghraib 
had been under investigation by the Red Cross long before the story broke in 
the media here in the US. At some point, we have to wrestle with how we are 
seen by the world. And I think it's impossible to overestimate the importance 
of this story in the Arab world. Wars are not just military events. You have 
to settle people down when the whole thing is over. If you create a situation 
where that can't be done, you have forfeited the entire war effort. I am an 
optimist. I don't think that even now the situation in Iraq is unsalvageable. 
But it's going to be a hell of a lot harder than it needed to be.