Dangerous Logic

A Baghdad Bob Sighting!

I'm a big Red Wings fan, so I've had to endure several of my friends sending me this picture:

Fortunately, Bob's moved on. He was last sighted near the Pepsi Center in Denver, and even though it's just one game, might he be making travel plans for Dallas? The best part about the Cheating 'Dique collapse? Columns like this one.

A Few Random Thoughts On The War (and the one in Iraq, too)

Sometimes bias is subtle. Quoting this McPaper article:

"Dozens of flag-waving rallies for American troops in Iraq look like spontaneous, grass-roots gatherings. But many are orchestrated by conservative political groups, just as anti-war protests are led by peace groups and activists on the political left."

Note that conservative rallies are 'orchestrated' while leftist rallies are 'led.'

I also had a response to this Beruit Daily Star op-ed piece that basically complains that we're trying to knock Iraqi TV off the air:

"Mr El-Affendi's comments seem to indicate that the United States is somehow obligated to allow their enemy's state-run television network to continue broadcasting. I personally am not surprised by this; differing standards of expected conduct for the sides in this war is the order of the day for virtually all commentators outside the US and Britain (and indeed, as Mr El-Affendi's affiliation indicates, a non-trivial number of commentators in those countries as well). Instead of criticizing Saddam for parading clip after clip of Coalition POWs, he criticizes the US for attempting to prevent continued broadcasts of such a nature.
The propaganda battle is an integral feature of modern warfare; there's no reason to let your enemy get his say if you can do something about it."

Surprise, surprise--as it turns out, it can be argued that our attempts to silence Iraqi TV are a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Basically, the argument goes like this: Iraqi TV serves no military purpose; thus, it's a civilian target and not fair game. Personally, I think that's a load of crap - Article 72 indicates that we're on the hook to provide scientific equipment, musical instruments, and sports outfits to our Iraqi EPW's! Well, we do have them decked out for one game already--Blind Man's Bluff!