Media blackout

Rumsferatu Watch

Here are two interesting articles on the Rumsfeld internal memo "leak". Liberal Oasis analyzes the reporting coming from this and concludes that this memo was leaked by Rumsfeld purposely to show that he has complaints with the rest of the administration on Iraq. Join the club, Rummy. More signs that the administration is now just melting down and all the rats are blaming each other for the fiasco in Iraq. It's nice to hear Rummy claiming what anti-war activists have maintained all along, though: that there was no plan in place for post-war Iraq.

This entry from Is That Legal? also analyzes the leak and comes to the same conclusion. The Bushies are not presenting a united front. Far from it. Who is really in charge here? Cheney or Rove? (or Rumsfeld?) In any case, it isn't Bush.

River in Egypt Watch

Speaking of Bush, here is one policy that he (or at least Rove) is fully in charge of. The media handling of the war! You can get Americans to go along with almost any horrible war, as long as they don't have to suffer being made aware of what is going on in their name. If Americans were constantly reminded of the toll in dead and maimed people, and the horrible conditions our soldiers are in, their might be less "support" for the war. But as long as it remains just a sterile thought in their heads ("We're gittin' Saddam!") then they support it wholeheartedly.

So, very few pictures from Iraq. Certainly no media pictures of dead or dying or maimed soldiers. And no reminders of dead soldiers. Why, if we thought about dead soldiers, we might all ponder the wisdom of our course even more! So, Rove has said, "no coverage for dead soldiers" and the faithful, lapdog media, has complied. No soldier funerals. Bush doesn't even go to them, because to do so would be to call attention to them. So he doesn't even have the decency to honor these men and women in death, after they and their families have made the ultimate sacrifice for this adventure in stupidity. Here is an article about the control of the reporting, "Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins". An excerpt:

To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases.

In March, on the eve of the Iraq war, a directive arrived from the Pentagon at U.S. military bases. "There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein [Germany] airbase or Dover [Del.] base, to include interim stops," the Defense Department said, referring to the major ports for the returning remains.

Out of sight, out of mind, heh? Brilliant. And no one has to think about the price we are really paying. We'll just go back to waving our flags.