Kidnapping is the biggest nightmare of every Western journalist in Iraq but both foreign and Iraqi reporters face many other obstacles that obscure the U.S. public's understanding of the war.

Jill Carroll, an American freelance journalist missing in Iraq, was the 36th reporter to be kidnapped since April 2004, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six of them have been killed.

"This has been our No. 1 threat and our worst nightmare for almost two years," Jackie Spinner, a Washington Post reporter who escaped a kidnap bid outside Abu Ghraib prison in June 2004, told Reuters.

"They grabbed me as I was walking out," she said. "I was wearing a scarf and an abaya. One man grabbed my wrist and another grabbed my waist and they started dragging me off."

Fortunately, U.S. Marines noticed and came to the rescue.

She recounts the incident in her book "Tell Them I Didn't Cry," due out on Feb 1. The book describes Spinner's experience reporting, including the 2004 siege of Falluja. But much of it is about her Iraqi colleagues, from drivers to cooks, guards and translators, and about how much she depended on them.

the marines of truth

Top News Article | Reuters.com

The Iraq debate split the country into two partisan camps, but the Iran debate is much more complicated. It's opening up a rift between conservatives and the Bush administration. It's dividing Democrats into rival factions: those who can contemplate the eventual use of force against Iran and those who can't.
...
These four approaches have one thing in common: they all stink.

a world of tough choices

Hating the Bomb - New York Times

The battleground for women's rights is expanding from the boardroom to the bathroom, and a serious legislative initiative nicknamed "potty parity" is giving new meaning to the term "separate but equal."

The new push, which is quietly making its way into construction standards around the world, says restrooms should provide two to three times as many "outlets" for women as for men. In that sense, "potty parity" bills offer women more than parity: It may finally trim the long lines for women's rooms at theaters, stadiums, and highway rest stops.

a good idea
men should support this if they are sick of being in a hurry and having to wait while their partner queue
or just think it seems fair

'Potty parity' aims to remedy long lines - Yahoo! News

Disappointed by the election performance of Iraq's moderate parties, U.S. officials have established a more modest goal as Iraqi leaders divide power in a new government: preventing religious or nationalist parties from gaining a strong hold on the army and police.

American officials have made it a priority to persuade the winners in the election not to give top posts in the defense and interior ministries to anyone linked to armed groups such as the Shiite Muslim-controlled Badr and Al Mahdi militias, and the Kurds' peshmerga forces, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

U.S. Goals Adapt to New Iraq - Los Angeles Times

In the past several years, American evangelicals - and I am one of them - have amassed greater political power than at any time in our history. But at what cost to our witness and the integrity of our message?

Recently, I took a few days to reread the war sermons delivered by influential evangelical ministers during the lead up to the Iraq war.

In that period, from the fall of 2002 through the spring of 2003, many of the most respected voices in American evangelical circles blessed President George W. Bush's war plans, even when doing so required them to recast Christian doctrine.
...
Jerry Falwell declared that "God is pro-war" in the title of an essay he wrote in 2004.

i thought Jesus said "love your enemy" and "turn the other cheek".
The question what would Jesus do is easy in this instance to answer. He would have offered to wash Saadam's feet, prayed for his immortal soul, have been humble, meek and tried to negiotiate peace.
I'm a bit of a lapsed Christian but I know that much. The man I was taught about, who washed feet and cured the lepers and said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, was unlikely to have been a Republican. He was Jesus aka the Prince of Peace not "pro-war". "Blessed are the peace makers"!

Wayward Christian soldiers - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

I returned recently from a six-day trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan inspired by the progress that has been made in the region. Afghans and Iraqis yearn for a new beginning predicated on freedom. In both places, the keys to a new future are identical: better security and improved services. Each country is at a different point in its development on both of these fronts, and each is at an important crossroads.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Afghanistan stands at a more difficult and precarious junction than does Iraq. With a smaller U.S. military presence, Afghanistan is bracing for a larger NATO role in administering services and policing provinces and borders. This transition comes just as the insurgency in Afghanistan is gaining momentum.

Keeping The Progress Going

The question, of course, is what exactly the Iranians are up to. They
do not yet have nuclear weapons. The Israelis do. The Iranians have
now hinted that (a) they plan to build nuclear weapons and have
implied, as clearly as possible without saying it, that (b) they plan
to use them against Israel. On the surface, these statements appear to
be begging for a pre-emptive strike by Israel. There are many things
one might hope for, but a surprise visit from the Israeli air force is
not usually one of them.

This analysis is troubling. It suggests that Iran will provoke the U.S. into attacking it, because they want to get attacked.

Stratfor on what the hell Iran is up to...

How should the United States think about Iran? What explains the fanaticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and what can America and its allies do to change it?

Containing Tehran

That's the basis for bin Laden's truce offer. He is talking to America's far left and saying, "You know what. We're on the same side. So why don't you work on that hardhead George W. Bush?"
Bin Laden told us Thursday that our far left has been working for him. It's their poll results he quotes.
Bin Laden told us that our secret wiretapping program is something we should keep up. He's got people here already and he's got more coming and they are planning to blow us up.
In the War on Terror, a bin Laden tape is the far left's worst nightmare because it reminds Americans the war is real."

Awesome. Thanks John. You know, you've hit it just right... I *want* the terrorists to win. I *know* that George Bush is the only thing standing between us and total domination, and I speak out against his policies to get the terrorists in here even quicker.

This shit makes me fucking sick. We live in a country where demagogues like this can stand up in front of the nation and call me a traitor, compare me to Osama Bin Laden and not merely get away with it, but have half the country *applaud him*. Are people really so fucking stupid? Do they really still not understand that fearmongering and internal hatred is *exactly* the result terrorists are after? The word is terrorist for fucks sake. How much clearer can it be spelled out.

If you feel terrorized, then YOU'VE BEEN DEFEATED. If your fear leads you to hate and distrust your neighbor for disagreeing with you, YOU'RE DOING THEIR WORK FOR THEM.

I know this is just the internet and I'm just screaming into the wind here, but it truly hurts me that there are people who actually fucking believe that my political opposition to the president puts me in league with these vile murderers. It's absolutely disgusting, and the real danger this country faces. The individual attacks could be weathered. The fear and anger they breed are, apparently too difficult a challenge.

It's TOO HARD for half of America to stand by their neighbors, to embrace diversity, to withstand unchecked government power, to love their country enough to resist fear. And that's truly sad. It's destroying us.

Daily Kos: The Language Of Treason, Part II

We're hearing tales of two scenarios--one pessimistic, one optimistic--for the future of the Net. If the paranoids are right, the Net's toast. If they're not, it will be because we fought to save it, perhaps in a new way we haven't talked about before. Davids, meet your Goliaths.

This is a long essay. There is, however, no limit to how long I could have made it. The subjects covered here are no less enormous than the Net and its future. Even optimists agree that the Net's future as a free and open environment for business and culture is facing many threats. We can't begin to cover them all or cover all the ways we can fight them. I believe, however, that there is one sure way to fight all of these threats at once, and without doing it the bad guys will win. That's what this essay is about.

Here's a brief outline of the article. If you want to go straight to the solution, skip to the third section:

*

Scenario I: The Carriers Win
*

Scenario II: The Public Workaround
*

Scenario III: Fight with Words and Not Just Deeds

Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal