] A spokesman for the 101st said two grenades had been
] thrown into a command tent at Camp
] Pennsylvania, one of the desert bases from where U.S.
] forces have launched an invasion to try to
] overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

] Central Command gave no details of the wounded. It did
] not name the suspect or comment on a
] possible motive. U.S. broadcaster Fox News said he was a
] Muslim American and that he had been
] described as "acting strange" before attack.

Swissinfo | Reuters | US 101st Airborne Command attacked at Camp Pennsylvania

] These include a powerful propaganda machine — America’s
] is the most comprehensive and sophisticated in history —
] centered around a few simple, powerful symbols which,
] though in themselves meaningless, are nonetheless, in
] old-fashioned parlance, taboo. It remains an offense to
] “desecrate” the flag.
]
] They also include a public rhetoric so far removed from
] ordinary speech as to constitute practically a separate
] language and whose intended effect is essentially to
] baffle...

Do you watch cspan?

ArabNews: Neo-Totalitarianism

Eyewitness account of the bombing a few hours ago:

] Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's main presidential
] palace, a great rampart of a building 20 stories high,
] simply exploded in front of me -- a cauldron of fire,
] a 100ft sheet of flame and a sound that had my ears
] singing for an hour after. The entire, massively
] buttressed edifice shuddered under the impact. Then four
] more Cruise missiles came in.
. . .
] No doubt this morning the Iraqi minister of information
] will address us all again and insist that Iraq will prevail.
] We shall see. But many Iraqis are now asking an obvious
] question: How many days? Not because they want the Americans
] or the British in Baghdad, though they may profoundly wish
] it. But because they want this violence to end: Which, when
] you think of it, is exactly why these raids took place.

ArabNews: Baghdad's Night of Terror

] The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division met strong fire and
] resistance when it tried to enter An Nasiriyah, where it
] would cross the Euphrates, sources in the Russian
] military say. Iraqi infantry units supported by the
] Republican Guard reportedly blocked the U.S. forces'
] advance. The sources said the 3rd Infantry declined
] further combat and moved down the western bank of the
] Euphrates.

1. This is a great blow by blow war blog.
2. Yup, it appears at least possible that a US military unit "retreated." The Iraqi information minister was not lieing about that in the statement made around midnight CST. He was spinning it hard, but he wasn't lieing.

The Agonist--by Sean Paul Kelley

] SAN FRANCISCO -- While protesters against the War in Iraq
] attempted to jam busy downtown streets, police attired in
] fashionable riot gear have implemented a new tactic to
] stem the flow and demoralize the crowds.

This is really funny.

Quiet Riot Police iRock Iraq Protesters With iPods.

Decius wrote:

] I don't really need to rip the Iraqi propaganda. The press is
] happy to offer every imaginable question about it whenever it
] is released. However, at least the American press is never,
] ever seen to question the information coming out of the U.S.
] Military. I've turned my TV off serveral times simply because
] I didn't feel like I wanted to be treated like an idiot
] anymore. They are covering this like a football game, and they
] seem completely naive about how they are being manipulated.
]

This is finally getting to me. How on earth can you reconcile the worlds of military intelligence, battlefield tactics and 24-hour news channels? Are we looking at the best possible compromise, or just being force-fed the Gerber Baby Propaganda?
We all know that everyone else in the world (including Iraq) is watching CNN. How much can we expect from any such coverage?

I'm afraid to say that this whole thing is showing that we (the info-rich individuals with half of a skeptic bone in our body who wish that the Internet was able to serve us the raw data that it SHOULD) have absolutely nothing when compared with the MediaMachine. Raw Data? The lowest common demoninator rules this land, and the LCD just loves to know that the RedWhiteBlue is flying high over some poor little brown people who need to be liberated. In the meantime, CNN is going to show the LCD what it wants to see, which is tanks rolling across the battlefield. In the meantime, when someone finds a good (deleted) who can forward along battlefield recon data, let me know - I'm game.

] Seriously, in Bush's talk on Monday he gave the EXACT time
] when the conflict would begin. We ALL turned on our TVs at
] that exact time. We all saw exactly what we expected to see.

Well, give them a little bit of credit ... When you know that the war machine is about to come barrelling over you and you have a chance to avoid it... I seem to recall that there were some memes around here about Saddam making some kind of movement in the last few hours... which actually seemed kind of likely, didn't it?

Sorry. I'm just mad because I've spent a lot of good time and effort towards helping my inner child defeat my inner cynic. The inner cynic has, in the past few days, fairly abused my inner child.

My inner cynic says he's worried that Baghdad will go up in a nuclear blast as soon as it looks like it's about to be taken, but my inner cynic is also paranoid as hell.

I don't thin it will end up in a nuclear blast. I think they have done a good job in showing some restraint and sparing as many cicilians as possible.

The press is always manipilated during wartimme. What better wa to spread disinformation and win the psychological war. However, I think what we are recieving is far more of an actual protrayal that what the Iraqis are seeing.

RE: Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Military mind games

] Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may have been hurt in the
] first airstrikes on Baghdad, U.S. intelligence sources
] told ABCNEWS. The information came as U.S.-led coalition
] forces made dramatic gains in Iraq, seizing control of
] the southern Iraqi oil fields.

Don't know about the validity of this. Haven't seen it reported elsewhere.

ABCNEWS.com : Sources: Saddam Injured in U.S. Airstrike

Welcome to ProtestWarrior.com, a website created to help arm the liberty-loving Silent Majority with ammo -- ammo that strikes at the intellectual solar plexus of the Left.

Encouraged by our successful crashing of the February 16th San Francisco anti-war protest, we decided it was time for the Left to put down their megaphones, peel off their bumper stickers, and listen to the people who believe in the core values of this country. It's time to start making a little noise...

ProtestWarrior.com - fighting the left... doing it right

] The search is on for more than $US6 billion ($10 billion)
] that the United States believes Saddam Hussein and his
] inner circle have stashed around the globe.
]
] "Today we launched a financial offensive against the
] regime of Saddam Hussein," said the US Treasury
] Secretary, John Snow.

US hunts regime's hidden billions

Iraqis appear to fire banned missiles
By DAFNA LINZER
Associated Press

The very missiles Saddam Hussein fired at U.S. forces in Kuwait
appear to have been the same weapons he either claimed not to possess or agreed to destroy.

U.S., British and Kuwait military officials said Iraq fired at least three missiles Thursday - though they differed on how many of them were Scuds.

AP Wire | 03/20/2003 | Iraqis appear to fire banned missiles