] And for what? To avenge 9/11 by punishing a regime that
] had no proven role in it? Out of humane concern for the
] Iraqi people, whom we have been, by our own policies,
] starving and impoverishing for the last decade? In order
] to destroy possibly mythical "weapons of mass
] destruction" in Iraq, even while we abide their proven
] existence in such potentially irrational countries as
] Pakistan, Israel, India, France, and, hardly least, the
] United States? The Administration attacked before it ever
] provided a justification that would satisfy any but the
] most TV-enchanted Christian soldier.

Barlow's reaction to hearing the Iraq war had begun.

BarlowFriendz | CONTEMPLATING WAR IN THE LAND OF PEACE

] As the White House contended that links between Mr.
] Hussein and Al Qaeda justified military action against
] Iraq, these analysts complained that reports on Iraq have
] attracted unusually intense scrutiny from senior policy
] makers within the Bush administration.
]
] "A lot of analysts have been upset about the way the
] Iraq-Al Qaeda case has been handled," said one
] intelligence official familiar with the debate.

] Several analysts have told colleagues they have become
] so frustrated that they have considered leaving the
] agency, according to government officials who have talked
] with the analysts.

NYT | C.I.A. Aides Feel Pressure in Preparing Iraqi Reports

] Russia delivered a statement of protest to the U.S.
] Embassy on Saturday, accusing Washington of tactics
] associated with the Cold War after a U.S. spy plane flew
] near Russia's border with neighboring Georgia.
]
] Two Russian fighters were scrambled to track the U-2 spy
] plane as it flew 12 to 19 miles from the Russian border
] Saturday, the Defense Ministry said, according to Russian
] news agencies.
]
] The U.S. Embassy said it had no comment.
]
] Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Nikolai Deryabin was
] quoted as saying that air defense systems locked onto the
] American plane as it began its flight over the former
] Soviet republic of Georgia, an impoverished Caucasus
] Mountains nation that Washington has identified as a
] possible haven for Islamic terrorists, including
] militants linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

CBS News | Russia: U.S. Using Cold War Tactics

] An Iraqi Kurdish group running part of northern Iraq said
] U.S. forces had launched a second day of missile strikes
] there on Sunday against an Islamist group accused by
] Washington of links to al Qaeda.
]
] An official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
] said U.S. missiles had struck suspected Ansar al-Islam
] positions near the Iranian border, one day after
] Washington firing missiles and launching air raids on
] Ansar's mountainous stronghold.
]
] "There were more strikes overnight, again with cruise
] missiles," said the official of the PUK, which also
] accuses Ansar al-Islam of links to the group that
] Washington blames for the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide attacks
] on the United States.

Iraqi Kurds Say U.S. Hits Islamists for Second Day (washingtonpost.com)

] Most of the new information comes from handwritten
] documents and computer hard drives seized during the
] March 1 capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, regarded by
] some government analysts as al Qaeda's most important
] operational planner. Known inside al Qaeda as "the
] Brain," Mohammed has acknowledged being the principal
] author of the Sept. 11, 2001, plot. Significantly, one
] official noted, Mohammed was arrested at a Rawalpindi,
] Pakistan, home owned by Abdul Quddoos Khan, a
] bacteriologist with access to production materials and
] facilities who has since disappeared.

More info from Mohammed's laptop.

Al Qaeda Near Biological, Chemical Arms Production (washingtonpost.com)

] An RAF aircraft is missing, following reports that it was
] hit by an American missile.
]
] It was not yet known what type of aircraft was involved
] or how many crew were on board, although a search for
] survivors is underway.
]
] It is thought the plane was brought down by a US Patriot
] anti-missile system stationed in the Gulf to protect
] Kuwait and coalition forces stationed there.

Also, Reuters news alert: (Sun March 23, 2003 02:57 AM ET)
] LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said it appeared that a Royal
] Air Force plane that went missing in the Gulf on Sunday
] had been shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile.
]
] "It appears the RAF aircraft was engaged by a Patriot
] missile near the Kuwaiti border. The crew are missing .
] I can't confirm the type of aircraft or the number of
] crew," said a spokesman for Britain's Defense Ministry.

BBC NEWS | UK | RAF aircraft hit by US Patriot missile

This is a truely excellent blow by blow war blog.

The Agonist--by Sean Paul Kelley

] 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

] The official White House gloss on why acres of newsprint
] previews were made to look stupid is that the CIA
] suddenly got a fix on the Iraqi figurehead and tried to
] take him out: "target of opportunity" replacing "shock
] and awe" as the Pentagon catchphrase of choice. That
] explanation has been accepted by the press as meekly as
] they bought the supposed war plans. But healthy distrust
] demands examination of another possibility. Did the US
] military - playing on the media's desperation to publish
] conflict strategies in advance as if they were sporting
] fixtures - sell them a false yarn about the action's
] likely shape?

Of course the media is being played.. The media always gets played in wartime. That should be obvious. Everyone knows the media was played durring the first Gulf War. Hell, its such common knowledge that its makde its way into Hollywood movies as a punchline. It is shocking that this is the first article I've seen that make this case..

The TV war coverage has really sucked.. Yes, the digi-fuzzy footage of the armored vehicles rolling at high speed across the desert is impressive.. But its not useful to have running on the TV for three hours while I gotta listen to a talking head tell me how cool it is. Not helpful. Not the information I want, certainly not the information I need. The "embedded" journalists have NOTHING useful to say. I have heard way more talk about their damn masks and bio suits then anything actually happening with the conflict..

And furthermore, the best shot of something blowing up came from Al-Jazeera [U: Abu-Dhabi actually]. The US news outlets fail on all levels..

] Yet when asked to explain what is actually happening in
] these violently pretty pictures, politicians contemptously
] refuse to give "a running commentary", while press
] secretaries hide behind the sandbags of "classified"
] information. This trick of appearing open while being
] closed is also seen in the military tactic of attaching
] reporters to army units. It looks fantastically democratic
] but even the most skilled journalists risk becoming, in
] the jargon, "clientised": coming to share the fear,
] excitement and eventually triumphalism of the troops
] beside them. And if heaps of charred bodies should occur
] on either side, these "embedded" journalists will be kept
] well away from them.

Anyone who made it up to the start of this war, and actually thought this administraton could be described as "open" in any way, should have their head checked.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Military mind games

] In other words, Iraq is a means toward an end. It is not
] an end in itself. It achieves nothing definitive by itself.
] Its purpose is to enable the United States to achieve other
] ends later, ends that will bring the nation closer to winning
] the war -- or so Washington hopes.
]
] ...the primary purpose of the Iraq war is to set the stage for
] undermining the foundations of al Qaeda in particular and
] of radical Islam as an effective paramilitary force in
] general.
]
] If the campaign goes well, two points will sink in: First,
] that the international system, alliances and institutions
] cannot contain American power; there is no protection there.
] And second, that the American ability to exercise warfare at
] extreme distances is overwhelming. Therefore, resistance to
] the United States is less rational than accommodating the
] United States.

Stratfor explains US strategy really well...

[IP] Stratfor Weekly: Beyond the Iraq Campaign