Wow

Just followed some links from a friend’s blog about the war in Iraq.

Sidney Blumenthal interviews retired generals for The Guardian and this piece from salon.com has some particularly chilling revelations about Fallujah.

I’m not well versed in the intricacies of global politics, and I am awfully cynical (goes with the job), but I think I’ve been witness to enough of these U.S.-led “wars” to know that if it smells like a a rat, it is a rat. There are a lot of theories about why we’re really in Iraq — from Dubya wanting to off Saddam for dear old dad, to the Bush family’s ties to Saudi oil. One of those articles suggests we’re playing right into the hands of Iran and bin Laden by “liberating” Iraq. I’d like to see more about this and how it fits in with the two other theories. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of stuff that will get dismissed by a lot of small-minded editors at small papers. People don’t understand that the typical audience for a 20,000-circulation is who needs to be reading these pieces from “alternate” outlets. AP isn’t going to be on this stuff until it’s been bludgeoned to death on CNN, MSNBC or FOX. And can you believe the editor actually told readers we generally only use AP because papers like the New York Times “take too many chances” and “don’t verify their sources”?

That should have set off big, flashing lights and screaming alarms, but it didn’t. There’s a whole different set of factors that want to send me screaming from that place. But in addition to a pay check, it’s turned into the ultimate exercise in self control — and it’s pretty damned amusing at the same time.