Getting things in proportion
Wednesday September 22, 2004; part of: War

The appearance of activity would be a whole lot easier if I just wrote a script that monitored Juan Cole's site, and -- every time something appeared there -- posted a link with a note saying "This demands deep thought. I am writing a paper about it".

However, I really, really can't understand why this sort of comparison does not figure anywhere in American public debate.

I know I bang on about the war to no avail, and saying nothing that we don't already know. But these last couple of weeks have felt like a turning point: the suck-it-and-see conservative supporters have publicly abandoned it: Max Hastings, Robert Novak, Simon Jenkins. These are people who have no trouble with the idea that God ought to be on the side of the big battalions. They have noticed he's not on our side in Iraq, and that the great problem now is to make an orderly and not too humiliating retreat.

Talking of God, here is a really harrowing account (via mefi) of five days as a hostage of one of the guerrilla groups.

Posted by andrewb at September 22, 2004 08:40 AM
Comments

hmm. I don't often see C.el and politics and Anglican on the same page. Got here through an EC-USA-themed blog.

Mr. Taylor's horrifying experience did get on American radio yesterday 9/22, but only on the Amy Goodman Democracy Now show, which tends to be distributed to low wattage community and university stations. You can hear the show on www.democracynow.org.

The blogosphere seems to be the only place to get interesting opinion nowadays. Commercial television, radio, and mass-market print focus on feeding America either feel-good pap or news specifically about Americans. Rest of world can go hang. This American lurks around the Guardian and Independent and BBC websites to see Rest-of-World.

Posted by: NancyP on September 24, 2004 12:08 AM

I like to think that this is the world's only source for news of the interface between nematodes and Anglicanism.

Posted by: el Patron on September 25, 2004 09:53 AM

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