Flit

GETTING LOST IN THAT HOPELESS LITTLE SCREEN

I'm sorry, I didn't want to say anything obvious, because I thought it would look like Yank-bashing, but I can resist no longer: speaking as a both-sides-of-the-scrum veteran myself, the Bush appearance last night was the worst press conference appearance by a national leader I have ever seen (and I lived through the Chretien years!). I could see someone thinking that was the best they could expect from their guy, but anyone who truly believes that scrum was an effective communications opportunity is clearly in a different universe from mine.

My favourite mistake, to quote Ms. Crow, the point where I actually started giggling, was when Bush (go now, the transcript's not fixed up for posterity yet) said, on why he didn't invade Afghanistan right away:

It would have been awfully hard to do, as well, by the way -- we would have had to -- we hadn't got our relationship right with Pakistan yet. The Caucus area would have been very difficult from which to base. It just seemed an impractical strategy at the time, and frankly, I didn't contemplate it.

Okay, One, It's "Caucasus."
Two, The Caucasus is nowhere near Afghanistan.

WE'RE DRINKING AND WE'RE DANCING BUT THERE'S NOTHING REALLY HAPPENING...

Interesting. The Prime Minister's big speech on defence managed to recap everything that has been already announced over the last six months, leave out the one piece of news everybody expected, and put in an unanticipated perk for soldiers.

First off, all the stuff we already knew about:
--continuing the Afghan mission at battalion-strength until mid-2005 (knew it months ago);
--purchasing replacement Search and Rescue aircraft (announced last month in the budget);
--continuing to fund the navy's decade-long quixotic quest to create an all-in-one logistics vessel, that merges the navy's need for deepwater resupply and the army's need for troop lift (can't be done, but we heard today they'd keep trying; Gordius, call your office);
--the defence policy review that was promised years ago by his predecessor.
--the tax break for Canadian soldiers overseas that was announced in the budget, with the added twist that it was going to be extended to "medium intensity" missions (ie, Bosnia and Haiti) as well as Afghan duty. Nice fillip on the PM's part, that.

But where, oh where was the Mobile Gun System announcement that was expected? When Martin came into office, recall, he froze capital spending, which stopped the project to replace Canadian tanks with 105mm wheeled vehicles. The Globe, going into the announcement, even said this would be the big news today. But nothing. Is DND souring on the MGS?

UPDATE: Since I'm linking to the CASR site, here's two other interesting recent reads over there: a new idea for giving Canada and coalition partners access to strategic airlift; and a realistic assessment of the threat of terrorist nukes.

SPOKE-TOO-SOON UPDATE: The text of the speech is up now here. And sure enough, there's the MGS reference: The replacement of our tanks by the mobile gun system is a good example - of the transformation from heavy and largely unusable capacity to the lighter, more mobile capabilities that are required within the new strategic environment. As I noted, it didn't make the first press release, for some reason, but it did make a second release, issued overnight.

AND ALL THE BRIDGES ARE BURNING THAT WE MIGHT HAVE CROSSED...

Mrs. Bush applauds her special guest, Dr. Adnan Pachachi, President of the Iraqi Governing Council, during President Bush's State of the Union Address at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004. "Sir, America stands with you and the Iraqi people as you build a free and peaceful nation," said the President in his acknowledgement of Dr. Pachachi.

--Photo caption, Whitehouse.gov

It is not right to punish all the people of Falluja, and we consider these operations by the Americans unacceptable and illegal.

--Adnan Pachachi, last weekend.

I SAID THIS CAN'T BE ME, MUST BE MY DOUBLE

Don't you worry, um, Tahir Yuldashev, maybe they didn't catch you this time live on CNN, but they'll catch you some day. And when they do, we still won't have a clue who you are.

AH YOU LOVED ME AS A LOSER, BUT NOW YOU'RE WORRIED THAT I JUST MIGHT WIN

Scenes from Fallujah:

That same day, Brent Bourgeois, a 20-year-old lance corporal from Kenner, La., said he had seen an American helicopter fire a missile at a man with a slingshot.

"We don't," he said.

New York Times today. I'm beginning to believe I overestimated the much-touted Marine mastery of modern peacemaking doctrine.

DANCE ME THROUGH THE PANIC 'TIL I'M GATHERED SAFELY IN

Many of the wounded were brought in by the muj and they stood around openly conversing with doctors and others. They conferred together about logistical questions; not once did I see the muj threatening people with the ubiquitous Kalashnikovs.

Eyewitness blogger account from the other side in Fallujah. The usual warnings apply.

YOU STRIKE MY SIDE BY ACCIDENT, AS YOU GO DOWN FOR YOUR GOLD

"As Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of U.S. military operations in Iraq, was speaking by phone on al-Jazeera and insisting that American forces declared a unilateral ceasefire in Fallujah, the channel was airing live images of continued air raids by F16 fighter jets on residential neighborhoods of the town."

--Rule no. 1 of PR: don't phone in live to a hostile TV station. (From Unfair Witness, which also passes on the piece of news that Gen. Kimmitt is being called "Kimmitt the Frog" by Iraqis.)

YOU'RE FAITHFUL TO THE BETTER MAN. I'M AFRAID THAT HE LEFT

"There was a--nobody in our government, at least, and I don't think the prior government, could envision flying airplanes into buildings on such a massive scale."

--George Bush, last night

The former FBI chief also acknowledged that steps were taken to shield the White House, the 2000 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and meetings of world leaders from possible attacks by terrorists using a hijacked plane as a missile.

--Globe and Mail, today

At least five months before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. air defence planners proposed a war-game situation in which a terrorist group hijacked an airliner and flew it into the Pentagon...

--Globe, also today

SIR I DIDN'T SEE NOTHING, I WAS JUST GETTING HOME LATE

Juan Cole was doing so well in this entry on the Bush presser, and then he has to go and tell an out-and-out objectively-pro-Saddam untruth, that is certain to lead a large number of people to discount his analysis, his blog, and him entirely. The peril of blogger overreach:

Saddam Hussein never gave any real support to the Palestinian cause, and he did not pay suicide bombers to blow themselves up. It is alleged that he funneled money to the orphans of such suicide bombers, but I have never seen any documentation for the claim. Supporting orphans is in any case not the same as funding terrorism.

Ken Layne, who had a lot to do with the takeoff of political blogging in America and deserves a modicum of respect for that, effectively tied together the "documentation" on this issue long ago. Go back and read it... most of the links are still good.

UPDATE: Ironically, Paul McGeough, the Australian reporter who documented the Iraqi payments to the families of suicide bombers, has since moved on to other venues... most recently being threatened with death by an unhinged American soldier in Baghdad.