Truest statement of the week

Whatever the subject, we should be correct and consistent in our description of what the situation in Iraq is. This guidance summarizes the situation and suggests wording to use and avoid.
To begin with, combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials. The situation on the ground in Iraq is no different today than it has been for some months. Iraqi security forces are still fighting Sunni and al-Qaida insurgents. Many Iraqis remain very concerned for their country's future despite a dramatic improvement in security, the economy and living conditions in many areas.
As for U.S. involvement, it also goes too far to say that the U.S. part in the conflict in Iraq is over. President Obama said Monday night that "the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country."
However, 50,000 American troops remain in country. Our own reporting on the ground confirms that some of these troops, especially some 4,500 special operations forces, continue to be directly engaged in military operations. These troops are accompanying Iraqi soldiers into battle with militant groups and may well fire and be fired on. In addition, although administration spokesmen say we are now at the tail end of American involvement and all troops will be gone by the end of 2011, there is no guarantee that this will be the case.
Our stories about Iraq should make clear that U.S. troops remain involved in combat operations alongside Iraqi forces, although U.S. officials say the American combat mission has formally ended. We can also say the United States has ended its major combat role in Iraq, or that it has transferred military authority to Iraqi forces. We can add that beyond U.S. boots on the ground, Iraq is expected to need U.S. air power and other military support for years to control its own air space and to deter possible attack from abroad.

Unless there is balancing language, our content should not refer to the end of combat in Iraq, or the end of U.S. military involvement. Nor should it say flat-out (since we can't predict the future) that the United States is at the end of its military role.

-- Memo from AP Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production Tom Kent.

Truest statement of the week II

There cannot be healing without justice -- there is only this stubborn amnesia that We the American people impose on ourselves that allows the Mis-Rulers to keep committing their unrepentant and unpunished crimes.

It doesn't matter if I turn the page -- all the pages in the future have my dead son written all over them -- I can skip to the last page, and if I can’t read anything else, Casey’s needless and untimely death will always be carved into the millions of pieces of my broken heart.

And Casey and I are just two of millions.

And by the way, Barack -- I am not "turning the page" on my opposition to the continued occupation of Iraq, nor the escalating violence in Afghanistan until every last one of our troops/contractors/war profiteers are back on U.S. soil.

-- Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan, "Page Turning, etc" (Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox):

Truest statement of the week III

But this woman's principal stated concern about Obama involves the politics of Reverend Wright -- politics she assumes Obama must share in some sense. Sedar didn't pursue this statement, preferring to pretend that he has trapped the woman in a foolish self-contradiction. (He hadn't, at least to judge from the tape.) But might we make an obvious point? In an endless series of clips in 2008, Reverend Wright was shown making certain statements which are very unusual by the standards of mainstream American politics. Obvious fact: If some major Republican figure had spent twenty years in a church whose pastor held similarly unconventional views, we liberals would never stop talking about it.

-- Bob Somerby, The Daily Howler.

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday. And we are late.

Thank you to all who worked on this edition:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And what did we come up with?

• Truest statement of the week

Tom Kent of AP earned it with this memo.

• Truest statement of the week II

Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan continues to call out the lies of War Hawks.

• Truest statement of the week III

Ruth brought this one over and we agreed it was a truest. Too bad it couldn't be said in 2008, however. (Yes, we said it in 2008 here.)

• Editorial: Turn the page?

I (Jim) would have liked to have smoothed this over but there was no time. We were trucking along fine and dandy this morning and then Ava and C.I. both got sick (projectile vomiting) and we called a halt to the writing to let everyone get some rest. This editorial was planned and, where it works, that's because of the planning ahead of time.

• TV: Nothing Learned

Ava and C.I.'s piece that makes this edition. This is wonderful. They got sick just as they were finishing this. And you might have briefly seen it early this morning (5:00 a.m. PST) because Dona thought she was hitting save but accidentally published it. (She realized that 15 minutes after the fact and then pulled it offline.) If you saw the early version, you missed the last four paragraphs because they hadn't finished the piece yet (and you also may have seen some of the notes they'd written to themselves about the conclusion they were going for). This really is everything we could want from this edition, if you ask me. I thank them for this and especially when they were both so sick.

• TV: Analysis?

This is more or less their scraps. They wrote this and wrote it around left over pieces from the previous piece.

• What Makes Crowe A Star?

Ty mentioned the e-mail on Russell Crowe and Ava and C.I. and Rebecca were talking about the problems. Jess took notes and then we all worked on turning it into an article. The original plan was to have four pieces having nothing to do with Barack this week. We managed two.

• The Miracles of St. Barack.

This was supposed to be an indepth piece. Instead we made it a short feature when we regrouped this evening.

• The passing (fiction)

Our other non-Iraq, non-Barack piece. This is fiction and, as I promised several of you in e-mails and as I put into an earlier note, we are trying to do fiction throughout the year and not just during our yearly summer fiction read.

• Highlights

Mike, Elaine, Betty, Kat, Rebecca, Ruth, Wally, Cedric, Marcia, Stan and Ann wrote this and we thank them all.

And that's what we got.



Peace.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: Turn the page?

When George the Bully Boy Bush spoke about Iraq, you couldn't miss the fact checks or the critiques from the left. Or their demands that the MSM provide fact checks. But last week, Barack Obama gave a speech filled with lies about Iraq and the left either whored (John Nichols) or acted like it never happened.



The Iraq War did not end on Tuesday. Combat troops did not magically become non-combat troops. The US military will continue doing what they have done in Iraq and talk about 'new rules' ignore the fact that 4,500 US Special Forces are not governed by those rules.

Barack lied that America was safer as a result of the Iraq War when, in fact, the Iraq War bred not only violence within Iraq, it bred ill will towards the US throughout the world.

Barack the appeaser insisted that those against the war and those for the war needed to "turn the page" and offered his own talk with Bush as an example.

George W. Bush should be in prison for War Crimes. Barack can't call for that today because he's now as guilty of War Crimes as his predecessor.


"Turn the page," Barack insisted speaking like a weak, candy ass who refuses to hold anyone (other than his stereotype of African-American fathers) accountable.

The Constitution was shredded, our democracy was attacked and the free press abdicated their role. No, we're not going to turn a page.

We're not going to forget the way our leaders betrayed us, betrayed our beliefs, betrayed our laws. We're not going to wipe the slate clean and pretend nothing ever happened.

But then we're not some gutless changeling, forever desperate to fit in. We are American citizens who damn well will as what our country will do for us because that's the job of a federal government to provide for the citizens.

Male whore John F. Kennedy managed to 'flip the script' and push his and the government's responsibility off on the people setting the stage for the Vietnam nightmare that would follow.

It's past time that the people rose up and said enough.

Turn the page?

Hell no.

After Vietnam, Gerald Ford had to offer a conditional pardon program to those who resisted the draft and those who deserted and Jimmy Carter had to offer a a pardon to draft resisters. Why? Because Richard Nixon wasn't being punished for his crimes.

Bush isn't being punished for his crimes and what the hell is Barack offering?

Not a damn thing. Not even pardons for war resisters.

Bush walks free but those who refused to take part in the illegal war get nothing?

How very typical of Barack Obama.

If Tuesday's accomplished anything it was the destroying any remaining dreams that Barack H. Obama was the antiwar president.

TV: Nothing Learned

After wallowing in 'lifestyle' 'reporting' and other infotainments, the TV broadcast media wanted to tell the world immediately following 9-11 that "everything changed" and that they were now going to take their roles seriously. That pledge didn't even last one year which is how broadcast TV, more than any other medium, ended up selling the Iraq War. Last week, the genre had a White House pronouncement to cover and explained, through their actions, that they still hadn't learned a damn thing.





Tuesday, US President Barack Obama spoke from the Oval Office and a great deal of time was wasted dithering on about the 'new look' of the Oval Office in each network's prime time 'analyasis' -- if you can call a minute or two of gas bagging before the speech and less than that after the speech 'analysis.' It was embarrassing to watch the TV personalities weigh in (before the speech) on this 'new' look. Looking at photos in papers the next day, Mississippi Mud would be the 'theme' of the sitting area of the Oval Office but that didn't even make it on TV. What made it on TV was Barack behind a desk with those ugly drapes that were in place when Bush occupied the Oval Office. (Doubt us? Click here for a 2006 photo.) The drapes were the same. The desk behind Barack feautred more photo frames (including photos of himself) and drew to mind another cold fish who had trouble communicating with people: Lillith Crane. All that was missing was Fraiser pointing out her bizarre accordian style of displying magazines on the coffee table. In other words, the make over was a bust and,how very telling, the worshipful TV 'journalists' couldn't even tell you that.

ABC World News with Diane Sawyer opened with the speech to come.

Diane Sawyer: Good evening, a long war and a long road have reached a historic milestone tonight. The President is set to announce that America is officially ending its combat mission in Iraq, giving the lead to Iraqi forces. This comes 7 years, 5 months and 13 days after American troops arrived. And this was that moment marked by President George W. Bush on March 19, 2003.

George W. Bush: My fellow citizens, at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

Diane Sawyer: We saw the thunder of "shock and awe." Then that ground invasion encountering so little resistance as it rolled through the desert toward Baghdad. And in Baghdad, threee weeks after the war started, civilians cheered as Marines pulled down the huge statue of Saddam Hussein.


Yes, Diane went there.

And, in doing so, reminded everyone of the whoring she did to sell the illegal war.

Civilians cheered the statue coming down? No, Diane, a small number of shipped in exiles cheered. That was a PSYOPS operation that the US media gladly went along with. Click here for reality about the toppling of the statue at Information Clearing House.

Those who were evening news anchors then are all gone now. Brian Williams has replaced Tom Brokaw and Williams 2003 work was on MSNBC -- translation, few saw it. Katie Couric replaced Dan Rather and she can point to the debate on the war she moderated on NBC's The Today Show. Diane Sawyer?

Richard Nixon's favorite girl (we use the term intentionally and ironically) in his administration whored like no other. And, at her worst, was on prime time TV badgering the Dixie Chicks, specifically Natalie Maines, about Maines stating -- on a British concert stage -- that she was ashamed Bush was from Texas. "But about your commander-in-chief," Sawyer intoned over and over (a) forgetting that civilians in the United States have no commander-in-chief (check the Constitution, Diane) and (b) reminding everyone that nothing ever did as much to affix rumors of Diane being a lesbian as her interview with the coming out Ellen DeGeneres where she repeatedly appeared to be stating and displaying that she'd never met a gay person before.

We don't like Diane. In fact, "loathe" is too weak of a word for what we feel towards her. And it's due to her whoring for Bush (which inclued the attack on Howard Dean and Judy Dean -- and, if we ever get pissed off enough, we'll tell you what forced Diane to get honest on air about the so-called 'scream'). We usually set it aside but part of the reason we loathe Diane is because she whored it to sell the Iraq War. Tuesday, she demonstrated that nothing had changed.


Diane Sawyer (Con't): And three weeks after that, President Bush arrived on the aircraft carrier, standing under a sign that said "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." There would be triumph. Iraqis go to the polls. Their ink dipped fingers purple badges of courage. And the capture of Saddam Hussein. But there would also be another seven years of hard combat in a brutal war, the third longest war in American history. And as we said, now, tonight, President Obama is declaring the official end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. But be warned, it does not mean the danger is over. And Jake Tapper is at the White House to tell us more about what he's going to say. Jake?

Jake Tapper: Good evening, Diane. That's right, this evening President Obama will tell the American people that "Ending this war is not only in Iraq's interest, it is in our own. The United States has spent vast resources abroad at a time of tight budgets at home." And, Diane, even as he is declaring an end to the combat mission in Iraq, he say, "Today our most urgent task is to restore our economy and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work."


Jake Tapper had the advance text of the speech (most outlets did at this point, less than an hour and a half before the speech was to be given). And what he did he do with it? He gave you little bits and pieces of what would be said.

With ABC, we watched before the speech. The other two networks? We Tivo-ed them at home -- meaning we had the West Coast versions to refer to, the evening news broadcasts that were broadcast after Barack gave his speech. And even those 'reporting' after the speech did as Jake Tapper, confused Closed Captioning with reporting. See, reporting would be analyzing the claims made by Barack. No one had the guts to do that, though. And, low and behold, Media Matters didn't bemoan the lack of a fact check the next day. But they're only concerned with media responsibility when Republicans are getting coverage.

After Tapper finished quoting from Barack's speech, ABC News went to Dan Harris in Iraq. He would inform you that there were 560 IED explosions in August. He would also speak with three unidentified soldiers.

Dan Harris: Do you feel like the war is over?

Soldier 1: We're combat troops, we're still here. We've still got a job to do. The names change, But the mission's pretty much the same.

Dan Harris: So you don't feel like combat is done?

Soldier 1: Not at all, sir.

As he concluded his report, Harris would observe, "The White House may talk about ending this war but many on the homefront and on the frontlines say they are still fighting. "

To her credit, Diane and team opened with the speech, gave it the most air time. But it was amazing that with all that time, they had so very little to offer. Perspective? Diane would offer a folksy take that recalled Dan Rather and we're not sure that's a good thing. "As of tonight," she would declare, "4,427 American service men and women died in Iraq." And then go on to the suffering of "tiny Vermont" and the "small population of Montana" and "every single state" and the "4,000 miles between" Fairbanks, Alaska and Key West Florida. The most frightening thing of the night may have been how that passed for 'perspective.


CBS Evening News had Harry Smith sitting in for Couric and no one sitting in for the news. Which explains why the program led not with the speech Barack had just finished delivering but with Hurrican Earl on the East Coast. On the East Coast. Repeating, we were watching the West Coast broadcast. A hurricane that wouldn't touch our coast was judged as the lead and not the president's second Oval Office address.

Harry tossed to Bill Plante at the White House who offered a recap -- no analysis of the speech. And then went into, "But today President Obama called former President Bush who made the decision to surge troops into Iraq. Neither side would say what they discussed but the Republican leader of the Senate blasted President Obama for taking credit." A man was displayed on the screen declaring, "You might recall that the surge wasn't very popular when it was announced. You might also recall that one of its biggest critics was the current president." No where on the screen or in Plante's remarks was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell identified. And in less than two minutes, the 'report' was over and Harry had other things to focus on.

The main thing that registered was just how little work TV news did. Because a Republican figure (actually more than one) had called out Barack, that got airtime. Because of that, it was necessary to parade Barack's remarks against the "surge" and then his caving and claiming the "surge" worked. (The escalation did not work. The purpose of the escalation was to lower the rate of violence in order to allow Nouri and company the space to achieve the White House defined benchmarks for success. None of those benchmarks were achieved, therefore the "surge" failed.) They couldn't fact check Barack, they couldn't even question his claims. But Republicans criticize what they see as Barack's efforts to take credit for Bush's efforts and that they can pretend to 'explain.' (Nothing was explained, nothing was assessed. Just a bunch of clips of past statements paraded before the viewer.)

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, West Coast version, didn't lead with Iraq either. But, hey, we're talking about a 'news' show that decided not to air on Saturday (on either coast), not to even tape a show, due to a football game. As telling as that was about the news division, Brian had his own illuminating moment Tuesday.

Brian Williams: Now to tonight's address to the nation by the President. His second Oval Office speech as president. Barack Obama, you'll recall, ran against the Viet -- the Iraq War and tonight he made official what we watched on live TV 13 days ago: The combat phase is over. He said the US will pull out entirely by the end of next year. As he said earlier today, said again tonight, America's work in Iraq is not done. Our White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie has more from the north lawn tonight. Savannah, good evening.

Did you catch it? He got out "Viet" before he caught himself. Savannah gave a long synopsis of the speech Barack delivered and didn't bother to fact check because she apparently spent all of her time deciding whether or not she could neckline plunge at least as low as Lynda Carter in her Wonder Woman costume? The answer was yes and she might have even gone lower but the cameras wouldn't show that, in part because her white blouse was see through and viewers could see the freckles on her shoulders and the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. Some women try to stand out on the news via hardwork, Savannah went the T&A route. What proud, proud moment.

Like Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams used 4,427 for the number of US service members killed in Iraq. We mention that because ICCC says it 4416. Of course, ICCC has taken 3 deaths away from their count in the past six weeks and has made clear that Iraq is the last thing on their minds. The Defense Dept figures, [PDF format warning] issued Friday, count 4421 Americans killed while serving in Iraq. So ABC News and NBC News are keeping their own count? No. The 4427 number is coming from US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who used the figure Tuesday -- as Nancy Youssef reported for McClatchy and Tony Capaccio reported for Bloomberg. Gates was delivering a prepared speech and presumably the DoD sent him out with the correct figure. More disturbing is the fact that ICCC's number is so much lower than the Pentagon's. And charges of indifference to Iraq on the part of ICCC may soon turn to charges of a deliberate miscount.

Brian Williams did one thing the other two networks didn't do, offered that the death count for Iraqis -- a toll Diane and Harry skipped completely -- could be as high as "a million or more." The Lancet and other studies put the death toll at a million some time ago. Of all the anchors, only Brian Williams appeared to be aware of that.

Richard Engel offered Brian his take on what was missing from Barack's speech, "No mention of democracy. Whatever happened, Brian, to that idea that there woudl be a war in Iraq first to find Weapons of Mass Destruction and when that didn't happen, there would be a war in the Middle East to spread democracy. That dream died tonight. There was no mention that this would create a broader MiddleEast that was more stable, that was more democratic. How many times did we hear that speech from the Bush administration? Instead, he thanked the troops and, as Savannah referenced, he said it's time to turn the page. That was the message."

What was rather amazing was that Engel's remarks were pretty much it for WMD despite the illegal war being sold on WMD. You wouldn't know that if you caught CBS or ABC news or 'news' on Tuesday evening. You wouldn't really know it if you caught CBS on Wednesday. Robert Gates had given another speech and CBS 'news' wanted to 'report' on it.


Harry Smith: Gates told reporters history will judge whether the Iraq War was worth fighting.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: Even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States, it will always be clouded by how it began.

Harry Smith: Gates was referring of course to the Weapons of Mass Destruction that Saddam Hussein was believed to have stockpiled but were never found. Still ahead on the CBS . . .


Were never found? Were they misplaced, Harry? Or maybe they're like Al Capone's corpse? Prone to pop up any minute now?

That's it?

That's what these f**king assholes who sold us the war thinks qualifies as reporting?

In real time they wouldn't fact check the lies of Dick Cheney (for example, August 26, 2002: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has Weapons of Mass Destruction"), George W. Bush (for example, September 12, 2002: "Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons"), Ari Fleischer (for example, January 9, 2003: "We know for a fact that there are weapons there."), Colin Powell (for example, February 5, 2003: "We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his Weapons of Mass Destruction, is determined to make more''). There were no WMD in Iraq. None. And Bush wasn't mistaken, he willfully and knowingly misled the public (as did Collie, Cheney, Ari and the rest). They lied. Repeatedly. And the media let them get away with it. Not only that, the media amplified the lies -- knowing and willingly.

And after over a million Iraqis dead -- Iraqi deaths were 'sidestepped' by all but NBC Nightly News -- and over 4,000 Americans dead, after the death of a free press and the death of democracy within the United States, they want to keep lying.

Focusing on US deaths, the media found a number of surving family members last week who were ready to talk about 'sacrifice' and how their loved one died for a cause. Their loved one died in an illegal war and, in a functioning democracy, there would be a public apology for that. But it was so cute to watch this play out and grasp that 'democracy' was being fought for in the minds of some. US democracy was never, ever threatened by Iraq. But to go war with Iraq, democracy was attacked.

It was attacked by attempting to demonize Natalie Maines and others who spoke out against the illegal war. It was attacked by allowing public officials -- so-called leaders -- to lie to the people they allegedly serve. It was attacked by politicians using our Constitution to wipe their asses with as they destroyed every check and balance we supposedly had in a free society.

We are very sorry for those who lost loved ones serving in Iraq but as painful as those deaths were, the entire country was effected by the attack on our liberties launched by those who wanted to sell the illegal war. We have not recovered from that, we have not rebounded. Truth was not the first casualty of this illegal war, our Constitution was.

Though many realized that, very few took a stand for it. One of the few people who did and did so publicly was Lt Ehren Watada. He is the true hero of this time. Told he would be deploying to Iraq, the officer began studying up on it to be prepared. He quickly saw the lies and grasped that our nation's highest laws had been circumvented. He realized that the war was illegal and that, as an officer, he would be commanding those under him to serve in an illegal war.

Ehren made a hard decision, he wouldn't go to Iraq. He told his superiors of his decision and attempted to work it out privately. But they were, in fact, stalling him and trying to run out the clock, thinking that if they just ignored it, he would deploy. Instead, Ehren went public.

And the military slapped back, moving to 'discipline' him with an August 2006 Article 32 hearing and then a February 2007 court-martial with the loony Judge John Head (aka Judge Toilet). When the prosecution was clearly losing -- despite Head refusing to allow the defense to call the witnesses they needed, Head called a mistrial over defense objection. It really wasn't a surprise that to defend the illegal war that spat on the Constitution, Judge Head would ignore the Constitution and the protection against Double Jeporady. The Constitution had to be ripped apart to start the war, of course it would have to be torn anew in order to punish a truth teller.


In the end, Ehren walked. Judge Toilet sank back down into his sewer and the US government dropped their case againt Ehren. Ehren Watada was a winner because he stood up for the Constitution he took an oath to defend.

It was really something to watch the TV personalities yack on about sacrifice while they repeatedly refused to note the sacrifice our Constitution made, the battering it took. Over and over, the well coiffed and heavily made up told us that bad things happened over there and, in doing so, they ensured that the truth about the (ongoing) Iraq War would remain buried.

TV: Analysis?

After Barack Obama gave his Tuesday Oval Office speech, you could have gone blue in the face waiting for some form of analysis, critique or fact check. Though these are things the press is supposed to excell in, they were woefully absent from last week's broadcast media.

Take Washington Week (PBS) which thought the following passed as 'exploring' and 'analyzing'.


Dan Balz: When he gave that speech in the Oval Office, he talked about turning the page and what he meant to convey was, "It's time now to really focus on the economy." But, as that speech showed, the tension in that speech as he was trying to deal with a lot of issues at once, I think, underscore sort of the political problems that he and the Democrats and the administration have. I mean, he said, 'The economy is my principal responsibility as president. That's why we want to turn the page.' But turning the page? I mean, let's just start with Iraq. Yes, the combat mission is over. We still have 50,000 troops in Iraq. We will have a troops presence until the end of next year. Violence is not gone. It's been down. But it continues to flare and it flared pretty significantly recently. And the political issues have not been resolved. That's a government that still can't come together months after the election. So turning the page on Iraq alone is going to be difficult.
But combat missions didn't end, Dan Baltz and doesn't The Washington Post having anyone over standards?

We ask that because the Associated Press'oynter Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, Tom Kent, issued the following memo last week:

Whatever the subject, we should be correct and consistent in our description of what the situation in Iraq is. This guidance summarizes the situation and suggests wording to use and avoid.
To begin with, combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials. The situation on the ground in Iraq is no different today than it has been for some months. Iraqi security forces are still fighting Sunni and al-Qaida insurgents. Many Iraqis remain very concerned for their country's future despite a dramatic improvement in security, the economy and living conditions in many areas.
As for U.S. involvement, it also goes too far to say that the U.S. part in the conflict in Iraq is over. President Obama said Monday night that "the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country."
However, 50,000 American troops remain in country. Our own reporting on the ground confirms that some of these troops, especially some 4,500 special operations forces, continue to be directly engaged in military operations. These troops are accompanying Iraqi soldiers into battle with militant groups and may well fire and be fired on. In addition, although administration spokesmen say we are now at the tail end of American involvement and all troops will be gone by the end of 2011, there is no guarantee that this will be the case.
Our stories about Iraq should make clear that U.S. troops remain involved in combat operations alongside Iraqi forces, although U.S. officials say the American combat mission has formally ended. We can also say the United States has ended its major combat role in Iraq, or that it has transferred military authority to Iraqi forces. We can add that beyond U.S. boots on the ground, Iraq is expected to need U.S. air power and other military support for years to control its own air space and to deter possible attack from abroad.

Unless there is balancing language, our content should not refer to the end of combat in Iraq, or the end of U.S. military involvement. Nor should it say flat-out (since we can't predict the future) that the United States is at the end of its military role.

It's a real shame that more can't do the same but, hell, few can even take the issue seriously. Take ABC's Nightline which offered 'analysis' the night of the speech -- if 'analysis' to you is recapping -- without question or critique -- what Barack said. That was one segment. Another was Dan Harris' report. Part of which (US soldiers explaining combat missions had not ended) was aired previously by ABC during World News Tonight. Harris added to the report an Iraqi 1st Lt. who states that the Iraqi army "need[s] a couple more years" to be ready to protect the country and he added an Iraqi woman approaching him on the street -- one of many "strangers," he said, doing so -- asking if he could help get her family to the United States. But there was no time to explore or contemplate any of that in the rush to get to the very pressing issue of "teen online gambling."


There were a few exceptions to the rule. All week, The NewsHour (PBS) provided strong reporting by Margaret Warner (such as when Joe Biden admitted that the US troops in Iraq may be in Iraq well beyond 2011 or when she reported on the continued lack of functioning electricity in Iraq). On Wednesday, The Diane Rehm Show devoted the hour to a serious discussion of the speech and the realities with Phyllis Bennis as one of Diane's three guests. Matthew Rothschild used his Progressive Point of View radio spot to offer a strong critique of the speech. But again, these were the exceptions in broadcast media, not the rule.

The rule was blind repetition of the White House talking points. The rule was cheap programming that didn't even add in the value of independent thought. In fact, the whole thing was done so cheaply, it reminded us a Robert Wise film, such as Two for the Seesaw. In that movie, you're supposed to believe that Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine are falling in love
but also supposed to believe that Mitchum has an estranged wife whom the audience only hears (on the telephone) and never sees. The problem? The cheap Robert Wise refused to blow a few bucks by hiring two actresses. Shirley plays the girlfriend in a New York accent and, via voice over, plays Mitchum's wife in her own voice -- an instantly recognizable voice.

Cheap and completely unbelievable.

Just like what the bulk of the broadcast media served up last week as 'analysis.'

What Makes Crowe A Star?

Russell Crowe is an actor who became a star with the 1997 film LA Confidential. Gladiator came along in 2000 and cemented that star status. But reader Andi ("a big Russell fan") e-mailed wondering, "What the heck has happened to his career?"

Between LA Confidential and Gladiator, Crowe made the film The Insider and that's, more or less, what's happened to his career. He wants to be actor. And there's nothing wrong with that except for the fact that his actorly choices repeatedly take him far, far away from what audiences responded to.

A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma, Body of Lies, State of Play and Robin Hood feature strong performances by Crowe. And there's nothing wrong with going the actorly route -- it certainly can result in a longer career. But in terms of leading man, Russell Crowe can make the films ticket buyers want to see or he can prepare to move to supporting roles.

Bud White and Maximus, the audience favorites of his rolls, allowed him to be brooding and longing, paired him with a woman he'd do anything for. In 1995's The Quick and the Dead and Virtuosity, Crowe gave strong performances but he didn't connect with the audiences. Rough Magic, same year, was seen by less people than the other two but those who saw the film felt they were seeing a star emering.

In that Clare Peploe directed film, Crowe was playing a questionable character eager to make a fast buck. Which is how he ends up trailing Bridget Fonda and then quickly falling in love with her.



And that's what men and women want to see. The brooding, the push-and-the-pull, the decency emerging for love. It's not just that Crowe plays it beautifully (although he does), it's also that when he plays it, he makes us all believe that we are his characters and that love makes up more noble and better than we are.

And that's what audiences will line up and pay for.

Cautionary notes, such a film won't be executed by Ron Howard who has no talent for directing longing or brooding or anything that doesn't have that instant-TV feel. Nor will it be found playing against cerebral (read "cold") actresses such as Jennifer Connelly.

The Miracles of St. Barack.

And so he has spoken and so it is done. Last week, before a TV audience, Barack Obama turned combat troops into non-combat troops with a simple incantation. That was only one in a long line of miracles witnessed by the Cult of St. Barack.

Among the many miracles currently being reviewed by the Vatican for the proposed canonization of St. Barack, there is providing water, stopping tears and a basic cable offering.


1) Turned ordinary tap water into purified drinking water . . . with the help of a Brita Water Filter.

2) Provided Starz for free . . . to all U-Verse subscribers.

3) Prevented tears while shampooing . . . via Johnson & Johnson's No More Tears.

Our very own Corporate Jesus. And he also has them speaking in tongues they've yet to grasp as they praise "Morning Star" in the terminology of "New Dawn."

The passing (fiction)

She was dead.

She was dead and I knew her and she was gone.



We'd known each other in college, junior and senior year. Had many classes together junior year, stayed in touch senior year. And then fallen out of touch.

She was dead and I knew her and I felt nothing.

Except maybe relief.

Fallen out of touch was putting it to gently.

Dropped.

She dropped people.

When I met her, she was in the process of dropping Sandy.

Sandy was a cute and popular blond, planning to be a lawyer, crushing on some guy named Todd. It was a party at somebody's apartment. She made a point to say hello and her friend Sandy was freaking out. She didn't calm Sandy, she didn't soothe Sandy. She frequently shot me a look as if to say Sandy was putting her out.

I ended up in the bathroom with Sandy. She had a long cry. When she was nine, her brother had been playing with matches and, somehow, her lower body ended up on fire. Her upper thighs, the reason she never wore short skirts, were ripples of scars. She'd thought Todd was different. But they'd made love and now he wouldn't talk to her and, worse, he was telling everyone about her scars.

I helped Sandy get her make up back on and her spirits back up and we went back out to the party. She seemed like a sweet person but I really wouldn't know because she was dropped shortly after that and I never saw again.

But the other one, the now dead woman, had a habit of dropping people.

She'd dropped Alex, the tennis player, as well. But only after she'd used her for everything she could get.

It's the cold and harsh truth of morning that you try to avoid when you're first getting to know someone who's flattering you and treating you like your opinion matters, someone you think would be a great friend. But it's those moments you go back to after whatever fleeting friendship or 'friendship' flickers away.

I was dropped at graduation.

A few years later, it seemed I was brought back in. The office she was working at was having a huge Christmas party and I was sent a postcard invitation.

I debated whether or not to go. She obviously wasn't a friend. But there was the fact that we all have a chance to mature as the years pass and possibly she was different now? Possibly this was her way of apologizing?

Greeting me with a groan, she explained her secretary had gone through her address book and the invitation was a mistake.

No, she hadn't changed.

And that was the really the last I saw of her.

And, honestly, the last I thought of her.

Until a weekend phone call from a real college friend and, during that call, her death was mentioned. I was amazed at how I felt nothing. No anger, no sadness, no sense of relief, no sense of loss.

She meant nothing to me.

For a bit, I thought I was in some stage like denial. I decided if I looked up her death, if I read her obituary, the floodgates would open. So I hunted it down online.

I felt nothing.

I read about her life and felt nothing.

My only thought, as I closed the window, was, "I guess she got lucky that they didn't write about the money she embezzled from Student Life."

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"I Hate The War" -- Most requested highlight.

"Celibacy in the City" -- Isaiah dips into the archives for this classic.


"Summer, movies and TV," "Brian De Palma," "Haunted Honeymoon" and "Funny Lady" -- Betty, Kat, Stan and Trina talk movies.



"Iraq snapshot," "Shutting down the debate through invitation," "All the usual liars"
"The economy and Iraq," "When a canvas gets painted," "2 little whores at politico"
"The scroll," "Neal Conan uses NPR to preach endless war," "Which lie will he tell now?,"
"A pretty word for it," "Look who's on the phone talking," "What to do, what to do," "THIS JUST IN! END OF HIS ROPE!," "Command of the 'ended' war handed over," "Swanson truth tells, Nichols spins madly," "Barry & Sherry," "Fruits and vegetables," "tony blair, the aging drama queen," "Delusional?," "Barack goes down on Bush," "Mission Fail," "Barack the Fraud and Putz," "THIS JUST IN! BARRY O IN LOVE!," "Barry's got a crush," "The return of ABB,"
"he makes bush look like a rhodes scholar," "The great silence," "All Green in November,"
"John Pilger versus the whores," and "Iraq and other things" -- some of the community coverage of the War Whores.

Ann continued her coverage of Fresh Air:

• Anything to avoid including a woman
• It's as if she's begging me
• What if Terry was treated the way she treats other...
• Fruits and vegetables
• Filling in the overfilled spaces, Terry Gross

"The economy" -- Trina takes on the economy.

"the gulf disaster" -- Rebecca continues her Gulf Disaster coverage.

"Vanity Fair" -- Ruth critiques periodicals.

"The real sickos" and "Ken Mehlman" -- Marcia explains it all.

"Pretending to work" and "THIS JUST IN! HARD WORKER!" -- Cedric and Wally take on the ever-vacationing Prez.