Battleangel

The stream of misinformation never ends. Over the last couple of days we have seen a new record for dubious news flashes, wild guesses and a veritable festival of armchair generals offering their advice. This embedded journalist thing might not have been such a good idea after all. From what I have seen thus far it only promotes an emotional attachment to the unit that they are tagging, plus some people have made some pretty remarkable claims when in the heat of things. Or maybe it’s just the US propaganda machine that hasn’t fully grasped the fact that they people have become much more critical nowadays (I bet they miss the good old 50′s).

Examples of gross and possibly dangerous misinformation:

Claim: RG units around Baghdad just “melted away”. They must have given up. Or hey, maybe they are all dead?
Fact: You wish.

Claim: POW Jessica Lynch had been stabbed and sustained several gunshot wounds. Etc. Etc. Were captured making a wrong turn.
Fact: In reality she had a couple of broken bones. And they were captured in the middle of the fray. As or the “daring rescue”, special ops nicked her from a hospital.

Claim: Other POWs are being executed. Video shows entry wounds on the foreheads of the group that Lynch belonged to (or whatever).
Fact: After watching the video a couple of times you realize that some of these people have been sprayed with bullets and have sustained several wounds from small arms fire. At least two of these individuals have gunshot wound to the cranium. Most likely due to a fire fight. But american media is certain that no Iraqi could possibly aim that well. On the other hand, when Iraqi soldiers are found in the same condition it is simply attributed to US marksmanship The fact is that no one knows and everything we hear right now is propaganda.

Claim: White powder in warehouse was some kind of WMD.
Fact: White powder was in fact explosives.

Claim: [insert any “WMD”] found!
Fact: We found something we do not understand. And we don’t read arabic so best guess is that it must be WMD because that is what we are here for right?

Claim: [insert name] in under coalition control!
Fact: Coalition troops will attack target within the next 24h and with some luck everything will go according to plan.

Tip of the day: Stick to the truth. It makes it so much easier for the rest of us. And stop jumping the gun on every new piece of information!

I’m still amazed that the Iraqis seem to deal so lightly with the matter of an foreign army outside the capital. Still no evidence of demolished bridges or and other drastic measure to slow the advance of coalition troops. Something is very, very fishy in this conflict. I just can’t put my finger on it.

And, as with all conflicts, we tend to focus too much on people and not on actual events. Like how this war is supposedly about getting rid of Saddam (was: getting rid of WMD). Personally I would be very honored if the US sent three divisions to hunt me down. That is really evidence that you are getting the V.I.P. treatment, right?
It’s a good thing Saddam decided to show himself at last. I almost jumped the bandwagon and believed that he actually was dead. All this speculation must be pretty entertaining for him. And if there is one thing I am sure of, it is that Mr. Hussein has a sense of humour.
If you take a step back and look at all the theories about doppelgangers, hilarious escape plans and video analysis, you will see just how stupid this really is.
In the end, who has the stomach for war? Saddam is seen laughing in the face of defeat (or at least that is what we believe is about to happen) while Bush seems to be taking Valium and turning more inconsistent by the day.