Another White Night

This is what sports commentators like to refer to as tarnishing your legacy.

[Woodward's former partner] Carl Bernstein ... was loyal as ever but he did say something very revealing -- and unintentionally damning. "... [The White House] can’t turn off this searchlight [the Fitzgerald investigation], which is shining on a White House that runs a media apparatus so sophisticated in discrediting its critics it makes the Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Ziegler press shop look like a small-time operation." And these are the very thugs that Woodward was protecting while attacking the guy operating the searchlight.

I was born in 1980. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that many people in my generation have viewed Woodward and Bernstein as being worthy of respect and practically heroic. Seeing him turn into one of the administration's voluntary mouthpieces à la Judith Miller and the covert propagandists is very disappointing.

CNN's Situation Room actually mentioned the white phosphorus allegations. The Pentagon's response was that most of the people remaining in Fallujah were "mostly" insurgents and their supporters. The Courtier raised a good point: the old and the infirm, and the poor, were probably unable to leave. Just like in Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma. (An elected representative from Florida noted that most of his constituents were 80 or so, and they did have difficulty arranging for a couple days' worth of food before the storm hit.) See Riverbend for some local reaction.

Few Iraqis ever doubted the American use of chemical weapons in Falloojeh. We've been hearing the terrifying stories of people burnt to the bone for well over a year now. I just didn’t want it confirmed.

I didn't want it confirmed because confirming the atrocities that occurred in Falloojeh means verifying how really lost we are as Iraqis under American occupation and how incredibly useless the world is in general- the UN, Kofi Annan, humanitarian organizations, clerics, the Pope, journalists ... you name it- we've lost faith in it.

The Pentagon acknowledged the use of white phosphorus, but denied that civilians were targeted. Note, however, that their own words as reported on CNN don't rule out the possibility of civilians being inadvertently hit with WP.

Consider the words of Sunni politican Sa'doon al-Zubaydi, who was a translator and ambassador under the Hussein regime. He's responding to allegations of torture by Iraqis.

But the other factor is the factor of the culture of violence and violations of human rights that we've been living in for during the past two years, especially. And the American precedents are no exception to that.... The new Iraq that we hear about does not exist. The new Iraq that is supposed to have developed democracy to export it into the region has become an Iraq that can only export violence into the region. And that is not the dream that the American -- the American administration has promised the Iraqi people. It's a failure that can be seen by the Iraqi people, and I think by the world, of the American adventure in Iraq.

He calls for an investigation by a neutral, international third party. The entire segment with him on CNN's Your World Today is worth reading for the full context, as well as the comments from the Iraqi Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior. This older interview with al-Zubaydi is also interesting; it provides some information about his background. This AP article discusses some of the rumors about torture, and Iraqi politicians' respones.

While Zubaydi's comments could be perceived as those of someone who wants to protect his country's image in the aftermath of the torture allegations, it's no wonder that the Senate wants to see more progress in Iraq.

"I don't care who gets credit for this amendment," Warner [R-VA] said in response to questions about which party drafted the resolution. "Let's show the maximum amount of bipartisanship, reach across the aisle."

"Although our amendment was not adopted with some provisions that we think are important, the most important message that is being sent from the U.S. Senate today is: 'We want to change course,' " said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the Armed Services Committee's ranking Democrat. "Staying the course is not a strategy. It's a slogan."