|
|
|
Click here to keep up with Galen's Speaking Schedule
Looking for a back issue of Mullings? They're in the
Archives
Click here
to join the Mullings Movement!
Embed This
Monday March 24, 2003
From San Francisco, California
The San Francisco Women's Club
Walking through a store near Union Square here yesterday, a sales person asked me if the protesters were causing me any problems.
With the aplomb of someone who lives and works in Washington, DC - the world HQ of protests - I gave my best advice on how to deal with protesters: "Find out where they are. Then go somewhere else."
Protesters blocking traffic in places like downtown Chicago makes them feel powerful and makes for great TV. Protests like those are a valuable safety valve allowing those who - for whatever reasons - oppose the liberation of Iraq through these means to have a mechanism to vent their strong feelings.
Having said that, it seems to me, if they were serious about stopping war they would, rather than gathering in Times Square, assemble in Iraq so they could attempt to impede the movement of, as the AP's Chris Tomlinson put it: "More than 70 American tanks and 60 armored troop carriers racing 700 miles across rough desert terrain."
This business of having had journalists "embed" (which, for the first six hours I thought was, "IN bed") with the troops is all right as far as it goes, but it doesn't go very far.
Seeing the war through the front windshield of a Humvee, is riveting, but it is like watching an entire football game from the point of view of the back judge.
There is a reason they show you the whole field from cameras high above the stands.
Inevitably, the 600 journalists who have bundled into Doha, Qatar got very, very cranky when Gen. Tommy Franks didn't hold a briefing for three days. According to Newsweek's Martha Brandt:
"Franks is too busy running the war and, besides, he's never been fond of the press or military personnel who are drawn to the Klieg lights. Franks doesn't even like retired military yakking on the tube about potential military plans."
Pop Quiz #1: Name the two words which have not been heard, read, or seen since the first strike into Baghdad?
Jacques Chirac.
According to an article in the Asia Times by Julio Godoy, "The US is the biggest commercial partner of France, with French exports to the US topping some US$30 billion last year." Other reports indicate sales of French cheeses have fallen by 20 percent.
The "Wine Spectator" ran an on-line poll in which 31 percent of its readers said they were boycotting French wine. If you don't think that sounds like a lot, think about taking pay cut of about one-third this year.
Asked what they were doing with the French wine they already owned, one reader responded: "If French wines were poured out every time France was wimpy, there wouldn't be a vintage available after 1815."
Another wrote: "I'm saving my French wines to drink in celebration the next time the Wehrmacht marches into Paris."
The Iraqi army lobbed between two and seven Scud missiles into Kuwait during the first days of the war. Iraq isn't supposed to have any Scud missiles and, indeed, have denied having any.
In four-and-a-half months of searching, the crack inspection teams led by Hans Blix could not find any Scuds. The Coalition Forces found them in 18 hours.
The White House now lists 46 countries who are supporting the US-led effort in Iraq.
Pop Quiz #2: List the countries which have offered to send troops to protect the regime of Saddam Hussein?
Statistically, more people will have died in traffic accidents on California highways since the beginning of hostilities than allied troops in the war.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the White House list of coalition members, to the Martha Brandt Newsweek article, the Wine Spectator poll, a Mullfoto and a Catchy Caption of the day.
--END --
Copyright © 2003 Richard A. Galen
Current Issue |
Secret Decoder
Ring | Past
Issues | Email
Rich | Rich
Who?
Copyright �2002 Richard
A. Galen | Site design by Campaign
Solutions. | |
|
� 
