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03.19.03
The waiting is over
From one of my old diaries:
01.16.91
At 4:50PM EST, international troops began an air
strike on Iraqi military bases. At that time, nobody here knew
anything. I had gone to work as usual at 6:00PM and Andy had the radio
tuned to WTIC in the office. I heard the announcer say that Radio
Baghdad had gone off the air an hour or so ago. About 30 minutes
later, Migdalia came out of the office saying the war had started.
We moved the radio to the box office scarcely believing people were
coming to the movies while this was happening. It wasn't until 7:00PM
that US formally declared the liberation of Kuwait had begun. Desert
Shield had turned into Desert Storm.
None of us expected it so soon--only 19 hours after
the U.S. Resolution deadline. Although Washington told journalists to
leave Iraq, some 45 reporters are still in a hotel in Baghdad. They
apparently thought they had at least 48 hours to get out. While
most of them are located in a bomb shelter beneath the hotel, two or
three CNN reporters are on the 9th floor. Bernard Shaw, John Holliman
and Peter Arnett.
As of 6:00AM their time, they were still
broadcasting. Amazing. I sense an Emmy for CNN and their
"coverage by default".
I spent most of the next week glued in front of CNN and
the next month weaning myself from my new addiction. I was amazed at how
powerful immediate access to global information could be.
And tonight, here we go again.
I read some interesting statistics today, but don't
recall where they came from--probably linked off Back
to Iraq or qhate. About 30
countries have signed up to be a part of the Coalition for the Immediate
Disarmament of Iraq. As there are about 190 something countries in the
entire world, the US has the backing of about 15%.
85% of the world wants nothing to do with what we are
doing.
Gee. Welcome to the American Empire.
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