Comments on: American Privilege

By: File Under “Bad Ass”: Feminist Uprising in Italy « Pieces of String

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:41:49 +0000

[...] HAD a prime minister (I assumed they did the “president” title for whatever reason, American privilege, anyone?). It sucks that this has apparently been such a problem for so long, but it rules that [...]

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:08:37 +0000

Nope. I was being serious.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:44:35 +0000

So since it’s something you didn’t need to respond to were you just being funny when you said you answered the question?
Great stuff, Kathy. I look forward to more.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:06:17 +0000

Bryan, why would I address the question of whether or not it was my intent to support Hinderaker’s argument? That is *your* spin on what I wrote, *your* way of justifying your position. It’s not something I need to respond to, as if it were a serious point.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:38:18 +0000

Uh, Kathy, you conspicuously avoided the subject of journalism and whether or not it was your intent to support Hinderaker’s argument. Instead you tried to take issue with whether or not pictures showing progress in Iraq, such as the ones I suggested, would show Iraq as something other than hell.

There’s nothing to like or dislike about your “answer” unless it’s the relative distance from the questions that were asked.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:07:14 +0000

I answered the question, Bryan. You just don’t like the answer.

By: Chief

Chief — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:42:06 +0000

As long as the U.S. has even one permanent base in Iraq, I;ll never buy into the “Success in Iraq” mindset. We are occupiers there and we need to leave.

If the media is ‘bored’ and isn’t reporting as many war stories, maybe is says more about the media and the American public than it says about any measure of success.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:31:03 +0000

Huh. Kathy didn’t answer the question again. The start of a pattern?

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:11:49 +0000

an open unarmed Hummer

Sorry, an open unarmed Humvee. I see so many make-believe invaders and armchair warriors in their pretend military tanks on the streets now that sometimes I do get mixed up between Hummers and Humvees.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:50:47 +0000

That market in Baghdad — would that be the same one that David Petraeus drove through in an open unarmed Hummer? Or is it the one that John McCain strolled through in a bullet-proof jacket surrounded by armed troops with helicopters hovering overhead, as he told us that any of us Americans could walk around there without fear?

Gainfully employed? By whom? I guess they must have worked those problems with the U.S. not paying them.

I’m sure you remember that Hussein had a lot of help from the U.S. with those resources he poured into the Iran-Iraq war. Oh, and about the infrastructure: It has been neglected, but not for 30 years. It was fine before 1991, when the U.S. destroyed it in the Gulf War, and over the next 12 years of almost continuous bombing raids. Funny, not much has been done with that infrastructure in the past five years, either. Saddam, as you’ll recall quit his job in 2003.

One final note: Happy Iraqi markets are nice, but they are no substitute for clean water, food, a home, and friends and relatives who aren’t dead. Pictures of happy Iraqi markets make Americans like you happy, but if you were an Iraqi living in Iraq day to day, and having gone through the last five years of war and occupation (not to mention the more than a decade of killer sanctions before that, and before THAT the Gulf War) you would know that Iraq is not a happy place overall. In fact, overall, Iraq is hell.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:24:04 +0000

Are you trying to prove Hinderaker’s point, Kathy? That the Times can’t be bothered to publish anything that doesn’t carry the stain of failure attached?

There are plenty of pictures of success. Markets in Basra, Baghdad and even Kirkuk operating like normal everyday markets. Former Sunni insurgents gainfully employed in keeping security in their provinces–fighting al Qaida. Iraq poised to secure oil deals that will help ensure a national income to enable investment in infrastructure–investment severely neglected for thirty years (since Hussein began pouring resources into the Iran-Iraq War–with only a tiny respite between that and the invasion of Kuwait). The Times has access to the traditional defense. Violence sells papers. Stories about happy Iraqi markets do not. The fact that heavy reporting on the success in Iraq would not help Obama is just gravy.