oddity

Last night there was a breaking news report that US troops had found a chemical weapons plant. Shortly afterwards there was a more blunt statement; "Pentagon announces discovery of chemical weapons plant". And I thought, "well, I guess I was wrong about that, then. And I was wrong to laugh along with the house of commons when Tony Blair claimed major anthrax production was being carried out in Iraq."

This morning, though, it's not the front-page news on the BBC that I expected it'd be. Instead, there's this small paragraph about 2/3 of the way down the general war summary they've been running daily:

US forces are meanwhile investigating what they say is a suspected chemical plant about 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the capital, near the town of Najaf. A US military spokesman at Central Command in Qatar said simply: "We have identified potential sites of interest and we're looking into (them)".

It may not have been smart of the Pentagon to pre-emptively declare this to be a weapons factory. Because if it turns out it's just a Coca-Cola bottling plant, it'll make for another rallying point for the more strident anti-war people.

Which reminds me. There's FUD on both pro- and anti- war sides. I hate all of it pretty much equally. I like to be informed, not emotionally badgered.

from the "can't make this shit up" department

Apparently, and I say apparently because I got this from Sky News (think Fox News) who tend to have a "report first, ask questions later" attitude, the Americans (yes, all 250 million of them, lest there be any doubt about what I mean when I say "Americans") are complaining to Russia about the Iraqis' use of Russian-made jamming equipment. I presume they mean radio or radar jamming, as opposed to amps, guitars, and microphones. If this is true then I shall be immensely impressed with the ability of the relevant people to make such complaints with a straight face.

On-the-ground interviews with troops seem to indicate that the suspected chemical weapons factory was just an arms dump, but another location is under investigation. This is why I'm preferring the BBC coverage over most of the others; they're reporting non-favourable news with about as much weight as favourable news, which on the whole gives me the impression that it might actually be based on the truth.

a good point well made

Danny O'Brien puts it better than I could hope to.

also noted

The guy who was writing really funny movie reviews on Aertel appears to have been taken off the job in favour of the staid crap that was there before him. I'd love to have seen his comment for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas I'm sure it would have been far better than this:

Psychedelic road movie, adapted from Hunter S Thompson's cult novel. A journalist & his attorney friend drive from LA to Las Vegas on a drugs binge. Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro.