Lessons Of Beirut Bombing Lost In Baghdad/Toronto Star--New WMW

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR NOVEMBER 3, 2003

1//The Toronto Star, Canada--LESSONS OF BEIRUT BOMBING LOST IN BAGHDAD (But in Beirut, people see common parallels as well: unflattering views of both U.S. deployments as naïve, muddled and at times arrogant adventures into two infinitely complex corners of Mideast geopolitics. "The lessons of Beirut are still there: if you cannot make people come to terms for an internal peace, you are lost," said Lebanese author and academic Joseph Maila, whose recent book From Manhattan to Baghdad explores themes of militant Islam…Nasser Kandil, a Lebanese legislator, observed that the projects of Beirut and Baghdad involve two of the same American hawks: Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and close Bush administration ally Richard Perle. Rumsfeld was named Reagan's special Middle East envoy shortly after the Beirut blast; Perle was then assistant defence secretary…"Twenty years ago, they only listened to those who agreed with them. And that is the same issue playing out in Baghdad.")



2//The Japan Times, Japan--JAPAN MAY ASK COALITION FORCES TO GUARD SDF IN IRAQ: KOIZUMI (Japan may ask U.S. and British coalition forces to guard Self-Defense Forces troops in Iraq due to the worsening security situation there, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Sunday…The prime minister, in a series of morning television shows, also reiterated his desire to legitimize the SDF as the "national military" by revising the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.)



3//Albawaba.com, Jordan--LEADER OF DANISH PARTY INVITES SADDAM TO SEEK POLITICAL (The leader of the Danish Republican Party, Sooslashren Mosegaard has invited Saddam Hussein to seek political asylum in Denmark. In a statement conveyed to Al Bawaba via email, Mosegaard said the offer is "on behalf of the Danish people.")



4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--CUDDLE UP TO INDIA, US URGED (Washington must devote "sustained and high-level attention" to India and Pakistan and be "more active" in helping the two nuclear-armed neighbors manage their conflicts, argues the "Chairmen's Report" of a joint task force on India and South Asia co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society. At the same time, the administration of US President George W Bush must devote more resources and broaden the popular base and authority of the government of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai by supporting the deployment of international peacekeeping forces beyond Kabul, particularly in Pashtun areas where the Taliban and its allies appear to be making a comeback…Of the three countries covered by the report, the task force was most upbeat about India which, "with its political stability and a decade of steady economic advance, has the potential for long-term political and security partnership and substantially expanded trade and economic relations with the United States".)



5//The Independent, UK—NEWS ANALYSIS: THE THING IS: RUSSIA’S CREDIT REPUTATION IS ON THE ROPES (How things have changed. Last weekend's arrest of the Yukos chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, threatens to blacken the county's reputation as a safe place to do business…The Yukos affair has fractured Mr Putin's government into three camps: the liberals, the pro-oligarchs and those who want to see Russia's rich tycoons locked up.

In a warning to Mr Putin, Arkady Dvorkovich, the deputy-trade minister and a member of the liberal camp, said on Thursday that there was a danger the Yukos investigation could spread to other companies. "The risk that past sins will be re-examined exists," he said.)



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[Sushi_lover]

1. Deja vu

I just said that in the Reagan thread earlier today.

Blind hero worship of Reagan has caused them to miss a huge lesson in Beirut regarding naive expectations for military presence in the middle east.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Still can't figure out why they didn't like us in Beirut either?

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/newjersey/bb62-nj.html

On 28 November, the U.S. government announced that New Jersey would be retained off Beirut although her crew would be rotated. On 14 December, New Jersey fired 11 projectiles from her 16-inch guns at hostile positions inland of Beirut. This is the first 16-inch shells fired for effect anywhere in the world since New Jersey ended her time on the gunline in Vietnam in 1969.


On 8 February 1984, New Jersey fired almost 300 shells at Druze and Syrian positions in the Bekka Valley east of Beirut. Some 30 of these massive projectiles rained down on a Syrian command post, killing the general commanding Syrian forces in Lebanon and several other senior officers. This was the heaviest shore bombardment since the Korean War.

[Sushi_lover]

3. media bias forgets Beirut bombing

The media loooves to talk about Mogadishu and labels Black Hawk Down as a Clinton failure.

The media looooves to talk about Carter's failed Iran hostage rescue attempt.

But they've swept under the rug Reagan's horrible idea and the resulting deaths of 240 Marines in Beirut.

And the media NEVER mentions Ford's failed "rescue attempt" of the Mayaguez crew which resulted in deaths of 40 and wounding 50 of our soldiers.