To live and die in Baghdad

[zotz]

In Shuale, Baghdad, on Friday, there was an explosion which, apparently, killed about 50 people and wounded at least the same.

Has anyone seen a decent discussion anywhere about what caused it? I was watching the film from the site, taken a few hours later, and - not that I'm any sort of expert - it looked to me like a couple of things could have been pointed out that weren't.

In other news . . . various people are getting a bit desperate to show us evidence of Iraqi ill-intent vis-a-vis chemical weapons, to the extent that we're getting told about caches of defensive equipment being found all over the shop. You know, gas masks and stuff. I saw some pictures of them. Anyone else think that they look about twenty years old?

There was some American politician on the telly - party unclear - last week, being asked whether it would be inconvenient if they won the war without finding any WMD® or evidence thereof. No, he said, it wouldn't be a problem at all - they'd already be running the place by then.

I see that the Yellow Press of London Town are having a go at George Galloway again. He's the "member for Baghdad", apparently. My, how original. I haven't heard them call him that in, oh . . . days, at least. On the other hand, the continuing signs of life and serious journalism in the Daily Mirror comtinue to impress me. I may have to buy a copy soon to see what they're saying in some more detail.

Comments

[karmicnull.livejournal.com]

WMD™
I keep having to stop myself from saying 'Womad'.

Old gas masks, etc

[inulro.livejournal.com]

No, you're not the only one who noticed that. And everything they've found could be used for defensive purposes, and the Iranians did gas them in the Iran/Iraq war.

And there is still no way I'm ever buying a Daily Mirror.

Re: Old gas masks, etc

[king-prawn.livejournal.com]

Yup, they look old and yup, they could be merely for defensive purposes. The problem with that idea as far as I can tell is that they're not being found literally all over the place as standard issue to soldiers. If masks, suits, and antidotes are only being found in a few places, that seems to suggest a few possibilities:
a-that the people, or what they were working with, were so important (for their location, their hardware, or their personnel) that they got what little chemical defensive equipment Iraq could afford and obtain, and lesser troops/positions would just have to do without
b-the people there were more likely to need them because they were in especially vulnerable or attractive target areas to Iran or another country that might use chem-weapons against Iraq
c-the people there were more likely to need the stuff because they were working with chem-weapons

I tend to think c, though how long ago is anyone's guess. It's certainly possible that they disposed of their chem-weapons a long time ago and, wisely, kept the safety equipment.

It's also possible that we're just not getting the information that lots of Iraqi troops have been issued with old masks and antidotes, making these little discoveries nothing much to report. After all, they've been saying "50 miles away from Baghdad" for the past week as if it were breaking news.

Old gas masks et al

[rathgild.livejournal.com]

I too noticed that the stuff is pretty old, to the point I'm not sure I would have trusted it, however.... There was much made of the decontamination stuff at a hospital. I'm currently based at a hospital and there is a chemical decontamination shower just a short way up the corridor from my office. Further along on the same floor there is a radiation decontamination room with shower, etc. I worked in a hospital in Leeds and there were decontamination suites there too. It's normal.

The other thing that struck me (and the analysts on News 24) was the planes that were allegedly blown up, the video of which was paraded before the press in the daily "How well the war is going for us" briefing. One of the planes was apparently the very distinctive shape of a Hawker Hunter, one of Britain's first jet aircraft, and sold to the then Kingdom of Iraq in the 1950's. The other plane was a MIG of a similar vintage. This has alarm bells ringing in my head. Why are the US commanders making such a big deal of bombing aircraft that are virtually antiques? Is it that we are now in a propaganda war, in which case what is the truth.

And speaking of truth has anyone else noticed the increasing news stories of journalists going missing. Channel 4's Gaby Rado died by apparently falling from the roof of his hotel, but there is a Edinburgh journalist working for Newsday who has gone missing from his hotel with his Spanish photographer. Seven other journalists are also said to be missing from the same hotel. What is going on there, I wonder.

Update at 21:45 BST

[rathgild.livejournal.com]

Just heard on BBC News 24 that 4 of the journalists had been arrested by Iraqi Authorities and have just been released at the Jordanian border. Information is sketchy but no doubt there will be more on that in a day or so.