While these days I am usually resigned to reading the morning paper digitally (anyone in NYC who has ever tried to turn the page on the 456 Train during morning rush hour knows why), I couldn’t help but buy a hard copy for myself today. The front page encapsulated the Horror Story that is U.S. foreign policy, domestic politics, and journalism too well for me to pass up.
The eye catcher was the lead photograph, an ominous black-and-white of an Iraqi holding up two AK-47s that looked like it could have come from the most depressing post-apocalypse wasteland movie you’ve ever seen.
From there, the stories just got worse. From Right to Left:
- Iran is handing out “cash by [the] bagful” to aides of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This was coming off yesterday’s Wikileaks inspired story about Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces not only training insurgents, but openly attacking U.S. Forces in Iraq.
- A profile of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, which is better described by Glenn Greenwald as a sleazy hit piece based on rumor and innuendo. The motivations behind it are summed up succinctly by Tim Shorrock: “When Dan Ellsberg leaked [the] Pentagon Papers, Nixon’s henchmen tried to destroy his reputation. Today w/Wikileaks & Assange, media does the job.”
- Mercenary armies wreaking havoc in Iraq on both sides of the battlefield, highlighted of course by numerous examples of Blackwater soldiers killing civilians in the name of the U.S.
And finally, if that wasn’t depressing enough, the coup-de-grace, “G.O.P is Poised to Seize House, If Not Senate.” No explanation needed.
