UPI correspondent and antiwar blogger Steve Sailer read my piece on Friday, and concluded the following on his blog:

In contrast, at certain other outlets, tempers are on edge and friendships are being destroyed: 'Ex-Friends: Casualties of This War' by Rod Dreher is all about how much he and his political allies now hate their old friends who disagree with them about the war, demonizing them as 'irrational,' and vice-versa. This struck me as bizarre, especially because Rod's much more of a human being than some of the names that make modern opinion journalism resemble 'Attack of the Ideological Clones.' I couldn't imagine breaking up with an old friend over this war, especially because it's so easy to see that everybody has at least one good argument on his side. Boy, you must have to have whipped yourself into a real frenzy to let this interfere with your friendships.

This is quite wrong. My piece in no way said I, or anybody who agrees with me, now "hate" our friends who are antiwar. I certainly don't, and find it hard to imagine hating anybody I'd otherwise come to call my friend because we disagree on political matters. In fact, any fair reading of my article would see real sadness over the fact that we can't talk to each other about the war any longer, because in some cases, the anti-war friends have become emotional and irrational. Calling them irrational is not "demonization;" it's true.

Being against the war is not evidence of irrationality. I do believe there are rational arguments against the war, by which I mean arguments based on reasonable premises. I don't happen to find any of them convincing, but they are certainly there. My complaint is about friends I know and care about who become very angry when talking about the war, and start fulminating about Jewish and/or capitalist conspiracies, who start talking about what an inherently evil country America is, or who start yelling about the "rush to war" (yeah, 12 years of sanctions, and months of debate in Congress and in the media, to say nothing of fooling around in the UN Security Council for weeks and weeks). Regrettably, to these friends, one simply has nothing useful to say -- and one fears that the friendships may be permanently damaged, and perhaps even abrogated, by the rancor.

I plainly stated in that article that I have chosen not to discuss the war with most of my antiwar friends, for the sake of preserving friendships for which I care a great deal. Yet somehow, Steve concludes that I'm so obsessed with the war that I'm wanting to abandon friends for not agreeing with me! I've written him about his errors, and he's promised to correct his blog entry. I hope he will.

UPDATE: He did. Thanks, Steve.

MSNBC reporting that suspicion for that terrorist attack is falling on two translators. But Fox, relying on a Sky News reporter in the camp, says the translators appear to have been cleared, and now military authorities are looking for a soldier based in the camp, who has gone AWOL. Also, two grenades may have gone missing from the weapons supply case. Two grenades, as you've read, were used in this attack on the officers' tent.

UPDATE: Fox no longer indicating that translators might have been cleared, only that they are being investigated.

UPDATE.2: NBC reports that the soldier is in custody now, and is a suspect in the attack. It is not being considered a terrorist attack any longer, but is a criminal investigation. Brokaw speculates that it might turn out to be a case of a soldier going nuts and turning on his own kind.

‘Peace’ demonstrators in San Francisco seem to have turned violent. There’s a nice comment from police sergeant Rene Laprevotte on the struggle:

“After 16 hours of fighting communists and anarchists, a Red Bull can help us go another 16 hours. We’re here as long as they are.”

Red Bull? Good choice. Dr Pepper certainly wouldn’t do the trick.

Here’s a good account from the Guardian of the liberation of Safwan.

“You just arrived,” he said, “You’re late. What took you so long? God help you become victorious. I want to say hello to Bush. We came out of the grave.”

Note too the concern that this too is another false dawn. The memory of 1991 lingers on.

Rod, like you I read that story from France with disgust. The heading doesn’t do it justice, however, except, I suppose, ironically. It refers, of course, to Au Revoir, Les Enfants, a brilliant (and heart-breaking) movie that tells the (true) tale of some Jewish children sheltered by the astonishingly brave staff of a Catholic school in war-time France.

Now read how their successors are said to have behaved:

“When [the Jewish child] broke free from his tormentors in the shower, he ran for help to the teachers’ lounge but none of the faculty rose from their chairs to help the disheveled and distraught boy.”

Bastards.

From the UK Press Association:

“ [British] Public opinion has rallied sharply in support of the war against Iraq now British forces are in action, according to two new opinion polls. A YouGov survey for The Sunday Times found that 56% thought Britain and the US were right to take military action, with 36% opposed. The figures were almost the exact reverse of a similar poll before the outbreak of hostilities when 36% backed military action with 57% against.”

Mr Goldberg,

When I read that letter this morning, I immediately identified with the author's feelings towards my home country. Until recently, I have proudly identified myself as a Canuck, no more. I find Canada's fence sitting attitude represensible, its refusal to support our best friends despicable. Let it be known that there exists a small faction of clear-headed, rational thinking Canadians. We're with you, we support you, and God Bless America.

[Name Withheld]

Montreal, Canada

This past week I decided to be a good conservative and help my liberal friends out. While I am a proud Sailor's wife, I must say that the ignorance of these people regarding our military and our foreign policy is astounding. (I live in the largest Naval town in America) In spite of this, I decided to help pull the blinders off of their sorry vision. So? I sent in my little card (I know..I should have done it online) to renew my own subscription and ordered 5 subscriptions for them. If that isn't patriotism and compassionate conservatism, I don't know what is. Have a great one, Carolina A Proud Sailor's Wife

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the [Jordan] border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

From The National Post:

Today, I am embarrassed to be a Canadian. I am embarrassed to be represented by a Prime Minister who is so detached from reality and a sense of Canada's true interests. I am embarrassed by a political system which is impotent in the face of a Prime Minister descending into perfidy. I am embarrassed that the Prime Minister was accorded a standing ovation in Parliament by his party for having decided to let others take up Canada's cudgel in the war against terror.

While I am increasingly impressed by the man and his character (he seems sincerely aggrieved by the limlight), I have to say that briefing wasn't very impressive. I understand that he has to be vague about some things, but I was left feeling like I knew less than I did before the briefing. And the video images were worse than the ones offered 10 years ago. A great propaganda opportunity was missed, it seemed to me. Why not show video of surrendering Iraqis? Why not show pictures of Coalition soldiers being greeted? Why not explain that while it is technically true that we are bombing "downtown Baghdad" we are not bombing civilian areas? We are bombing military complexes forbidden to most Iraqis.

From a reader responding to my piece about the impossibility of having a civil discussion with many antiwar types, who have descended into irrationality and emotionalism:

"As a Catholic conservative ( who also happens to be Black), I agree with your observations. My mother hung up the phone on me after I challenged her assertion that George W. Bush was engaged in Satanic rituals. She also denied that Saddam was guilty of any atrocities. She told me that the accusations were only made up by the white man. It is almost impossible to have an intelligent conversation with many of my family due to kooky conspiracy theories. Another trick that I have noticed among my friends is to be ultra-skeptical when confronted with the atrocities of Saddam or Castro; but then to expect me to accept their assertions about continued slavery in America or CIA infecting people with AIDS as obviously true. Among several of my Catholic friends, they seem ready to believe anything bad about Israel. I think that this emotionalism which has corrupted many liberal minds and now has infected many conservatives. Now I know how Socrates must have felt. Pass the hemlock!"

A good primer.

One perhaps unforeseen benefit of embedding reporters with the troops is that we have needed many fewer military briefings such as the one now being given by Tommy Franks. These briefings are always frustrating for reporters and the audience because the military spokesman can reveal so little about the nature of the conflict. With this division of labor, professional communicators--called "reporters"--are conveying the images of the battlefield, while the military can spend more of their time planning and executing the war. Combined with the new satellite technology, embedding reporters with military units allow the American public to get the sense of the battle as it unfolds and involves them vicariously in the war in an unprecedented manner.

Below, I quoted an American bishop from Iraq's Assyrian Church of the East as saying on Vatican Radio that the war is "a necessary evil." I identified the Assyrian church as one of the Eastern Rites of the Roman Catholic Church. A Roman Catholic reader writes this morning to say that's not true, that the Assyrians are one of the ancient churches of the East that broke away from Catholicism after the Council of Ephesus. The Catholic Church in Iraq, the reader said, are the "Chaldeans." Sorry for the mistake.

Incidentally, a reader who knows something about the Church situation in Iraq says that non-Chaldean Catholic Christians there have long viewed the Chaldean Catholics as collaborators with Saddam. The reader predicts that there is going to be hell to pay for the Chaldean Catholics after the fall of the Saddam regime, as other Iraqi Christians hold them accountable for their relationship to the dictator. The Vatican's strong objection to this war has been duly noted by non-Catholic Iraqi Christians, the reader says, and the post-war fallout from that is not going to be pretty.

I work in the Financial District of San Francisco. The antics of the demonstrators yesterday was absolutely appalling. Blocking building entryways, yelling epithets at people, working people like me, who tried to gain access to their buildings. There was some sporadic violence, and one chilling scene, during the early evening commute, of protesters surrounding a young woman in her SUV. She was only trying to inch through the throng of people, ostensibly to get home (or just to get the hell out of there) when a group of these yahoos, many with bandanas or handkerchiefs around their faces, started to pound on the vehicle windows and hood with their signs. One idiot actually got up on the hood and was driven forward a few feet. According to a news crew on the scene, the protesters were debating whether to forcibly remove the driver and have her walk home, leaving her car behind. Luckily, it didn't get that far; a smaller group of protesters prevailed upon the idiots, saying it wasn't right to do, and the woman was then allowed to drive off.

But that's not the worst of it. SFPD confiscated from backpacks of those arrested items such as: knives of various types and lengths; a few crowbars; some bolt-cutters, cans of spray paint; and cans of what appeared to be accelerants of some kind. This morning, the website for one of the local tv stations reported that the police also found a cache of Molotov cocktails. Some peace demonstration.

I consider myself to be a moderate liberal (I know, the "l" word makes your skin crawl) who happens to be a hawk on defense/security issues (where have all the Democratic hawks like Acheson, Truman, JFK, Scoop Jackson, et al, gone?). I'm no fan of either the extreme right or left. But the left is really marginalizing itself (if it hasn't already done so). The intellectual dishonesty ("dude, it's not about Iraq, it's about an unrestrained United States!") makes me want to, well, vomit. Check out sfgate.com to see an opinion piece written by a Silicon Valley venture capitalist about yesterday's protest and protesters. Spot on, as the Brits like to say.

Coalition forces plan to "knock off" Iraqi TV within 2-3 days.

Mexican and US authorities searching for 6 Iraqis with toxic chemicals. Joint US-Mexican investigation been underway for several days. Chemicals require "temperature controls" which could mean radiological or biological items.

On House Continuing Resolution 104: "Expressing the Support and Appreciation of the Nation for the President and the Members of the Armed Forces Who are Participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom": 392 Yeas, 21 "presents," 11 nays.

The Nays:

Conyers
McDermott
Towns
Honda
Rangel
Waters
Jones (OH)
Scott (VA)
Watson
Lee Stark

Present:

Brown (OH)
Jackson (IL)
Paul Brown
CorrineJackson-Lee (TX)
Payne Carson (IN)
Johnson, E. B.
Rush
Clay
Kilpatrick
Sabo
Cummings
Kucinich
Schakowsky
Davis (IL)
Lewis (GA)
Watt
Doggett
Meeks (NY)
Farr
Owens

Our guys even had the good taste to put an * in "F*ck France and Germany." In a German magazine no less.

Steve Centanni embedded with Navy SEALS says the SEALS have secured Iraq's two main oil terminals. "In a very dramatic pre-emptive move last night" they arrived "just in time" to prevent rigged explosives to be detonated. Many signs that the place was set to blow. Prevented huge environmental catastrophe.

If you really need a break from the war stuff. This is a great great time-waster.

In response to my column:

Jonah,

I fought as a tanker in the first gulf war and it was just outside Safwan as we secured the ceasfire site that my Company commander said to me, "in ten years we'll be back." I'm glad this time we aren't just going to give it back to the thugs in Baghdad. The things I saw around Safwan are what made me realize just how bad Saddam was and is for the Iraqi people. I remember how impotent we felt sitting on our tanks listening to radio reports of the slaughter of the Kurds and the "marsh arabs" who had foolishly believed that we would support their rebellion. I am glad that the day of their liberation is at hand but also a little sad that it took 12 years longer than it should have to arrive.

I can't get any word about how the Robert Blake trial is going.

I really am emailing to respond to your corner posting "CNN's Rumsfeld Treatment" about the audio levels of the bombing being raised during a particular portion of Rumsfeld's speech. While it is possible that was done on purpose and for the effect you claim, it is entirely more likely that it was completely unintentional and due to any number of factors: 1) the tape was cut with no audio off the top for whatever reason and then when it ran past a specific point, audio was left on and the control room was caught by surprise. 2) some crazy producer was screaming at the director/a.d. because there were these beautiful silent pictures dying for some audio, and the tech boys just pumped it up at an inopportune moment 3) the audio guy just slipped Many, many things happen at CNN by mistake. That's the nature of 24-7 t.v. As a former employee, the only time I automatically assume bias is when Judy Woodruff (or her husband) happen to be speaking. Outside of that, I generally (I said generally) give them the benefit of the doubt.

We all know who runs Wall Street.

I just overheard a colleague, who is the wife of a soldier in the Gulf, say "I can't wait for him to come home so I can give him a big Freedom kiss"! Another reason why I should've joined the Service.

I only caught part of this because I was flipping, but a reader caught the whole thing, sounds like I thought I caught:

CNN is using a split screen to show the Rumsfeld press conference, and also replay the most spectacular Baghdad footage. The sound on the replay footage was off. But when Rumsfeld began advising that the bombing was discriminate and controlled, they turned up the sound. Turned it up so much, in fact, it came close to drowning out Rumsfeld's remarks.

The effect was to make Rumsfeld's statements appear laughable.

Someone at CNN made a deliberate and very suspicious decision.

From a reader:

Mr. Goldberg, I'm 50 with no military experience. Does anyone else get lulled into complacency? Our soldiers only die in accidents! The Iraqis will surrender en masse! We'll go to Baghdad in a cakewalk! The TV images reinforce that.

But that complacency disparages the dedication and discipline of these young
soldiers; from time to time, I realize that wherever they are in this war,
whatever they are doing, they are doing their jobs with a degree of courage
I'm unfamiliar with.

I've been trying to finish a book proposal in the time you guys have nearly finished a book.

Tell me about it, Rich. I'm so glad my wife is down in Texas, and can't see the result in our lovely little windowless apartment, of bachelor, book-writing entropy. I'm burning the midnight coffee, trying to finish a book, and I've set the table up in front of the TV, which I can't turn off. I've been falling asleep the past two nights on the couch, with the TV on, and blaring. This morning I was awakened just before six a.m. by CNN's Walter Rodgers, giving a riveting, adrenalin-stoked report from a military unit in which he's embedded, rocketing toward Baghdad. He described it as a "steel wave," which struck me as a terrific phrase. Naturally, I couldn't get back to sleep.

OK, back to the book.

The French president said at a European Union summit he would "not accept" a resolution that "would legitimize the military intervention [and] would give the belligerents the powers to administer Iraq."
"That would justify the war after the event," Chirac told reporters.

Yes Derb, that's sounds glum. But how often do you get to watch the news while doing your taxes and take as much pride in where your tax dollars are going?

Tom Brokaw: "Okay David Bloom, you stay with the 3rd Infantry as we head back to Peter Arnett in Baghdad...."

Um...where else is Bloom going to go?

Seems to have the best footage right now. Some exclusive shots.

Reporting that Pentagon officials increasingly convinced Saddam was wounded in attack.

The negotiations with Senio