Al-Jazeera

[Elspode]

Has anyone else been unable to get to Al-Jazeera's web site for the past couple of days? I read something about them being hacked, and then something else that said they probably weren't hacked, just overloaded.

I believe in seeing the lies on both sides, and AJ is the only major source I know about. What do you all think? Are they down, or are we somehow being kept from seeing it? Hmmm?

[elSicomoro]

I've been having probs getting onto the Arabic version of the site since Sunday night. I would imagine those photos of the POWs on their site boosted their viewership tremendously. (From what I've heard, one of the only other major media outlets to show the photos was the CBC.)

Al-Jazeera's English site isn't working either.

As a whole, Al-Jazeera isn't too terribly bad, but it does slant shit...probably worse than American media.

[tw]

Doing Trace Routes, all connections to Al Jezzera were terminated in the US. In one case, I never got any farther than Newark NJ. No connections got out of the US.

[Uryoces]

It's been "Slashdotted" [I use quotes because I don't want to get any dripping sarcasm on me]. One of their servers is in the US, and all Northam traffic goes to it. It's just popular, in a manner of speaking.

[Elspode]

So it is merely a victim of its own success, so to speak?

[Griff]

Al Gore / Al Jazeera coincidence I think not

[Uryoces]

Lunar Beer ... Mmmmm ...

[Uryoces]

Yeah, I've drinking some, too. Al Jazeera's english language page is under attack. DDOS/script kiddie-type attack. Could it be some misguided teenage pranksterism? Could it be CIA script kiddies at work? Who knows.

[doc]

Actually there was a story that someone had gone into NetworkSolutions and hijacked the domain and pointed it at a different IP. I can only wonder what the password they set was!? It had to be something easy.

If AJ is still down you can also go to http://www.arabicnews.com to get the "other side." Or, anti-America viewpoint.

[wolf]

I can get that from the NY Times ... why go elsewhere?

[tw]

Originally posted by wolf
I can get that from the NY Times ... why go elsewhere?

Anyone who does not preach the party line must be the enemy. Party line is that everything is going just on schedule. Start feeling just like you were back in VietNam again - the famous five o'clock follies.

Lt Gen Wallace admits they did not war game for this kind of battle. Of course not because they were told the Iraqi people wanted to be liberated. Where are all these liberated people? Attacking their liberators with car bombs.

Oh, says Washington. They must be forced to do this. Clearly Saddam's people must be forcing Iraqis to fight so viciously. Bull. But when publications such as the NY Times note these facts, then NY Times must be the enemy. Just as they were the enemy in VietNam. Guess what. The enemy in VietNam were the publications that blindly preached lies. International press is noting this. Reporters more trust Baghdad for the truth than Washington because history teaches them who had been telling the truth. Not Washington.

This administration so screw up the battle plan - so manipulated good strategy to be politically acceptable - that now US forces are on the defensive everywhere AND probably cannot start any serious offensive action for at least two weeks. The entire invasion has bogged down. Lt Gen Wallace was correct to say this is not the type of war we war gamed for. So now Washington is rebuking even Gen Wallace - for telling the truth - just like the NY Times.

When Rumsfeld and George Jr are your bosses, then you don't tell the truth. Telling the truth that is contrary to the party line makes one anti-American.

Situation has gotten so bad in Iraq that US and British troops are even being kidnapped. Recent suspected kidnappings were of 4 Marines and some British soldiers. Marines have been told to abandon the invasion of Al Kut and retreat. Yes retreat. Does this make the world super power look invincible? Of course not. Even Shock and Awe was a lie. It inspires every Arab to join a Jihad against the evil empire. Allah is on their side if they take up arms against evil. Evil is George Jr who lies - cannot even admit the invasion is in trouble and will be that way for some weeks.

Everyone in the five o'clock follies who had any basic military knowledge knew the US government was lying. Anyone with basic military knowledge knows this invasion is not going to plan. Every offensive force is now on the defensive permitting the Iraqis to reinforce, mine and do whatever else they need do to kill more Anglo American soldiers when the invasion restarts. This invasion is in trouble because of the civilians in this administration who micromanaged (like an MBA) this entire war. Civilians who would now question the loyalty of anyone who - as it turns out - tells the truth.

This lying is playing out loudly in the international press. Even the BBC is broadcasting details of the battle of Stallingrad. Why? Throughout the world, the press has discovered the Iraqis are more honest than the George Jr admininstration. Duhhhh. That was obvious long ago when this administration made up obviously silly stories about aluminum tubes and links to Al Qaeda.

This battle is not going to plan. Soldiers were told to take seven to ten days of rations with them because this war was suppose to be that quick. Now some units are now on reduced rations - one meal a day - and told to ration their use of ammunition. Civilian attacks and other intentional obstructions means that it takes five days round trip for a truck to supply 3rd Army. Washington 'experts' did not provide enough logical units because this war was suppose to be over in two weeks. Mental midgets micromanaged the battleplan. Mental midgets 'assumed' that all Iraqis want to be liberated. Mental midegets more trusted their extremist rhetoric rather than notice - No Smoking Gun.

Now we must double the attacking force in Iraq AND the logistical force will not be expanded because we don't have sufficient transport material to do both. 2nd Armored Calvary is being rushed into battle. Units from Europe and even in the Horn of Africa on anti-terrorism missions is being dispatched to an emergency situation in Iraq. To properly increase the military force to what is required AND to increase the logistical force means months. And since myopic Washington is still convinced the Iraqi people want to be liberated, then the logiistical force will only be moderately increased. Just like in VietNam, administration officals lie because they 'assume' their "cause is righteous" rather than first learn the facts. "Cause is righteous" means religious fanatics rather than military men were making the plans.

Guess what folks. It is even worse than I had estimated. Even the Shia don't want to be liberated. I never figured that. This war is in trouble because we unilaterally attacked another soveirgn nations without even a Smoking Gun. And so the administraton now lies saying that everything is going to plan. Only a dumb ass would believe that. Which only inspires the world to join in attacks on America. America lies. America is now being considered as untruthful as George Jr. Listen to the world press.

We are doomed to repeat history as defined even in the Pentagon Papers. People who knew reality were rebuked because this administraton knew "their cause was righteous". We did not even wait for a smoking gun! We attacked Iraq because God is alway on America's side - because "our cause was righteous" - and therefore that was enough to attack a nation that no one feared. George Jr is lying about righteous. He is lying when he says this war is on schedule. He is lying just like Nixon lied in VietNam. Lie because the truth is untenable.

We should win this war. But as Greenspan noted, this war will result in an economic downturn. So like the NY Times, even Greenspam is being called anti-American. The enemy is among us. He is telling the truth!

[elSicomoro]

I heard the Stalingrad comparison on CBC yesterday. Though I saw some parallels, it's WAY too early to even start comparing what the US troops are battling to Stalingrad.

It seems to me that there are too many definitions of "quick." When I think of a "quick war," in my mind, I'm thinking 3 months, at least. The advances made in the first few days were lucky, IMO. I was quite surprised to see them move through Iraq so fast. In the end, I think we'll win...but it'll be ugly. Shit, it already is.

[Undertoad]

"There's no doubt we can do this. We're stronger; he's weaker. You're looking at a couple weeks of bombing and then I'd be astonished if this campaign took more than a week. Astonished."

-- William Jefferson Clinton, 9/12/2002, quoted by Andrew Sullivan

[Undertoad]

"After little more than a week, is this war coverage in trouble? Already questions are being raised about whether the media's plan was fatally flawed. Several analysts are surprised that, despite overwhelming dominance of the air, television and radio divisions have so quickly repeated the mistakes of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, on the ground, rapidly advancing columns become stalled in Vietnam-style quagmires around the second paragraph.

Philip VI of France says, "When I signed on to the Hundred Years' War, I thought it would be over in 120, 140 tops. Nobody told me we'd be committing for more than two centuries. So I understand the media's impatience. But you know, what looks bad on Day Four doesn't seem such a big deal when you're in Year 137. If I have a criticism, I'd say the media were over-invested in the decapitation approach. For months they pounded the leadership with state-of-the-art precision-guided surgical strikes - Bush is a moron, Rumsfeld's a madman, Blair's a poodle - assuming that, if you remove the nerve centre, the regime will be unable to function. Ha! If there's one thing we French have come to learn, it's that George W. Bush is perfectly capable of functioning without a brain."
- Mark Steyn

[tw]

Originally posted by Undertoad
"After little more than a week, is this war coverage in trouble? Already questions are being raised about whether the media's plan was fatally flawed. Several analysts are surprised that, despite overwhelming dominance of the air, television and radio divisions have so quickly repeated the mistakes of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, on the ground, rapidly advancing columns become stalled in Vietnam-style quagmires around the second paragraph.

UT is the inspiration behind Doonesbury!