Sitting in the hotel room in Washington, TV on. No matter which channel I pick, the same image. A hazy, green tinged picture with a few brightspots. Maybe street lamps, maybe explosions. Hard to say. Even MTV is carrying war coverage. The Weather Channel is predicting possible sand storms. The financial sites have suspended coverage of earnings stories. The only respite seems to be HBO, which is showing Castaway. Perhaps trying to give Saddam a hint.
The progress of the war seems strange to me. The tactics of “shock and awe” have not started yet, just a few sporadic bursts of missile fire. It’s almost as if the US is trying to draw Saddam into showing his hand – loosing a chemical warhead maybe. The world will certainly round on him if he does that. Damned if he does. Damned more if he doesn’t. Or perhaps it’s about giving the troops a chance to adjust to the country, the endless gas mask drills (seven today alone says every reporter on TV).
Pro or con doesn’t really matter now (though, for the record, I am pro). It’s started and it will end sooner or later. Once it does, the rebuilding process is going to absorb a lot of people, a lot of time and a lot of money. Freedom is not free, as it says at the Korean War memorial, carved starkly in marble. Let’s hope the price in life is not too great this time.
