Introducing Katrina Vanden Heuvel

17 March, 2006. 744 words.

I’ve never heard Katrina Vanden Heuvel before, but I’ve often heard her name mentioned on conservative sites. Not very kindly, either. Now I understand why. Last night I happened to see some of her remarks on Larry King Live, on a panel put together allegedly to discuss that U.S./Iraqi air operation against insurgents yesterday. (For some reason, CNN was quite taken with this particular operation. I can only guess it woke up the embedded reporters because there were a lot of shiny helicopters involved.)

Here’s the learned insight that Katrina brought to the table about the operation (from the CNN transcript):

… I think this [U.S./Iraqi air assault] is a sign of desperation, a sign of desperation, a war that is un- winnable that is unlawful, unnecessary.

And also, you know, you’re dealing with the slaughter possibly of innocent women and children and you possibly create more insurgents. The resentment against America is so deep.

I think it’s very important to understand that we are now, the United States is in a brutal occupation, is in the middle of an Iraqi civil war with America having turned against the war and 87 percent of Iraqis wanting an end to the U.S. occupation, 72 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq want us to come home.

So, I think this is a sign of desperation and it is a very important moment to assess the need to begin to find a way out with honor and dignity for Iraqis and for Americans who are serving there.

What the hell? I couldn’t believe my ears. No wonder everyone thinks CNN is biased. Let’s look at this ridiculous spewage of misinformation point-by-point. (And no, debunking blatant propaganda does not make me a “dittohead.”)

“A sign of desperation, a war that is un-winnable that is unlawful, unnecessary.”

For the hundred billionth time, the situation in Iraq is not a “war.” The war is over, and we won it. It’s now an “occupation,” or a “post-war reconstruction” if you will. Occupations cannot be “won” or “lost,” they merely exist. 2. The notion that aggressively policing the bad guys might be a “sign of desperation” is utterly ridiculous. 3. And whether the war was unlawful or unnecessary is now a moot point.

“The slaughter possibly of innocent women and children.”

Where the hell did she pull that from? Purely inflammatory and completely baseless, in civil law it might be slanderous or libelous, but I guess it doesn’t count since she threw in “possibly.”

“The resentment against America is so deep.”

Do you think maybe making up crap about slaughtering women and children on CNN could be part of the problem? Anyway it’s completely naive to think the resentment will go away when we leave Iraq… in case you haven’t been paying attention, Muslims have been resentful toward America since at least 1948.

“The United States is in a brutal occupation.”

Okay she got one thing right. I’ll ignore her implication that the U.S. occupiers are somehow more “brutal” than the Baathist party.

“In the middle of an Iraqi civil war.”

Characterizing the situation as a “civil war” is wildly speculative. Ground reports from inside Iraq vary all the way from “completely fine” to “a total bloodbath,” depending on where you look.

“With America having turned against the war.”

Again… not a war. I also note the subjective, statistic-less assertion.

“87 percent of Iraqis wanting an end to the U.S. occupation.”

(Now it’s back to an occupation.) I would hope that 100 percent of Iraqis want an end to the occupation, ‘cause we ain’t gonna run their country for them.

“72 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq want us to come home.”

Ah, the statistically dubious Zogby poll. I knew we’d see it popping up sooner or later.

Fortunately, Christopher Hitchens was also a panelist and he put some smack down on Katrina. He ended his turn with this:

The United States is very nobly acting as the militia now for those who don’t have a militia, for those who don’t have any thuggery or IED at [their] disposal. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done and shame on people who sneer at it.

Aw Snap! In yo’ face, beeyatch!

That was all I heard before we started the tape of the Daily Show.

(By the way, following the panel on Iraq, Larry King was going to continue the hard-hitting journalism by talking with the one, the only… Macaulay Culkin!)

Thomas Krehbiel

Related