Comments on: War Thoughts, Ct’d

By: neurotech

neurotech — Mon, 07 Apr 2003 03:32:32 +0000

David Bloom’s death, sadly, is war related. Traveling and even sleeping in the “Bloomobile” for days may have led to the formation of blood clots in the blood vessels of his legs. In addition, the sand in the desert air could have damaged his lungs.

By: joanne

joanne — Sun, 06 Apr 2003 20:51:47 +0000

Good points, each one. What makes the Lynch story compelling — to me at least — is the juxtoposition of an average ninteen year old girl far from the expected habbitat. She’s not shopping at the mall, she shooting Iraqi soldiers. The absurdity is a kind of a “clash of civilizations” allegory.

But Postrel is right about the “Little Jessie” headlines. One can admire her strength without using a patronizing media angle.

By: Prashant P Kothari

Prashant P Kothari — Sun, 06 Apr 2003 20:36:03 +0000

Treatment of women in Iraq:

This is a quibble but were women in Iraq not really allowed to drive? Were they treated as badly as in Saudia Arabia or other Islamic dictatorships?

I’m not a big fan of Mani Shanker Aiyer (sycophantic, leftist and Nehruvian — an incredible 3-in-1 one turn-off) but on this factual point ie, the treatment of women in Iraq, he has a viewpoint that differs from what one might think

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030406-014616-1683r

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 06 Apr 2003 18:27:37 +0000

Yep, the Jessica Lynch story is fasciniating (much of it because she’s a female).

However, if I’ve understood it correctly, I hardly think that it is appropriate for the governor of WV to offer to have the state pay for her education at the college of her choice in WV (or something similar). Yeah, she’s a hero, yeah it’s a good story, but no, she shouldn’t get a bonus from the WV coffers because of it.

I’m sure that a volunteer oriented contribution pool would more than bring in enough money for her education, but there’s no good reason to have it funded by the state (ie. involunarily by taxpayers).