Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Scott London :: Articles and Essays
Scott London :: Articles and Essays
The Power of Dialogue
It's a sad fact that while most of us spend a sizeable part of our lives communicating with others, we seem more separate and disconnected than ever. We speak at each other, or past each other. We speak different conceptual languages, hold different values, embody different ways of seeing the world. This essay makes the case that we need to get smart about how to talk to one another. We need to be able to overcome differences, find common ground, create meaning and purpose, and set directions together. We need to be able to think together as groups, as teams, as committees, as communities, and as citizens. Our best hope of doing that is through authentic dialogue. June 2008.
Civic Networks: Building Community on the Net
This essay discusses the role of online networks in building and strengthening community and tries to sort through some of the rhetoric — much of it overblown — about so-called virtual communities. It appears in a new essay collection, Composing Knowledge, edited by Rolf Norgaard (Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2007)
The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize: A Report from Oslo
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 was awarded jointly to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director general Mohamed ElBaradei for their efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons and promote peaceful applications of nuclear technologies. Adapted from my book with Irwin Abrams, Nobel Lectures in Peace, this report considers the broader context of the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee's rationale in giving it, and what was said in Mohamed ElBaradei's historic acceptance speech at the award ceremony in Oslo.
Thinking Together: The Art of Deliberative Dialogue
A look at the theory and practice of deliberative dialogue — a much-needed antidote to the sort of argument and debate that too often passes for public discourse today. Unlike other forms of discussion, deliberative dialogue is aimed not so much at talking together as thinking together. The process involves listening deeply to other points of view, exploring new ideas and perspectives, searching for points of agreement, and bringing unexamined assumptions into the open. Adapted from an essay in the newly published collection Public Thought and Foreign Policy, edited by Robert J. Kingston. May 2005
Letter from Oslo: 100 Years of the Nobel Peace Prize
The centennial of the Nobel Peace Prize brought together an extraordinary group of former peace laureates, international statesmen, distinguished scholars, and champions of human rights for one of the greatest peace summits of all time. The event was long on pomp and circumstance, as expected, but also genuine soul-searching about peace prospects in a world of conflict, terrorism, and deepening uncertainty. Santa Barbara News-Press, December 2001
California's Proposition 10: A Unique Democratic Experiment
Prop. 10 is the California ballot measure that added a 50 cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for early childhood development programs. This article describes the initiative as a unique and very promising democratic experiment, one that puts citizens themselves in charge of how their tax dollars are spent. Are Californians up to the task of democratic deliberation and decision-making? From Connections magazine. October 2001
Civil Society and the New Global Order
This article surveys three perspectives on civil society and its key role in fashioning a new global order, one that serves as an essential bulwark against the powers of governments and free markets. The essay reviews seminal articles by Benjamin Barber and Hazel Henderson along with a speech by Czech President Vaclav Havel. December 2000
On Structural Functionalism
Political theorist Gabriel Almond introduced a valuable — perhaps even indispenable — approach to comparing political systems, but it didn’t pay sufficient attention to the important role of civil society in shaping political life. November 2000
A Constitution for Europe? The Economist's Bold Challenge
The call for a European constitution has reached an almost feverish pitch in recent years. In October 2000, the Economist magazine boldly drafted a constitution of its own to, as its editors declared, stimulate a greater debate about the issue and to ensure that citizens are given a greater voice in European politics. It's an exceptionally concise and clearly presented document which suggests that democracy has clearly evolved since its American counterpart was drafted two centuries ago. October 2000
The Trouble with American Journalism
For the American news media, 1998 was a year of imbroglios and lapsed ethics. Looking back, these embarrassments appear to be symptomatic of a deepening divide between journalists and the public they purport to represent. "The connection between journalism and democracy may seem far-fetched to many in the media establishment -- especially those struggling with more immediate concerns, such as making ends meet in the face of sagging ratings or dwindling circulation figures. But it's a connection news professionals can no longer afford to ignore." Op-ed, Santa Barbara News-Press. October 1998
The Face of Tomorrow: Reflections on Diversity in America
"We live in an increasingly diverse and increasingly mongrel society, a nation of blurred boundaries and bizarre extremes. Never before in history has a society been as diverse as the U.S. is today. And never before have so many different traditions, beliefs and values been integrated into a single culture." This essay first appeared in HopeDance magazine and was later reprinted in the book At Issue: Interracial Relationships (Greenhaven Press, 2000). September 1998
Fraternity, Social Capital and the American Community
This essay revisits Wilson Carey McWilliams's The Idea of Fraternity, a forceful and unusually prescient study of American community that foreshadowed the work of Robert Bellah, Christopher Lasch, Robert Putnam and others who have charted the decline of America's civic life in recent years. Featured at IntellectualCapital.com. April 1999
Where are the New Ideas? Not on the Campaign Trail
This op-ed piece makes the case that politicians and newspeople need to elevate the debate by addressing real ideas, not falling back on rhetoric and tired cliches. "The way to do that is by spending more time talking to the American people -- not to each other." Santa Barbara News-Press. August 1996
Cyberspace and the New Consciousness
The Internet has a great deal to tell us about not only the emerging society of the 21st century but also the farther reaches of human consciousness, according to frontier thinkers such as Peter Russell, Elisabet Sahtouris and Marianne Williamson. From Tri-Mix magazine. Also featured at Leary.com. January 1996
In Defense of the American Jury System
"Whether or not to preserve the American jury system is not an open question. If anything, we need to strengthen the tradition of ordinary people brokering the disputes of their neighbors. The jury system, far from a mystical ideal, is based on the common sense and reasoned judgment of ordinary citizens. An effective system must foster, not discourage, that civic judgment." Santa Barbara News-Press. October 1995
Just What Ails Journalism?
This op-ed commentary surveys the troubles facing the American press, from the rise of sensationalism and "pink flamingo" ethics in the news profession to declining readership and a deepening public cynicism about the media. Santa Barbara News-Press. April 1995
A Way of Seeing: The Work of Robert Coles
An oft-cited bibliographic essay surveying the work of child psychiatrist and oral historian Robert Coles. The essay revolves around four recurrent themes in Coles's writings: the power of story, the call of community and voluntary service, political socialization, and the search for enduring moral truths that give life purpose and direction. August 1994
Three New York Memoirs
A look at memoirs by Anatole Broyard, Willie Morris, and Diana Trilling that recall New York City in its glory days when it was still at the crossroads of art, literature, and politics. Dayton Voice. February 1994
On Wishing for Kings and Unfettered Speech
A review of two influential, agenda-setting books of 1993 — Lewis Lapham's The Wish for Kings ("no doubt one of the more entertaining accounts of our democratic malaise I've read in quite awhile") and Jonathan Rauch's Kindly Inquisitors (a "brilliant" book that "seems to crop up in conversations everywhere like some literary shorthand for the terrors of the new censorship"). Dayton Voice. January 1994
Picking Arguments and Passing Judgments
Three new essay collections give substance to George Orwell's observation that, at bottom, every writer is driven by vanity. This roundup surveys new releases by Christopher Hitchens, Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, and Ellen Goodman. Dayton Voice. December 1993
Election '92 in Hindsight
A review of three books that tell the story of the 1992 presidential campaigns: "Campaign narratives seem to be a quadrennial ritual within the publishing world, despite what has become an axiom of the business during the last 20 years: campaign books don't sell. A sampling of this year's crop leads me to think that's just as well..." Dayton Voice. November 1993
Citizenship, Democracy and the Changing World Order
A bibliographic essay on citizenship, democracy, and the changing global order in the wake of the Cold War. "Upon review, much of the current literature on our democratic prospects brings to mind Rousseau's phrase, 'Liberty is a food easy to eat, but difficult to digest.'" August 1993
Electronic Town Halls Can't Beat the Real Thing
On the eve of Ross Perot's first nationally televised "electronic town hall," this op-ed piece reflects on the importance of genuine face-to-face democracy. "What we need is a real town meeting, not a high-tech opinion poll masquerading as one." Dayton Daily News. March 1993
The Great Global Jamboree
World music may be to the 1990s what the British invasion was to the 1960s. Scott London surveys the mainstreaming of a new musical sensibility, presents a roundup of "must-have" CD releases from the likes of Africando, Baaba Maal and others, and spotlights Stern's Records — world music's premier record label and a purveyor of some of the most beautiful recordings on the planet. Dayton Voice. October 1993
The Power of Dialogue
It's a sad fact that while most of us spend a sizeable part of our lives communicating with others, we seem more separate and disconnected than ever. We speak at each other, or past each other. We speak different conceptual languages, hold different values, embody different ways of seeing the world. This essay makes the case that we need to get smart about how to talk to one another. We need to be able to overcome differences, find common ground, create meaning and purpose, and set directions together. We need to be able to think together as groups, as teams, as committees, as communities, and as citizens. Our best hope of doing that is through authentic dialogue. June 2008.
Civic Networks: Building Community on the Net
This essay discusses the role of online networks in building and strengthening community and tries to sort through some of the rhetoric — much of it overblown — about so-called virtual communities. It appears in a new essay collection, Composing Knowledge, edited by Rolf Norgaard (Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2007)
The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize: A Report from Oslo
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 was awarded jointly to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director general Mohamed ElBaradei for their efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons and promote peaceful applications of nuclear technologies. Adapted from my book with Irwin Abrams, Nobel Lectures in Peace, this report considers the broader context of the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee's rationale in giving it, and what was said in Mohamed ElBaradei's historic acceptance speech at the award ceremony in Oslo.
Thinking Together: The Art of Deliberative Dialogue
A look at the theory and practice of deliberative dialogue — a much-needed antidote to the sort of argument and debate that too often passes for public discourse today. Unlike other forms of discussion, deliberative dialogue is aimed not so much at talking together as thinking together. The process involves listening deeply to other points of view, exploring new ideas and perspectives, searching for points of agreement, and bringing unexamined assumptions into the open. Adapted from an essay in the newly published collection Public Thought and Foreign Policy, edited by Robert J. Kingston. May 2005
Letter from Oslo: 100 Years of the Nobel Peace Prize
The centennial of the Nobel Peace Prize brought together an extraordinary group of former peace laureates, international statesmen, distinguished scholars, and champions of human rights for one of the greatest peace summits of all time. The event was long on pomp and circumstance, as expected, but also genuine soul-searching about peace prospects in a world of conflict, terrorism, and deepening uncertainty. Santa Barbara News-Press, December 2001
California's Proposition 10: A Unique Democratic Experiment
Prop. 10 is the California ballot measure that added a 50 cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for early childhood development programs. This article describes the initiative as a unique and very promising democratic experiment, one that puts citizens themselves in charge of how their tax dollars are spent. Are Californians up to the task of democratic deliberation and decision-making? From Connections magazine. October 2001
Civil Society and the New Global Order
This article surveys three perspectives on civil society and its key role in fashioning a new global order, one that serves as an essential bulwark against the powers of governments and free markets. The essay reviews seminal articles by Benjamin Barber and Hazel Henderson along with a speech by Czech President Vaclav Havel. December 2000
On Structural Functionalism
Political theorist Gabriel Almond introduced a valuable — perhaps even indispenable — approach to comparing political systems, but it didn’t pay sufficient attention to the important role of civil society in shaping political life. November 2000
A Constitution for Europe? The Economist's Bold Challenge
The call for a European constitution has reached an almost feverish pitch in recent years. In October 2000, the Economist magazine boldly drafted a constitution of its own to, as its editors declared, stimulate a greater debate about the issue and to ensure that citizens are given a greater voice in European politics. It's an exceptionally concise and clearly presented document which suggests that democracy has clearly evolved since its American counterpart was drafted two centuries ago. October 2000
The Trouble with American Journalism
For the American news media, 1998 was a year of imbroglios and lapsed ethics. Looking back, these embarrassments appear to be symptomatic of a deepening divide between journalists and the public they purport to represent. "The connection between journalism and democracy may seem far-fetched to many in the media establishment -- especially those struggling with more immediate concerns, such as making ends meet in the face of sagging ratings or dwindling circulation figures. But it's a connection news professionals can no longer afford to ignore." Op-ed, Santa Barbara News-Press. October 1998
The Face of Tomorrow: Reflections on Diversity in America
"We live in an increasingly diverse and increasingly mongrel society, a nation of blurred boundaries and bizarre extremes. Never before in history has a society been as diverse as the U.S. is today. And never before have so many different traditions, beliefs and values been integrated into a single culture." This essay first appeared in HopeDance magazine and was later reprinted in the book At Issue: Interracial Relationships (Greenhaven Press, 2000). September 1998
Fraternity, Social Capital and the American Community
This essay revisits Wilson Carey McWilliams's The Idea of Fraternity, a forceful and unusually prescient study of American community that foreshadowed the work of Robert Bellah, Christopher Lasch, Robert Putnam and others who have charted the decline of America's civic life in recent years. Featured at IntellectualCapital.com. April 1999
Where are the New Ideas? Not on the Campaign Trail
This op-ed piece makes the case that politicians and newspeople need to elevate the debate by addressing real ideas, not falling back on rhetoric and tired cliches. "The way to do that is by spending more time talking to the American people -- not to each other." Santa Barbara News-Press. August 1996
Cyberspace and the New Consciousness
The Internet has a great deal to tell us about not only the emerging society of the 21st century but also the farther reaches of human consciousness, according to frontier thinkers such as Peter Russell, Elisabet Sahtouris and Marianne Williamson. From Tri-Mix magazine. Also featured at Leary.com. January 1996
In Defense of the American Jury System
"Whether or not to preserve the American jury system is not an open question. If anything, we need to strengthen the tradition of ordinary people brokering the disputes of their neighbors. The jury system, far from a mystical ideal, is based on the common sense and reasoned judgment of ordinary citizens. An effective system must foster, not discourage, that civic judgment." Santa Barbara News-Press. October 1995
Just What Ails Journalism?
This op-ed commentary surveys the troubles facing the American press, from the rise of sensationalism and "pink flamingo" ethics in the news profession to declining readership and a deepening public cynicism about the media. Santa Barbara News-Press. April 1995
A Way of Seeing: The Work of Robert Coles
An oft-cited bibliographic essay surveying the work of child psychiatrist and oral historian Robert Coles. The essay revolves around four recurrent themes in Coles's writings: the power of story, the call of community and voluntary service, political socialization, and the search for enduring moral truths that give life purpose and direction. August 1994
Three New York Memoirs
A look at memoirs by Anatole Broyard, Willie Morris, and Diana Trilling that recall New York City in its glory days when it was still at the crossroads of art, literature, and politics. Dayton Voice. February 1994
On Wishing for Kings and Unfettered Speech
A review of two influential, agenda-setting books of 1993 — Lewis Lapham's The Wish for Kings ("no doubt one of the more entertaining accounts of our democratic malaise I've read in quite awhile") and Jonathan Rauch's Kindly Inquisitors (a "brilliant" book that "seems to crop up in conversations everywhere like some literary shorthand for the terrors of the new censorship"). Dayton Voice. January 1994
Picking Arguments and Passing Judgments
Three new essay collections give substance to George Orwell's observation that, at bottom, every writer is driven by vanity. This roundup surveys new releases by Christopher Hitchens, Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, and Ellen Goodman. Dayton Voice. December 1993
Election '92 in Hindsight
A review of three books that tell the story of the 1992 presidential campaigns: "Campaign narratives seem to be a quadrennial ritual within the publishing world, despite what has become an axiom of the business during the last 20 years: campaign books don't sell. A sampling of this year's crop leads me to think that's just as well..." Dayton Voice. November 1993
Citizenship, Democracy and the Changing World Order
A bibliographic essay on citizenship, democracy, and the changing global order in the wake of the Cold War. "Upon review, much of the current literature on our democratic prospects brings to mind Rousseau's phrase, 'Liberty is a food easy to eat, but difficult to digest.'" August 1993
Electronic Town Halls Can't Beat the Real Thing
On the eve of Ross Perot's first nationally televised "electronic town hall," this op-ed piece reflects on the importance of genuine face-to-face democracy. "What we need is a real town meeting, not a high-tech opinion poll masquerading as one." Dayton Daily News. March 1993
The Great Global Jamboree
World music may be to the 1990s what the British invasion was to the 1960s. Scott London surveys the mainstreaming of a new musical sensibility, presents a roundup of "must-have" CD releases from the likes of Africando, Baaba Maal and others, and spotlights Stern's Records — world music's premier record label and a purveyor of some of the most beautiful recordings on the planet. Dayton Voice. October 1993
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The U.S. military's quest to weaponize culture | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
For those anthropologists who don't judge the vitality of our discipline solely in terms of revenue streams, the Pentagon's new interest in culture is worrying. So far the Pentagon has announced two major initiatives to mobilize anthropological knowledge for war. The first is the Human Terrain Team system, to which Gates allocated $40 million in September 2007. The Pentagon plans 26 Human Terrain Teams--one for each combat brigade in Iraq and Afghanistan. The five-person teams include three military personnel. Each team also includes an anthropologist--or another social scientist--who will wear a military uniform and receive weapons training. Described as doing "armed social work" by David Kilcullen, an Australian expert in counterinsurgency who advises Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq, the teams elicit information from villagers for Pentagon databases and provide cultural orientation to U.S. military leaders.
The U.S. military's quest to weaponize culture Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The U.S. military's quest to weaponize culture Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Intellect and Emotions
Intellect and Emotions
by Simonne Liberty
EMOTIONAL EDUCATION
Our education system has built a mental image of what education is suppose to entail. Reading, writing and arithmetic has expanded to high tech skills. Academic intelligence has become a major concern in our modern society. Education in our system is viewed as the most important goal for success. Without education a person is lead to believe that all they can face is failure.
This type of view and attitude by the educational leaders of our country puts a band-aid on problems that need to be addressed in order for education to work. There are few two parent, stable and secure families in our society. Most families are plagued by dysfunctional relationships. Alcohol, drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse. Moral break-downs, child neglect and abuse. Single parent homes, and latch key kids. Fear of fatal disease (aids), poverty, homelessness, and hunger. When all these dysfunctional problems affect the majority of children in our society today, how can their educational skills be considered a FIRST PRIORITY in seeking goals for the future?
EMOTIONAL EDUCATION needs to be taught in schools along with academic education, for children to heal as they learn. Children who have to deal with heavy emotional problems at home, can not turn off the emotions when they walk through the front door of the school. High grade point averages and high IQ's are not going to benefit children who are inflicted with deep emotional problems, that are not dealt with.
Domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, and a high crime rate will continue to escalate among bright and intelligent students who show potential to excel in academic skills, if they are left to fend with emotional struggles that they don't know how to handle. Children will react and respond to the actions that are done to them at home. They may be able to put aside the emotional stress during the school hours, and they may even get by without detection.
A high school diploma or college degree will not heal the hidden wounds that can't heal without treatment. Earning a decent salary for academic achievement may appear to be a sign of success. But when the fears of the past are deeply rooted, they can easily erupt or resurface unexpectedly, or in expected ways. Serial killers often are intelligent human beings who have been twisted emotionally into dangerous monsters. Often the root of problems go way back into a past where emotional problems were never faced, or taken care of. The emotional dysfunction erupts into an evil end.
Many people who physically or sexually abuse their own children or spouces, also may exibit high academic skills. Again, a high IQ is NOT a garantee that the hidden problems of the past will vanish and take care of themselves. The cycle will continue until emotional education is taught and the cycle is broken.
Moral values and concern for others, is not a priority taught in the basic academic program. The issue of "loving one another," is put on the back burner to teach that we live in a COMPETITIVE WORLD. We are taught that everyone has to fight for themselves. That type of reasoning is not going to solve humanistic problems in the world.
Often the need to learn about emotional education drives people to seek this kind of teaching, by religious means. Sometimes religion helps, and other times it only adds to the guilt and shame a person already suffers with. Often a person only becomes more confused, and continues the cycle of shame under the protection of religion. Religion can become a cover for them to live a double life. It is not uncommon. Religion alone is not the answer for all who see relief from the deep dark secrets they were never able to deal with in the past.
The average academic subjects of Math, English, History ect. do not touch a childs "FEELINGS". Feelings are more a part of living than knowing all the answers on an academic exam. When emotions are put aside and neglected, to teach programmed lessons, often those who succeed will be emotionless in dealing with life issues.
Copyright © 2002-2009 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.
by Simonne Liberty
EMOTIONAL EDUCATION
Our education system has built a mental image of what education is suppose to entail. Reading, writing and arithmetic has expanded to high tech skills. Academic intelligence has become a major concern in our modern society. Education in our system is viewed as the most important goal for success. Without education a person is lead to believe that all they can face is failure.
This type of view and attitude by the educational leaders of our country puts a band-aid on problems that need to be addressed in order for education to work. There are few two parent, stable and secure families in our society. Most families are plagued by dysfunctional relationships. Alcohol, drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse. Moral break-downs, child neglect and abuse. Single parent homes, and latch key kids. Fear of fatal disease (aids), poverty, homelessness, and hunger. When all these dysfunctional problems affect the majority of children in our society today, how can their educational skills be considered a FIRST PRIORITY in seeking goals for the future?
EMOTIONAL EDUCATION needs to be taught in schools along with academic education, for children to heal as they learn. Children who have to deal with heavy emotional problems at home, can not turn off the emotions when they walk through the front door of the school. High grade point averages and high IQ's are not going to benefit children who are inflicted with deep emotional problems, that are not dealt with.
Domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, and a high crime rate will continue to escalate among bright and intelligent students who show potential to excel in academic skills, if they are left to fend with emotional struggles that they don't know how to handle. Children will react and respond to the actions that are done to them at home. They may be able to put aside the emotional stress during the school hours, and they may even get by without detection.
A high school diploma or college degree will not heal the hidden wounds that can't heal without treatment. Earning a decent salary for academic achievement may appear to be a sign of success. But when the fears of the past are deeply rooted, they can easily erupt or resurface unexpectedly, or in expected ways. Serial killers often are intelligent human beings who have been twisted emotionally into dangerous monsters. Often the root of problems go way back into a past where emotional problems were never faced, or taken care of. The emotional dysfunction erupts into an evil end.
Many people who physically or sexually abuse their own children or spouces, also may exibit high academic skills. Again, a high IQ is NOT a garantee that the hidden problems of the past will vanish and take care of themselves. The cycle will continue until emotional education is taught and the cycle is broken.
Moral values and concern for others, is not a priority taught in the basic academic program. The issue of "loving one another," is put on the back burner to teach that we live in a COMPETITIVE WORLD. We are taught that everyone has to fight for themselves. That type of reasoning is not going to solve humanistic problems in the world.
Often the need to learn about emotional education drives people to seek this kind of teaching, by religious means. Sometimes religion helps, and other times it only adds to the guilt and shame a person already suffers with. Often a person only becomes more confused, and continues the cycle of shame under the protection of religion. Religion can become a cover for them to live a double life. It is not uncommon. Religion alone is not the answer for all who see relief from the deep dark secrets they were never able to deal with in the past.
The average academic subjects of Math, English, History ect. do not touch a childs "FEELINGS". Feelings are more a part of living than knowing all the answers on an academic exam. When emotions are put aside and neglected, to teach programmed lessons, often those who succeed will be emotionless in dealing with life issues.
Copyright © 2002-2009 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Saving Private Jessica - The New York Times
Saving Private Jessica
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003
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LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalinkI've been roaming Iraq, turning over rocks in my unstinting effort to help the Bush administration find those weapons of mass destruction. No luck yet.
But I did find something related, here in the city where it seems (contrary to early Pentagon leaks) that Pfc. Jessica Lynch did not mow down Iraqis until her ammo ran out, was not shot and apparently was not plucked from behind enemy lines by U.S. commandos braving a firefight. It looks as if the first accounts of the rescue were embellished, like the imminent threat from W.M.D., and like wartime pronouncements about an uprising in Basra and imminent defections of generals. There's a pattern: we were misled.
None of this is to put down Private Lynch, whom her Iraqi doctors described as courageous and funny in the face of unrelenting pain; they said that she told Abdul Hadi, a hospital worker who had befriended her, not to take risks for her because he was needed by his 17 children. Ms. Lynch is still a hero in my book, and it was unnecessary for officials to try to turn her into a Hollywood caricature. As a citizen, I deeply resent my government trying to spin me like a Ping-Pong ball.
Staff members of Nasiriya's main hospital told me, as they have told other reporters, how surprised they were when military officers brought an American woman by ambulance. Private Lynch was unconscious, with broken legs, a head wound and other injuries, apparently sustained in a vehicle accident during a firefight.
''She was nearly dead,'' recalled Saad Abdulrazak, the deputy hospital director, who received her.
The Iraqi doctors were enchanted by this blonde warrior, who as she recovered spent her time alternately crying and joking. I don't know how much to credit the Iraqis' claims that they gave her the best room in the hospital, that they went to the market to buy orange juice for her with their own money, that they brought clothes so that she would have something to wear. But they didn't minimize Iraqi brutality. Indeed, they told of an execution of a handcuffed American male. (I've put a fuller account of this execution and of Ms. Lynch's saga at nytimes.com/kristofresponds.)
The hospital staff also said that on the night of March 27, military officials prepared to kill Ms. Lynch by putting her in an ambulance and blowing it up with its occupants -- blaming the atrocity on the Americans. The ambulance drivers balked at that idea. Eventually, the plan was changed so that a military officer would shoot Ms. Lynch and burn the ambulance. So Sabah Khazal, an ambulance driver, loaded her in the vehicle and drove off with a military officer assigned to execute her.
''I asked him not to shoot Jessica,'' Mr. Khazal said, ''and he was afraid of God and didn't kill her.'' Instead, the executioner ran away and deserted the army, and Mr. Khazal said that he then thought about delivering Ms. Lynch to an American checkpoint. But there were firefights on the streets, so he returned to the hospital. (Ms. Lynch apparently never knew how close she had come to execution.)
By the morning of March 31, all of the Iraqi military at the hospital had fled. The hospital staff members said that they then told Ms. Lynch they would take her to the Americans the next day. That same night, the American special forces arrived.
''I met the Americans at the hospital entrance,'' said Dr. Hussein Salih, adding that Mr. Abdulrazak then led the Americans to Private Lynch. The staff members all said that there was no resistance, and that they welcomed the Americans.
Is this account the truth? I don't know, but every time I voiced skepticism, the doctors and staff all insisted: ''Go ask Jessica! She'll tell you.'' The U.S. military has refused to make Private Lynch available, although that may be out of respect for her privacy; in any case, she is said to have no memory of her capture.
My guess is that ''Saving Private Lynch'' was a complex tale vastly oversimplified by officials, partly because of genuine ambiguities and partly because they wanted a good story to build political support for the war -- a repetition of the exaggerations over W.M.D. We weren't quite lied to, but facts were subordinated to politics, and truth was treated as an endlessly stretchable fabric.
The Iraqis misused our prisoners for their propaganda purposes, and it hurts to find out that some American officials were misusing Private Lynch the same way.
E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com
Saving Private Jessica - The New York Times
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003
Sign in to Recommend
Sign In to E-Mail
Reprints
ShareClose
LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalinkI've been roaming Iraq, turning over rocks in my unstinting effort to help the Bush administration find those weapons of mass destruction. No luck yet.
But I did find something related, here in the city where it seems (contrary to early Pentagon leaks) that Pfc. Jessica Lynch did not mow down Iraqis until her ammo ran out, was not shot and apparently was not plucked from behind enemy lines by U.S. commandos braving a firefight. It looks as if the first accounts of the rescue were embellished, like the imminent threat from W.M.D., and like wartime pronouncements about an uprising in Basra and imminent defections of generals. There's a pattern: we were misled.
None of this is to put down Private Lynch, whom her Iraqi doctors described as courageous and funny in the face of unrelenting pain; they said that she told Abdul Hadi, a hospital worker who had befriended her, not to take risks for her because he was needed by his 17 children. Ms. Lynch is still a hero in my book, and it was unnecessary for officials to try to turn her into a Hollywood caricature. As a citizen, I deeply resent my government trying to spin me like a Ping-Pong ball.
Staff members of Nasiriya's main hospital told me, as they have told other reporters, how surprised they were when military officers brought an American woman by ambulance. Private Lynch was unconscious, with broken legs, a head wound and other injuries, apparently sustained in a vehicle accident during a firefight.
''She was nearly dead,'' recalled Saad Abdulrazak, the deputy hospital director, who received her.
The Iraqi doctors were enchanted by this blonde warrior, who as she recovered spent her time alternately crying and joking. I don't know how much to credit the Iraqis' claims that they gave her the best room in the hospital, that they went to the market to buy orange juice for her with their own money, that they brought clothes so that she would have something to wear. But they didn't minimize Iraqi brutality. Indeed, they told of an execution of a handcuffed American male. (I've put a fuller account of this execution and of Ms. Lynch's saga at nytimes.com/kristofresponds.)
The hospital staff also said that on the night of March 27, military officials prepared to kill Ms. Lynch by putting her in an ambulance and blowing it up with its occupants -- blaming the atrocity on the Americans. The ambulance drivers balked at that idea. Eventually, the plan was changed so that a military officer would shoot Ms. Lynch and burn the ambulance. So Sabah Khazal, an ambulance driver, loaded her in the vehicle and drove off with a military officer assigned to execute her.
''I asked him not to shoot Jessica,'' Mr. Khazal said, ''and he was afraid of God and didn't kill her.'' Instead, the executioner ran away and deserted the army, and Mr. Khazal said that he then thought about delivering Ms. Lynch to an American checkpoint. But there were firefights on the streets, so he returned to the hospital. (Ms. Lynch apparently never knew how close she had come to execution.)
By the morning of March 31, all of the Iraqi military at the hospital had fled. The hospital staff members said that they then told Ms. Lynch they would take her to the Americans the next day. That same night, the American special forces arrived.
''I met the Americans at the hospital entrance,'' said Dr. Hussein Salih, adding that Mr. Abdulrazak then led the Americans to Private Lynch. The staff members all said that there was no resistance, and that they welcomed the Americans.
Is this account the truth? I don't know, but every time I voiced skepticism, the doctors and staff all insisted: ''Go ask Jessica! She'll tell you.'' The U.S. military has refused to make Private Lynch available, although that may be out of respect for her privacy; in any case, she is said to have no memory of her capture.
My guess is that ''Saving Private Lynch'' was a complex tale vastly oversimplified by officials, partly because of genuine ambiguities and partly because they wanted a good story to build political support for the war -- a repetition of the exaggerations over W.M.D. We weren't quite lied to, but facts were subordinated to politics, and truth was treated as an endlessly stretchable fabric.
The Iraqis misused our prisoners for their propaganda purposes, and it hurts to find out that some American officials were misusing Private Lynch the same way.
E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com
Saving Private Jessica - The New York Times
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