It's getting very cold - better get to bed

Cerita banyak pun tak guna.... aku rasa benda yang paling menarik aku belajar lately adalah pasal duit - bukan menarik pasal nak jadi kaya tapi menarik pasal dapat perspektif baru pasal kaya. Ramai orang yang aku jumpa nak jadi kaya - tapi sebenarnya ramai yang tak reti apa yang diaorang nak tu.... itu yang jadi masalahnya....

I've been thinking of registering a domain name - what for? don't know. I guess this site is better than any... I'm tired. It's late and got a big day tomorrow..... see how it goes.

Today is tuesday...hmm.... just over 48 hours ago, I had to wake up the kids and rushed to a hospital. An emergency - my wife is not feeling well.

Alhamdulillah, after a couple of drips into mum and 4 drawings by the kids, we were allowed to leave. Reaching home at about 3 a.m.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)



As of today, a cumulative total of 4836 cases with 293 deaths have occurred in 26 countries. This represents an increase of 190 new cases and 19 deaths compared with yesterday. The new deaths occurred in Canada (3), China (7), Hong Kong SAR (6), the Philippines (1), and Singapore (2).

WHO

My daughter is 'making' her favourite food - roti tissue. If you are not familiar with this, I take it that you know roti canai. Well roti tissue is roti canai that's not folded after the dough is stretched. Thin as tissue - someone used the word - reshem; anyway, that her favourite food (for now) and believe it or not, we can find places that serve roti tissue in Melbourne. My son is still enjoying roti canai at this stage.

I noticed that sometimes the things you see around you are not what they really are.

My beloved nation - deplorable realities...

"You must remember it's pre-selected judges, most junior bench of the court of appeal, and it's all scripted. What do you expect?"



"I am an incorrigible optimist. It's not only an Anwar issue, it's about the system of democracy, the reform of the judiciary"



"By points of law we would have won hands down but this is a political case, a political persecution, so this is expected, even though we were very hopeful."



"So long as there are judges who are prepared to and continue to compromise the values and principles of their high office in such cases there is no hope for judicial independence and impartiality in the Malaysian justice system."



"The rejection of Anwar's appeal is a major setback in the restoration of public confidence in the rule of law."

I found it here

The last 3 days have been the most wonderful days in my life in one way - though I'm a bit sad in another way. Anyway, let's talk about good things. Well, I learnt a lot about my kids and our lives at home. Do you know that my 5 yrs old know camouflage, not just the word but the concept. Learning the concept in animals, she's also applying it to other things. Thinking back, I think I learned the word in my teens - late teens I would say.



Personally, if I can afford it, I want to stay at home - hmmm.... house-husband? Not because it's easy - trust me - I've never felt so busy in my life and when both are asleep, I'm just too tired to do anything else. That's why I'm just sitting infront of my PC now. The reason is more of the satisfaction of being with the kids. I can tell you this - I miss them.

Perang dah tamat. Bagi aku perang baru bermula - sebenarnya perang baru ni cuma satu pertempuran dalam perang yang sebenar. One of the battles in the real war - Clash of civilisations.

sambung cerita London....



sebenarnya 1st year aku jadi macam tu memang aku sendiri carik. Bila dapat offer dari universiti, orang lain sibuk apply hall laa, itu laa, ini laa... aku lepak je, in fact aku bagitau bapak aku, aku nak tough it out - tak nak tinggal kat hall - nak cari rumah sendiri, nak belajar berdikari, banyak pengalaman boleh dapat. lagipun aku dah malas hidup kat hostel ni.



ambik engkau - sampai tak terlarat; nyaris aku terbabas. camanapun, aku bersyukur dan pikir-pikir balik, memang aku tak nak buat cam lain pun. dalam penat, susah, payah, merempat, pening kepala, tenggelam punca, aku belajar erti hidup. aku belajar erti persahabatan, aku kenal sapa kawan sapa member je, aku kenal dunia ni. aku rasa perspektif aku banyak berubah lepas tu. Yang paling penting, aku rasa aku banyak belajar dan kenal diri aku sendiri - siapa aku, apa kelebihan aku, apa kekurangan aku, apa kelemahan aku.



masa tu, yang paling aku risau - study aku laa... dah laa course yang aku ambik tu amat asing - sekali lagi, sendiri carik. aku tak mau buat course yang konvensional. accounting, electrical/electronic, mechanical semua aku tak mau buat - bukan aku menidakkan kepentingannya - lebih pada aku nak cuba benda baru. campur pulak dengan kehidupan yang tak menentu. budak lain pikir assignment, pikir exam; aku pikir mana nak tinggal.... apa plan lepas ni...etc..etc... mana tak risau.



alhamdulillah, dalam kelam kabut hidup nomad tu, results 1st year aku okay - 2.1 kut; aku pun tak sangka. tapi itulaa aku.... ntah camana rezeki aku.... aku selalu lepas. Alhamdulillah.

Ever wonder what is it with kids and bubbles? The ones you blow from soapy water and they will run around bursting all they can.... My kids are the same - I asked them why they like playing with bubbles - the answers, "Because it's fun". Better than their 2 favourite answers I used to get; "Because" and "Sebab".

I think today must be the day where I spent most time with my 2 kids - been through this with my first one about 4 years ago. It's always refreshing and put my priorities in perspectives. It's really 'not easy' but enjoying. I think we'll get more opportunities to do so in the next few months. I also got to appreciate the other things that my wife normally does and appreciate I must.

Dah lama aku tak menulis kat sini. Sibuk dan malas. Banyak hal yang nak aku selesaikan dan walaupun aku selalu teringat nak menulis tapi tak kesampaian. Nak cerita pasal Melbourne pun malas. Hidup sini okay - dari segi luaran, tak banyak beza dengan masa aku kat London dulu. Yang bezanya, aku sendiri. Dulu aku sorang diri sekarang kami berempat, insya-Allah berlima hujung tahun ni. Dulu tanggungjawab kurang, sekarang lebih. Apapun, aku syukur. Alhamdulillah.

Someone asked me to write about Melbourne and life overseas. Will try to do soon. A bit busy at the moment.

We've just received some important documents sent from Penang via courier. Believe it or not. When we sent over using DHL, it took 2 days to get there. Coming back through a company called Nationwide - affiliated to UPS here, sent on 2/4/03 - just received today 11/4/03. Hopelessly slow.

Just had my wisdom teeth (right, upper and lower) pulled out. Ouch!....errr...BIG OUCH!!!!

I was talking about the perception of hygiene of glove-wearers. Before I forget about this thing altogether; I saw a food-handler with gloves on rearranging chairs and tables in front of his shop. An hour later I saw him serving food, still gloves on. I wonder whether those are new gloves or the one he was wearing earlier. Personally, I think he did not change the gloves. Whilst if he was not wearing gloves, I would expect him to wash his hands before re-handling food, I doubt it in this case. Especially because with the gloves on, you don't feel your hands being dirty.



So, what's the purpose of the gloves, "To protect the food from the hands or to protect the hands from 'dirts'?"

Checkout another legacy of the Bombies.

Eighteen months ago, in western Afghanistan, a 15-year-old boy picked up what he thought was a packet of food - it blew his head off.



Sayyid Ahmad Sanef believed the bright yellow object lying on the ground near his home was one of the 37,000 plastic humanitarian aid packages of the same colour dropped on Afghanistan by US military aircraft - but it had come from a cluster bomb.



Cluster bombs contain as many as 200 smaller bomblets and up to 30% of these fail to explode on impact but, like landmines, remain deadly for many years.



This is particularly the case when the weapons are dropped from medium or high altitude.



This can cause the bomblets, which contain shrapnel and flammable material, to drift in the wind and land a long way from the intended target.



And they are more likely to kill children, who pick them up without knowing what they are, according to British charity Landmine Action.



The bomblets were mistaken for aid packages in Afghanistan



Director Richard Lloyd told BBC News Online: "As many are brightly-coloured and the size of a drinks can or toy, they are particularly attractive to children."



Nato governments and their military commanders generally argue cluster bombs are an effective and useful weapon in certain circumstances.



The UK military says its L20 bomblets have a "secondary arming device" to ensure any that do not explode immediately on impact do so within 15 seconds.



But Mr Lloyd said: "As we know from Afghanistan, Kosovo and the last Gulf war, these weapons cannot be used in a way that discriminates between civilian and military targets and that is illegal under military and humanitarian international law."



Cluster bombs have killed nearly 2,000 Kuwaitis since the end of the 1991 Gulf war, according to Labour MP Joan Ruddock.



She said last month their use in Iraq would be "inconsistent with the government's pledge to keep civilian casualties to a minimum".



The Americans also dropped about 285 million cluster bombs on Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, according to the Pentagon.



In August 2000, a quarter of a century after the Vietnam war ended, one of them exploded and killed six children in the central province of Binh Dinh.



They were playing with the device after finding it in a canal

The cluster bomb controversy - BBC

Let's get to know the cluster bomb better.

You see, I'm a 1,000-pound marvel, a cluster bomb with an ingenious design. When I go off, a couple of hundred "bomblets" shoot out in all directions, aided by little parachutes that look like inverted umbrellas. Those 'chutes slow down the descent of the bomblets and disperse them so they'll hit plenty of what my maker calls "soft targets." Before that happens, though, each bomblet breaks into about 300 pieces of jagged steel shrapnel.



Sometimes, as a cluster bomb, I get a little jealous of the exaggerated notoriety that the news media confer on outfits like the National Rifle Association. They get credited with the proliferation of murder and mayhem. Well, they're rank amateurs! Piddling sidearms pushers! Compared to me, they're small-time retailers. I'm into wholesale. They don't know how to preserve, protect and defend the Grim Reaper like I do.



I just laugh when I read the nasty things that so many pundits have been writing about the NRA. While they rant and rail against assault rifles that take a few lives now and again in the United States, I've been busy slicing up tender human bodies in Yugoslavia.



When those high school students died in Colorado, the news media kept saying what a horrendous tragedy it was. But what about the work I've done on kids and grownups in Yugoslavia? Journalists merely echo the statements coming out of the White House, mumbling that it's regrettable and can't be helped.



"In a street leading from the market, dismembered bodies were strewn among carrots and other vegetables in pools of blood. A dead woman, her body covered with a sheet, was still clutching a shopping bag filled with carrots."



I know, it's immodest to flaunt my press notices. But people don't get to see those sorts of news accounts very much in America! If the stories are reported at all, they're usually buried (ha ha) on back pages of newspapers and rarely even mentioned on the networks.

MORE THAN 600 CIVILLIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED.

....and where are the so-called reasons for the war? where are the chemical weapons? where are the mass destruction weapons? please don't come back in 3 weeks after taking over Baghdad that stockpiles of them have been found. A man like Saddam would have used them by now if he has it, don't you think so - he's a 'monster' after all?

What would you expect from war criminals? Right, indiscriminate crimes.



The invasion forces have admitted that cluster bombs were used.

British and American forces were accused yesterday of breaking international rules of war after admitting that they were using cluster bombs against targets in Iraq. Presented with a storm of criticism, the Ministry of Defence admitted that Israeli-manufactured cluster shells had been fired by the Royal Artillery's long-range howitzers around Basra.



It also said that RAF Harrier jets had dropped RBL755 cluster bombs on targets in Iraq. The weapons, which scatter 147 "bomblets" over a wide area, have an estimated 10% failure rate, leaving unexploded munitions which humanitarian groups say are as dangerous as landmines. Yellow in colour and the size of soft-drink cans, they are attractive to children in particular.



US forces, meanwhile, have been showering batteries of cluster weapons on Iraqi targets with multi-launch rocket systems.



The chief doctor at the general teaching hospital in Hilla, six miles south of Baghdad, said this week that 33 civilians had been killed, and 100 injured, after a cluster bomb attack.



American military officials said yesterday that US B-52 bombers had for the first time dropped six new CBU-105 bombs - guided 500kg cluster bombs - on Iraqi tanks defending Baghdad.



Colin King, author of Jane's explosive ordnance disposal guide and a British army bomb disposal expert in the 1991 Gulf war, said yesterday: "Cluster bombs have a very bad reputation, which they deserve."



Richard Lloyd, director of the campaigning group Landmine Action said yesterday: "Dropping cluster bombs on Iraq contradicts any government claim to minimise civilian casualties. Cluster weapons are prone to missing their targets and killing civilians."



Alex Renton, overseeing Oxfam's aid work from Jordan, said the cluster shells could cause "unnecessary harm". The UN children's fund, Unicef, expressed concern that Iraqi children might confuse the yellow food packets being handed out by American forces with the bomblets, which had identical colouring.



In the Commons, the defence secretary, Geoffrey Hoon, accepted there were risks with cluster bombs.



He said that though the failure rate was "very small" they did leave a "continuing problem". Mr Hoon added: "Balanced against that you really have got to face up to the issue of whether you are going to allow coalition forces to be put at risk because we do not use this particular capability."



It would be necessary to use "far larger weapons" to deal with the same problem if cluster bombs were ruled out, he said.



Cluster weapons were used when it was "absolutely justified ... because it is making the battlefield safer for our armed forces", said Mr Hoon. {I translate this to "Forget the civillians"}



Although Iraq is not party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, said Steve Goose, executive director of the arms division of Human Rights Watch, "any use of anti-personnel mines by any armed force is prohibited by customary international humanitarian law, since they are inherently indiscriminate weapons."

If you are rating the cleanliness of two food-serving businesses (e.g. restaurants, stall etc), which would be more hygienic in your opinion based on the observation that the operator of one wears gloves and the other one does not?

....suatu bangsa tidak akan menjadi besar,

tanpa memiliki sifat kurang ajar.....

Another one from my favourite poet, regarding the Malays.

Melayu



Melayu itu orang yang bijaksana

Nakalnya bersulam jenaka

Budi bahasanya tidak terkira

Kurang ajarnya tetap santun

Jika menipu pun masih bersopan

Bila mengampu bijak beralas tangan



Melayu itu berani jika bersalah

Kecut takut kerana benar

Janji simpan di perut

Selalu pecah di mulut

Biar mati adat

Jangan mati anak



Melayu di Tanah Semenanjung luas maknanya:

Jawa itu Melayu, Bugis itu Melayu

Banjar juga disebut Melayu,

Minangkabau memang Melayu,

Keturunan Acheh adalah Melayu,

Jakun dan Sakai asli Melayu,

Arab dan Pakistani, semua Melayu

Mamak dan Malbari serap ke Melayu

Malah mua'alaf bertakrif Melayu

(Setelah disunat anunya itu)



Dalam sejarahnya

Melayu itu pengembara lautan

Melorongkan jalur sejarah zaman

Begitu luas daerah sempadan

Sayangnya kini segala kehilangan



Melayu itu kaya falsafahnya

Kias kata bidal pusaka

Akar budi bersulamkan daya

Gedung akal laut bicara



Malangnya Melayu itu kuat bersorak

Terlalu ghairah pesta temasya

Sedangkan kampung telah tergadai

Sawah sejalur tinggal sejengkal

Tanah sebidang mudah terjual



Meski telah memiliki telaga

Tangan masih memegang tali

Sedang orang mencapai timba

Berbuahlah pisang tiga kali

Melayu itu masih bermimpi



Walaupun sudah mengenal universiti

Masih berdagang di rumah sendiri

Berkelahi cara Melayu

Menikam dengan pantun

Menyanggah dengan senyum

Marahnya dengan diam

Merendah bukan menyembah

Meninggi bukan melonjak



Watak Melayu menolak permusuhan

Setia dan sabar tiada sempadan

Tapi jika marah tak nampak telinga

Musuh dicari ke lubang cacing

Tak dapat tanduk telinga dijinjing

Maruah dan agama dihina jangan

Hebat amuknya tak kenal lawan



Berdamai cara Melayu indah sekali

Silaturrahim hati yang murni

Maaf diungkap senantiasa bersahut

Tangan diulur sentiasa bersambut

Luka pun tidak lagi berparut



Baiknya hati Melayu itu tak terbandingkan

Segala yang ada sanggup diberikan

Sehingga tercipta sebuah kiasan:

"Dagang lalu nasi ditanakkan

Suami pulang lapar tak makan

Kera di hutan disusu-susukan

Anak di pangkuan mati kebuluran"



Bagaimanakah Melayu abad dua puluh satu

Masihkan tunduk tersipu-sipu ?

Jangan takut melanggar pantang

Jika pantang menghalang kemajuan;

Jangan segan menentang larangan

Jika yakin kepada kebenaran;

Jangan malu mengucapkan keyakinan

Jika percaya kepada keadilan



Jadilah bangsa yang bijaksana

Memegang tali memegang timba

Memiliki ekonomi mencipta budaya

Menjadi tuan di negara Merdeka



-Usman Awang-

15 days into the war, this is as relevant as ever...

Found something...it's true after all

Razaq Al Kazem Al Khafaji grieves over the bodies of his children in Hilla in the southern province of Babylon on Tuesday. Khafaji lost 15 members (including six children) of his family as his car was bombed by coalition helicopters while fleeing Haidariya towards Babylon. Thirty-three civilians were killed and 310 wounded in a US-British bombing of the residential area of Nader south of the city of Hilla, 80km south of Baghdad (photo by Karim SAHIB/AFP, Jordan Times, 4/2/03).

From al-Jazeera

Behind all the bold statesmen and stateswomen,

behind all the celebrated heroes and winning,

behind all the blazing nightlines,

behind all the reports and reporters,

behind all the so-called reasons for war,

behind all these rhetorics...

lie the realities...

realities as faced,

by those most affected by the war....

though they are almost always,

conveniently forgotten.

Yesterday's strike took out two homes of an extended family of about a dozen. Tuesday's raid destroyed the local school, and on Monday a poor baklava seller, pitied by the entire neighbourhood, lost his wife, mother, sister, nephew, and two sons to American missiles.



The last five days have seen intense, round-the-clock bombardments, forcing locals to flee to makeshift underground shelters, or to relatives elsewhere in the city.



"We are beginning to believe that the Americans want to take revenge on us for what happened before," said Fareed Fathi.



"There are bombings - missiles and airplanes - all day long, and all night," said Walid Hathem, whose home was replaced by a giant crater a few hours before dawn yesterday. "It's continuous."



High above, a vapour trail from a US jet arced across the sky, and the ground shook from a nearby incoming missile.



As each day brings more people out into the streets of central Baghdad, the people on the outskirts of Sueb have spent their nights in tiny burrows in the mud - rudimentary bunkers reinforced with steel drums and scavenged wooden beams.



None of the shelters is large enough to stand in - nor sleep in. "There are 10 or 15 of us there every night," said Suad Abdur Rahman, a cousin and neighbour. "There is no room to lie down, no room to breathe. "We crouch one on top of another, with one child on each knee."



Despite such precautions, in Sueb as in other outlying areas, America's bombardments have brought almost daily casualties.



On March 26, an explosion killed nearly 20 Iraqis on the main road of Shaab, on the northern perimeter of Baghdad. Two days later, more than 50 people were killed when a US missile struck a crowded marketplace in the Shouala neighbourhood, a hurriedly built suburb for working class Shias not unlike Sueb.



On Monday, tragedy struck in Sueb when US missiles killed six members of the family of the lowly baklava seller, Ali Abdul Rasul, and five others living in the same road. Twelve houses were destroyed in the blast, hastily built one storey structures crumpled into the earth.



"The people living in this area are the very poorest people. It really is so cruel that we are being hit," said Taliya Ali Mohammed, whose house, down the road from Mr Rasul's, was strewn with shattered glass.



At 4am yesterday, after the children had cried themselves to sleep, the missiles destroyed two homes, leaving Mr Hathem with few possessions beyond a kerosene cooker and a television set. The entire clan felt the loss. They also witnessed it.



"When the missiles came in, everything shook," said Yas Khudayar, who shared a tunnel space of barely 2 square metres with a wife and five children. "We expected to be dead any minute."



"Just look at what those Americans have done," she said. "We hate them now more than ever. What have we done? Why should our children suffer? Saddam Hussein has not hurt us. He hasn't been a nuisance to us."

-The Realities of War-

I heard about a family of 15 killed by the war criminals. If true, another unnecessary set of deaths.

Effectiveness of various management styles during tough times.

"Effective leaders seem better at blending the softer leadership skills-trust, empathy, and genuine communication-with the tough skills needed to keep an organization afloat during difficult times,"



"They were able to strike a balance between the bottom-line goals of the business and providing the support and direction that employees needed during periods of uncertainty."



"In contrast, our survey showed that ineffective leaders were poor communicators who were insensitive to employee needs and who were generally inaccessible."

More at Leadership Online

I was watching something on TV last night and got to observe someone who simply lack self-awareness and any understanding of those around him.



The Center for Creative Leadership had studied "derailed" executives and here are the characteristics and note that in most cases they can be strengths with proper handling:

1. Insensitive to others; abrasive and intimidating

2. Overly demanding

3. Not willing to listen to others

4. Intolerant of dissent - not able to get along with people who have different styles

5. Taking credit for success

6. Blaming others for mistakes

7. Cold, aloof and arrogant

8. Untrustworthy

9. Dictatorial style

[From Becoming a Master Manager, Quinn, Faerman, Thompson and Mcgrath (2003), John Wiley & Sons

This in my terms is Living in Fantasy-Land.

I've submitted my research proposal and will be focussing on the Literature Review and developing a sound Protocol this month. BTW, it's about Diversity.

Jack Welch & self confidence; versus living in Fantasy-Land. I'm sort of natural pessimist that prepares for the worst and so far this attitude give me advantage because I always strive to do better. Will reread Jack and distil the points (possibly here).



G'nite

hhmmm.....If I we were to stay here longer than planned (which is until around middle of next year), would that be something I'll we'll seriously consider? Among the issues that is foremost in my mind (because other things are manageble) would be my daughter's education. She is doing real fine here and moving to a different system will require some adjustment on her part. In any case, it is better to be able to know far in advance thus plan appropriately. We'll do a PMI analysis and see how things go.



I agree with an advice I got, "Don't close up the options to soon - keep them open." or in another term, "queh sera...sera..."

Remember MERCY?

KUALA LUMPUR SENTRAL – March 24, 2003 : Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY Malaysia) sent its first team of two doctors and a nurse to Jordan tonight to help refugees who are expected to flock to the Iraqi-Jordanian border for shelter.



The team leader, Respiratory Physician Dr Jeffrey Abu Hassan (experienced in providing relief during earthquake in Turkey), Paediatric Surgeon Dr Lai Fui Boon, (veteran of Turkey, Afghanistan and Cambodia missions) and Nurse Mathina Bee Gulam Mydin will join MERCY’s International Relief Manager Anita Ahmad who had earlier arrived in Amman on March 15, 2003.



MERCY Malaysia’s President, Dato’ Dr Jemilah Mahmood, who was at KL Sentral to see the trio off, said the situation was still uncertain in Iraq, as relief organisations had yet to detect the path of the refugees' flow.



The team will be based at the refugee camp, operating Basic Health Units (BHUs), set up at Ruwaished, about 60km from the Iraqi border. Dr Jemilah said the trio will be there for at least three weeks before another team takes over, under a rotational basis.



We wish them a fruitful and safe journey and hope that they achieve our mission’s objectives.

A journalist's account of the killing of a car full of Iraqi civilians by US soldiers differs widely from the official military version, says Brian Whitaker

A US military spokesman says the soldiers motioned the vehicle to stop but their signals were ignored. However, according to the Washington Post, Captain Ronny Johnson, who was in charge of the checkpoint, blamed his own troops for ignoring orders to fire a warning shot.



"You just fucking killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!", he reportedly yelled at them.



....that the explosion in a Baghdad market which killed more than 60 people last Friday was indeed caused by a cruise missile and not an Iraqi anti-aircraft rocket as the US has suggested.

and this war is justified? At least 565 innocent civillians have been killed directly by the war criminals.

I have been trying to find out more about the 7 women and children who were killed yesterday. You know, the usual things, names, age, why were they in that van on that road etcetera. So far, I can't find any. However, I did find some unbelievable quotes in relations to their murders.

The first one is from a US Army spokeperson, "the blood of this incident is on the hands of the Iraqi regime."



The second one is from an Australian war analyst, "this is a really bad PR for the coalition forces."

Denial and confusing priority; you shoot seven civillians (women and children in fact) in war and you blame your enemy. Seven lives are taken wrongly (criminally) and your concern is with PR.

I'm back! Something with the template server yesterday and blogger.com did not work.

"Civilians killed by US forces amid suicide fears".



What a title. In one breath, we are informed and pressed to accept justifications.



Let's see the facts.

Seven Iraqi women and children were killed and two were injured when US forces fired on their vehicle as it was leaving the city of Najaf, south west of Baghdad, the Pentagon said tonight.

The can even justify killing women and children now....Note as well in 'reporting' the story, more words are actually used to justify the murders of innocent women and children by the war criminals. BTW, nobody knows who the seven women and children are. Mother of whom, daughters and sons of whom? What are their lives like? What are the childrens favourite toys and food? aarrrhhh.........not important, they are not Americans, they are numbers.....

How do you form your opinions on the war? Principles based? Information based? A lot of information is available for this war, however if this is you main mode of opinion forming then be aware.

Of course, the trumpeted access to full facts is a fiction. Though the communications centre may be awash with information, the truth is not in volume, but in selection. No matter how seemingly extensive the raw material, since it is subject to rigorous editing before release, the picture is partial.



The claim is that the media machine is taking information from the battlefield and turning it into knowledge. But knowledge of what? Those who refuse to take the proffered information at face value would say knowledge of an exercise in subjective interpretation, not objective truth.



For verification, ask Donald Rumsfeld. He gave the game away, unintended, when he said "what you are seeing now is not the big picture". The US's communications operation is ensuring that the international community just sees the trees

Is it all a photo-op?

and we are supposed to believe everything we see.... before you say, "But I think", take care of your subconcious.

Is it just me or the reports on the war in the media has subsided. At least, my children viewing sessions are no more interrupted with 'breaking news' that sent my kids wondering "why is that 'uncle' shooting those people?", or "why does the building collapsed?" or worst "why is the girl crying, where's her mum?"