This was the weekend when “war in Iraq” really started to feel like a war. American and British soldiers were killed and captured, some the tragic victims of friendly fire. Iraqi civilians and soldiers are also dead in places like Um Qassa, Nasiriyah and Baghdad. President George Bush says he’s pleased with the progress of the battle. Reporters traveling with the troops track the fighting mile-by-mile, including scenes of those surrendered. Iraqi TV shows pictures of American prisoners of war, along with defiant words from President Saddam Hussein.
The propaganda events raise inevitable questions about the rights of prisoners, about the Geneva conventions, and the dirty side of fighting a war when fear becomes another weapon in the arsenal. The killing and the captures, and the way they are used.
Guests:
Thomas Keaney, Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
Phil Smucker, reporter with the Christian Science Monitor.