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iraq
 There is a firehose of information and misinformation out there. For a minute by minute account, it's The Agonist. (Sean-Paul makes it into the NY Times!) He is also throwing in relevant links all the time. This site is a must for up to the minute news. For analysis, it's daily KOS. No doubt. As an example...
The "Shock and Awe" campaign failed completely. The traditional term of "Mass" has not been used by ground forces. Air power has supplied the mass, while the ground forces have suffered from "economy of force" being redefined. The march of 3rd ID (infantry division), while amazing, has left huge supply lines from Kuwait. These supply lines do not seem to be well guarded. The Apache attack on the Medina division was largely ineffective. The Agonist linked to this incredible interview with Rober Fisk who is in Baghdad. It's long and incredibly informative. A must read!!!! Robert Fisk, The Independent: Well, it’s been a relatively—relatively being the word—quiet night, there’s been quite a lot of explosions about an hour ago. There have obviously been an awful lot of missiles arriving on some target, but I would say it was about 4 or 5 miles away. You can hear the change in air pressure and you can hear this long, low rumble like drums or like someone banging on a drum deep beneath the ground, but quite a ways away. There have only been 2 or 3 explosions near the center of the city, which is where I am, in the last 12 hours. So, I suppose you could say that, comparatively, to anyone living in central Baghdad, it’s been a quiet night. The strange thing is that the intensity of the attacks on Baghdad changes quite extraordinarily; you’ll get one evening when you can actually sleep through it all, and the next evening when you see the explosions red hot around you.
As if no one really planning the things, it’s like someone wakes up in the morning and says, “Let’s target this on the map today”, and it’s something which sort of characterizes the whole adventure because if you actually look at what’s happening on the ground, you’ll see that the American and British armies started off in the border. They started off at Um Qasr and got stuck, carried on up the road through the desert, took another right turn and tried to get into Basra, got stuck, took another right at Nasiriya, got stuck—it’s almost as if they keep on saying, “Well let’s try the next road on the right”, and it has kind of a lack of planning to it. There will be those who say that, “No it’s been meticulously planned,” but it doesn’t feel like it to be here. Aid May Take Weeks to Get Into Iraq, Officials Say Bush sends $75bn bill for war thanks to The Agonist Key battle looms south of Baghdad thanks to The Agonist US, British supply lines stretched thin, analysts say Newtie's Strategery thanks to Eschaton In Nasiriya, Marines Find an Urban Fight They Didn't Want Rumsfeld's strategy under fire as war risks become increasingly apparent thanks to Eschaton Pentagon caught off-guard by news reports Allies Risk 3000 Casualties in Baghdad - Ex-General |