Get Your War On (Monday's First Hour)

Happy new week, everybody! We're back in the studio tonight and Anderson is looking dapper in what I have dubbed his young republican tie. I don't usually notice things like ties, but this one seems to be his favorite because he wears it all the time. Anderson explains to us that Tuesday Bush will be addressing the US General Assembly about Iran. You know what? I don't even want to think about this. Going to war with Iran would just be so demonstrably stupid, yet you look at our leaders and you know it may very well happen. Scared people on the inside have been furiously leaking to people like Sy Hersh regarding the coming war for quite a while now. Anyway, Anderson intros us into a John Roberts piece on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his strategy to appeal to the Muslim streets in order to become the dominant power in the Middle East. It is believed that Ahmadinejad's rise in popularity/dangerousness is due in part to both his comments about wiping Israel off the map (although Juan Cole has said he was quoted out of context and I really wish CNN would look into that further) and Bush's idiotic insistence on using Islamophobic language that ticks Muslims off. Plus us taking out Iraq really helped him too. Ahmadinejad is trying to drive a wedge between the US and its allies and it may be working a little because France is backpeddling on sanctions. Oh geez. I hope we don't have to start eating freedom fries again.

We then go into a rare studio interview with Christiane Amanpour and she talks a little of the sit down that she did with Ahmadinejad last year. She says he has a debating quality, wry smile, adn is aware of how the world perceives him. After seeing his interview with Mike Wallace I would have to agree. This isn't some wackjob, people. He knows what he's doing. Christiane says that he feels that under international treaties Iran has a right to a nuclear program. The problem is what they're going to do with that program. I have to say that letting India go ahead with their program is definitely sending mixed messages here. And I think some of this could maybe be diffused with direct talks, but Bush has to play the cowboy.

On now to a Brian Todd piece on how close Iran is to enrichment. The Internation Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) doesn't think they're anywhere near close. Funny. I just watched a clip of Matt Lauer interviewing Bush and Bush basically said the exact opposite. Anyway, a republican House report states things are way further along and there's charges that they're actually pressuring the IAEA to say so. If things are feeling a little deja vu to you, there's a good reason. Prior to Iraq the IAEA was saying the same thing and Bush was very critical of them. Now, remind me, who was right in that case? Oh yeah. But hey, that all worked out, right?

Next up we have a Jamie McIntyre piece on what war with Iran would look like. We actually don't need this piece because I can tell you it will look bad. Very, very, bad. Jamie explains that a preemptive attack on Iran would involve bunker buster air strikes on their two dozen nuclear facilities that are underground. The problem is that they're all spread out and some are in populated areas. The best case scenerio after an attack would be that Iran doesn't retalliate and simply rebuilds. The worst case? You don't even want to know the worst case. Basically it involves unleashed terrorism, major attacks on our troops, and skyrocketing oil prices that could shake the economy. The Pentagon assures Jamie they're just contingency planning. Yeah, right. 360 did a pretty good job with all the Iran stuff tonight. A responsible look at a scary possibility.

Transitioning now to Michael Ware live in Iraq and the topic is civil war. Michael says that at this point it's just semantics and I have to agree. I mean, people didn't call what happened in Rwanda 'genocide' until after it was over. "People are dying here in droves," Michael tells us and their bodies are being found with evidence of horrific torture. Basically the torturers take a person, take a drill to the bottom of their body, and just work their way up putting holes everywhere. Michael says there's no reason for this other than to send a message and provoke. In a letter from the now dead Zarqawi to Bin Laden, Zarqawi laid out a plan to antagonize the Sunnis so much that they would rise up and attack the Shia and that's what's happening.

On now to an Anderson piece over the Pope's recent comments that have angered the Muslim world. The Pope has given a sort of apology. I say sort of because really he only apologized for their interpretation of his comments. Anyway, things are out of control once again. Al Qaeda has issued threats and West Bank churches were burned. Hey, remember last Wednesday when I said we needed some Reza Aslan (author of "No god but God")? Well guess who we have live after the piece? Yay. Our faith and values correspondant Delia Gallagher also joins us in the studio. Delia says that the Pope was bringing up the controversial question of whether Islam is at odds with reason and Reza points out that the comments have been taken out of context and used by jihadists as propaganda. It is also pointed out that as a Cardinal this Pope also said some controversial things. Anderson brings up the fact that there have been art exhibits with a cross dipped in urine, but Christians aren't rioting and Reza notes it is important to remember that the numbers of those doing violence are small and in few places. And I'm going to point out that there are almost a billion Muslims, so obviously the majority of them are not going crazy over this. Reza thinks rhetoric like this from the Pope only serves to help jihadists and he thinks a better apology is needed. Delia thinks this apology is as good as it's going to get.

We then move into a Delia piece on the Pope and his life. The requisite Hitler Youth reference is made, as well as his controversial positions. I'm really not sure that we need this piece. Afterwards we get Delia live again and she says the Pope is more theologian than diplomat. Obviously.

Next up we have a piece from Jonathan Freed about the baby that was abducted from Union, Missouri. The mother let a woman in the house to use her phone and the woman slashed her throat and took the baby. The mother is okay, but the baby is still missing. Since this happened about an hour from me it's been all over the news here and I was actually watching tv Friday when the Amber Alert first came up. I hope they find her, but I also hope this doesn't turn into some sort of media saturation thing. Drew Griffin then gives us a kind of similar piece about a 14 year girl who was kidnapped and held in a bunker, but escaped when she was able to steal her captor's phone and text her mother. Good for her.

Erica now gives us the headlines and she shows Anderson some video of a shark that walks on its fins. Anderson is quite shocked, "What?!" Heh. The Shot tonight is an elephant that is all painted in an effort to draw attention to poverty. Okay at first I totally don't get it, but then Anderson explains it's the elephant in the room. Oooooooh. Erica comments about how he's so smart to get that, but Anderson admits he actually just read about it earlier. C'mon Celebrity Jeopardy Champion, you should have just known that! That's it for the first hour, which was pretty good. I'll have the second hour up as soon as I can. It was a little weaker, so tonight barely gets a B.

Awesome screencaps by bcfraggle.