Laila Lalami

I picked up one of the last copies of Crescent left on the shelf at my local bookstore on Friday. I thought the book wasn’t due out till April, but I guess they brought it in a few days early and it seemed to be doing well.

I haven’t started reading it yet, but here is a review from Abu-Jaber’s hometown paper, The Oregonian, and another one, from the Christian Science Monitor.

A couple of weeks ago, Seymour Hersh wrote an article on Richard Perle that caused quite a stir. A few days ago, Perle announced his resignation as chairman of the Defense Policy Board. Although Hersh’s article wasn’t about Perle’s dealings with Global Crossing, I’m sure it did little to assuage people’s concerns over Perle’s conflicts of interest.
The April 7 issue of the New Yorker features another article by Seymour Hersh (no link yet) that alleges that “U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon planners that substantially more troops and armour would be needed to fight a war in Iraq.” Read on.
Can’t wait to get the issue in the mail so I can see what the hoopla is about this time.

Update: Seymour Hersh’s article is now online. Enjoy.

As a linguist, I’m much more familiar with Noam Chomsky’s work on syntax than with his political commentary. To many linguists, he’s a living legend, whether you agree with his theories on Universal Grammar, for example, or not.
At any rate, his politics have gotten him in the crosshairs of many conservative and sometimes even liberal commentators. But this week’s New Yorker features an article by Larissa McFarquhar in which she profiles Noam Chomsky. I suppose that means he’s more mainstream now…I never thought I’d see the day.
Links: Chomsky’s 9-11.

They say marriage is about sharing and apparently that applies to sinus infections as well. Alex had one earlier this week and had to miss work for 3 days, and this weekend was my turn. I’m miserable. To top it off, my left eye is so swollen it looks like someone gave me a shiner. And tomorrow I have to go to a new writing workshop to discuss one of my stories, which is about–you guessed it–a battered woman. Insert your own joke here. If you’ve written me email or sent me IMs, I’m sorry for not responding. I’m woefully behind on my correspondence and hope to catch up when I feel better.

For those who are in the Los Angeles area, Bharati Mukherjee will be reading from her new book, Desirable Daughters, at Dutton’s tonight.

The April Issue of Harper’s Magazine is a photomontage by Penny Gentieu of Guernica draped in blue, while the March 17 issue of the New Yorker (the issue with Seymour Hersh’s article on Richard Perle) has a cover designed by Harry Bliss, and called “Setting the Stage”:

The two covers are eerily similar, and both call to mind the complete draping of Guernica on January 27 at the United Nations. It was then that Colin Powell was to brief the press about the possibility of war on Iraq and the tapestry was deemed “inappropriate” so it was covered up. The two magazines picked these covers on the eve of war with Iraq, and I can only surmise that it’s because we are about to witness carnage similar to what happened in the 1930-40s, and that we are only shown part of the picture because it would be “inappropriate” to do otherwise. But that’s just my interpretation. I could be wrong.
I’ve actually seen Guernica in vivo. It was in the fall of 1998 during a visit to Spain. At the time, Guernica was part of a Picasso retrospective (can’t remember if it was at the Prado or at some other museum.) It’s quite a painting to behold, almost overwhelming in its intensity. Legend has it that when a Nazi officer asked the painter “Did you do this?”, Picasso’s response was: “No, you did.”
I wonder who we’ll be sending “No, you did” notes to, in a few years.

A few days ago, I shared a few links on blunders that have happened since the war on Iraq started a week ago. This one’s the best yet, though: U.S. informally renames airport after Bush. (Thanks to Adnan for sending me the article.)

Update: The New York Times has an article titled Army Depots in Iraqi Desert Have Names of Oil Giants which says that “the 101st Airborne Division had named one central Iraq outpost Forward Operating Base Shell and another Forward Operating Base Exxon.” (Thanks to Dennis for sending me the link!)

Tough times for the Arab news channel. First it was banned from the NYSE: “Mr. Al-Sankari, the only Arab-language broadcaster at the NYSE, said he was stunned. For years, NYSE officials had told him how much they welcomed his coverage because it reached a huge untapped group of investors. But that all changed last weekend when Al-Jazeera, a satellite news service based in Qatar, began broadcasting pictures of dead and captured American soldiers in Iraq. The exchange’s official position Tuesday was that Al-Jazeera’s credentials had been revoked as part of a reorganization of media positions, even though it was the only media outlet dropped.”
Then, its site was hacked and the page was replaced with American flag and the (deliciously ironic) message “Let Freedom Ring”.
And yesterday, an Al-Jazeera representative was on Larry King Live:
“KING: We’re back on this special edition of LARRY KING LIVE with Omar Al Issawi, the correspondent for Al-Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. How do you respond to General Shelton’s statement about your network showing the POWs?
AL ISSAWI: I think the general used the word “distasteful.” That’s his opinion and we respect his opinion. We don’t really use that criteria when we judge what we’re going to broadcast. We are just interested if the material that we’ve got is news worthy and that’s how we decide whether to go on air with it or not.
KING: So in other words, you don’t make a judgment decision, then, on taste or whether this thing might be objectionable to some? If you think it’s newsworthy you go with it.
AL ISSAWI: Well, basically, I think that’s the criteria for most news organizations. The threshold might be different. The level of tolerance might be different and I think that will vary from culture to culture. But if you examine Al-Jazeera’s track record, them you will find that we’ve done similar things in the past. As a matter of fact, just prior to the airing of the POW tape. We had some graphic images of casualties in Iraq and we broadcast that. They were the same graphic nature. Basically we’re just trying to cover the news from both sides of the conflict as we see it.
KING: General, are they just coming from two different viewpoints here?
SHELTON: Well, no doubt about it, but I would hasten to add two wrongs don’t make a right. And in this case, I think, being — reporting in a responsible manner and reporting — reporting in a balanced fashion is what most newsworthy organizations or what most international organizations do, making sure that in some cases, for example, that if you’re going to report certain items that you have at least two sources for that data. (…) And then, of course, abiding by international laws and international customs. And I think that’s where I have a real difference of opinion when it comes to showing not just the U.S. casualties, but also any other casualties, including Iraqi.”
I agree with Shelton about the POWs, but it’s kind of hard for the Arab world to take him seriously considering the U.S.’s own violations of the Geneva Convention at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. cleverly says that they’re just enemy combatants, that they don’t belong in a specific army, but nothing stops Iraq from coming up with another euphemism and flouting the Convention as well. This is at the heart of why people in other parts of the world dislike US policies: continued double standards.
By the way, Al-Jazeera is now back online at a temporary address: http://213.30.180.219.

are gaining influence says Voice of America. That’s news to me, but if it’s true, and you’re a literary agent, feel free to contact me.

A brief overview of the literature of war, from Homer on.