‘What you are seeing is smoke’

George Bush sounds puny in comparison. That’s because, when he tries to be fierce, the wrinkles on his forehead deepen and he looks like what a middle-aged Archie would if Archie ever aged.

On Monday, ostensibly addressing the Coast Guards he spoke to the Iraqi citizens. ‘‘I give this pledge: we are coming..’’ and he made it sound like a threat, ‘‘in a mighty force… to bring you a better life… we will not stop, we will not relent until your country is free.’’

You have to say the timing of his speech was chilling. TV channels had just finished headlining the killing of at least 7 women and children by American troops.

There followed the Pentagon’s General Peter Pace, saying the soldiers ‘‘did absolutely the right thing’’. If this is the way they intend to win the ‘‘heart and minds’’ of the Iraqis, the Americans know something about propaganda that no one else does.

Hyperbole: Mr. Bush would be well advised to employ CNN’s correspondent in North Iraq: his hyperbole is much more picturesque. Here’s how described the consequences of an American attack: ‘‘death and destruction, plummeting (Iraqi) morale, chaos, fire raining down.’’ Now, that’s much more like we see it in the movies.

Tall claims: You’d think after many errors in reporting, TV channels would be wary of the T-word. But no, not CNN. At one stage on Monday night, the anchor said, ‘‘if you have chosen CNN, the Truth about this war continues in a few minutes…’’ This, soon after retraction that the Iraqi general whose capture by coalition forces was celebrated by BBC and CNN a day before, was no General.

Live action: BBC anchor on Tuesday morning asked the military analyst, Robert Hewson to comment on Baghdad: ‘‘let’s go across live and see what is happening there.’’ What’s happening is bright sunlight and a few cars plying the roads. So we switch to Fairford Airbase in Britain for more action where B 52 Bombers are still sleeping through a foggy English morning.

Even when there is some action, correspondents delight in the obvious ‘‘What you are seeing,’’ explained Jane Arrack of CNN, ‘‘is smoke rising from a bomb.’’ Quite. She went on to describe some of the young Iraqi troops taken prisoners, adding: ‘‘As you know, in the Iraq army you don’t have much choice where you get sent’’. Like the Americans do?

This war has been about precision bombing, right? Well, here’s some precision talking from BBC’s David Bowden once the town of Abu Al Khasib was taken by British troops: ‘‘it’s militarily secure, not safe.’’

Lastly, to Peter Arnett looking like a balding, podgy version of the Peter Arnett we came to love during the first Gulf War. DD’s World View carried an interview with him on Monday night, seated leisurely outside a Baghdad hotel swimming pool: He had just been sacked by NBC. Saeed Naqvi asked Arnett why he had been sacked — earlier by CNN.

Arnett provided an unintelligible story of a 1998 CNN story on biological warfare which it later retracted and a year later, sacked him. You got the feeling the interview was conducted before NBC took him off the air. By the way, Monday night saw ‘‘the fiercest bombing’’ of Baghdad. So did the day before and the day before that.