<HTML>In a message dated 4/9/2003 6:41:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time, dhenwood@panix.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Someone just told me he heard a BBC reporter on NPR this morning - who thought the microphone wasn't on - saying that the crowd was small and the whole thing had been organized by the Americans. </BLOCKQUOTE> Whether or not the microphone was on, somehow mainstream stations chose not to broadcast the sounds of these instantly liberated Iraqis, perhaps mere sound would have been ill suited to capture the intense emotion of the moment. I watched the first stage - and I stress the word - STAGE of project Iraqi-Install-US economic and military control unfold on FOX, itself the purest form of contrived media. Even as I counted at the most 40 Iraqis, peppered by the presence of what seemed an equal number of Caucasian male journalists and photographers, FOX was reporting attendance in the hundreds - hell, if they used the same counting methodology for covering anti-war rallies, we'd have easily numbered in the millions. It started as a rather anemic live-TV moment (occurring just after the opening bell in US markets). A few guys hacking away at the base of a statue - taking turns with a single sledgehammer (which FOX with the same stellar accuracy was reporting as hammerS) and one rope (reported as ropeS).  The statue was later given a pull by an impatient M88 tank retriever that had been waiting in the wings. A few questions went through my mind while watching: 1) Who found the hammer? 2) Why only one - jubilation and liberation only warranted one hammer? 3) Why did one of the hammerers stop in mid swipe to look over their shoulders at the camera for a photo-op? 4) How did the rope materialize - hardware store by the square? But, all these are unimportant details, especially to the companies all but pre-booking their US doled out contracting fees - a little earlier than expected. Even as the market closed down: Halliburton, Lockheed, and Boeing stock was up. Bechtel would have been up to, if it were a publicly owned company. Nomi </HTML>