Article

2008-04-07 Iraq

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2008-04-07 01:01|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 2 days in, the NYT,
4 days in the Independent
6 days in the Guardian.

The puppet masters of these papers say, "jump" and their staff bows and says, "How high?"

Dance, you little patsy boys. Dance!

Posted by Woodrow Slusorong7967 2008-04-07 05:04|| 2008-04-07 05:04|| Front Page Top

#2 So... when HAS the press been right on a single story? Ok, Abu Ghurayb doesn't count. Any besides that liberal-love fest? No? Didn't think so.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-04-07 07:52|| 2008-04-07 07:52|| Front Page Top

#3 Is anyone suprised?

Declaring premature defeat is a standard Democrat (and media) stratagy. All the way from Cronkite and the Tet offensive.

Posted by CrazyFool 2008-04-07 08:15|| 2008-04-07 08:15|| Front Page Top

#4 If they could have passed ROTC they wouldn't have been journalism majors. Heh.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-04-07 09:07|| 2008-04-07 09:07|| Front Page Top

#5 The Press ~~Botches~~ Spins Basra to Make it Look Like Their Side Won

There, fixed it for ya.

Posted by Mike 2008-04-07 09:13|| 2008-04-07 09:13|| Front Page Top

#6 In covering the fighting, the press displayed its previously seen penchant for quickly throwing in the towel when a military operation does not instantaneously meet its goals.

"Its" goals being the defeat and humiliation of the West.

Posted by Excalibur 2008-04-07 09:14|| 2008-04-07 09:14|| Front Page Top

#7 If they could have passed ROTC they wouldn't have been journalism majors

Algore somehow managed to be a reporter and in the Army at the same time - I guess it was only possible because his father pulled some strings (otherwise he probably couldn't have been in the Army OR a reporter.)

Posted by Menhadden Snogum6713 2008-04-07 09:23|| 2008-04-07 09:23|| Front Page Top

#8 at least one non-conspiratorial explanation.

Its clear that the govt offensive was focused on Basra. According to the WS, govt forces also did well in the smaller towns in the south - hilla, kut, etc. Where did the Mahdi army do best? In Baghdad. Where did the Mahdi army manage to launch dramatic counterstrikes? In the Green Zone, in Baghdad.

Where do most MSM reporters in Iraq live and work? Baghdad.

Where they were, they saw govt failure. The positive reports from the south came from coalition and Iraqi govt sources that the MSM didnt beleive (sometimes with some reason) One got a more positive view looking at the BBC, despite the BBC's known biases - why? because unlike everyone else, the BBC has a permanent presence in Basra.

Posted by liberalhawk 2008-04-07 09:59|| 2008-04-07 09:59|| Front Page Top

#9 You're probably right, 'Hawk. I would just add that I think a lot of people in the press are spring-loaded to seeing Iraq as Vietnam, the Mahidis as brave peasant revolutionaries battling the imperialist oppressors, GWB as LBJ, and so on, and this colors their reporting. Probably more than they consciously realize.

Posted by Mike 2008-04-07 10:28|| 2008-04-07 10:28|| Front Page Top

#10 "The Iraqi security forces were at their best in the smaller cities in Iraq's south. The Mahdi Army suffered major setbacks in Hillah, Najaf, Karbala, Diwaniyah, Amarah, Kut, and Nasiriyah."

Hmmmcan you say Rat-lines? Attacking the hubs has long proven to be a successful strategy in the disruption and dismantling of weapons pipelines. Very recently the MNF/IA announced that they discovered the largest EFP cache found to date in al-Qasim. Dont look for the prudent warriors to boast about objectives in an ongoing operation even success in achieving ancillary objectives. And dont hold your breath for much in the way of any deeper analysis from the press. To do so would just make it more difficult to continue the al-Sadr three legged stool narrative. And after all, Pelosi and Mookie finally appear to have their calendars aligned for the upcoming Patraeus hearings.

Posted by DepotGuy 2008-04-07 11:07|| 2008-04-07 11:07|| Front Page Top

#11 Where did the Mahdi army manage to launch dramatic counterstrikes? In the Green Zone, in Baghdad. Where do most MSM reporters in Iraq live and work? Baghdad.

And considering evidence that most of the strikes appeared to have been targeted/reconned well in advance, one would have to consider that the actual target was the MSM.

Posted by Pappy 2008-04-07 11:26|| 2008-04-07 11:26|| Front Page Top

#12 The Leftist Dominant Media. Hordly anythign "Mainstream" about them anymore. And definitely not in the "News" business.

The press has become a propaganda machine, distorting and disguising things that are contrary to its leftist driven agenda.

The presses outright lying and suppression on the Iraq war is getting as bad as Communist China's press attempts to completely suppress news Tibet and the Olympic Torch protests.

NYT, CNN, CBS, et al: Up against the wall for failure to perform their duty to inform, not mislead, the public.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-04-07 13:42|| 2008-04-07 13:42|| Front Page Top

#13 The press gets another chance Wednesday.

It is the day Sadr has called for a million muslim march against the US (and the govt).

He had probably beg or coerce at least 100,000 into marching but 1,000,000 is a pretty high figure. I wonder how exactly the press will spin it if he is short a few hundred thousand.

Posted by mhw 2008-04-07 14:09|| 2008-04-07 14:09|| Front Page Top

#14 I have long considered the press to be traitors and assume anything they say a lie until proven otherwise.

Posted by Silentbrick">Silentbrick 2008-04-07 15:52|| 2008-04-07 15:52|| Front Page Top

#15 The presses outright lying and suppression on the Iraq war is getting as bad as Communist China's press attempts to completely suppress news Tibet

Same press.

Posted by Menhadden Snogum6713 2008-04-07 16:16|| 2008-04-07 16:16|| Front Page Top

#16 Silentbrick,

Not all, but most. Pinch and whoever runs McClatchy should be tried for treason and, when convicted, publicly executed. I won't open an article on any subject whatsoever that has an NYT origination point. Their credibility with me is so low, if those bastards wrote the sun would rise in the east tomorrow I'd have to get up to double-check. One of the most hopeful signs about the American scene is the hemorrhaging of cash and subscribers from the liberal press. It has shown me that there are far more people than I hoped for that have seen through their agenda-driven propagandizing and know them for what they are--America-hating leftists.

Posted by Pancho Elmeck8414 2008-04-07 18:31|| 2008-04-07 18:31|| Front Page Top

#17 what doesn't the press botch anymore? Their reporting has less credibility than the Enquirer these days. In fact, I would be more likely to believe the cover of the Enquirer than I would the headlines from the NYT or WaPo or any of their evil twins.

Posted by Woodrow Slusorong7967 2008-04-07 22:15|| 2008-04-07 22:15|| Front Page Top

#18 Press? No such thing anymore. All agitprop. In fact, one or two use the agit and prop for their initials (AP and AFP... not sure what the F stands for... Agit-Fucking-Prop?).

Posted by twobyfour 2008-04-07 23:43|| 2008-04-07 23:43|| Front Page Top

23:58 JosephMendiola
23:43 twobyfour
23:37 Frank G
23:31 JosephMendiola
23:28 JosephMendiola
23:28 twobyfour
23:26 Richard Gere
23:20 Slappy
23:13 JosephMendiola
23:12 USN,Ret.
23:11 JosephMendiola
23:01 tu3031
22:52 Squinty Threreger7693
22:48 trailing wife
22:47 newc
22:45 trailing wife
22:33 Hupomoger Ghibelline8342
22:20 Woodrow Slusorong7967
22:15 Woodrow Slusorong7967
22:11 Redneck Jim
22:10 Woodrow Slusorong7967
21:58 SR-71
21:51 OregonGuy
21:51 Injun Elmealing3304