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February 13, 2005
The News On The War In Iraq
Who is Eason Jordan? Many people that I know have no clue, and until a few months ago, neither did I.
The only reason I have any knowlege of him is because I read weblogs.
I didn`t learn anything about him from CNN or any other MSM outlet because they didn`t say anything about him.
Friday Mr. Jordan had to resign as head of CNN because of a statement he made 2 weeks ago that the U.S. military was "targeting" journalists. That statement wasn`t based on any facts, or even a suspicious hunch. It was made purely and soley for the purpose creating a conspiratorial rumor in the hopes of causing some of the less informed to have doubts.
Doubts about the war in Iraq. Doubts about Americas reputation and standing in world affairs. Most importantly, doubts about George W. Bush.
CNN has become a propaganda machine with an agenda. It always has been but with Bush in office it has become so blatant as to be obvious to anyone who hadn`t noticed before.
Why is that you ask?
I think it`s because Bush is for everything they`re against, and against everything they`re for.
The fact that Bush has withstood everything they could bring against him, galls the MSM to the point of blind rage.
Eason Jordans hatered for Bush got the better of him and he thought he could get away with a time honored propaganda ploy.
Create a pointed rumor. Be vague enough to cause some doubts. Step back and let the rumor do the rest.
This is something that works all the time and he had no reason to believe that it wouldn`t again.
He didn`t count on bloggers. He didn`t count on some of those bloggers calling him on his lies by asking pointed questions. He also didn`t count on a representative from his own political persuasion being more patriotic and level headed than he had hoped, and for that I have gained a level of respect for Barny Frank.
CNN has been in a steady decline since it was discovered that Jordan made a deal with Saddam in order to keep reporters in Iraq.
"Yes Saddam, we will only report what you approve and we won`t mention your torture brigades."
Is it any wonder that conservatives have been hostile to the media?
Is it any wonder that the more level headed moderates are also seeing a blatant bias?
Is it any wonder that the military, the men and women who are fighting this war, are hostile to the media?
This comment from Rebecca McKinnon`s site accurately sums up how I have felt for years, and how others are beginning to feel:
"I like my politicians and my MSM to like America. I prefer my media to give me all the world news and then give me some that at least gives the American a fair shot. That includes the soldier.
Tom's post above reflects what most of us see and it's not a pretty picture. The media is riding that soldier's back, looking for something HE did wrong, when that poor man is just trying to fight a war without getting killed.
Unless you are the one riding that soldier's back or consider your political views more important than that soldier, there is something wrong with a lot of MSM. That is the problem really being addressed with Jordon."
....give me some that at least gives the American a fair shot.... That`s the problem. We don`t stand a chance with the media. They`ve stacked the deck against us since Vietnam.
Nothinig and I mean nothing is good enough for them as far as America is concerned.
Here`s another comment from the same post:
"Absent absolute proof that every word uttered by Eason Jordan was accurate, the witch hunt would have continued, and the substance behind the allegations would be ignored.
Absent absolute proof that every word he uttered was accurate, Eason Jodan shouldn't be saying them in an international forum. As with the Killian memos, it's not up to anybody else to prove beyond doubt that they're false (though with the memos that did happen).
Fake but accurate isn't a standard we can accept, despite Dan Rather's go at it. This seems to be the standard some are accepting here. Jordan can't prove the allegations, and he immediately backed off of them. Yet some are sure that they're accurate, so what's the big deal?
This is why Rather, and now Eason, are seen by some as victims of the right-wing attack machine or blog swarms, rather than as fools who got caught making bold statements that they couldn't back up. When speaking "truth to power", fake but accurate will get you burned."
The tsunami headlines were screaming about how stingy America was for not pledging more than $35 million on the first day.
Never mind that it had just happened and that no one had even had a chance to assess the damage, that was beside the point as far as the MSN was concerned. No, America should have immediatly pledged all of our financial and material resources without question.
Yet how many big news items did you hear about when we got involved?
How big did they play the fact that the men, equiptment, helicopters and supplies from the Carrier Abraham Lincoln and support ships was the only reassuring presence the tsunami victims saw for weeks.
Why is there now no praise of Americas generosity after we have pledged more than almost all other countries combined?
Because good news for America is bad news for the MSN.
When you have a propaganda machine with an agenda to promote you can`t do a very good job of it when the target of your propaganda keeps doing decent things. Damn the bad luck !
So the more powerful in their field, the ones who seem to think they are invulnerable, have resorted to rumors, innuendo and, in the case of Dan Rather, out right lies.
Why is there hardly any news about Afghanistan? Because it`s nearly a complete sucsess and rather than report the good news of sucsess they won`t report anything.
So what about the war in Iraq?
From almost all news accounts it`s going badly. So badly in fact that one is left with the impression that all is lost and we should just surrender.
Never mind that it is the most lopsided victory since David beat the Phillistines with a handful of men.
Never mind that the recent preliminary elections were a resounding sucsess, despite all attempts by insurgents, the UN, the media and the (spit) Phrench to de-rail it.
Maybe it wasn`t as sucsessful an election as voting for say...Saddam, with 100% voter turnout. But then again, nobody threatened to kill them if they didn`t vote this time.
So FYI here`s some information that you didn`t find through the Main Stream Media and maybe you didn`t even know.
Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq?
Did you know that the Iraqi government employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?
Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been built in Iraq?
Did you know that Iraq¹s higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers?
Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2004 for the re-established Fulbright program?
Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5- 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a navel infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq¹s Air Force consists of three operation squadrons, 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 bell jet rangers?
Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?
Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?
Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.
Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?
Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?
Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consist of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a recent televised debate recently?
Did you know that?
I did. But then I don`t watch news or read the papers for anything other than local news.
You see, it is what you know, but it`s also where you go to get it.
UPDATE: Apparently the U.S. military really is targeting journalists in Iraq.
An American military general has officially confirmed Jordans statement.
"Good afternoon. I am General Jack D. Ripper, and I'm here to address the concerns raised by CNN's Eason Jordan. To be perfectly clear, I am here to confirm those allegations. United States military forces have specifically targeted journalists and killed them."
It doesn`t get more plain spoken than that. To read the entire confession go here.
- Joatmoaf -
February 13, 2005 at 07:03 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Thanks for the link! I just hope everyone you send my way notices the little "satire" at the bottom...
BTW, I think it was the Abraham Lincoln, not the JFK, that was the carrier that went in for tsunami relief. I remember some mentions of the ship's nuclear plant helping produce lots of fresh water, and JFK's oil-fueled (I think the last non-nuclear CV we have).
J.
Posted by: Jay Tea at Feb 13, 2005 10:08:10 PM
You`re absolutely right and I should know that since I`ve been following it closely.
I guess I had a brain fart.
Posted by: Joatmoaf at Feb 13, 2005 11:06:15 PM
If that is the case then how did Geraldo escape? Inquiring minds....
Posted by: Cricket at Feb 15, 2005 2:02:04 PM
