Saturday, July 01, 2006

 
If simply threatening the news media isn’t enough, then let’s plant some stories from “the front lines and the men who are fighting” about how reporting bad news is damaging our war—er, occupation—effort. It's yet another tactic out of a besieged administration trying to shut up dissenters.

This, of course, doesn’t mention the 60+ dead in a car bombing at a Shia’a market, presumably the work of Sunni guerillas.

If I understand the Colonel correctly, if it wasn’t for stories about the bombing, or snipers taking out US soldiers, about the incredible security devices set up around US installations, about the stories like the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl, or the marines who whacked an innocent family, why then everything would be a lot better. Not that these things wouldn't be happening, but at least Americans and the rest of the world (or that part of the world that depends on US media) wouldn’t know about it. Then the Republicans could get re-elected and everything would get better.

I know there are plenty of reactionary sheep out there who’ll believe this. That’s what’s troubling about it.

Karl Rove is a sort of genius...but then, so was Goering.

I will say this to Colonel Snow (great name for the job he's doing in this interview): I won't tell you how to carry on combat, if you don't tell me what to write about.


Yahoo! News
US could lose in Iraq due to negative media coverage: commander
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060630/pl_afp/usiraqmilitary
Fri Jun 30, 12:33 PM ET

A US combat commander suggested the United States could lose the war in Iraq if public support for it at home is sapped by negative media coverage.

"My personal opinion is that the only way we will lose this war is if we pull out prematurely," said Colonel Jeffrey Snow, a brigade commander in Baghdad.

"I would hope we get the time and support we need to finish this mission," he said in a video conference from Iraq.

Snow, whose own troops have come under stepped-up insurgent attacks this month, criticized media coverage as too focused on insurgent roadside bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.

"Our soldiers may be in the crosshairs every day, but it is the American voter who is a real target, and it is the media that carries the message back each day across the airwaves," he said.

"So when the news is not balanced and it's always bad, that clearly leads to negative perceptions back home," he said.

Snow leads the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, which is winding up a year-long tour in Iraq. He said it had made progress in training Iraqi troops to replace it.

He acknowledged insurgent attacks have gone up in his western Baghdad area of operations since the start of a city-wide security crackdown ordered by the new Iraqi government earlier this month.

Increased checkpoints and foot patrols in Baghdad had drawn an increase in insurgent attacks, he said.

"The way I would answer that is that attacks here recently are up in our area. However, the overall effectiveness are down," he said.

"So you may perceive that as double-speak. I don't have the precise numbers in front of me," he added.

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Comments:
The truth of the uniqueness of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Robert Hanssen, and Aldrich Ames resides in the universal system that contains them.

The spectacle is the guardian of our sleep.
 
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