Let's just set aside the fact that the text does not justify the headline - that if the journalists had been "starved," they wouldn't be able to describe their situations, in that they'd be dead. And let's set aside that their comments, presuming that that they're accurate at all, are distinctly unprofessional - in that they purport to describe the activities of Americans throughout Iraq, but are obviously based on a single incident in a single locale, mixed with hearsay. The exaggerated and sensationalistic tone does, however, well suit the reflexively anti-American Arab media. Talking about journalists, and beatings: Sounds of beatings and torture echoed through reporter's cell By David Blair in Amman (Filed: 04/04/2003) A British journalist described yesterday how the cries of torture victims echoed throughout his eight nights in an Iraqi jail and prisoners were repeatedly beaten yards from his cell. Lying on the concrete floor, Matthew McAllester, a reporter for Newsday, a US daily, endured the sound of allied air raids as jets screamed overhead and exploding bombs shook the prison walls. "All of us, from the moment we realised we were being taken to prison to the moment we crossed into Jordan, thought our lives were in danger at any minute," McAllester said in the Jordanian capital, Amman. He said he saw prison guards beat the Iraqi inmates of neighbouring cells time and again. "They were beaten with some kind of implement within a yard or two of where I was sleeping." McAllester, from Edinburgh, was arrested with Moises Saman, a Spanish photographer working for Newsday. Saman, 29, described the beating of prisoners as a "daily ritual". "A group of people would come and pick on someone for whatever reason and take them away, not too far because we could hear the screams." One prisoner was beaten so severely that he lay moaning on the floor of his cell until medical help was summoned. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/03/wtort03.xml So, on the one hand, we have an exceptional incident that took place amidst battlefield conditions, and involved the rough treatment of a couple of wandering journalists, and, on the other, we have one of countless incidents that, according not to American propagandists but to globally recognized human rights organizations, are normal for Hussein's regime - a fact which, in my observation, msfe has, in months of posting, never acknowledged. If I missed the concession, I hope he'll point it out, or re-state it here.
"globally recognized human rights organizations" - like the White House and the Pentagon gimme more of the same old blah blah blah - Herr Propagandaminister
Goddamn Americans Lie Again!!!!! Iraq's information minister, Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf, convened his daily press conference in a scene of almost surreal calm... United States troops were "not even 100 miles" from Baghdad, he said. When told by a reporter that news reports said American forces were just outside the airport, he smiled and responded sarcastically, "If that's the case, we'll go and welcome them with flowers and music." Mr. Sahhaf said United States and British troops held no territory in Iraq. "They are a snake moving in the desert," he said. He offered a litany of Iraqi military successes... United States marines had been "defeated, beaten bitterly" at Kut, he said. "We are giving them the real lesson today," he said. "We are destroying tanks, personnel carriers and we are killing them." Right on Mr. al-Sahhaf, Speaker of The Mother of All Truths: Captured U.S. soldiers forced to march through town square with picture of Saddam: Captured U.S. Soldiers head towards Iraqi POW chopper: 4th Infantry loading ship for home- High tailing it out of Iraq: King Saddam, Supreme Ruler of Iraq- Obviously Alive and Well Iraqi F/A-18C prepares to take off from Iraqi carrier in the Gulf:
Does msfe even read the stuff he posts? I don't have any problem admitting that the United States has done some horrible things over the 225 or so years of its existence. Here are some items from "America's List of Terrorism," which appears on the site he just linked: World War II - 1941-45 - Military fought the Axis powers: Japan, Germany, and Italy. Yugoslavia - 1946 - Navy deployed off the coast of Yugoslavia in response to the downing of an American plane. Korean War - 1951-53 - Military sent in during the war. Egypt - 1956 - Marines deployed to evacuate foreigners after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Cambodia - 1975 - Twenty-eight Americans killed in an effort to retrieve the crew of the Mayaquez, which had been seized. Iran - 1980 - Americans aborted a rescue attempt to liberate 52 hostages seized in the Teheran embassy. On behalf of all Americans, especially max, I'd like to apologize for the terroristic acts of attempting to retrieve the crew of the [sic] "Mayaquez" and of attempting to rescue the hostages held in Iran. We may never live down such crimes. Now, it's true that the soggy GUARDIAN op-eds got a little boring and predictable, and making selections from Al-Hayat and the Arab News aren't likely to impress too many readers here with your objectivity, and directing childish insults or mimicry at me personally does little to advance your argument, but surely you can find something better than some amateurish Geocities site.
Make you think of anyone? "All I can say about the present war is that neither the BBC nor the French and Arab press and state controlled media seem to have learnt the basic lessons of propaganda and manipulation. If they have a contingency plan to explain the eventual allied victory, I have not seen any sign of it as yet. When Baghdad and Saddamâs regime collapses like a house of cards, their readers and audience wonât be ready for the âbadâ news and wonât be able to understand what happened. "One of the results will be the following: the Arabs will feel even more impotent than they already do, and Saddamâs defeat will only reinforce their inferiority complex and bitterness. Theyâll also feel in an even deeper way that their only way out is some kind of collective suicide. "I donât know how the antiwar Europeans will react to Anglo-American-Australian victory, but one thing is sure: they wonât identify with it and from this to a feeling of also having been defeated is just a small step. Their sense of impotence after so many protests might be overwhelming. I wouldnât be too surprised at seeing the Western European psyche beginning to resemble, in many significant ways, the Arab one." Nelson Ascher, Monday, March 24, 2003 EUROPUNDITS http://www.europundits.blogspot.com/2003_03_23_europundits_archive.html
Remind you of anyone? "Where others clunk around in darkness, these people know that they shine a uniquely informed light on world events. They know that, while the rest of us are brainwashed by Hollywood, they understand the baleful influence of 'Western imperialism.' Ask them for specifics, and they will quote you a coruscating article from the New Left Review in 1986 which shows â proves â how the West is ravaging the rest of the world. "They come from all parties, and none, but they have one common idée fixe: they hate the West. They hate, in fact, themselves. "[They] really would prefer the coalition to stumble than for their nightmare of a victorious America to come true. [Anti-war British MP] Cookâs future depends on coalition humiliation. If we win, his world-view will be shattered. Iraq will be free, and there will be evidence aplenty of President Saddam Husseinâs weapons of mass destruction. America will, once again, have stepped forward as ready and willing to fight for its values and survival. "The majority of those who marched against the war have realised that the world has moved on. The war has started, and there are only two possible sides to take: Saddamâs or the coalitionâs. "Those who are still protesting have made their choice plain for all to see. There was never any doubt which side they would take. So consumed are they with contempt for their own society that they cannot bear the thought of the West actually defending itself. When America does just that, the reaction is not to thank heavens for a nation that is prepared to stand up for freedom, but to spit in its face. "That mindset infects the entire political culture. I recently took part in a radio discussion with the BBCâs developing world correspondent. During it he informed me and the listeners that 'if America was engaged in the rest of the world rather than, frankly, wanting to bomb it and. . . take its resources' then there would be less anti-Americanism around. On Newsnight last week, one correspondent referred disparagingly to 'this holy war.' With senior correspondents who seem to think that the US is the real villain, is it any wonder that the BBC reports this as a war between two equally untrustworthy foes â or, as sometimes seems the case, between an evil aggressor, America, and a blameless victim, Iraq? Every incident is reported, almost relished, as a shattering blow. The Today programme described the execution of two British soldiers last week as 'the worst possible news.' The loss of two lives in defence of freedom is indeed tragic. But it will have made almost no difference to the overall success. "The real decadence of the West is not its alcohol, sex and drugs: it is its inability to make judgments about its own value, and its refusal to treat the likes of Cook with the contempt they deserve. " http://www.stephenpollard.net/index.php?thispage=1<b