Press can't let abuse story go. Obvious agenda

[igloo]

This says it all, especially the impact of this on some of the morons on this board...

As a sample, the group tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that period.

The MRC also found, however, that in the past year, NBC had aired only five stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.

Press can't let abuse story go

By Jennifer Harper

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Accounts and graphic photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse persist in the press despite the fact that the story has run its course.

The world already knows salient details of the prisoner humiliation and nudity, the causes of the abuse are under official investigation, and the courts-martial have begun. Yet, the caterwaul in the press against the American military and the war in Iraq continue.

"U.S. faces growing fear of failure," noted one recent Washington Post headline.

ABC was the first to air yet another set of photos — these showing two U.S. soldiers grinning next to the body of an Iraqi at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Al Arabiya, an Arabic broadcaster, also aired the photos of Army Spc. Charles A. Graner and Spc. Sabrina D. Harman — both facing a court-martial for prisoner abuse.

As usual, the source of the photos remained unidentified. ABC billed them as "an exclusive" and noted that the soldiers were "posing over the body of a detainee who was allegedly beaten to death by CIA or civilian interrogators in the prison's showers."

Positive human-interest accounts about the armed forces are rare. The press tends to ignore battlefield vignettes from military news services, which could offer an expanded perspective to the public.

For example, 30 U.S. airmen and soldiers delivered school supplies and toys — gifts from American children — to an Iraqi village on Monday. Yesterday, Air Force medical teams airlifted a critically ill Iraqi infant and her mother to an Ohio hospital for treatment.

The news focus is elsewhere.

Earlier this week, Reuters news service announced that three of its "journalists" — actually two Iraqi cameramen and a driver under contract — had been beaten and taunted by Army paratroopers in January.

But an Army investigation released yesterday cleared the soldiers of charges and categorized the incident as "a closed case."

The report noted that "the soldiers clearly believed that these same Iraqis had attacked them previously" and pronounced that the charges of humiliation made by the Iraqis against the soldiers "are not credible."

Tim Graham of the Media Research Center (MRC) noted yesterday that the "gay marriage story" overtook the prisoner abuse story in the press, but only for a day.

"This abuse story is just not going away. It's still the first topic on most network news," Mr. Graham said. "And there's strong focus on the court-martials, on the bad apples — it's as if those troops represent the military at large, as far as the media is concerned. That is very discouraging."

The center has been following "the bias problem" among broadcasters who use the abuse story to build a case against the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. As a sample, the group tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that period.

The MRC also found, however, that in the past year, NBC had aired only five stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.

•Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com or 202/636-3085.

[kramadas]

All the stories need to come out as many here pass off this as something akin to fraternity hazing. So, this shit has to keep coming out till everyone actually realizes the full gravity of the situation.

[igloo]

All the stories need to come out as many here pass off this as something akin to fraternity hazing. So, this shit has to keep coming out till everyone actually realizes the full gravity of the situation.

I think you are SERIOUSLY missing the point...I don't think anyone does not realize the gravity of the situation (well, maybe a few).....but the reporting has not been in perspective....this can not be denied..

It happened, it was wrong, it was a disgrace, it was a major blow to U.S. credibility (more so in our country and the European elite than in Iraq) and it was indefensible......we should be held and behave to a higher standard.

But it has been overwhelmingly been publicized, there have been open hearings where the Secretary of Defense and the Chiefs were grilled in public at a time of war (which people forget), there have been apologies, and those who were responsible will be punished.....

Let alone the agenda driven media who have been waiting and hoping for a "Vietnam" story and the shameful, disgraceful political opportunists (Kerry, Kennedy, etc) whose behavior has gone beyond responsible to deplorable.

The media is not beating the story to death because some believe it is "fraternity hazing". Not even close. That is not their underlining motivation at all. I believe deep down you know exactly why they are doing it. It is too obvious to think otherwise. The media and political hypocrisy and bias has been disgraceful.

I have posted many threads on this subject (many with no comments from the antiwar crowd who are jerking off to the prison scandal), ...and they are not partisan (of course they will be looked at that way by those with blinders on). They are reality.

http://bbs.clubplanet.com/showthread.php?t=227090

http://bbs.clubplanet.com/showthread.php?t=226753

http://bbs.clubplanet.com/showthread.php?t=226559

http://bbs.clubplanet.com/showthread.php?t=226560

http://bbs.clubplanet.com/showthread.php?t=226564

And like I said earlier on this post, this says it all:

As a sample, the group tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that period.

The MRC also found, however, that in the past year, NBC had aired only five stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.

And from another post:

Kennedy suggests the abuses at Abu Ghraib are similar to those of Saddam Hussein's torture chambers. Let me remind you that Hussein and his sons placed human beings in plastic shredding machines feet first. They drilled holes in the heads of human beings. They dipped them alive in acid. They raped women picked up off the street. They killed children in front of their parents and killed parents in front of their children. They chopped off limbs.

If he can't distinguish between those kinds of atrocities and the limited abuses of a few individuals at Abu Ghraib, he must still be hitting the sauce pretty hard.

[igloo]

This is relevant here....

The missing pictures from the Arab world

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The missing pictures from the Arab world

Walid Phares, Ph.D. (archive)

May 19, 2004 | Print | Send

Torture Existed Before Abu Gharib, But Why No Coverage?

When the Abu Ghraib prison abuse crisis exploded, I analyzed the reactions coming from the Arab World. In an election year, the stakes are high for all parties involved. Each side wants a convenient "truth". The Bush Administration talked about "bad apples." While on the offensive, the opposition talks of a "systemic problem."

President Bush went on Arab TV, while his opponents rushed to speak on behalf of the "humiliated Arab world." But as General Abuzeid put it since Day One, it sounds as if "the issue is making more noise in the U.S. than in Iraq." In fact, the Arab-speaking General got it somewhat right. We in America, were more concerned about "our" image than about the actual incidents themselves. The Arab World obviously reacted, but not exactly as many politicians fantasized.

When I asked individuals from different Arab countries what would they think about Bush's outreach, answers varied. Everybody was sickened by the ugliness of the pictures, but beyond the graphics there were two types of reactions.

The anti-Americans were not difficult to guess. With al Jazeera's incitement, natural anger mutated into hysteria. Suddenly, religion was cited heavily. Very few made a distinction between the psychological illness at Abu Ghraib and the future of Iraq. Actually, the Jihadist networks found a lethal political weapon and exploited this all the way. They think they caught America by its mentally weakest soldiers. More than sanctions against the guards, they want to flush the American-led Coalition out of Iraq, and Bush out of the Oval office. In this Jihad "home run," the architects of the Abu Ghraib crusade against "U.S. immorality" enlisted European elites too. The oil chained establishment from Paris to Berlin is wailing. Manhattan's U.N. is mourning.

But there are other people in the region who see the crisis through a different lens. In Beirut, amazement was mostly about George W. Bush addressing Arab TV. Lebanese were certainly disgusted by the aired images but they were stunned by the fact that a U.S. President was "talking" to Arab citizens. The region is infested with worse ugliness than the prison scandal, yet no one can remember any Arab leader addressing his people about abuse.

"Our dictators never showed up on any media, at anytime, for any picture" said many Syrians, "despite 28 years of horrors in their detention centers." Thousands of citizens were tortured in al Mazza, the Syrian equivalent of Abu Ghraib, yet no one lifted a finger. Many in the region have their own horror pictures, but who will publish them as long as no Americans were involved?

From Iraq, other voices blasted the media: "What was happening in the same cells of Abu Ghraib under the Baath defies human logic. The awful photos of today would be only appetizers," said Saddam's survivors. "We have pictures, we have documents, but that won't please your elites."

These survivors invited the world to visit the mass graves, to see piles of corpses, but to to avail. Shiites are cheap, unless they join the anti-American chorus. Their pictures won't make it to BBC, let alone the Arab networks. Southern Sudanese repeated that one million blacks were decimated. They have pictures of naked African men, women and children taken into slavery. Their problem is that were not taken to Abu Ghraib

The list is long, but the pattern is one. Deep down, Mideast underdogs know that the pornographic scandal in the U.S. manned prison was hijacked by the bullies of the region.

Under their dark skin, the victims of the region's systemic horrors know very well that, with few exceptions, America's political culture is the anti-thesis of all the political ideologies of the region. Despite the ugliness of Abu Ghraib pictures, the Arab World needs to send those uglier pictures from the region's concentration camps. It needs to uncover the truth, all the truth and nothing but the truth, everywhere in the region.

Maybe the evil done to prisoners in Iraq, will uncover the wider evil in the whole region?

Walid Phares is a professor of Middle East Studies and an expert on the Arab World. For more information, visit www.walidphares.com.

[joeygk]

The difference is clear & what warrants extended media coverage ---- everyone knows Saddam was a murderer, that's not something that is up for debate. In this case it is America that is responsible for the inhumane treatment and the negative attention will make sure something similar never happens again. This whole media bias is such a cope out, this is a big deal. And it's ridiculous to assume that foreign events are going to receive as much media attention as events directly involving americans. Watch the BBC world news and then watch any mainstream American news program ------- media coverage in the US is only given to events that directly involves Americans. So of course the same amount of media attention will not be given to mass graves of Saddam's former regime.

The whole media bias argument is getting tired.

[igloo]

The difference is clear & what warrants extended media coverage ---- everyone knows Saddam was a murderer, that's not something that is up for debate. In this case it is America that is responsible for the inhumane treatment and the negative attention will make sure something similar never happens again. This whole media bias is such a cope out, this is a big deal. And it's ridiculous to assume that foreign events are going to receive as much media attention as events directly involving americans. Watch the BBC world news and then watch any mainstream American news program ------- media coverage in the US is only given to events that directly involves Americans. So of course the same amount of media attention will not be given to mass graves of Saddam's former regime.

The whole media bias argument is getting tired.

Congrats...you just redefined stupidity.....and are so far from the point is is absurd...

[joeygk]

This says it all, especially the impact of this on some of the morons on this board...

As a sample, the group tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that period.

The MRC also found, however, that in the past year, NBC had aired only five stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.

Press can't let abuse story go

[igloo]

This says it all, especially the impact of this on some of the morons on this board...

As a sample, the group tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that period.

The MRC also found, however, that in the past year, NBC had aired only five stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.

Press can't let abuse story go

Son,

As a suggestion, take a deep breath, start from the beginning, focus, and comprehend......call for help if required, which is painfully obvious...

You may, and I stress may, have the brain capacity to realize that the pile of shit that you offered up was nothing more than.....well, a pile of shit.

Buckle down and focus. Understand the flow of the discussion and the data points, re-read lines if you must, compare and contrast, and then by the power of God, you hopefully will realize you are from Planet Imbecile.

[joeygk]

This says it all, especially the impact of this on some of the morons on this board...

As a sample, the group tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that period.

The MRC also found, however, that in the past year, NBC had aired only five stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.

Press can't let abuse story go

[vicman]

more fabulous pics of abuse surfaced today. i bet alot of people around here are very proud.

[siceone]

OK It's not EXACTLY like Fraternity hazing, because the pledges signed up for it and weren't killing american soliders.