It's hard to ever insult Michael Gordon of the New York Times as much as he insults readers' intelligence; however, today he's parading exactly why he is such a lousy 'reporter' on A7. "A Fuller Picture: U.S. Looks to Iraqi Deaths" sums up Gordo's 'reporting' priorities in one sentence:
Still, Iraqi reports may give American commanders more information to help them fight the insurgency.
Yes, that is the most pressing issue for a reporter. Whether or not (limited) data compiled upon deaths and violence can . . . help a military. Not whether or not it could inform people around the world as to the rates of death and violence in Iraq, but can it help a military fight a group of people.
Judith Miller's gone but her former writing partner continues to do his damage.
In the real world, Al Jazeera reports:
Turkey's army has entered northern Iraq and launched attacks on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters, the Turkish army has said.
The military said on Saturday that it used artillery and air strikes on a group of between 50 and 60 Kurdish fighters inside Iraqi territory, southeast of the Turkish town of Cukurca in Hakkari province.
"As part of intelligence work, a group of 50-60 PKK terrorist group was spotted inside Iraq's borders," the army said on its website.
"An intense intervention was made on the group and it was detected that the terrorist group had suffered heavy casualties."
Remember when the press didn't just lose interest in the tensions but told everyone was 'resolved.' 100,000 Turkish troops remained on the border but apparently that signified nothing. As did US military generals rushing to Turkey for talks all month.
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Lewis notes the opening to Margaret Kimberly's "Taser Nation" (Black Agenda Report):
Apparently there are ticking time bombs on every block, in every town across the country. Bar fights, traffic stops and other ordinary forms of disruptive behavior cannot be allowed to go unchecked. Time is wasting and someone has to be tortured quickly if we are all to be kept safe.
The proto-fascist direction of the nation is now enveloping people who never saw themselves as the targets of state terror, that is to say, white people. Black people were always victims of police brutality. White people either approved or may have even felt sorry for Negroes but just didn't care enough. They didn't think the same treatment would ever be meted out to them.
Now thanks to video cameras and You Tube, everyone is now a witness to the trickle down movement of police brutality. If the president and vice president and Congress determine that torture is acceptable for some, inevitably it becomes acceptable for all.
The argument being made by presidential candidates and law professors is that torture is fine as long as the circumstances are right. Like script writers for bad movies they all envision a "ticking time bomb" scenario. The bomb ticks, a terrorism suspect is nabbed, and voila, we have ways of making him talk. While Arabs and Muslims are the targets of the movie fantasy moment, the jack boot of the state does not isolate itself, but instead makes victims of anyone unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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