Today USF announced the following: "BAGHDAD -- A United States Division - Baghdad Soldier died, Jan. 1, of non-combat related injuries. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/. The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next of kin. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brings the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4372. Of course, CNN doesn't think that death matters because it's being billed as 'non-combat related' (while under investigation).
The news media apparently doesn't think Iraqi deaths matter either. How else to explain the trumpeting of "new low for the year of 2009" by the hideous Iraqi Body Count? Reuters ran with that story Thursday night.
That would mean that IBC released their 'count' before the year ended. This is the same organization that frequently runs two weeks behind in their weekly tally? But we're supposed to believe that for once they got it enough together to not only be on time but also be ahead of schedule?
Forget that IBC does an undercount that's long been called out. Forget that the only 'expert' who has ever publicly endorsed IBC is George W. Bush, you can't authentically report on a year's violence before the year has ended. It just doesn't work that way. At best, IBC offered a 'work in progress,' something in need of an update (the report itself notes that their 'findings' only go through December 16th). At best. But logic and reasoning flew out the window as the press played like hungry pigs descending on the latest scraps tossed into their trough.
Today is Saturday -- it's actually Saturday night -- and some outlets only today were reporting Friday's violence. There was never any reason to run with IBC's silly numbers that exist only to get them more press. There was never any reason. And shame on those who did.
In the real world, the violence never stops.
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 Baghdad car bombings which claimed 1 life and left twenty-one people injured, a Baghdad sticky bombing wounded two people and, dropping back to Friday, one Baghdad roadside bombing wounded one police officer. Reuters notes a Falluja car bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured and a Mosul roadside bombing which injured one Iraqi soldier.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi military officer shot dead in Baghdad, 1 'suspect' shot dead by Mosul police and 1 'suspect' shot dead in Mosul during a grenade attack. Reuters notes 1 "goldsmith" was shot dead in Mosul by unknown assailants. DPA reports 2 police officers shot dead in Mosul.
Kidnappings?
DPA reports an Iraqi Christian male was kidnapped Friday in Mosul.
From the opening to the Los Angeles Times editorial "Toward a less deadly Iraq:"
Whenever we see a report on the declining violence in Iraq, we're reminded of the old book title, "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me." Take, for instance, the report that the civilian death toll fell in November to the lowest level since the 2003 U.S. invasion: 88 fatalities. That was after October bombings in Baghdad killed 155 people, and just ahead of December's two rounds of multiple car bombings in the capital that left at least 136 dead and hundreds wounded.
Meanwhile Scott Fontaine (McClatchy's News Tribune) doesn't seem to realize what he's reporting. Why are US forces moving through al Saltuin and questioning Iraqis? Didn't June 30th supposedly mean soverienty for the Iraqi people? Why are US forces stopping Iraqi civilians? That would be the first question that a reporter should be asking.
Are they responding to a bomb that just went off? No. Are they there because they're part of a convoy that was just targeted by a roadside bombing? No. Are they there because they were in pursuit of a 'suspect' who ran into al Saltuin with them following him or her? No.
So, Scott Fontaine, your first job as a reporter was to explain why they were there.
"They're questioning Iraqis!"
That's what they're doing, that's not why they're there.
"They're doing psy-ops!"
Again, that's what they're doing, that's not why they're there.
The press pimped the lie that June 30th meant something. So when the press reports on US forces harassing -- and it is harassment -- Iraqi civilians, the press needs to explain how the US got 'permission' to go off the bases they were supposedly confined to after June 30th. The press was more than happy to file one damn report after another claiming US troops were struggling to deal with all their down time and a whole lot of other crap to back up the claim that US forces were not freely roaming Iraq after June 30th. So how about you explain to us now what US forces are doing off their bases? Who gave them permission?
Some IDIOT at the News Tribune has titled Fontaine's article "Persuasion, not propaganda, in Iraq." Apparently, they don't read too well and haven't been educated. Psy-ops is, by it's very nature, PROPAGANDA. What a stupid idiot. What a STUPID, STUPID idiot. US Dept of Defense definition:
PSYOPS or Psychological Operations: Planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. The purpose of psychological operations is to induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the originator's objectives. Also called PSYOP. See also consolidation psychological operations; overt peacetime psychological operations programs; perception management.
"Persuasion, not propaganda"? Want to try to sell that crap again? How stupid are they at the News Tribune? How damn stupid do they think we are?
Let's look at Little Scotty's bulls**t article. From the crap:
For many, the idea of psyops still elicits the idea of broadcasting propaganda over the radio or blanketing leaflets across a town ahead of an impending attack. But Lt. Jose Perez, the brigade's psyops detachment commander, said his troops don’t really do that anymore. It's more about the art of gentle persuasion.
"If you want everyone in the room to stand on a chair, you can do it in a few ways," the 41-year-old Chicago resident said. "One would be to throw a bunch of thumbtacks on the floor. But we try to convince people standing on the chair is in their best interest. In a nutshell, it's advertising in a military way."
No, it's not 'advertising,' it's lying. It's attempting to control and even DUMB ASS Jose Perez gives that away in his example. His example is about the US military wanting everyone to stand on a chair and how the US military convinces the people to do so. That's control and manipulation plain and simple. It's a damn shame that so many journalists are so historically, socially and culturally ignorant. Blame it on the fact that journalism is not a real major.
That's proven in this section of Little Scotty's Little Jotting:
When five car bombs exploded in a coordinated attack across Baghdad on Dec. 8, the soldiers initiated a media blitz.
"We told them that the attackers targeted Iraq's culture and Iraq's history," Perez said. "We wanted people to know that it was way more than an attack on buildings and people."
The occupying force is attempting to tell the occupied what actions by Iraqis mean. That's propaganda and it's lying. Most importantly, it is never a foreigners 'role' to explain the meaning of a country to the people of that country. That is true regardless of whether a foreigner is part of an armed force or not. What authority are US forces supposedly operating under when running through this village? What authority gives them -- armed with weapons -- the right to bully and intimidate Iraqi civilians? That's what they're doing. When they, armed to the teeth, starting tossing out veiled threats about Iraqi children, that's what they're doing.
It's outrageous and I can't figure out if Scott Fontaine is actually that stupid or if he played dumb to get the story out?
Meanwhile Ralph Nader (at Information Clearing House) notes the new found 'lefties' who suddenly realize that (despite their lying, pimping and whoring for Barry O) he's really not all that. From Nader's "Breaking With Obama?":
Rest assured the liberal-progressive commentariat has another two years to engage in challenge and chagrin. For in 2012, silence will mute their criticisms as the stark choices of the two-party tyranny come into view and incarcerate their minds into the least-worst voting syndrome (just as they have done in recent Presidential election years).
It is hard to accord them any moral breaking point under such self-imposed censorship. Not much leverage in that approach, is there?
Year-end pieces: Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2009 in music" and Ruth's "Ruth's Report" and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Brownie Approved" and his "The 2010 Plan" went up Friday. Kat's "Kat's Korner: The decade in music" and "2009 in books (Martha & Shirley)" went up Thursday and "Reflecting on 2009 (Beth)" posted on Sunday. In addition, Ann's "2009 in DVDs" and Stan's "DVDs of 2009" (joint-post) looks at DVDs. I did "The Year of Living Sickly" Friday and Trina examines the economy in "The economy," Marcia the 'message' sent to the LGBT community in "What I learned this year" and Rebecca notes how the sexism came from the top in "the 2009 take-away."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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