Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Imagine that, Iraqis think Nouri is the US favorite

The latest election results in Iraq point to a heated and possibly lengthy power struggle between the Shiite coalition led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and the rival secular slate led by Ayad Allawi. That is not a surprise, but it is still worrying.

The above is from the New York Times' editorial "The Day After." And, yeah, it's a surprise. It's a huge surprise. For a number of reasons.

1) It's a surprise because the Western media has (since Monday of last week) repeatedly insisted that Nouri is the winner. They've offered that gas baggery as 'reporting' and, yes, they continue to do so. So that it could be a two-person game at this point would be very, very surprising to those who trusted the media.

2) It's a surprise that the editorial board of a newspaper -- whose job is opinion -- could be more factual than reporters for the newspaper who are supposed to stick to the facts. Maybe the editorial board should be writing the reports since they appear to have a greater respect for the facts?

The votes are still not all counted (or, if they are, they've yet to be announced -- filing late yesterday, Charles Levinson of the Wall St. Journal noted 60% of the ballots were counted). So we're not gas bagging here. Which ever party wins wins. We'll know the results when we know the results. And then issues of fraud will be dealt with (or more likely not be dealt with). But when the editorial board does a better job of reporting than the reporters, we open with it. "Point to" and "possibly." Not concrete words. Not a complaint on that. But contrast that with all the reports on Nouri is the winner.

On today's Morning Edition (NPR), Quil Lawrence -- one of the worst offenders in the press -- speaks to a dairy farmer in Falluja, Suhaib Munaim, who "believes that the Americans are trying to impose sitting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the votes won't make any difference." Quil notes that belief. With no sense of irony and with no sense of responsibility. Quil has repeatedly hailed Nouri as the winner for over eight days. If people in Iraq see Nouri as the US choice, maybe US reporters in Iraq need to take some accountability?

Tucked in to today's segment is the mention of a Sahwa leader and how "just last week his enemies killed three of his bodyguards, decapitating one of them." Really, Quil? Then why didn't you report that last week? Oh right. Not a lot of time for reporting when you're busy gas bagging.

In yesterday's snapshot, we noted that a group of kidnappers and killers were attacking the integrity of one of their victims, Peter Moore. The League of Righteous got their itty-bitty feelings hurt that Moore talked about what thugs they were. These are the thugs who killed 3 British citizens and 5 American soldiers. The idea that anyone would give a damn what they said about Moore or how 'fair' they'd been was laughable. Moore has now spoken to Deborah Haynes (Times of London) about his reaction to their attacks.

This morning, Jim Loney and Robin Pomeroy (Reuters) report that twin Mussayab bombings have resulted in at least 8 deaths.

This Saturday, marches will take place in DC, San Francisco and LA. (And, if you can't make it to one of those three, maybe in your own community, in a march you organize.)

A.N.S.W.E.R.
The wars continue. In an essay entitled "Changing the Dynamic" (World Can't Wait), Debra Sweet nails it. By refusing to force Bush out of office in disgrace -- he didn't even have the threat of impeachment hanging over his head (thanks, Nancy Pelosi) -- we're now stuck with this cloud of 'normalcy' lingering over his policies which Barack Obama has embraced and continued. Read the essay. We'll note this from it on what you can do:

You can join in and support this resistance now.
Sustain World Can’t Wait’s work! Help spread this national movement.
Join in protest Saturday March 20, marking the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Washington DC, noon, The White House, or other cities nationwide.
Become a War Crimes Watcher; help bring the Bush era war criminals to justice by protesting wherever they appear publicly.
Get involved with the We Are Not Your Soldiers Tour, bringing Iraq & Afghanistan war veterans into high schools to help students resist recruiters.



And we'll close with this from Tim King's "Reports Indicate U.S. is Mobilizing for War in Iran" (Salem-News):

Iran has never attacked another nation, and according to the international group that oversees nuclear activities, Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.
Israel, on the other hand, possesses at least 150 nuclear warheads that could take the world out several times over. Undeclared nukes illegal with the world community. Who should we really question?
Iran's infrastructure does not support the ability and the country has firmly stated that it is not developing nuclear arms, only nuclear power, like so many other countries on this earth.


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