Yesterday, there was confusion as to whether or not US war planes has bombed Iraq. Kurdish television was reporting it had, the US press was unsure. Unless he lied, US President Barack Obama clarified the issue late last night: No armed strikes had taken place.
Yet.
In a televised address, Barack announced that the US would be doing air drops of aid and, if needed, there would be air strikes.
At the Wall Street Journal, know it alls Carol E. Lee and Felicia Schwaetz put aside reporting to offer up soul reading. With tea leaves and rhunes, the two offer:
President Barack Obama stepped in front of the cameras on Thursday to utter words he hoped he would never say as commander in chief.
"I've therefore authorized targeted airstrikes if necessary to help forces in Iraq," Mr. Obama said in a statement from the White House. "Today America is coming to help."
The ladies are clear that they can peer into Barack's soul, they're just not clear as to whether he was conflicted over air strikes or over the statement, "Today America is coming to help."
Clarity isn't the only thing missing as reporters forget their jobs. Who, what, where and when. They're not shrinks, they're not feature writers.
Apparently, they're not proud to be reporters so they strive for something else.
Which would explain this sentence: "Hoping to end the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama became the fourth president in a
row to order military action in that graveyard of American ambition." That's Peter Baker doing something for the New York Times.
Something?
That flowery, much call attention to statement may be something, but it's not reporting.
And you have to wonder about a writer and an outlet that thinks it's acceptable to reduce an entire country to "graveyard of American ambition."
You really think that's how Iraqis see their own country?
Xenophobia flies right in as the basics of journalism fall right out.
In "Obama Puts U.S. on Brink of Iraq Return," Julie Pace (AP) opens with:
After years of resisting the pull of more Mideast conflicts, President
Barack Obama is ready to return the United States to military action in
Iraq, the very country where he accused his predecessor of engaging in a
"dumb war."
Her peers should study it, it's called reporting.
Who knows what the bulk of them were doing, but it wasn't reporting.
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iraq
the new york times
peter baker
the wall st. journal
felicia schwartz
the associated press
