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Audacity of Truth
Whiner-in-Chief:
"[W]hether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is "whining." And nothing [...] does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."
- John Nichols, Nation Magazine - 10/12/09
Media bias apparent in ‘burning bodies’ story
First, the headline:
U.S. Soldiers Burned Bodies of Taliban Fighters, Taunted Villagers
The story:
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – The U.S. military said Wednesday it was investigating a report carried on an Australian television network that claimed American soldiers in Afghanistan burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters and then used the action to taunt other Islamic militants.
The SBS television network said it broadcast video footage on its respected Dateline current affairs program showing U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of the suspected Taliban fighters in the hills outside the southern village of Gonbaz, near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.
Back to the headline, one word we need to examine is “Villagers”. If you read on in the story, you’ll find that the troops weren’t ‘taunting’ mere “villagers” – their goal was to draw out Islamic militants (and note that they opted to use the words “militant” and “fighters” rather than “terrorist” – surprise, surprise). Later in the story, we read:
Shortly after the bodies were burned, another group of soldiers then sent taunting messages about the act to the nearby village, believed to be harboring Taliban soldiers, according to a transcript of the program. SBS said the troops that sent the messages were part of the U.S. Army’s psychological operations unit.
“Taliban, you are all cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies,” said one message read by a soldier, according to the transcript.
The only “villagers” here being “taunted” are any who are suspected of either being a Taliban terrorist or harboring them!
The clear implication from the headline is this: US soldiers brutally burned bodies of Taliban “soldiers” (note again that they didn’t use the word “terrorists” :shock
and then taunted nearby innocent “villagers.” It’s only when you read into the story that you realize that the villagers aren’t so innocent. What we’re supposed to think: ‘This is just like Abu Ghraib!’
SMH.com, an Australian news outlet, goes ahead and tells us that in the last line of this article:
The incident is reminiscent of the psychological techniques used in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.
Isn’t it just wonderful how the media enjoys drawing the conclusions forus rather than trusting us to come to them ourselves?
This is yet another classic example of how the media manipulates news to support their anti-war viewpoints. Our fighting forces are in Afghanistan to smoke out (no pun intended) terrorist thugs who want to kill us and turn our country into an Islamic state, yet we get this nonsense about alleged brutality/desecration done by our troops to them? This is such a horribly reported story that it’s pathetic.
Jason Coleman has an extensive post that gives you the *complete* story along with some, shall we say, ‘interesting’ tidbits about Stephen DuPont and John Martinkus, the reporters (who were embedded with American troops) who filmed and commented about this story. You won’t be surpised once you’re done reading it as to why this story ended up getting reported the way it did.
Beth at MY VRWC has more.
Hat tip: Charmaine Yoest.
(Cross-posted at Blogs For Bush)
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Typical MSM garbage. I looked up SBS on Google and their mission statement give us this…..
SBS is the voice and vision of multicultural Australia. SBS celebrates difference and promotes understanding.
We evil Americans are just pickin’ on those poor ol’ Taliban!
’nuff said!
I think it is just time to treat the MSM propagandists who support the international jihad of Al Qaida like a pinata.
Jason Coleman on update 6 posted this Centcom news release
This is bad news all around and we need to redouble our efforts and uncovering the truth and disseminating it.
The latest fiasco with people like Dennis and Molly IVans saying that Bush is for torture shows me that people are willingly misrepresenting and turning things around which ends up hurting our country.
Luckily for us, each event that happens ends up educating and converting one more conservative.
It was due to an EVENT that I was hungry for something more than what the mainstream news was offering and listened to AM radio. As each subsequent event happened I realized the value that AM radio had to offer.
Today, I don’t even listen to CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC. I don’t waste my time. I visit commondreams and Nation and read stuff from liberals and that’s enough for me. Their spin is totally blatant and obvious and the truth while some can call it grey and somewhere in the middle is usually nowhere in the middle. The left talks like they know what’s in people’s minds and how they feel and care and they don’t. It is the basis for the left’s arguments. They espouse hate and discontent without factual basis.
I’m a centrist conservative and what I read on Jason Coleman’s site seems to me to be fairly reasonable situation given that we are in war and I’m surprised to see CENTCOM’s news release but not surprised to see the left demagogue as they have been.
BTW, the event referenced above was in 1991. It was riots in LA.
It could be any event that turns someone conservative though. 9/11 peopel turned to other sources besides the mainstream media. Hurricane Katrina.
Each time liberals lose. Their obvious disdain and lack of respect for journalism and reporting the facts shows. Their agenda shows.
Melissa: Good catch! I want to check out their site, too.
Bak, as you know, the influence of the MSM is huge on the opinions of the average American, which is why the talk radio, conservative-based websites, and blogs are so important. It’s a shame we can’t get our news straight up – how many people have the time and/or energy to research news like we news junkies do? It’s so much easier to watch the news and base opinions on what you hear from them because people *want* to be able to trust their news outlets.
The way it’s worked out, though, is that people are distrusting news sites/outlets like the NYTimes more and more and are realizing that there is indeed a bias in the MSM, which is (in part) why the blogosphere and talk radio are so popular. Now more than ever people feel like they are only getting one side of the story, and some of them are seeking out the other half of the information via radio and blogs – info that we should be able to depend on the MSM to deliver. The best way to form an informed opinion is to, well, be informed. People should not depend on the MSM alone as their sole source of information.
Bak, I was there for the 92 LA Riot. I called the local Korean Language station offering to put up any Korean family burned out of their home by the rioters. It was a time Liberals don’t want to look back too closely at. People who had their own weapons and ammunition were able to fend for themselves quite nicely.
I remember Gov. Pete Wilson blowing his stack because the CA National Guard did not have enough ammunition for its troops, nor enough semi-automatic M-16s, either. Wilson asked the AZ National Guard for supplies the CA National Guard lacked.
I was angered that Wilson had to tell some pea-brain to send the CNG out with ONE bullet each if they had to. Talk about “Barney Fife”ing the troops.
The MSM could not kiss enough rioter’s rear ends. They even had Maxine Waters shouting that it was an Insurrection! Only thing was the MSM “lost” that footage when the PEOPLE demanded Waters be arrested and tried for Sedition.
Second installment up, solidifying that nothing “wrong” happened using Dupont’s own words.
“So what’s really going on. . .(The Interview with Stephen Dupont)” can be found at
LINK
Thank you for your support.
–Jason
Thanks for the link, Jason!