dedicated to the Free Spirit in just about everyone.
As a somewhat cynical friend of mine remarked at the time, that should be "in just about no one."
Nonetheless, George Allen, former halfwit (R) governor of Virginia, told War Whore Ingraham something I'm sure the American Petroleum Institute would love to copyright (Via Ali at ThinkProgress):
ALLEN: I love that statement, America is addicted to oil. What an elitist point of view. Americans are not addicted to oil. Americans are addicted to freedom — the freedom and liberty to move where and when we want.
In my youth, at one point I diverged from Auto Nation and that's not because I was a Communist because even a hard-core conservative could realize there was something pathological in Americans worship of cars.
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4 comments:
Steve J.
Every once in awhile I google myself to see what's out there on me. I noticed a post of yours from Oct 2007 quoting me from Fiasco and calling me a "wingnut". Further, you stated that I along with others in the military blame the press to cover for our mistakes in Iraq. While Mr. Ricks didn't see fit to also put in the anecdotes that I laid out to make my case (otherwise called "facts"), I would be happy to share them with you - that is if you have an open mind.
I'd be glad to read what you have to say.
First of all, this is only about American press bias and not an argument for or against going into Iraq. No need to go down that path – to what end? I was in Baghdad from April 2003-March 2004, so cannot comment on any other time period.
I will start with the most egregious case as I was a direct eye witness. It involved a woman from National Public Radio and her sound man. Can’t remember her name so I don’t want to inadvertently trash someone by guessing. I ran an operation at the Baghdad Convention Center called the Iraqi Assistance Center. We had around 400 walk-ins a day. These were Iraqis that we would help adjudicate property damage claims, find health care for their children, help them with finding imprisoned relatives at Abu Ghurayb (we were also popular with the gang up there!), etc. So everyday, the Iraqis would come in and line up in our lobby and approach a counter much like a bank teller line and file their claims with our interpreters. The NPR crew came in one morning and plopped down in a couple of leather chairs in our lobby. I could see them from my office. They were there the whole day. Occasionally, they would pull someone out of line, bring them into my office, and ask me what I was going to do help this person! Always very indignant. They did this several times. Of course, the help they would receive was waiting for them at the counter with one of their fellow countryman that could accurately take down their case – not with me (at least at this stage of the process). So the effect of doing this was that the folks they pulled out of line actually lost their place in line and had to go to the back! So they were hurting the very people they were allegedly trying to help. We asked them to stop doing this, which they did. At the end of the day, she was doing some recording with her sound man in the hallway. As I was walking by, she was reporting that she had been traveling through several neighborhoods in downtown Baghdad that day and about the horrific conditions that we had left!! She and her sound man never left my lobby the whole day. Is that objective journalism?
Second example: The press office was also located in the Convention Center. As we were a Civil Affairs unit involved the reconstruction of the country, we frequently sought press coverage as we rehabilitated housing, utilities, schools, medical clinics, etc. So we would go to the press office and notify the press of when and where we would be doing these things for the following day. List of those who showed and reported: Agence France Press and Al Jazeera. No shows: ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN. Not a single American network. Ever. So unlike most Americans, I actually have a high opinion of Agence France Press, and I really like Al Jazeera.
Third example: I’m sure that you recall that reporters filing reports from Baghdad had a blue minaret in the background when they reported? This was usually CNN, but I think other networks did it as well. Anyway, that location was between the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Hotel. This is where the lion’s share of journalists stayed. Of course, they would do their dreadful reporting of how bad things were. Trouble is, like our friends at NPR, they rarely if ever travelled to the locations that they were reporting on. They would send or pay Iraqi stringers to go out and get stories. In Iraq, nothing is ever as it appears on the surface. These stringers were frequently in the pay of Al Qaeda, the Sadr Militias, or Baathists. Further, the American networks would often buy footage from Al Jazeera and without asking what it was about, would completely fabricate their own narratives.
So, is this “blaming the press for our mistakes”, or a legitimate complaint?
I just read your post right before I was going to quit for the night. I will re-read it and give you my reply in a few days.
Sorry about the delay but I have a new job and I'm also moving.
Steve J.
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