Here's a perfect example of...

[Yonivore]

...the pervasiveness of liberal bias in reporting on the war in Iraq.

According to Trevor Snyder, a soldier in Iraq who works with the media, the following letter was read to the press corps during a weekly briefing. The letter is from the mayor of an Iraqi town, Tall Afar:

[O]ur city was overrun by heartless terrorists, Zarqawi and his followers, who unloaded their bloodthirsty and voracious action of evil on this city for several months by indiscriminately killing men, women and children. Tall Afar was a human slaughterhouse. Simple services were not possible, causing the people to suffer, till the day you dispatched your troops, who were our lion-hearted saviors. Your troops came to rescue Tall Afar led by our heroes, whom Tall Afar will never forget. After the major operation, your wonderful soldiers started nursing the wounds of this city by rebuilding the damaged lives and buildings with great compassion and speed. These soldiers have done more than their original mission required of them. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Doesn't that seem the slightest bit newsworthy? You know, at all? And yet, according to Trevor, nobody at the briefing asked a single question about the letter, and as of this writing, news of the U.S. accomplishment hasn't been reported in any major news outlet. Why do I think this isn't the only good news out of Iraq we haven't heard?

But wait, someone else wrote about this! Alas, that someone is Scott Ritter, who puts the word terrorist in scare quotes and makes it sound like the U.S. rolled in there for the sheer joy of killing Iraqis:

"As [Colonel H.R.] McMasters and others know, the vast majority of the "terrorists" killed and detained during the fight for Tall Afar were natives of that town simply fighting to defend their homes... There can be little doubt about what will motivate them for the foreseeable future -- a burning desire to drive out an occupying force, that destroyed their homes and slaughtered their fellow townspeople.

In an effort to win back the "hearts and minds" of the citizens of Tall Afar, Col. McMasters' 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment participated in a program in mid-November 2005 to distribute blankets to help ward off the cold of the coming winter. This action was reported by the Department of Defense's new "Defend America" website, part of a propaganda effort to feed to the American people the "good news" coming from Iraq. Tell that to the citizens of Tall Afar, who know that a few blankets and repaired schools can't undo the damage done by a brutal occupation run by officers like Col. McMasters who have lost all sense of history or responsibility when it comes to waging war in Iraq."

I just don't know who to believe...Scott Ritter or the mayor of Tall Afar. I'll have to think about it.

[Nbadan]

The Tall Afar battle and why Ritter likely believes what he writes is covered well here.

Among the highlights:

he tells us that during the battle, US forces turned off basic services, including water and electricity for "at least three days".

(To a populated city, that's genocide)

Of the 600 members of the "new" Iraqi police force who were deployed in the city at the start of the battle, 517 either deserted or defected to the insurgents. Plus: "The Iraqis who switched sides included the police chief and his deputy, both of whom were detained by U.S. forces."

(No wonder the old Mayor was worried)

"You have the right to remain silent," one soldier told an uncomprehending detainee in English. "Anything you say will result in a punch in the face."

Even the newly-installed Mayor of Tell Afar criticized the heavy-handed tactics:

According to today's piece by Fainaru, even Mohammed Rashid Hamid, the "mayor" newly installed in the city by Brig. Ham openly voiced complaints about the Americans' practices to him and an accompanying US Major:

Jabbing his left hand for emphasis as he spoke through an interpreter, Hamid told the Americans that the slow pace at which returning residents were being searched had paralyzed the city. He complained that women and children were being searched and said U.S. forces searching for remaining insurgents were relying on inaccurate information to detain people.

"About 40 percent of the information you have about the people of Tall Afar is wrong," he told the officers.

Maj. O'Steen responded that U.S. forces were frisking only military-age men reentering the city and were preparing to release about 40 detainees picked up the day before.

"We are caught in the middle between two fires," Hamid told the Americans. "On the one side, we have the terrorists, and on the other side, we have the coalition forces."

[gtownspur]

But dan, i thought the troops just wanted to come home and run for democrat offices as ex war veterans, why would they enjoy making warfare if they are losing.

[gtownspur]

yeah dog

I heard you were a journalist or writer. Hopefully its for a Cooking magazine or an outdoor enthusiast rag and not some legitimate media.

[boutons_]

How many Iraqi towns has the US military cleared, but couldn't hold?

How many Iraqi towns has the US military cleared over and over?

What's the ing point of putting boots on the ground if you can't hold that ground?

No matter how wonderful the US military performs in specific situations,
no matter how many times they repeat their wondefulness,
the US military was butt- ed and trashed before they even landed in Iraq by incompetent planning of the post-invasion, and by under-manning by a couple 100K troops. The post-Saddam regime period, after dubya bull fake flyboy "Mission Accomplished", was supposed to a period of peace. The Repugs got that totally wrong. The level of insurgency violence has continued unabated, undiminished for nearly 3 years. head's "last throes" comment was just one more in the nothing-but-lies spewing from his evil brain.

The insurgency is too entrenched and wide-spread to be stopped by the US military.

With dubya already planning to cut and run, reducing forces, the much weaker, much less equipped, and less skillfuly commanded Iraqi military reporting to an ineffective, incompetent Iraqi government won't have chance against insurgency.

The outlines of Sunni/Shiite/Kurd civil war are already so clear that a civil war, sooner or later, appears inevitable. A civil war would totally negate the US invasion of Iraq, itself already having effectively nothing positive to show for the invasion.

[Nbadan]

With dubya already planning to cut and run, reducing forces, the much weaker, much less equipped, and less skillfuly commanded Iraqi military reporting to an ineffective, incompetent Iraqi government won't have chance against insurgency.

That's the brilliancy of the Republican withdrawal plan. Like in Vietnam, it will take a year or two after American troops withdrawal for Iraq to completely destabilize. Americans don't have that long attention spans when it comes to politics. W gets to portray the U.S. withdrawal as a victory for the U.S. and the Jabaari Government in Iraq, just as he said he would, and Democrats like John Murtha who had the odacity to propose the same thing before the WH, will continue to be portrayed as defeatest by wingnuts.

[Yonivore]

How many Iraqi towns has the US military cleared, but couldn't hold?

How many Iraqi towns has the US military cleared over and over?

What's the ing point of putting boots on the ground if you can't hold that ground?

No matter how wonderful the US military performs in specific situations,
no matter how many times they repeat their wondefulness,
the US military was butt- ed and trashed before they even landed in Iraq by incompetent planning of the post-invasion, and by under-manning by a couple 100K troops. The post-Saddam regime period, after dubya bull fake flyboy "Mission Accomplished", was supposed to a period of peace. The Repugs got that totally wrong. The level of insurgency violence has continued unabated, undiminished for nearly 3 years. head's "last throes" comment was just one more in the nothing-but-lies spewing from his evil brain.

The insurgency is too entrenched and wide-spread to be stopped by the US military.

With dubya already planning to cut and run, reducing forces, the much weaker, much less equipped, and less skillfuly commanded Iraqi military reporting to an ineffective, incompetent Iraqi government won't have chance against insurgency.

The outlines of Sunni/Shiite/Kurd civil war are already so clear that a civil war, sooner or later, appears inevitable. A civil war would totally negate the US invasion of Iraq, itself already having effectively nothing positive to show for the invasion.

See children, Mr. Boutons is an example of what happens when you get your information from a news media hold up in a barricaded and heavily fortified hotel in the middle of a barricaded and heavily fortified city.

[xrayzebra]

That's the brilliancy of the Republican withdrawal plan. Like in Vietnam, it will take a year or two after American troops withdrawal for Iraq to completely destabilize. Americans don't have that long attention spans when it comes to politics. W gets to portray the U.S. withdrawal as a victory for the U.S. and the Jabaari Government in Iraq, just as he said he would, and Democrats like John Murtha who had the odacity to propose the same thing before the WH, will continue to be portrayed as defeatest by wingnuts.

Ah yes, Nbadan rather has spoken again. You should publish your
predictions so they can be read hundreds of years from now and give
everyone a good laugh. You are a joke.

[boutons_]

Since I don't listen to Fox News at all, I've read many times quotes of US soldiers, active or not, talking about the stupidity and frustration of "clearing" but not "holding" an area due to lack of manpower, only to have return to clear the area again and again, losing US troops each time. Refute that with facts rather than the knee-jerk "the liberal media conspiracy is lying" bull .

The fault lines between Shiite and Sunni sects have become more clear and diverse. One activity is that groups in mixed Sunni/Shiite towns have the minority group moving away to a town or area that has the majority in their favor, effectively a "cleansing" operation, dividing and isolating Iraq towns and areas along sectarian lines more than ever before.

The Sunni insurgency is essentially slaughtering Shiites.

The Kurds of course have no truck with either Sunni or Shiite, and esp have been harassing the Saddam/Sunni minority out of the Kurdish towns and areas.

Refute the above. Or even accept the above and show other "facts" of the US occupation that are negating the above.

The reason the media, of all stripes, is stuck in secure zones and must travel only, and rarely, in heavily fortified convoys with military or mercenary escorts is that the level of violence and general level of insecurity is essentially unchanged in spite of the 2000+ US lives wasted trying and faling over 3 years to put down the insurgency.

Oil and electricity production is widely reported to be down vs Saddam's levels, with eletricity being on only a few hours per day in Bagdad. Unreliable electricity is a huge impediment to business and reconstruction.

Now, refute all of the above with your Fox News and Repug talking point "facts".

And leave out bull like "Baby Noor" US military public relations projects that don't offset the 10's of 1000s of non-combattant Iraqis that have been slaughtered as a direct result of dubya's bull war.

Finally, prove with whatever facts you can muster that the USA is safer as result of the Repug Iraq war.

[xrayzebra]

^^And which left wing blogs are you reading? Prove facts to you? How?
Facts you are not interested in. Just hate.

Just keep looking for that black Halliburton helicopter.

[Oh, Gee!!]

...the pervasiveness of liberal bias in reporting on the war in Iraq.

So, you use an editorial from a little-known, alternative news website to show a "pervasive liberal bias" in the media. Is that the best you could do?

[ChumpDumper]

Sorry Fox News ignored the story, guys. Send a strongly worded email.

The is a mathaba?

[SA210]

Yoni gets his info from the "Security Guard Times" medical section.

[Yonivore]

Since I don't listen to Fox News at all, I've read many times quotes of US soldiers, active or not, talking about the stupidity and frustration of "clearing" but not "holding" an area due to lack of manpower, only to have return to clear the area again and again, losing US troops each time. Refute that with facts rather than the knee-jerk "the liberal media conspiracy is lying" bull .

The fault lines between Shiite and Sunni sects have become more clear and diverse. One activity is that groups in mixed Sunni/Shiite towns have the minority group moving away to a town or area that has the majority in their favor, effectively a "cleansing" operation, dividing and isolating Iraq towns and areas along sectarian lines more than ever before.

The Sunni insurgency is essentially slaughtering Shiites.

The Kurds of course have no truck with either Sunni or Shiite, and esp have been harassing the Saddam/Sunni minority out of the Kurdish towns and areas.

Refute the above. Or even accept the above and show other "facts" of the US occupation that are negating the above.

The reason the media, of all stripes, is stuck in secure zones and must travel only, and rarely, in heavily fortified convoys with military or mercenary escorts is that the level of violence and general level of insecurity is essentially unchanged in spite of the 2000+ US lives wasted trying and faling over 3 years to put down the insurgency.

Oil and electricity production is widely reported to be down vs Saddam's levels, with eletricity being on only a few hours per day in Bagdad. Unreliable electricity is a huge impediment to business and reconstruction.

Now, refute all of the above with your Fox News and Repug talking point "facts".

And leave out bull like "Baby Noor" US military public relations projects that don't offset the 10's of 1000s of non-combattant Iraqis that have been slaughtered as a direct result of dubya's bull war.

Finally, prove with whatever facts you can muster that the USA is safer as result of the Repug Iraq war.

Support your assertions first.

I've got my links lined up.

[Budkin]

Anyone who thinks there is a "liberal" media bias in the mainstream media needs a reality check. The media today is nothing but corporate s, Bush apologists, and so called "journalists" that are more interested in spewing right wing talking points than facts. Plain and simple, you criticize the administration, you go down. The culture of fear lives on.

[Yonivore]

Anyone who thinks there is a "liberal" media bias in the mainstream media needs a reality check. The media today is nothing but corporate s, Bush apologists, and so called "journalists" that are more interested in spewing right wing talking points than facts. Plain and simple, you criticize the administration, you go down. The culture of fear lives on.

Really? Name a critic of the administration that went down for criticizing the administration.

[Oh, Gee!!]

Really? Name a critic of the administration that went down for criticizing the administration.

Joe Wilson

[Budkin]

Dan Rather, set up perfectly by Karl Rove.

[Yonivore]

Joe Wilson

Really, what happened to him? Book deals, Vanity Fair articles, published opinion articles, lionized by the Left...

That's going down?

[Yonivore]

Dan Rather, set up perfectly by Karl Rove.

Wow, you're stuck on stupid.

[Oh, Gee!!]

Really, what happened to him? Book deals, Vanity Fair articles, published opinion articles, lionized by the Left...

That's going down?

None of that is the WH's doing, they tried to destroy the guy and his wife.

[Yonivore]

None of that is the WH's doing, they tried to destroy the guy and his wife.

You said he was "brought down." I just want to know how? What negavite thing happened to him?

He became a celebrity...and was enriched by his criticism of the White House.

[Oh, Gee!!]

You said he was "brought down." I just want to know how? What negavite thing happened to him?

He became a celebrity...and was enriched by his criticism of the White House.

and that was very lucky for Joe Wilson. The WH shouldn't be involved in these types of smear campaigns at all, regardless of the fact that the target made it out okay

[Budkin]

Wow, you're stuck on stupid.

No, I'm stuck on reality and the truth. Just look at the that Rove has pulled on Bush's adversaries, the smearing of John McCain during the '00 primaries, the "swiftboating" of war heroes Max Cleland and John Kerry in 02 and 04 respectively. And now they are daring to question John Murtha's credentials. The chickenhawks who ran and hid from conflict have the audacity to question other's service to their country that actually did fight for it? They have no shame. And why do you think Rather was destroyed? It was for bringing this fact to light, that Bush was a coward who got his daddy to protect him from having to serve in Vietnam. Notice that they never actually disputed the information in those memos, only the fact that they were potential forgeries. Attention was shifted away from the contents of the matter, and Rather was taken down.

[Yonivore]

No, I'm stuck on reality and the truth. Just look at the that Rove has pulled on Bush's adversaries, the smearing of John McCain during the '00 primaries, the "swiftboating" of war heroes Max Cleland and John Kerry in 02 and 04 respectively. And now they are daring to question John Murtha's credentials. The chickenhawks who ran and hid from conflict have the audacity to question other's service to their country that actually did fight for it? They have no shame. And why do you think Rather was destroyed? It was for bringing this fact to light, that Bush was a coward who got his daddy to protect him from having to serve in Vietnam. Notice that they never actually disputed the information in those memos, only the fact that they were potential forgeries. Attention was shifted away from the contents of the matter, and Rather was taken down.

Rove didn't force Dan Rather to air that nonsense report without completely vetting his sources. Did he?

Rather brought himself down by poor journalistic practices.