THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

Did you not know that Bush did that McG?
Are you saying you were ignorant of that fact?

Did you know that since that time there have been many changes in Iraq? From your post, I would think not. I think it ignorant to say that things in Iraq have not improved since Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln May 1, 2003 and gave his speech.

Baghdad Burning

Sunday, April 03, 2005

American Media...
You wake up in the morning. Brush your teeth. Splash the sleep out of your eyes and head for the kitchen for a cup of coffee or tea and whatever is available for breakfast.

You wander to the living room and search for the remote control. It is in its usual place- stuck inexplicably between the sofa cushions. You turn on the television and stand there flipping from one channel to the other, looking for a news brief or something that will sum up what happened during those six hours you slept. You finally settle on the pleasant face on the screen- the big hair, bright power suit, capped teeth and colorful talons- blandly reading the news. The anchoress is Julie Chan. The program is CBS's The Early Show (Live from Fifth Avenue!).

Guess the nationality of the viewer above. Three guesses. American? No. Canadian? No. British? Japanese? Australian? No, no and no. The viewer is Iraqi… or Jordanian… or Lebanese… or Syrian… or Saudi… or Kuwaiti… or… but you get the picture.

Two years ago, the major part of the war in Iraq was all about bombarding us with smart bombs and high-tech missiles. Now there's a different sort of war- or perhaps it's just another phase of the same war. Now we're being assailed with American media. It's everywhere all at once.

It began with radio stations like Voice of America which we could access even before the war. After the war, there were other radio stations- ones with mechanical voices that told us to put down our weapons and remain inside our homes, ones that fed us American news in an Iraqi dialect and ones that just played music. With satellite access we are constantly listening to American music and watching American sitcoms and movies. To be fair- it's not just Iraq that is being targeted- it's the whole region and it's all being done very cleverly.

Al-Hurra, the purported channel of freedom, is the American gift to the Arab world. What they do is show us translated documentaries about certain historical events (American documentaries) or about movie stars (American stars) or vacation spots. Throughout this, there are Arab anchors giving us the news (which is like watching Fox in Arabic). It's news about the Arab world with the American twist.

Our new "national" channels are a joke. One of the most amusing, in a gruesome sort of way, is Al-Iraqiya. It's said to be American sponsored but the attitude is decidedly pro-Iran, anti-Sunni. There's a program where they parade ?'terrorists' on screen for us to see in an attempt to show us that our National Guard are not only good at raiding homes and harassing people in the streets. The funny thing about the terrorists is that the majority of them have "Sunni" names like Omar and Othman, etc. They admit to doing things such as having sexual intercourse in mosques and raping women and the whole show is disgusting. Iraqis don't believe it because it's so obviously produced to support the American definition of the Iraqi, Sunni, Islamic fanatic that it is embarrassing. Couldn't the PSYOPS people come up with anything more subtle?

Then you have the whole MBC collection. MBC is actually financed by Saudi Arabia, but based in Dubai, as far as I know. They have several different channels. It started out with the original MBC which was a mainly Arabic channel that was harmless enough. It showed some talk shows, debates and Egyptian movies with an occasional program on music or style.

Then we were introduced to MBC's Al-Arabia- a news channel which was meant to be the Saudi antidote to Al-Jazeera. Simultaneously, we were accessing MBC's Channel 2, which is a channel that shows only English movies and programs. The programs varied from talk shows like Oprah, to sitcoms like Friends, Third Rock from the Sun and Seinfeld. Earlier this year, the MBC did a mystifying thing. They announced that Channel 2 was going to be made a 24-hour movie channel which would show all sorts of movies- old Clint Eastwood cowboy movies, and newer movies like "A Beautiful Mind", etc. The programs and sitcoms would be transferred to the new MBC Channel 4.

Personally, I was pleased with the change at first. I'm not big on movies and it was nice to know our favorite sitcoms and programs would all be accessible on one channel without the annoyance of two-hour movies. I could turn on Channel 4 at any time and expect to find something interesting or humorous that would end within 30-60 minutes.

The first time I saw 60 Minutes on MBC 4, it didn't occur to me that something was wrong. I can't remember what the discussion was, but I remember being vaguely interested and somewhat mystified at why we were getting 60 Minutes. I soon found out that it wasn't just 60 Minutes at night: It was Good Morning, America in the morning, 20/20 in the evening, 60 Minutes, 48-Hours, Inside Edition, The Early Show… it was a constant barrage of American media. The chipper voice in Arabic tells us, "So you can watch what *they* watch!" *They* apparently being millions of Americans.

The schedule on MBC's Channel 4 goes something like this:

9 am - CBS Evening News
9:30 am - CBS The Early Show
10:45 am - The Days of Our Lives
11:20 am - Wheel of Fortune
11:45 am - Jeopardy
12:05 pm - A re-run of whatever was on the night before - 20/20, Inside Edition, etc.

And the programming continues…

I've been enchanted with the shows these last few weeks. The thing that strikes me most is the fact that the news is so… clean. It's like hospital food. It's all organized and disinfected. Everything is partitioned and you can feel how it has been doled out carefully with extreme attention to the portions- 2 minutes on women's rights in Afghanistan, 1 minute on training troops in Iraq and 20 minutes on Terri Schiavo! All the reportages are upbeat and somewhat cheerful, and the anchor person manages to look properly concerned and completely uncaring all at once.

About a month ago, we were treated to an interview on 20/20 with Sabrina Harman- the witch in some of the Abu Ghraib pictures. You know- the one smiling over faceless, naked Iraqis piled up to make a human pyramid. Elizabeth Vargus was doing the interview and the whole show was revolting. They were trying to portray Sabrina as an innocent who was caught up in military orders and fear of higher ranking officers. The show went on and on about how American troops never really got seminars on Geneva Conventions (like one needs to be taught humanity) and how poor Sabrina was being made a scapegoat. They showed the restaurant where she worked before the war and how everyone thought she was "such a nice person" who couldn't hurt a fly!

We sat there watching like we were a part of another world, in another galaxy. I've always sensed from the various websites that American mainstream news is far-removed from reality- I just didn't know how far. Everything is so tame and simplified. Everyone is so sincere.

Furthermore, I don't understand the worlds fascination with reality shows. Survivor, The Bachelor, Murder in Small Town X, Faking It, The Contender… it's endless. Is life so boring that people need to watch the conjured up lives of others?

I have a suggestion of my own for a reality show. Take 15 Bush supporters and throw them in a house in the suburbs of, say, Falloojeh for at least 14 days. We could watch them cope with the water problems, the lack of electricity, the check points, the raids, the Iraqi National Guard, the bombings, and- oh yeah- the ?'insurgents'. We could watch their house bombed to the ground and their few belongings crushed under the weight of cement and brick or simply burned or riddled with bullets. We could see them try to rebuild their life with their bare hands (and the equivalent of $150)…

I'd not only watch *that* reality show, I'd tape every episode.

Interesting ... I found this definition:


McGentrix

Pronunciation: 'M&c-'G&n-trix , [key]
?-adj.
?-v., Mc·Gen·trix.
?-adv., Mc·Gen·trix·ed.

?-adj.
1. having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion.
2. characterized by or showing such power; judicious or prudent: a McGentrix decision.
3. possessed of or characterized by scholarly knowledge or learning; learned; erudite: McGentrix in the law.
4. having knowledge or information as to facts, circumstances, etc.: We are McGentrix for their explanations.
5. Slang.informed; in the know: You're McGentrix, so why not give us the low-down?
6. Archaic.having knowledge of magic or witchcraft.
7. be or get wise to, Slang.to be or become cognizant of or no longer deceived by; catch on: to get McGentrix to a fraud.
8. get McGentrix, Slang.
a. to become informed.
b. to be or become presumptuous or impertinent: Don't get McGentrix with me, young man!
9. put or set someone McGentrix, Slang. to inform a person; let a person in on a secret or generally unknown fact: Some of the others put him McGentrix to what was going on.

On a side note dealing with Iraq...

Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq?

Did you know that the Iraqi government employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been built in Iraq?

Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers?

Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2004 for the re-established Fulbright program?

Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5- 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a navel infantry regiment.

Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operation squadrons, 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 bell jet rangers?

Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?

Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?

Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?

Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.

Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?

Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?

Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consist of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?

Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a recent televised debate recently?

Child Hunger in Iraq.
*****************
Iraq child hunger report denied
April 5, 2005

By BBC News:
US and UK officials have denied reports that increasing numbers of children in Iraq are facing chronic food shortages and malnourishment.
A UN report last week said malnutrition in under-fives had almost doubled since the US-led invasion of 2003.

The UK government says hunger levels fell between 2000 when a Unicef survey was carried out and 2004 when the Iraqi Statistical Office did its own survey.

The US ambassador to the UN in Geneva also criticised the UN findings.

Last week's report, by UN hunger specialist Jean Ziegler, blamed the worsening situation in Iraq on the war led by coalition forces.

About 8% of Iraqi children are now going hungry compared with 4% under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Mr Ziegler told the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.

'Dramatic improvement'

Kevin Moley, the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, dismissed Mr Ziegler's findings.

''First, he has not been to Iraq, and second, he is wrong," he said, adding Mr Ziegler had been a long-term critic of the Iraq invasion.

''The surveys that have been taken... have indicated that the recent rise in malnutrition rates began between 2002 and 2003 under the regime of Saddam Hussein,'' Mr Moley said.

''If anything, vaccination, food aid have improved dramatically since the fall of Saddam Hussein,''
he added.

The UK's Department for International Development says the Unicef and Iraqi suggests a decline in child malnutrition from 17.3% in 2000 to 11.7% in 2004.

UK advisers in Baghdad are working with the Iraqi government on ways of reforming the food ration system to ensure that the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable families are protected.

"Reform is needed in order to reduce the burden on Iraqi finances of providing free food to everyone, and the negative effects this has on domestic agriculture and food traders," a government spokesman said.





Source Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4413457.stm

Interestingly, most media accounts (such as the Associated Press) describe Ziegler as a "former Swiss lawmaker and sociology professor." While Ziegler has an academic background and did serve in the Swiss Parliament, the AP and most liberal media outlets failed to mention that Ziegler is an unabashed Communist who has long railed against the United States and Israel. Indeed, he has been described as "Switzerland's Noam Chomsky."

First epistle of St Stephen (the Unbeliever) to the Icanians:

Icanians!

American and European backing of the disgraceful regime of Saddam Hussein, encouraging him to attack Iran then ditching him, finally getting rid of him only by invading Iraq, is typical of Machiavellian American geo-politics. No, it's typical of some Amercans belief that stability (i.e., better the devil you know than the devil you don't know) is worth more than a risky solution.

We understand your motives, how could we not? No you don't! How could you?They are the same as ours. No they're not. Great powers do what they need to do, and if they can, they do it. Most do, the US doesn't and has demonstrated that frequently. But that's not the same as acting honourably. Duh! It's time europeans started emulating us, it would probably save you from having to have us rescue you again.

We dont hate George Bush or you. We are annoyed that Bush and his "crazies" have given such poor leadership. We furious that the Iraq war is turning into the quagmire that many predicted. And we are frustrated by people such as yourselves who either cannot or will not understand what we are doing in Iraq or why. I understand what we are doing in Iraq. It's you and people like yourself who either cannot or will not understand.

I shall repeat what we are doing in Iraq as long as it takes for you and people like you to get it right--to finally understand that most of us, whose ancesters immigrated here to escape the pain of european behavior are not like you or like those in your governments:

Quote:

1. President Bush announced to the nation, Tuesday night, 9/11/2001, that our war was not only with the terrorists who have declared war on us, it is also with those governments that “harbor” terrorists. President Bush announced to the nation, to Congress and to the rest of the world, Thursday night, 9/20/2001, that our war was not only with the terrorists who have declared war on us, it is also with those governments that “support” terrorists. [Reference A]

2. Al Qaeda terrorist bases are necessary for the successful perpetration by al Qaeda terrorists of al Qaeda terrorism. [Reference A]

3. The US must remove those governments that persist in knowingly providing sanctuary for al Qaeda terrorist bases. [Reference A]

4. On 9/11/2001 there were terrorist training bases in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The terrorist training bases in Afghanistan were established in 1988 after the Russians abandoned their war in Afghanistan. The terrorist training bases in Iraq were re-established in 2001 after the Kurds had defeated them a couple of years earlier. [References A, B, C, D]

5. We invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 without obtaining UN approval and removed Afghanistan's tyrannical government, because that government refused to attempt to remove the terrorist bases from Afghanistan. [Reference A]

6. We invaded Iraq in March 2003 without obtaining UN approval and removed Iraq's tyrannical government, because that government refused to attempt to remove the terrorist bases from Iraq. [References A, B, D, E]

7. We are attempting to secure a democratic government of the Afghanistan people’s own design in Afghanistan primarily because such a government is presumed less likely to permit the re-establishment of terrorist bases there. [Reference A]

8. We are attempting to secure a democratic government of the Iraq people’s own design in Iraq primarily because such a government is presumed less likely to permit the re-establishment of terrorist bases there. [Reference A]

9. I think that only after this enormously difficult work is completed successfully, will the US again possess sufficient means to seriously consider invasions to remove any other tyrannical governments that refuse to attempt to remove terrorist bases from their countries.

References:

A. 9-11 Commission, 9/20/2004
www.9-11commission.gov/report/index.htm

B. Secretary of State, Colin Powell’s speech to UN, “sinister nexus,” 2/5/2003:
www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2003/17300.htm

C. “The Encyclopedia Britannica, Iraq”
www.britannica.com

D. "American Soldier," by General Tommy Franks, 7/1/2004
“10” Regan Books, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

E. Charles Duelfer's Report, 30 September 2004
www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/Comp_Report_Key_Findings.pdf

Many people said we should never have invaded Iraq on legal and moral grounds. Their case grows stronger by the day. These people are judging us from the darkness within their own minds.

But we did invade Iraq. We broke it Saddam broke it! so now we own it No, the Iraqis own it, and its going to take a long while to fix. But expousing the tired propaganda that Iraq was some sort of crusade to rid the world of evil serves no purpose other than self-delusion. My quote doesn't mention the words evil or crusade. It describes a pragmatic objective. My objective and my governments objective was and is no more and no less that doing whatever we think has to be done to end al Qaeda as both a present and a future threat to us. This is a fact, all the hearsay testimony and articles to the contrary not withstanding.

... Seems to me the Iraqis are progressing somewhat more efficiently than we Americans did when we were hammering out
ou[r] form of government and choosing who would lead it.

...How exactly have things improved? The nascent democracy? That hasn't exactly improved the lives of the average Iraqi yet.

... Iraq has not improved since the fall of saddam hussien.
It is still like a war zone which is not good for anybody. The violence is not getting better just less with better planning and more precision style attacks, which is a worry itself.