Iraq journalists - paid for by the US military?
Truth_about_Iraqis via Nadia | 03.12.2005 13:39
"many Iraqi politicians and US ones, too, have come out in recent weeks to say Iraq is far worse now than prior to the illegal invasion and occupation by US forces and their mercenary cohorts."
Iraq journalists - paid for by the US military?
In the first few months of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by US and mercenary forces, several reports of "killings" quietly passed through the media and disappeared off the radar within hours.
Hoping to capitalize on the "freedom" created by the ouster of the Baathists, hundreds of newspapers and magazines hit the streets. Some early versions were merely printouts of PDF files. Others were more elaborate.
What a flowering of freedom of the press, said the cheering narrative.
But then, editors started to be killed. Some while standing outside their homes. Others, while working at their jobs. Their offices burned and gutted.
The Baathists and "dead-enders" were blamed.
But some of those who were killed had called on the US forces to leave Iraq as early as May 2003. Others had reports of revenge-rape carried out by rival Shia groups.
This story has been quashed numerous times. One Islamic newspaper editor told me she would not run it because it shows Islam in a bad light.
So much for the right to know, huh?
When Muqtada Sadr's ragtag press attacked US forces, then King of Iraq Paul Bremer ordered the press shut down. Why?
Why can Arianna Huffington write what she wants and not Sadr? I mean, sure, he is a pudgy little creature who thpeakth with a lithp and thoundth like he ith Iranian, but what right does Bremer have to say who can and can't run a press?
The shutdown led to the events of the Najaf uprising or temper tantrum, if you will.
Furthermore, since Jaafary's government took over, there have been concentrated efforts to create sectarian strife in the country. Et voila, rise of the sectarian-based press.
Shia papers saying the Baathists killed Hassan and Hussein. Sunni papers saying the Iranians killed Hassan and Hussein. Christian papers saying, who are Hassan and Hussein?
Different papers with different allegiances, alliances, agenda ... you name it.
Then you have those paid for by external powers.
This is where the plot thickens.
According to reports in US media, the US has been injecting its own dose of Iraq goodness, brought to you by your local GOP rep and sponsored by the wholesome US military.
WASHINGTON — As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.
The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
This revelation has far-reaching implications.
It stipulates that there has been willful media manipulation on the part of the US military in support of US foreign policy in the Arab world in general, and Iraq specifically.
What does this all mean?
The world has already woken up to the fact that the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by the US and its mercenary allies was based on not one lie, but several dozen lies.
All concoted to 1) influence the sentiments of an increasingly gullible and dumbed down American people 2) build the impression that Iraq was an imminent danger and had to be dealt with and 3) that the American government, upon the desires of the American people, were spreading liberty and freedom to an impoverished peoples in Iraq.
Every single premise that has been raised to the point of debate about the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq has turned out to be a lie.
Every story in support of that lie has turned out to be little more than propaganda.
The US media machine has woken up to all of that because it simply can't keep up with the pace of having to defend the lies it set in motion in the first place.
So, let us stop and ponder a few questions together.
If the Los Angeles Times report is true - and many of us suspected as much in the past years - does the covert operation end there?
Or does it extend its tentacles?
If Iraqi editors KNEW they were publishing stories written BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS and passing them off as Iraqi accounts, is it not safe to also wonder if the buying off extended to their staff as well?
Iraqi editors in the pay of illegal US and mercenary occupation forces. So, why not the journalists as well? How many Iraqi journalists out there have been paid to look the other way when they come across a story that shows 1) the barbarity of the illegal US and mercenary forces; 2) the barbarity of the Jaafary government?
How many Iraqi journalists were paid to foment sectarian strife, or the impression of sectarian strife?
How many Iraqi journalists were paid to incite the passions of people in Iraq to take up arms and butcher one another?
Okay, let us take this an even further step.
Much has been made of some blogs out there, the so-called Model blog, the Messopotamian (sic) blog and others.
(Disclaimer: to the uninformed, sic means that the word preceding it is spelled that way by the author. It does not reflect on a mental or physical condition. Duh!)
These blogs have been raised to the level of near legendary status because they have 1) persisted in thanking US forces for their compassion and love in Iraq; 2) berated any and all who may have supported the resistance and/or the idea of expelling foreign mercenaries 3) and painted a picture that Iraq was well on its way to becoming the virginal flower of democracy.
These blogs were presented by the likes of the Schusters and Emigres of the world as REAL IRAQIS.
So, if the US military had a covert operation to influence Iraqi public opinion by manipulating stories, could it not have also done the same to influence world opinion?
Or more likely, US opinion?
And, as I have pointed out here numerous times, these blogs used strange points of reference - such as miles and yards and fahrenheit, whereas no one but an American in Iraq would use such measurements.
The devil is in the details, hombre.
Is it so far-fetched that, after all the lies you have swallowed in the past three years, the US military extend its gracious and giving hand to some Iraqi bloggers?
Are they even Iraqi, perchance?
I want to play devil's advocate, daddy. And so you will, son.
What if I am in the pay of others? I have to ask that. You are probably wondering that.
Emigre, who recreated herself in the persona of something Antoinette, believes I am American and that I must return there to live behind a white picket fence.
How many of you believe I am not Iraqi? Well, in a way, I am not. See, I do not identify with the Iraq that is being masqueraded as an Arab nation today.
This is not my Iraq. This is a whore. Yes, sorry, I know I will ruffle a few patriotic and nationalistic feathers out there (and you know who you are), but I have to be true to what I believe in.
This is not Iraq. The only Iraq I can identify with is the Iraq that rages in the hearts of those who defend its honor, who die defending its honor, those who fight the Iranian horde, the US oppressor.
Yes, Iraq had problems. Yes, Iraq had a brutal dictator. But what's different now?
In fact, many Iraqi politicians and US ones, too, have come out in recent weeks to say Iraq is far worse now than prior to the illegal invasion and occupation by US forces and their mercenary cohorts.
Who doesn't want stability or liberty?
We all do. We want to be able to live in peace without an RPG coming through our windows, or Iranian terrorists sent from the terror-nest of Qum and donning Iraqi security garb come through our doors, all guns blazing.
We want to see our children go to school and get an education and rub shoulders with the world's brightest children.
If the Bush administration had a conscience and had seriously wanted to help the Iraqi people, they would not have faced a resistance that is driving them to cower in Congress.
Sure, you could nuke Iraq. But then what? You want our oil, not irradiate gunk.
But that doesn't really answer who I am, does it?
Well, could anyone but an Iraqi know who or what the damiyee is? Or would only a Mislawi know about the folk tales told to children at night? Or Klaicha? Ba7shiqa?
Would anyone but a Mislawi say 3ajaya, in reference to brats?
Maybe. I don't know. I just never met a Norweigan who referred to his kids as 3ajaya.
In any case, everything is coming tumbling down. The war lies, the GOP, right wing radio, the illusionists, the nazis and their WASP allies, the zionist war machine, and the racist white-hood wearing commentators.
The Iraq lie is simply too heavy a burden.
Sow it buddy, then drink the rotten milk of human waste.
Nefarious is as nefarious will do.
http://truth-about-iraqis.blogspot.com/2005/12/iraq-journalists-paid-for-by-us.html#links
In the first few months of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by US and mercenary forces, several reports of "killings" quietly passed through the media and disappeared off the radar within hours.
Hoping to capitalize on the "freedom" created by the ouster of the Baathists, hundreds of newspapers and magazines hit the streets. Some early versions were merely printouts of PDF files. Others were more elaborate.
What a flowering of freedom of the press, said the cheering narrative.
But then, editors started to be killed. Some while standing outside their homes. Others, while working at their jobs. Their offices burned and gutted.
The Baathists and "dead-enders" were blamed.
But some of those who were killed had called on the US forces to leave Iraq as early as May 2003. Others had reports of revenge-rape carried out by rival Shia groups.
This story has been quashed numerous times. One Islamic newspaper editor told me she would not run it because it shows Islam in a bad light.
So much for the right to know, huh?
When Muqtada Sadr's ragtag press attacked US forces, then King of Iraq Paul Bremer ordered the press shut down. Why?
Why can Arianna Huffington write what she wants and not Sadr? I mean, sure, he is a pudgy little creature who thpeakth with a lithp and thoundth like he ith Iranian, but what right does Bremer have to say who can and can't run a press?
The shutdown led to the events of the Najaf uprising or temper tantrum, if you will.
Furthermore, since Jaafary's government took over, there have been concentrated efforts to create sectarian strife in the country. Et voila, rise of the sectarian-based press.
Shia papers saying the Baathists killed Hassan and Hussein. Sunni papers saying the Iranians killed Hassan and Hussein. Christian papers saying, who are Hassan and Hussein?
Different papers with different allegiances, alliances, agenda ... you name it.
Then you have those paid for by external powers.
This is where the plot thickens.
According to reports in US media, the US has been injecting its own dose of Iraq goodness, brought to you by your local GOP rep and sponsored by the wholesome US military.
WASHINGTON — As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.
The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
This revelation has far-reaching implications.
It stipulates that there has been willful media manipulation on the part of the US military in support of US foreign policy in the Arab world in general, and Iraq specifically.
What does this all mean?
The world has already woken up to the fact that the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by the US and its mercenary allies was based on not one lie, but several dozen lies.
All concoted to 1) influence the sentiments of an increasingly gullible and dumbed down American people 2) build the impression that Iraq was an imminent danger and had to be dealt with and 3) that the American government, upon the desires of the American people, were spreading liberty and freedom to an impoverished peoples in Iraq.
Every single premise that has been raised to the point of debate about the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq has turned out to be a lie.
Every story in support of that lie has turned out to be little more than propaganda.
The US media machine has woken up to all of that because it simply can't keep up with the pace of having to defend the lies it set in motion in the first place.
So, let us stop and ponder a few questions together.
If the Los Angeles Times report is true - and many of us suspected as much in the past years - does the covert operation end there?
Or does it extend its tentacles?
If Iraqi editors KNEW they were publishing stories written BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS and passing them off as Iraqi accounts, is it not safe to also wonder if the buying off extended to their staff as well?
Iraqi editors in the pay of illegal US and mercenary occupation forces. So, why not the journalists as well? How many Iraqi journalists out there have been paid to look the other way when they come across a story that shows 1) the barbarity of the illegal US and mercenary forces; 2) the barbarity of the Jaafary government?
How many Iraqi journalists were paid to foment sectarian strife, or the impression of sectarian strife?
How many Iraqi journalists were paid to incite the passions of people in Iraq to take up arms and butcher one another?
Okay, let us take this an even further step.
Much has been made of some blogs out there, the so-called Model blog, the Messopotamian (sic) blog and others.
(Disclaimer: to the uninformed, sic means that the word preceding it is spelled that way by the author. It does not reflect on a mental or physical condition. Duh!)
These blogs have been raised to the level of near legendary status because they have 1) persisted in thanking US forces for their compassion and love in Iraq; 2) berated any and all who may have supported the resistance and/or the idea of expelling foreign mercenaries 3) and painted a picture that Iraq was well on its way to becoming the virginal flower of democracy.
These blogs were presented by the likes of the Schusters and Emigres of the world as REAL IRAQIS.
So, if the US military had a covert operation to influence Iraqi public opinion by manipulating stories, could it not have also done the same to influence world opinion?
Or more likely, US opinion?
And, as I have pointed out here numerous times, these blogs used strange points of reference - such as miles and yards and fahrenheit, whereas no one but an American in Iraq would use such measurements.
The devil is in the details, hombre.
Is it so far-fetched that, after all the lies you have swallowed in the past three years, the US military extend its gracious and giving hand to some Iraqi bloggers?
Are they even Iraqi, perchance?
I want to play devil's advocate, daddy. And so you will, son.
What if I am in the pay of others? I have to ask that. You are probably wondering that.
Emigre, who recreated herself in the persona of something Antoinette, believes I am American and that I must return there to live behind a white picket fence.
How many of you believe I am not Iraqi? Well, in a way, I am not. See, I do not identify with the Iraq that is being masqueraded as an Arab nation today.
This is not my Iraq. This is a whore. Yes, sorry, I know I will ruffle a few patriotic and nationalistic feathers out there (and you know who you are), but I have to be true to what I believe in.
This is not Iraq. The only Iraq I can identify with is the Iraq that rages in the hearts of those who defend its honor, who die defending its honor, those who fight the Iranian horde, the US oppressor.
Yes, Iraq had problems. Yes, Iraq had a brutal dictator. But what's different now?
In fact, many Iraqi politicians and US ones, too, have come out in recent weeks to say Iraq is far worse now than prior to the illegal invasion and occupation by US forces and their mercenary cohorts.
Who doesn't want stability or liberty?
We all do. We want to be able to live in peace without an RPG coming through our windows, or Iranian terrorists sent from the terror-nest of Qum and donning Iraqi security garb come through our doors, all guns blazing.
We want to see our children go to school and get an education and rub shoulders with the world's brightest children.
If the Bush administration had a conscience and had seriously wanted to help the Iraqi people, they would not have faced a resistance that is driving them to cower in Congress.
Sure, you could nuke Iraq. But then what? You want our oil, not irradiate gunk.
But that doesn't really answer who I am, does it?
Well, could anyone but an Iraqi know who or what the damiyee is? Or would only a Mislawi know about the folk tales told to children at night? Or Klaicha? Ba7shiqa?
Would anyone but a Mislawi say 3ajaya, in reference to brats?
Maybe. I don't know. I just never met a Norweigan who referred to his kids as 3ajaya.
In any case, everything is coming tumbling down. The war lies, the GOP, right wing radio, the illusionists, the nazis and their WASP allies, the zionist war machine, and the racist white-hood wearing commentators.
The Iraq lie is simply too heavy a burden.
Sow it buddy, then drink the rotten milk of human waste.
Nefarious is as nefarious will do.
http://truth-about-iraqis.blogspot.com/2005/12/iraq-journalists-paid-for-by-us.html#links
Truth_about_Iraqis via Nadia