Allawi challenges media bias

[Gypsy]

Well gee...wonder what comments Mr Personality Plus aka sKerry will have on this latest from the Iraqi PM. Surely he'll be doing all he can to continue to build on his foreign policy experience.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/sept...dia_bias.shtml

Iraqi Leader Challenges Western Media Bias
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 28, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- In August, Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi banned al Jazeera from broadcasting in Iraq because he said the satellite news service was "inciting violence." A year ago, the Iraqi Governing Council temporarily shut down the network for the same reason. Al Jazeera has long been criticized for its anti-American bias, but Allawi says that Western media is also misrepresenting the events and conditions in Iraq.

The Iraqi leader took on the White House press corps Thursday during a Rose Garden press conference. Reporters for major news outlets confronted Allawi and his host, President George W. Bush, with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry's criticism of both leaders' positive outlook.

Steve Holland, a correspondent for Reuters, began the barrage of Kerry talking points, parroting the Massachusetts senator's accusation of "colossal failures or judgment in Iraq and having failed to level with the American people."

NBC's David Gregory pressed Bush to respond to the skepticism of progress in Iraq expressed by the Kerry campaign.

He asked, "Can you understand that Americans may not believe you when you say that America is actually safer today?"

John King, reporting for CNN, asked the president to "answer Senator Kerry and other critics who accuse you of hypocrisy or opportunism when, on the one hand, you put so much stock in the CIA when it said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and now say it is just guessing when it paints a pessimistic picture of the political transition."

Despite the embarrassment of what some saw as an attempt by CBS to sink Bush's reelection campaign by airing a report based on fraudulent documents, the network's John Roberts disputed the president's quantitative description of Iraqi insurgents as a "handful" of people.

Terry Moran of ABC rounded out the assault from the "alphabet networks" by citing outdated polls that indicated widespread dissatisfaction among Iraqis with life under the Coalition Provisional Authority. The CPA ceased to exist on June 28, 2004 when sovereignty was transferred to the interim government now headed by Allawi.

Bush is accustomed to dealing with a press corps that always seems to be well armed with Democratic talking points. But rarely rebukes members of the White House beat, instead choosing to disarm some of his harshest critics with playful exchanges. During the press conference Thursday, the president turned his opponent's statements back on their source when he suggested that Kerry's criticism was sending "mixed signals" to Iraqis, the American people, U.S. allies, terrorists, and American troops.

Allawi, on the other hand, eschewed camaraderie in favor of confrontation.

"Iraqis are getting on with their daily lives, hungry for the new political and economic freedoms they are enjoying," Allawi bluntly told Moran. "Although, this is not what you see in your media, it is a fact."

The Iraqi prime minister similarly upbraided the CBS correspondent when he responded to a question that suggested elections might not be held in January because of violence.

Allawi said, "I have noticed -- and the [Western] media have ... neglected and omitted several times ... Iraq is made out of 18 provinces. Out of these 18 provinces, 14 to 15 are completely safe, there are no problems."

Allawi asked reporters to present a more balanced view of the situation in his country.

He said, "I call upon the responsible media -- throughout the world, not only here -- to look at the facts as they are in Iraq and to propagate these facts to the international community."

Allawi related his personal experiences with Iraqis who are determined to "beat terrorism and defeat the insurgents" despite the deadly attacks.

Allawi said that following the bombing of a police station that killed over 40 recruits, "I found hundreds of people coming to volunteer to the police and to the army. I spoke to them. They are all upbeat."

The Iraqi leader told Roberts, "These are facts that one really needs to explain to you and you need to explain it to the people."

Allawi challenged the reporters to come to Iraq to speak with the people.

He said, "You can find out yourselves that the Iraqis, tremendously, by and large, respect the United States, and respect the other partners in the coalition for helping Iraq, not only in liberation, but now in helping Iraq to rebuild itself and to rebuild its institutions."

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

[Airbornelawyer]

With all due respect to the reporter and Allawi, who are right that the mainstream media, "well armed with Democratic talking points," seems to be deliberately trying to spin the reporting on Iraq, this statement is false ("rosy" perhaps?):

Allawi said, "I have noticed -- and the [Western] media have ... neglected and omitted several times ... Iraq is made out of 18 provinces. Out of these 18 provinces, 14 to 15 are completely safe, there are no problems."

None of Iraq's 18 governorates is "completely safe." Quite a few have no major problems, but it does not amount to 14-15.

Among the governorates where there is active fighting or the threat of violence are Basra (where 2 British soldiers were killed this week), Al-Anbar (site of the main route from Syria into the so-called "Sunni Triangle"), Najaf, Karbala, Babylon, Diyala, Salah ad-Din and Ninevah. Within these governorates, certain provinces, such as Al-Anbar's Fallujah and Ramadi provinces, Ninevah's Tell Afar and Mosul provinces, and Diyala's al-Muqdadiyah and Ba'qubah provinces, are where most problems are, while others are relatively quiet. Of the hundred or so provinces, I think about half are relatively quiet, a quarter have low-level violence (mainly being dealt with by Iraqi police and military and coalition forces) and the last quarter are where the main problems are. Of this last quarter, though, some, like an-Najaf and Samarra are currently quiet but are flashpoints that bear constant attention.

[NousDefionsDoc]

Has John Kerry been to Iraq?

[Airbornelawyer]

Haven't you heard about Kerry's "Christmas in Cambodia" Iraq story?

In a 2001 FoxNews interview, Kerry stated "I mean, I was in Safwan. I went there when the signing of the armistice took place at the end of the war." The truth of this statement depends on what the meaning of "when" is. Kerry was not at the the signing of the ceasefire, which was on March 3, 1991. He went to Safwan with a delegation of senators on March 16 or so. He was trying to connect himself somehow to a ceasefire he had nothing to do with. Giving him the full benefit of the doubt, maybe he was just sloppy in his wording.

What is even more damning is the fuller context of his remarks:

KERRY: Bill, let me tell you, I was all for our following through at the end of the Gulf War with the Kurd uprising. And I thought it was a great betrayal, in a sense, that we encouraged them verbally. We gave them forces. We gave them weapons. We encouraged them and said we were with them. And then we pulled out at the last minute because the Kuwaitis and the Saudis and others were unsure of what might follow.

O'REILLY: Yes, that was a classic mistake. But if you arm the Kurds in the north of Iraq, you're going to alienate one of our most valuable --

KERRY: I didn't say necessarily the Kurds. There are other members of the opposition. There are people who are outside the country prepared to go in. There are others inside the country. And I believe -- I mean, I was in Safwan. I went there when the signing of the armistice took place at the end of the war. And I remember seeing that land, which lent itself in my judgment, considerably to the creation of almost an enclave, which I thought we should have done then. And I think is one way to begin to approach things now, but there are other possibilities. The important thing is that Saddam Hussein and the world knows that we think Saddam Hussein is essentially out of sync with the times. He is and has acted like a terrorist. And he is engaged in activities that are unacceptable.

So 10 years after Desert Storm, a war he opposed, he is claiming he favored extending it to support a broad-based guerrilla campaign to overthrow Saddam. Having never been to Kurdistan, but feeling some need to personalize his perspective, he claims his visit to Safwan showed him how viable an insurgency would be. Safwan is maybe 5 clicks from the Kuwaiti border. It is a dusty airstrip near a hill (466m), a large quarry and a cluster of small farmed fields, with a few farmhouses scattered around. Unlike the mountains of Kurdistan, it does not really lend itself to serving as an insurgency enclave.

Of course, all of this is premised on actually believing Kerry. I searched the Congressional Record from the 102nd Congress through to 2001 in vain for any mention by Kerry of creating an enclave in Iraq for any sort of opposition or even as a humanitarian refuge. Nothing on the record. Again giving him the full benefit of the doubt (which frankly I consider a generous offer), he may have been in favor of helping the Kurds in the north and the Shi'ites in the south, but he did nothing.

It's nice to see he actually called Saddam Hussein a terrorist, though. Apparently the elusive Saddam/terrorism connection is a mirror.

[Guy]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

Has John Kerry been to Iraq?

Even Senators Hillary and Dodd even visited the troops.

The POTUS came on Thanksgiving. The troops went WILD! Biggest roar I've ever heard. Almost had me in tears with pride.

[NousDefionsDoc]

Was the turkey fake?

[Matchanu]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

Was the turkey fake?

Hillary?

When has she ever been for real?

[NousDefionsDoc]

Originally Posted by Matchanu

Hillary?

When has she ever been for real?

I'd hit it. I'd put my ST4 "Only easy day..." T shirt right over that grill first though.

[Guy]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

I'd hit it. I'd put my ST4 "Only easy day..." T shirt right over that grill first though.

I said the same thing over the radio...guys were LTAO.

[Matchanu]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

I'd hit it. I'd put my ST4 "Only easy day..." T shirt right over that grill first though.

And you wouldn't have to try very hard to imagine it was a man either.


I shudder at the thought.

[Air.177]

Originally Posted by Matchanu

And you wouldn't have to try very hard to imagine it was a man either.


I shudder at the thought.

WHOA WHOA!!

Steady There!!

Steady in the Ranks!!

[NousDefionsDoc]

Originally Posted by Air.177

WHOA WHOA!!

Steady There!!

Steady in the Ranks!!

What? The grown-ups haven't left yet?

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer

With all due respect to the reporter and Allawi, who are right that the mainstream media, "well armed with Democratic talking points," seems to be deliberately trying to spin the reporting on Iraq, this statement is false ("rosy" perhaps?):

None of Iraq's 18 governorates is "completely safe." Quite a few have no major problems, but it does not amount to 14-15.

OK, based on analysis by me and the blogger The Belmont Club, I will revise this to say that while none are completely safe, 10 provinces qualify as relatively safe and four others qualify as not the worst places to be, so 14-15 isn't too far from the mark.

Relatively safe: Dahuk, Dhi Qar, Irbil, Karbala, Maysan (Missan), Muthanna, Najaf, Qadisiyah, Sulaymaniyah and Wasit.

"Not the worst": Babil, Basrah, Diyala and Tamim.

Fairly violent: Baghdad and and Ninevah.

Insurgent hotbeds: Al-Anbar and Salahuddin.

A fuller exposition is here: http://www.socnetcentral.com/vb/show...922#post472922

So while PM Allawi's view might be a little rosier than reality, reality is closer to his view than that of the quagmire-mongering media doomsayers in the article Gypsy cited.