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CptSternn · 07-11-2007, 02:11 AM

I found a few articles on this, and thought it needed to be posted.

Seeing Al Qaeda Around Every Corner

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/op...all&oref=login

AS domestic support for the war in Iraq continues to melt away, President Bush and the United States military in Baghdad are increasingly pointing to a single villain on the battlefield: Al Qaeda.

Bush mentioned the terrorist group 27 times in a recent speech on Iraq at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. In West Virginia on the Fourth of July, he declared, “We must defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq.” The Associated Press reported last month that although some 30 groups have claimed credit for attacks on United States and Iraqi government targets, press releases from the American military focus overwhelmingly on Al Qaeda.

Why Bush and the military are emphasizing Al Qaeda to the virtual exclusion of other sources of violence in Iraq is an important story. So is the question of how well their version of events squares with the facts of a murky and rapidly changing situation on the ground.

But these are stories you haven’t been reading in The Times in recent weeks as the newspaper has slipped into a routine of quoting the president and the military uncritically about Al Qaeda’s role in Iraq — and sometimes citing the group itself without attribution.

And in using the language of the administration, the newspaper has also failed at times to distinguish between Al Qaeda, the group that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an Iraqi group that didn’t even exist until after the American invasion.

There is plenty of evidence that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is but one of the challenges facing the United States military and that overemphasizing it distorts the true picture of what is happening there. While a president running out of time and policy options may want to talk about a single enemy that Americans hate and fear in the hope of uniting the country behind him, journalists have the obligation to ask tough questions about the accuracy of his statements.

For the past few months the new propaganda and spin offensive began with bush, and has continued with the media. Now, everyday when you see Iraq on the news they talk about how they are fighting Al Qaeda, in fact, every insurgent, no matter if their they are Shia (Al Qaeda is a Sunni group) is labeled 'Al Qaeda'.

Yet another technique the bush admin is trying to get the masses to forget that the Americans invaded a sovern nation with no chemical weapons, and try and make Americans hate the average Iraqi who is defending his home.

07-11-2007, 02:11 AM	#280
CptSternn Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 4,587	I found a few articles on this, and thought it needed to be posted. Seeing Al Qaeda Around Every Corner http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/op...all&oref=login AS domestic support for the war in Iraq continues to melt away, President Bush and the United States military in Baghdad are increasingly pointing to a single villain on the battlefield: Al Qaeda. Bush mentioned the terrorist group 27 times in a recent speech on Iraq at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. In West Virginia on the Fourth of July, he declared, “We must defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq.” The Associated Press reported last month that although some 30 groups have claimed credit for attacks on United States and Iraqi government targets, press releases from the American military focus overwhelmingly on Al Qaeda. Why Bush and the military are emphasizing Al Qaeda to the virtual exclusion of other sources of violence in Iraq is an important story. So is the question of how well their version of events squares with the facts of a murky and rapidly changing situation on the ground. But these are stories you haven’t been reading in The Times in recent weeks as the newspaper has slipped into a routine of quoting the president and the military uncritically about Al Qaeda’s role in Iraq — and sometimes citing the group itself without attribution. And in using the language of the administration, the newspaper has also failed at times to distinguish between Al Qaeda, the group that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an Iraqi group that didn’t even exist until after the American invasion. There is plenty of evidence that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is but one of the challenges facing the United States military and that overemphasizing it distorts the true picture of what is happening there. While a president running out of time and policy options may want to talk about a single enemy that Americans hate and fear in the hope of uniting the country behind him, journalists have the obligation to ask tough questions about the accuracy of his statements. For the past few months the new propaganda and spin offensive began with bush, and has continued with the media. Now, everyday when you see Iraq on the news they talk about how they are fighting Al Qaeda, in fact, every insurgent, no matter if their they are Shia (Al Qaeda is a Sunni group) is labeled 'Al Qaeda'. Yet another technique the bush admin is trying to get the masses to forget that the Americans invaded a sovern nation with no chemical weapons, and try and make Americans hate the average Iraqi who is defending his home.