No Denying MSM Bias
Opponents to victory in Iraq in the US point to the Iraq interim report as a failure. If memory serves, the President emphasized this was a preliminary report ahead of a September report due from General Petraeus. He also said two of the items in the report had no conclusions drawn for lack of necessary data. Of the remainder, half did not meet goals and half did. That is not a failure. It couldn’t be more neutral unless all items were like the first two mentioned here.
The article below sounds about right. If your reaction to the report is guarded optimism that would be reasonable. If you are somewhat pessimistic that would be understandable given the volatile nature of armed conflict with its ability to produce dramatic change in short periods of time. But to use the report to advance an interest in surrender is counterproductive and reaffirms the willingness of some to put political ambitions above the country’s defense.
Vets weigh Iraq report
Published - July, 13, 2007
Thyrie Bland
A Bush administration report on Iraq released Thursday didn’t do much to change Nathaniel Bass’ mind about the war.
“This is really nothing but a lot of politics,” the Vietnam War veteran said. “(The Iraqi) government was formed well, but is not functioning. It’s not able to meet the military demands over there.”The report can best be described as a mixed bag: progress made in some areas, failure in others.
Here are some misleading headlines and stories from the MSM:
Iraq fails most grades in US progress report
Toronto Star, Canada - 13 hours ago
The Iraq report card was designed as an interim report on the success of the so-called “troop surge” announced by Bush last January. A second report is due …
In the article above, stating failure on most grades is incorrect. There were 18 measures in the report. 8 were positive, 8 were negative and two were unmeasurable. That would be a net of half and half. This might indicate the source of this report is biased against victory in Iraq for the US Thanks, Canada.
The Bad News in Bush’s Iraq Report Card
TIME - 4 hours ago
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Were the White House’s report on Iraq progress and the accompanying presidential briefing a child’s report card, …
Notice that Time magazine begins with a headline indicating ‘bad news’. They could have as easily referred to it as what it is, a mixed bag. And further they draw an analogy between something as important as the fate of a country and war to a child’s report card. There by indicating their total lack of understanding of what is at stake.
US troop surge not bringing expected benefits to Iraq: report. Canada.com
Above, another pathetic reaction from a Canadian source. It never occurred to them that the troops for the surge only finished arriving very recently. Or they chose to ignore it based on their personal bias. Violence on many levels including that targeting civilians and military as well as other indicators are improved since the surge got underway. But all reports seen so far from north of the border do not reflect any of that. Hmmm.
Analysis: Iraq Report Won’t Help Bush Washington Post
The report will not help Bush with all the emphasis being applied by those opposing victory doing their best to find fault with any and all events related to Iraq.
As often as criticism of the main stream media addresses the belief of many there is a liberal bias involved, one should maintain an effort to continuously reevaluate such criticism. As mentioned above and reflected in some reports read, the Iraq report this week had 18 measures for analyzing progress. Of those 18, two were unclear or unmeasurable, with eight improved and 8 not meeting goals. For most reports in the MSM to have headlines concluding the report is all or mostly bad is simply not true. While the report is not glowing, it is not all or mostly bad.
How quickly most want to ignore or forget or cast blame elsewhere for the failure of Congress to read the reports offered before voting on the authorization for the use of military force in Iraq. How quickly Democrats used the Iraq war as a rallying point to politically oppose the White House. And now for political reasons some Republicans are following suit.
A large portion of this country’s citizens are putting their personal preferences ahead of successful outcomes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not one person opposing victory in Iraq is accepting the fact that this much too public discussion on the war has critically damaged that very same war effort. As a nation we are overwhelmingly proving the terrorists right by displaying a lack of strength and willingness to overcome threats by our enemies. It is a national disgrace and is only a repeat of the public misuse of freedoms, like that of speech and assembly, during Viet Nam, Korea and leading up to the inevitable entry into WWI and WWII.
During time of war or the threat of war is no time to initiate or continue public debate and airing of opinions that are harmful this country’s survival. You may not feel threatened or believe the future of this country is at risk from this show of a lack of unity but you are wrong. To continue dividing this country only serves those who seek to destroy this country and you fail to recognize that at all our peril. Debate during war only serves defeat. As a nation we cannot afford defeat.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com