To:

Zcom_simple
Home » Z Blogs » Paul Street's Blog » "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

Hello,

Blogs are a familiar feature on the internet - where users post content in an accumulating manner, with comments, and search options, etc. They facilitate expression and exploration, and via attached comments, also debate and synthesis.


Reading and
Navigating Blogs

Our blogs are quite powerful. Each writer can post, as is typically the case. Sustainers who have the option can also post, however. All Blogs appear in the blog system, and sometimes also in content boxes the top page of ZNet - and always via the left menu of the top page - and can be found via searches, etc.

Commenting on blogs follows the blogs, attached at the bottom, and blog comments, like all others, are also visible in many places that show comments including in the forum system. In addition, the entire blog system gathers content for everyone - but one can look at the accumulating content in many ways.

  • For example one can look at one writer's efforts - so one is seeing what is effectively a blog system for that one writer, or Sustainer.
  • One can also look at the content by topic, seeing blogs that are tagged as being about a certain topic - or place, as well. Thus, when doing that, it is a blog system about a topic, or a place, with many contributors.
  • One can look at only writer blogs, or only sustainer blogs, as well.
  • One can look at blogs for particular Groups, too.

All this is easily done using the left menu. Searches allow even more variables and refinements.


Creating Blog Posts

If you are a Sustainer with permission, and are logged in, you will see a link in the left menu for you to post a blog - and you can use that to post one, and then tag it various ways (such as with a topic or place, or a group tag), and once you do, it is in the system with you as the author.

You can also use the console button to the left to post a blog - anytime and from anywhere in the site, as long as you are logged in.

Meanwhile, enjoy the blogs - and, by the way, if you are a Free Member or a Sustainer with a ZSpace page, of course you can put one or more content boxes on it, pulling blog links of any sort you may want to filter for, for example, by you or by your friends or by others - and by topic, about places, for groups, etc.

Blogs

Occupy_iowa_city_rally

Paul Street's Blog

Web Address: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/paulstreet
Bio:         Paul Street is an independent radical-democratic policy researcher, journalist, historian, and speaker based in Iowa City, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois.&nbs... (More)

All Street Blogs

Recent Street Content

Znetarticle_icon ZNet Articles
Zmagarticle_icon ZMag Articles
Zcommentary_icon ZCommentaries
Zaudio_icon ZAudios
Zvideo_icon ZVideos
Zblogpost_icon Blog Posts
Zbook_icon Books

"Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Paul Street at Jan 12, 2005

PDF Version

Printer Friendly Version
Change Text Size a- | A+
Imagine that a Canadian Air Force jet on a military exercise accidentally crossed into US airspace and mistakenly dropped a bomb that killed, say, 14 US residents. On what page of your local U.S. newspaper do you think THAT story would appear? How much print space would be dedicated to the coverage of that remarkable incident? Now take a look at the following story off the AP wire, pasted in from the front section of last Sunday's Chicago Tribune: MILITARY ERROR U.S. hits wrong house; 5 dead Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq—The United States military said it dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong house outside the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, killing five people. The man who owned the house said the bomb killed 14 people, and an Associated Press photographer said seven of them were children. Late Saturday, a U.S. F-16 jet dropped a 500-pound GPS-guided bomb on a house in the town of Aitha, 30 miles south of Mosul, a military statement said. “The house was not the intended target for the airstrike. The intended target was another location nearby,” the military said in a statement. The homeowner, Ali Yousef, told Associated Press Television News that the airstrike happened at about 2:30 a.m., and U.S. troops then surrounded the area, blocking access for four hours. The brick house was reduced to rubble, according to an AP photographer. The photographer said from the scene that 14 family members, including seven children, were killed. Coalition forces that went to the area reported that five people were killed in the bombing, said the military, which is investigating the incident. CHICAGO TRIBUNE Sunday, January 9, 2005, section 1, page 6 How about those “smart bombs?” Isn't it funny how the Tribune headline (it's the individual paper that writes the headline, not the AP) goes with the body count of “5 dead” when the actual wire story cites an AP PHOTOGRAPHER ON THE SCENE WHO SAYS THAT the Iraqi homeowner owner is correct and 14 FAMILY MEMBERS WERE KILLED? At the end you see that so-called “coalition” forces “reported five people were killed.” Could the loathesome war-crime journalism of the Tribune be any more clear? The actual primary and (by the way) western news source (the AP) and the home owner both report 14 deaths but the occupation forces say 5 dead, so the running dog media lackeys of US imperialism simply say… surprise...5 dead. Maybe they figured nobody would actually read this story. This remarkable (one would think/in a decent society) story got exactly six column inches. It was buried at the bottom of page 6, where it was dwarfed by an 85 column inches adverisement for Verizon wireless camera cell phones. It's rat-a-tat-tat: open and shut: “five” dead in an accident...oh well, and now for something compeltely different. There's no elaboration or update or other story enrichment, of course, on how many civilians the US has killed in Iraq to date, on how common and throroughly predictable (as is well understood in the Pentagon) these “accidents” really are. Nothing on the names or occupations or hopes and dreams of the dead Iraqi “collateral damage.” No photos or family stories about the victims of the imperialists' little 500-pound mistake. No photo of the bomb site and the rubble of the brick house, interestingly enough, as there was an AP PHOTOGRAPHER there. I wonder if the photographer was even allowed to use his camera by the US perpetrators who “surrounded the area” and “blocked access [to their own crime scene] for 4 hours.” By comparison, the same Tribune issue gives 38 column inches and front-page above-the-fold status to an embarassing family feud (something about a landfill) between the governor of Illinois (an obnoxious twit named Rod Blagojevich) and his powerful father-in-law and Chicago alderman Dick Mell. On page 8, at the top, the Tribune gives 28 column inches to a big headline story on how Catholic schools are split on the issue of what to do with the children of gay couples. The top of page 9 gives 23 column inches to an enlightening story about Elvis Presley's 70th birthday and the large number of people who still treck to “the King's” Graceland mansion in Memphis. The top of page 11 gives 48 column inches to a truly terrible story about an Appalachian 3-year old who was killed when a rock was dislodged by a strip mining bulldozer and rolled into his bedroom. And at the top of page 4, the Tribune dedicates 26 column inches to a sensitive story telling the all-too-short life stories and giving photographs of three US occupation soliders who recently died in Iraq. We learn about the death of a “baby-faced” Army National Guardsman and about his whirlwind romance with a fellow student at the University of Southern Maine. We learn about a different killed Guardsman who “drove a Chevy” and “wore baggy clothes” and was “an avid hunter and an artist who drew fantasy and sci-fi sketches.” We learn about a different Guardsman killed in Iraq who (by his mother's account) “was kind of a long-haired, pot-smoking, didn't give a rat's [ass], devil may care kind of guy...he was a good person, but he lacked direction. But once he went into the Army, he did a complete turn-around. He quit drinking, quit smoking, and he ran 10 to 15 miles a day.” The Army provided him direction alright: right into an early grave, under the bumbling direction of another ex-"devil may care” kind of heavy-drinking guy who also had a turn-around and became a jogger but who managed to keep himself out of the line of military fire: George W. “Bring-Em On” Bush. American troops should think seriously about refusing to follow orders in the racist and imperialist occupation of Iraq. Meanwhile we at home need to deal with these sickening imperial lapdogs and dominant media thought-controllers who manage and shape opinion through selective story sizing and placement and deceptive head-line-writing, to mention just a few of their manipulative, power-worshipping techniques.

Comment On This Blog Post  See All Comments (32)

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 20, 2005 20:07 PM
Paul and others - My grandfather used to say -Never pick a fight with a man that has nothing to loose". His life gave him great wisdom. VietNam and Iraq are obvious examples of the arrogance of a nation lead by indoctrinated Pshchopaths. Governmental and corporate Psychopaths who continue to engage the country in self defeating activity. Driven by greed and the corrupting influences of power. Ignoring the suffering of millions around the world, many of whom have the freedom to starve to death. The only way out is when enough people have learned to think critically and then seek peace and justice. Freedom without justice is servitude. Freedom is the "RED Herring" of history. "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Noir, Mat at Jan 20, 2005 03:49 AM
There is ample research that indicates exaggeration or understatement by a factor around 3 is generally believable...so you can bet your knickers that the US servicemen killed in action are closer to 3000 when the DoD admits to 1000, etc. Dark Matter http://www.digitalskunk.blogspot.com/

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 16, 2005 02:32 AM
"Do you know what a pessimist is?" "A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it." George Bernard Shaw

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 16, 2005 02:30 AM
Convinced myself, I seek not to convince. Edgar Allan Poe

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Gammon101, Bwong at Jan 16, 2005 02:27 AM
There is a book called "x number of famous quotes,--how to appear learned and witty in cocktail parties"(something like that) which contains a lot of aphorisms so that the shallow bores would appear profound and erudited by memorizing the verses of wisdom and reguritate them at parties and other social situations. I have no idea that people actually buy the book. I guess I was wrong.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Gammon101, Bwong at Jan 16, 2005 02:18 AM
China and india have many structural problems to overcome.Their growth are basically fuelled by direct investments which exploit cheap labour and the rise of a parasitic urban compadore class. It is not a very solid foundation and rifed with potential explosive social contradictions(the crack is already showing in China which has the biggest gao between the rich ands the poor in the world). It is also doubtful that the planet can sustain a lot more "growth". At a more fundamental level the whole paradigm of mesauring economical performance based on "growth" is wacked out.It has little correlation with the well being of the society.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 16, 2005 02:17 AM
"Mistrust the man who finds everything good, the man who finds everything evil and still more the man who is indifferent to everything." Johann K. Lavater

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 16, 2005 02:12 AM
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes." - Jawaharlal Nehru

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 16, 2005 02:07 AM
"Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone." - The Dhammapada

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Gammon101, Bwong at Jan 16, 2005 02:00 AM
Using "growth rate" to predict economical poweress is absoultely idiotic. There is nothing remarkable about the fact that a child grow faster than an adult(who hardly grows). No idiot would obesrve the rapid growth rate of an eight year old and uses a model of constant growth rate to predict that the child will become a giant by age 30. But apparantly the idiots end up studying economics. Anyone who understands the simple concept of ratio(which apparantly does not include most economists) will not be surprised to find that a developing country undergoing growth may have a very high growth rate. There is more room to grow into as a percentage of the total size of the economy(denominator smaller, numerator bigger , therefore ratio bigger) As the economy becomes more developed the growth will slow down.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 15, 2005 23:52 PM
The CIA has published a report that states the world's economy is undergoing a profound economic shift. Today the EU and US account for 2/3 of the worlds GDP and only 10% of the worlds population. China with 1.3 Billion and India with 1 Billion people - 1/3 of world's pop.- are presently undergoing social and economic changes as never before. The GDP in both those nations is presently less than 2% of US and EU output per capita. US and Foriegn Capital is creating jobs and productivity gains and output as never before anywhere in the world. 20 years from now the US and EU will be insignificant markets and power - which is always tied to economic clout - will shift to those countries. That economic fact will have unknown ramifications here and in the EU. We are already starting to see the loss of jobs. Hold on to your hats it is going to be quite a ride.

Reply this comment

Person

By Hesed00, Hesed at Jan 15, 2005 09:20 AM
Wolf-nipple chips, anyone?

Reply this comment

4101

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Servo, Tom at Jan 15, 2005 05:37 AM
The Peoples' Popular Front or The Popular People's Front? They are both SPLINTERS! Love that film.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Enigma, Overt at Jan 13, 2005 23:14 PM
And make no mistake, humanity is capable of this change. We are capable of giving to those suffering - the level of generosity to provide aid (in monetary or service form) for the victims of the tsunami are clear evidence of this. So, to put this all into context, we can change the way the average Joe sees the world - corporate media vs. reality, but we need to get involved. We need to stand up and say, "Hey, I know what you are doing. I know how you are trying to spin this, but it won't work... here is the truth and I will spread it". And then, we need to act.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Enigma, Overt at Jan 13, 2005 23:11 PM
This is what I mean when I say social responsibility. Now with increased global interaction via internet and MNCs, it is more important than ever that we realize that the decisions we make at home will affect the world in some way. In science, this is known as the butterfly effect, but it can conceptually be applied to any discourse. Grassroots campaigns, mobilizing the masses, creating awareness through education - and just basically getting in touch with our compassion for fellow man, our desire to ensure our neighbours are not struggling through life.. in any way we can help, we must. Or we are doomed to extinction.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Enigma, Overt at Jan 13, 2005 23:05 PM
The current US President is famous for his position that freedom is a God given right. Maybe, but Humanity will have to work and earn its freedom. Complacency and submission to fear and intolerance (US Patriot Act in the name of defending America) will not get us to where we want to be as a species and as a society. We need to be vigilante in defending our freedoms, not from the likes of Al-Qaeda, but from the likes of Ashcroft and Ridge; we need to understand why another person in the world would hate us so that they would sacrifice themselves to harm us - and we need to understand our responsibility in bringing about that level of animosity. There are no innocent parties in this dispute - we are as accountable for our troops committing war crimes as if we were committing them ourselves, if we don't speak out and act.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Enigma, Overt at Jan 13, 2005 23:00 PM
7Natures and Cryofan. Both of your arguments are very idealistic and optimistic; and while I subscribe to your optimism (that is, things will get better), I am not able to subscribe to your idealism. As great as the Human potential is to better itself and the world, there is an equally greater greed that will try to steer the direction of our society. This is evident in the most recent elections results. I agree that this "human enlightenment" will be happen one day, but it won't happen in our lifetimes. Not unless we, as CMZimmerman put it, make it change through "through grass roots organizing, education, infectious commitment to the reduction of suffering and the improvement of ourselves and our world, creating a situation in which people can see and grasp that there are ways of doing things outside of the dominant power structures, instilling hope, etc."

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 13, 2005 21:09 PM
PAUL - Our constitution was written at a time when ponies were used to send the mail. Today you and I and 100's of Millions of others around the world don't even need the mail anymore. The library of congress and Harvard's library will soon be on our desk. Many School's have Wireless networks and students have their own laptop. They all have phenomanal skills. When our computer literate children are older they will force Governments and Public Corporations around the world will to open all their books and records to public scrunity and not just what they want us to see. Participatory Government is just a question of time. Times are changing at an accellerated rate.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Cmzimmermann, Cmzimmermann at Jan 13, 2005 20:36 PM
Cryofan, Your shift from the broadband panacea to humans returning to a 'tribal' society is subject to further reflection, although, as I inferred in my previous posting, this re-organization of human relations will not be brought about by technology alone. As is the case with the culture industry in general, the central focus of the corporate media is the bottom line (not to say that there are not ideological considerations). If an overwhelming portion of a population demands journalistic integrity, information that is not simply proclaimed in a Pentagon press release, a mainstream press that is not simply a lapdog of power, then the mainstream and corporate media will be forced to alter their practices. Afterall, a corporation's entire raison d'être is making a profit. This holds for economic practices as well. For example, if most everyone demanded that the products that they purchase at the grocery are available due to 'fair trade' procedures, then the corporations would eventually be forced to comply with this.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Cmzimmermann, Cmzimmermann at Jan 13, 2005 19:24 PM
Dear Cryofan, Your faith in some sort of future broadband panacea is disconcerting. True social progress and change is only made possible through grass roots organizing, education, infectious commitment to the reduction of suffering and the improvement of ourselves and our world, creating a situation in which people can see and grasp that there are ways of doing things outside of the dominant power structures, instilling hope, etc. It is the case that technology, used as a tool and not as an object of faith, can help us in our efforts. This was quite evident during the counter-convention in NYC last September. However, making the technology about which you speak widely and cheaply available only means that this technology is widely and cheaply available. What is important is how it is used, and how it is used depends on the user's values, attitudes, commitments, etc. Instead of waiting around for several decades hoping that some technology will take care of our social ills, let us re-direct our already available resources and work on a human level in our communities.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Cryofan, Cryofan at Jan 13, 2005 17:40 PM
Paul, resistance cells may be what is needed, but you will get enough people joining them only after things have gotten really bad--dystopia-bad, apocalypse-bad, that is. I do not want things to ever get that bad. That is why at every opportunity I try to spread ideas about the possibility of a broadband deus ex machina. We have some power to shape our destinies by encouraging the development of cheap wireless and wired broadband here in America.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Cryofan, Cryofan at Jan 13, 2005 17:34 PM
But, Paul, the capitalists will sell you the rope that will be used to hang themselves. Also, I think we are all underestimating the atomization effect of American commuting society and how it leaves us vulnerable to the mass media and the ideas it carries. But when the current top-down distribution system is routed around via the ubiquitous cheap mini-computer of the future and cheap wireless broadband, it will recreate a sort of tribal society. At least that is the hope. It may be our only hope, the only thing that stops us from destroying ourselves. Once we get back to some semblance of a tribal society, where ideas about politics and what is happening in the world are routed directly from person to person, then we get begin to undermine the influence of the mass media's top-down idea distribution system that has caused some much damage, that has moved Americans so much to the right in the last 35 years or so.

Reply this comment

Occupy_iowa_city_rally

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Street, Paul at Jan 13, 2005 07:26 AM
ctd....We may benefit from all kinds of techno-communications developments (cell phones have been very useful in recent direct actions and we all know the uses of the Internet for movement building) but we are not going to get to do some sort of magic technophilic end-run around around social relations and ideologies of class, race, gender, empire, power and hiearchy. Those relations of domination will have to be directly confronted and ultimately replaced -- turned upside down into relations of cooperation, equality, and participatory democracy --- through collective human agency. Old anarchist slogan: you can't blow up a social relationship. Put your techno, cell-phone fantasies to sleep and join a resistance cell instead.

Reply this comment

Occupy_iowa_city_rally

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Street, Paul at Jan 13, 2005 07:24 AM
cryofan, your comments take communications techno-fetishism to a new low. Digital web cam watch cell phones are not going abolish corporate media (gee, seems more than little reminiscent of what the Internet was supposed to do). I might add for what its worth that the hypothetical abolition of corporate media through some sort of "deus-ex-machina" will not abolish mass thought control (non-corporate and proprietary and generally smaller press have a long history of transmitting dominant elite and imperial ideas), not to mention ruling-class ideology. Certainly any actual threat posed by your special digital watch-phone cams would lead concentrated power to develop repressive and authoritarian counter-measures.....

Reply this comment

Occupy_iowa_city_rally

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Street, Paul at Jan 13, 2005 07:23 AM
7 Natures is right on the daily newspaper. Go through a few of your local papers and compare the amount of space that goes to actual news (however filtered and reactionary) with the amount granted to advertising. The "mistaken" deadly bombing story I wrote about was tiny next to a giant advertisment for some of the camera cell phones that cryofan thinks will put us on the road to the transcendence of corporate media. Of course, the newspapers are not simply beholden to the business class, they are themselves generally craven, profit-seeking businesses and expecting them to render an unbiased and balanced view of current events at home and abroad is absurd. As Chomsky says, it would be like expecting the General Motors company newspaper to give you a decent accountg of wages and shop-floor conditions in GM's many plants around the world.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Cryofan, Cryofan at Jan 13, 2005 04:56 AM
Don't worry: a technology deus-ex-machina should kill off the corporate media within our lifetime. Take for example the digital wristwatch or the pocket calculator or the transistor radio. So cheap these days that they are ubiquitous even in the 3rd world. Even people in Iraq can afford them. If only that digital watch could act as a computer with a webcam. Well, we do have something like that: the cell phone. The cell phone is approaching a level of functionality and pricing that would allow it to act as a widely used channel of communication from Iraq to the rest of the world. It just needs a few more generations of development. Patents expire, and then commodification of these devices occur, and you have the ultracheap, 3rd world electronic devices. So what happens 10-20 years from now when America invades some other country, and the corporate media acts as a frontman for the imperial machine. More than likely, the corporate media will be put of business by everyday people who will be able to report directly from the events right to the rest of the world. Buh-bye corporate media, don't let the door hit ya....

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Shannon, James at Jan 13, 2005 03:54 AM
If one wants to see the reality of how power corrupts - the daily news paper is as far as anyone of us needs to look. What is even more tragic than the news is that we all allow the corruption to go unchecked. The police - Armies exist for one purpose - to stop the citizens from revolting, were ever and who ever those citizens might be.

Reply this comment

4101

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Servo, Tom at Jan 13, 2005 02:00 AM
we need to have a hearing asap to determiine exactly how many us servicemen and civilians have died in iraq and afghanistan , as well as hearings on how many afghanis and iraqis have been killed. but we won't. the admin will just practice their fuzzy math.

Reply this comment

Occupy_iowa_city_rally

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Street, Paul at Jan 13, 2005 01:42 AM
jokerman I did not know that about those KIA exemptions; how perfectly disgusting but typical. The bridge incident is a good example of the rascist-fascist degeneration that naturally results from - and informs - this whole shameful operation. Following up on this post and my previous (January 1) Carlos Beltran post, I forgot to mention another story that got big headlines and abundant newsprint space in the Sunday papers: Carlos Beltran signed with the Mets for $119 million over seven years. For those who care, CB's batting average last year was .258. Year before: .278. Now that's what really matters. Meanwhile Rumsfeld et al.,'s vicious occupation wreaks bloody havoc on US troops and their Arab victims, each of which apparently counts for just more than a third of a human being since 5 divided by 14 is .357, which is more than Beltran will ever hit. rmurray I need to stand guard on the Chicago coast, watching for rogue Canadian terrorists seeking to enter the homeland's Midwestern core via the Great Lakes.

Reply this comment

Person

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Artist, Rmurray at Jan 13, 2005 00:28 AM
That sort of "Military Error" would recieve front page listing in pretty much every US paper; both liberal and conservative papers would cover it. Huge banner headlines "CANADA ATTACKS!" and "CANADA USES BOTH OF THEIR BOMBS ON US!" We'd also suffer a counter strike, with bombs lobbed up into the middle of Saskatchewan or something... After all, we in Canada ARE with the terrorists, and maybe Osama bin Laden is hiding in a cave just outside of Regina.

Reply this comment

4101

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Servo, Tom at Jan 13, 2005 00:24 AM
Also, in a recent (since Sunday) front section of the Tribune, there was a story of an E-7 Sergeant First Class who had ordered his troops to push two men off of a bridge. Well, 1 couldn't swim. What was this man's penalty? This man who was NOT a young recruit (E-7 is 6 ranks higher than buck private E-1)? 6 months, NO court-martial (felony conviction), demoted to E-6, and will NOT be discharged.... he just got REWARDED. He gets to sit out 6 months of the war while drawing pay and benefits, and can finish his tour and get a big certificate that says "Honorable Discharge". No wonder Bush refuses to let the international community judge our troops or himself. He's afraid that there just may be a judge and jury who is not as soft on war crimes as he is.

Reply this comment

4101

Re: "Five Dead" in "Military Error": A Barely Noticeable Example of War Crime Journalism

By Servo, Tom at Jan 13, 2005 00:18 AM
Excellent entry, Paul!! I too have noticed that there seems to be some funny math when it comes to the casualties of both sides. The US and its puppet media tend to downplay the deaths of american troops and civilians. If confused about what I mean, read Silent B's post where he asks if some of the civilians in Iraq were terrorists. With respect to American casualties, notice that the US will NOT count a troop who dies on a hospital plane bound for Germany (or anywhere else outside of Iraq) as "Killed in Action." Permanent resident aliens (green card holders) who die on the battlefield are also *not counted* in the list of (see if you can find the tricky word here) "Americans Killed in Action". Good enough to fight for Bush, not good enough to be mentioned in the body count. What a slap in the face of our troops. But nothing that comes from the Bush Crime Family and their lackeys surprises me anymore. As an infantry vet, I call upon my fellow "grunts" and "nasty legs" to resist the coward-in-chief.

Reply this comment

Comment On This Blog Post  See All Comments (32)

Loading_border