Reflecting on the start of the Iraq War 20 years later. I cannot overstate how appallingly one-sided the news coverage was in the US during the buildup to the invasion.
Before Pat Donahue was fired, they first had the rule that he must have two pro-war guests on for every anti-war. *AND* Donahue himself counted as an anti-war "guest". So he had to have five guests crowd the stage, four of them pro-war, to interview a single anti-war voice.
The funnier MSNBC story is the screwup: they hired Jesse Ventura on the obvious assumption he'd be pro-war. When he wasn't, they paid him out $3M over 3 years to remain silent and off-the-air.
Don't forget to just skim the front pages of the Times and Post today, where I see not much but crickets, snickered at in in a few hundred blog words: http://brander.ca/reply#crickets
...when they were so fulsome in Iraq stories 20 years ago.
Sorry to see "Iraq" not appear on McClatchyDC front page, no football-spiking about being the one team to call out the lies.
not the same in #France - I seem to remember the ensuing « French / liberty fries » episode. But oh well, we’re this country of cowards as some parts of the world conveniently like to depict us 😀
I truly admire you for this. Given the animosity at that time (and still sometimes to this day, that’s how powerful the press’ narrative can be) it must have taken a lot of courage!
@ArtBear Actually I remember how the BBC World Service was one of the few sources of good info for Americans back then. Sic transit gloria mundi... captured by the same thugs today 😠
@ArtBear @martinvermeer Yes, my experience of the BBC was that it was much better than US media, but I've been seeing horror stories of how bad it's gotten in the UK, especially lately
Shortage of accountability for the most catastrophic war of choice of the 21st century (#Russia's colonial war against #Ukraine is inching closer, but not there yet) gets me every time. Some journalists who enabled it even got to play pacifists on TV. Russia Today TV, no less. https://circle.lt/post/20180620-agent-of-chaos-and-despair/
It's not just that. It's that former defense officials from the Nixon Administration found themselves in the Shrub Administration & viewed the Iraq Invasion as their opportunity to fix the failings of Vietnam.
That book in the Bible with all the "begats" comes to mind.
The number of military members and civilians who were killed and incurably injured (physical and mental), but that harm was never truly felt because "support our troops". (I was involved in coordinating deployments to Afghanistan at my base, and was a true believer at the time. Many years later I realized just how much damage I was involved with.)
I've actually heard it argued that 400K corpses was a small price to pay for getting rid of Saddam. Those people who got it all wrong aren't ostracized cuz too many people are fine with their moral logic.
25 years, countless investigations and 935 lies By Charles Lewis June 20, 2014 False pretenses By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith January 23, 2008 Center for Public Integrity founder Charles “Chuck” Lewis has just published a new book with the p…
I mentioned this in a post just the other day. It was horrible—coming back from a protest and not one news site mentioned the 100s of 1000s of voices yelling on Main Street.
Agreed. Dubya and the GOP crashed this country into a ditch on a lie. And they destroyed quite a few careers to get their precious forever war.
General Shinseki The Chix Phil Donahue Valerie Plame/Ambassador Wilson
That's not even counting the tens of thousands of americans forever disabled for serving their country in the wrong place for the wrong reason through no fault of theirs. Nor does it count the ones who never came home at all.
This. This is why the GQP can never, ever be trusted until every single one of the criminals who got so many people killed on a fucking lie are long dead and gone, and their influence forgotten.
I cancelled my newspaper subscription in liberal Portland, OR back then out of pure anger about its blind parroting of Bush government propaganda in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. 9/11 caused a real mass hysteria that shut off people’s critical thinking abilities.
Donahue wasn’t even that anti-war. He lost his show for trying to be balanced and booking people who would speak out about the invasion on a panel with hawks.
it was a time of grave disappointment, seeing our inept leaders first blindsided then blinded by revenge fantasies. We will remember that time as one when dissent was squashed and derided, and today's fascist playbook got its firm grounding.
Canadian analysts had access to the same information about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction program as their American counterparts but came to different conclusions.
I was in the US for a few days shortly before the start.
Socialising in the bar after work, most people were against the war and particularly against Bush. (A biased sample, I know. Middle class IT professionals).
I returned a few weeks later, working with the same people. I was really taken aback by the complete change in opinion to fairly strong support for Bush and the war. Strong "patriotism" vibes.
I wish I'd seen more of the process that changed their opinions so quickly.
@EricLawton In addition to the round-the-clock fearmongering on virtually every mainstream media outlet, lies from trusted figures like Colin Powell swayed a lot people (as another commenter mentioned).
During the lead up to the war, I felt like I was taking crazy pills seeing everyone knew fall for that jingoistic crap! Well not everyone I knew, but most people.
The politicians and shills in the media who orchestrated 20 years of military debacles in the Middle East, and who seek a world dominated by U.S. power, must be held accountable for their crimes.
@avarowell And the fact that the mainstream news outlets were just transparently lying to us all, gave a lot of fringe outlets a lot of seeming credibility that was absolutely unearned and that they ended up abusing and exploiting in later years.
That was one of the reasons I left the USA for Canada in 2004 - my wife and I just couldn’t believe the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld regime was so obviously corrupt & evil - but we were utterly appalled that so many seemingly intelligent and well-informed Americans went along with it.
It’s been brilliant- Vancouver is a great city to raise a family - expensive- but highest quality of life anywhere on earth. Just one small example: my daughter speaks fluent French from attending a public elementary school.
Ugh, yes. I remember protesting this and that being a very unpopular thing to do. That, and being a TA for a critical thinking class leading discussions about profiling and Islamophobia (only to come home with massive headaches from listening to people rationalize some really awful things).
I can remember in the late 90s going to an Amnesty Intl meeting on campus and one of the PoliSci professors saying that Iraq was just a convenient place to bomb to distract the country. By 2003, I couldn't fathom how anyone could fall for any of it. But, there we are then.
"Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV"Directed by: Morgan Higby Nightbrought to you by the evil doers at devilsnight.comOFFICIAL HONOREE of the 2007 Webby Awards!
😂 I had feelings about ribbons and they have only intensified since being diagnosed with cancer. (Yes, thank you, I'm very aware. Now let me give you some thoughts on where to place that ribbon...)
(8 Feb 2003) 1. Wide shot of audience2. German Defence Joschka Fischer (clapping earlier to Rumsfeld's speech) 3. SOUNDBITE: (German) German Foreign Minister...
Our troubles began when the news coverage glossed over SCOTUS handing the presidency to W in a clearly political decision. No details, no investigations, no nuance - same with Iraq.
Roy Brander
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •The funnier MSNBC story is the screwup: they hired Jesse Ventura on the obvious assumption he'd be pro-war. When he wasn't, they paid him out $3M over 3 years to remain silent and off-the-air.
MSNBC!!
Jen Sorensen
in reply to Roy Brander • • •Roy Brander
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •http://brander.ca/reply#crickets
...when they were so fulsome in Iraq stories 20 years ago.
Sorry to see "Iraq" not appear on McClatchyDC front page, no football-spiking about being the one team to call out the lies.
Stackback
brander.caJen Sorensen
in reply to Roy Brander • • •Ayris Hawke
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jen Sorensen
in reply to Ayris Hawke • • •Pierre
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jen Sorensen
in reply to Pierre • • •Pierre
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jen Sorensen
in reply to Pierre • • •Jeremy Humphrey
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Martin Vermeer FCD
Unknown parent • • •Jen Sorensen
Unknown parent • • •Grandma Bates
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Content warning: US Politics
Dmitry Borodaenko
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •https://circle.lt/post/20180620-agent-of-chaos-and-despair/
Agent of Chaos and Despair - Circle of Light
circle.ltTrue Slicky
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •That book in the Bible with all the "begats" comes to mind.
Charlotte Ariel Finn
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Wade Wainio
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Kris Hardy 🤨
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Badger AF (he/him)
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Isaac Rabinovitch
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •malena
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •tolortslubor
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •The NY Times, the paper of record, published a whole series of Judy Miller citing Dick Cheney and other Unprosecuted war criminals as unnamed administration sources for evil twisted warmongering lies. https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/finding-the-truth-in-935-lies-about-war-with-iraq/
Putin & Republicans are evil but corporate Democrats are using Ukraine as a proxy
Finding the truth in 935 lies about war with Iraq
Bill Buzenberg (Center for Public Integrity)AlicePaul
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Robert Denby
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •General Shinseki
The Chix
Phil Donahue
Valerie Plame/Ambassador Wilson
That's not even counting the tens of thousands of americans forever disabled for serving their country in the wrong place for the wrong reason through no fault of theirs. Nor does it count the ones who never came home at all.
This. This is why the GQP can never, ever be trusted until every single one of the criminals who got so many people killed on a fucking lie are long dead and gone, and their influence forgotten.
Aviva Gary
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •KlausEn
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Chris Broome
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •grechaw
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Preston MacDougall
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •#BeLikeCanada ! 👉 https://opencanada.org/how-canadas-intelligence-agencies-helped-keep-the-country-out-of-the-2003-iraq-war/
How Canada’s intelligence agencies helped keep the country out of the 2003 Iraq war - Open Canada
Alan Barnes (Open Canada)Eric Lawton
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Socialising in the bar after work, most people were against the war and particularly against Bush. (A biased sample, I know. Middle class IT professionals).
I returned a few weeks later, working with the same people. I was really taken aback by the complete change in opinion to fairly strong support for Bush and the war. Strong "patriotism" vibes.
I wish I'd seen more of the process that changed their opinions so quickly.
Jen Sorensen
in reply to Eric Lawton • • •Piousunyn
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •This wasy first exposure to American groupthink on certain issues 😬
Jen Sorensen
in reply to Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾 • • •ニルス・スキニール
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Elledeeay
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Leisureguy
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-lords-of-chaos
Makes my blood boil.
#IraqIvansion #GWBAdministration #lies #warCrimes #noAccountability
The Lords of Chaos
Chris Hedges (The Chris Hedges Report)Bc Clarity Carlton-Martin
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •nshrubs
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Spacewizard! (Ed H)
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •thinkin bout Infowars and such
David Scott Moyer
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jester
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Len Layton
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jen Sorensen
in reply to Len Layton • • •Len Layton
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jen Sorensen
in reply to Len Layton • • •20000lbs of Cheese
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •INTENTIONALLY blank
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •I can remember in the late 90s going to an Amnesty Intl meeting on campus and one of the PoliSci professors saying that Iraq was just a convenient place to bomb to distract the country. By 2003, I couldn't fathom how anyone could fall for any of it. But, there we are then.
https://youtu.be/KmsOIjzQ1V8
Asylum Street Spankers Video
YouTubeJen Sorensen
in reply to INTENTIONALLY blank • • •INTENTIONALLY blank
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •The clown and Cheetos are keepers, though 😉
newsorpigal
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jürgen Hubert
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •https://youtu.be/CpuN-yM1sZU
German FM makes impassioned plea for peace
YouTubeLilyshome
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •kirt
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •didn't they ban Al Jazeera English?
Arp Laszlo • Comics • ADHD
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Jen Sorensen
in reply to Arp Laszlo • Comics • ADHD • • •Virtue signal 💉💉💉🇺🇸 🇺🇦
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •Tony Blair had it restructured ~2008 to turn it into a govt mouthpiece. This was in retaliation for its Iraq War skepticism.
The BBC has no independence left.
PeterD 🇩🇪 🇨🇦
in reply to Jen Sorensen • • •