What the Heck was I Thinking!?

that either gets or loses the press coverage. Dr. Sanity points to a post at The Belmont Club: In our valley of tears, in which Wretchard quotes some of the sad facts of life in countries other than Iraq.

As many people die prematurely in Zimbabwe in one week as in one month in Iraq when the violence is at its worst, he said. In October, 3,700 people died in Iraq.

The reason that doesn’t get the press that deaths in Iraq do is two-fold, in my mind. First, these unfortunate

“People are just fading away, dying quietly and being
buried quietly with no fanfare, and so there is little media attention.”

according to Bishop Ncube of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Second, this isn’t a chance for the press to demonstrate how they can shape public opinion and push the situation in Iraq from success to failure.
Strangely, the Darfur region, which itself has a death rate of 2,500 per week in the ethnic cleansing that is taking place there, likewise doesn’t rate much press - the US isn’t there either.

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I saw this article buried on page three of my local paper, the Annapolis Capital. I searched on the web and found only one entry: Diego.com > News > Nation > America’s War on Terror — Oversight board briefed on NSA surveillance program. What struck me were two quotes:

“If the American public, especially civil libertarians like myself, could be more informed about how careful the government is to protect our privacy while still protecting us from attacks, we’d be more reassured,” said Lanny Davis, a former Clinton White House lawyer.

and,

Alan Raul, a former Reagan White House lawyer and the board’s vice
chairman, said the group “found there was a great appreciation inside
government, both at the political and career levels, for protections on
privacy and civil liberties.”

“In fact, I think the public may have an underappreciation for
the degree of seriousness the government is giving these protections.”
said Raul, author of a book on privacy and civil liberties in the
digital age.

I guess this just isn’t newsworthy.

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Daniel Drezner writes a response to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter to the American populace at
danieldrezner.com Message of Dr. Daniel Drezner to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
I like what Mr. Drezner says in response to the President of Iran. Sign my name to it and send it on back.

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First they yell about government propaganda. Then they want to use discredited sources without criticism. There appears to be a pattern here of who gets to do propaganda work for whom.

JunkYardBlog: November 26, 2006 - December 02, 2006 Archives

AP-Iraq scandal blogospheric synergy

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AP is trying to use arrogance to address the challenge to their source in a report they filed on an alleged incident in Baghdad. USATODAY.com - On Deadline | Archives | AP, U.S. military spar over atrocities report

“The attempt to question the existence of the known police officer who spoke to the AP is frankly ludicrous and hints at a certain level of desperation to dispute or suppress the facts of the incident in question,” AP International Editor John Daniszewski said in a statement e-mailed to On Deadline this afternoon.

He added that “we have conducted a thorough review of the sourcing and reporting involved and plan to move a more detailed report about the entire incident soon, with greater detail provided by multiple eye witnesses.”

“The police captain cited in our story has long been known to the AP reporters,” Daniszewski wrote.

“The AP stands by its story.”

Well, it’s good that the AP has used this guy before. We wouldn’t want them to use an unknown source. The fact that they’ve used him before adds nothing to the veracity of his claim to be a police officer. Perhaps the AP reporter could check with officials in Iraq or in Centcom to see if his bona fides check out?

Junkyard Blog has more on the questionable nature of the sources used in AP’s and other reporting coming out of Iraq.

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for operating a back hoe without a license. Michael Richards has apparently been in touch with Sen. John Kerry, seeking guidance on how to deal with an embarrassing incident. Sen. Kerry’s alleged advice appears to have gone straight to Mr. Richards’ heart.
(h/t to Captain’s Quarters)

ABC News: Michael Richards: Jewish by Association?

LOS ANGELES Nov 28, 2006 (AP)— Just when it seemed Michael Richards was about to leave the most troubling incident of his career behind, his publicist is having to explain how the comic could consider himself to be Jewish.

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Yahoo News reported that Judge Collins of the now-infamous Ninth Circuit court has struck down portions of a law used in designating terrorist groups.  Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups - Yahoo! News. The article misleadingly focuses on the President’s Executive Orders with respect to the terrorism financing law. The net result is, though, that she has decided that the law as written was too vague.
Her name should sound familiar to those involved in counterterrorism:

In 2004, Collins ruled that portions of the Patriot Act were too vague and, even after Congress amended the act in 2005, she ruled the provisions remained too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence and were therefore unconstitutional.

(h/t Michele Malkin)

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Blackfive posts an entry about another blogger, JACK ARMY, who’s frustrated about the cut-n-run crowd’s continued indifference to the war against the Islamo-fascists, the combat in Iraq, and the non-combat good work the military has done to bring Iraq into the present and into being as a functioning democracy.

What frustrates me most of all is the number of Americans that are rooting for us to lose. From media, to politicians and political pundits, to folks who just have no clue but put on airs of knowing all, there is a definite segment of the American population who genuinely wants us to lose this war. The whole “it’s a mistake” and “based on lies” memes are just ridiculous and aren’t based in reality, rather, they are based on misguided dreams of what life should be like. I hate to burst any bubbles here, but war is a part of life, and when bad people do bad things, war just might be the best way to stop them.

As I read this, I was struck again by what we, the veterans of previous wars and “police actions” owe our current comrades in arms.
I feel I’ve received a very big gift from our currently serving forces - the ability to identify myself as a veteran without the undercurrent of condemnation from others based on the terrible propaganda from Vietnam.
A gift like that deserves one in return. We, the veterans of the US military, owe our brothers and sisters who are currently serving two things - our full support for their efforts, including demanding accuracy in the reporting of their work; and support for them and their wounded comrades who are recuperating here at home.
Jack Army has more in his post, including this response to some of the BS that’s circulating as policy discussion in the press and parts of Congress:

There’s an argument being circulated, and has been for awhile now, that
fighting in Iraq is creating more terrorists. It’s a load of crap.
Sorry to be blunt, but that’s the truth. What creates terrorists is a
societal acceptance of terrorism as a tool for political or social
change… no, control. When we allow terrorism to change our laws, our
lifestyles, our sense of security, we lose. We lose our freedom, our
rights, our security and we give all the power over those things to
terrorists who have no desire to be fair, kind or just. They just want
power. They want things to go the way they want them to go and they
don’t care who they hurt or kill in order to get their way.

A great read!

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Patterico has several posts, including this one,  Patterico’s Pontifications » More on the Video of the Texas State Trooper Killed by the 72-Year-Old Man,
in which he explains that the situation with the 92-year old woman might not be all it’s been described to be so far. More facts are needed. He also shows an example of a situation where the obvious age of the perpetrator had nothing to do with the outcome. Remember, Samuel Colt’s mass produced revolver was called the equalizer.

Instapundit and Radley Balko appear to have an agenda that is driven not by facts but by their goals only

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remind them what most of the other Arab/Muslim countries are like. Gateway Pundit, among others has lots of information about how the governments of Syria and Iran deal with any other country in the region that doesn’t play along. With neighbors like these, I’m amazed that Iraq’s violence compares so favorably with Washington, DC’s or California’s.
Instead of blaming the Iraqi government for those violent acts, let’s try blaming the perpetrators.

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