The Common Ills: Media propaganda never ends

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Media propaganda never ends

Do you ever get tired of the media propaganda?

Take this:

ABC NewsVerified account ‏@ABC 3 hours ago

Heartbreaking photo shows girl in bandages after suicide attack that killed 300 in Iraq. http://abcn.ws/29SAgB8

128 retweets93 likes
Daily Mail OnlineVerified account ‏@MailOnline 3 hours ago

The little girl whose heartbreaking photograph captured agony of Iraq http://dailym.ai/29QgpUI

64 retweets36 likes

ABC NEWS calls the image "heartbreaking."

The little girl is one of the many victims of the suicide truck bombing that dominated the news last week. And we've always agreed with Tina Turner ("One of the Living") "they always said that the living would envy the dead" -- because if there's anything worse than dying in a war zone, it's living in one -- especially after a serious injury.

So the little girl was seriously attacked.

The bombing took place.

What makes this media propaganda?

That the media pushes that image while ignored daily images like this:

#IRAQ شمرية العراق ‏@moonnor27 3 hours ago

Iraqi Sunni civilian his child killed by Shia Militias airstrikes #warcrimes #Iraq

92 retweets25 likes

The little girl (immediately above) died not at the hand of recognized terrorists but at the hand of her supposed government, which supposedly represents her.

And Sunnis have been killed throughout the never ending Iraq War.

We had the ethnic cleansing phase from 2006 to roughly 2008.

It was a 'law and order' campaign in Baghdad -- really it was ethnic cleansing.

By the way, a number of Iraqis who were stringers for western publications will tell you that was clear in real time but western reporters who used the stringers work for 'reports' repeatedly avoided that obvious connection (intentionally avoided).

Falluja?

In January 2014, Nouri al-Maliki began bombing civilian homes.

This became a daily practice.

When Haider al-Abadi took over, he announced (in September) that the bombings had been wrong and were stopping.

(Wrong? They're War Crimes, legally defined as such -- see Collective Punishment.)

He announced it on a Saturday and REUTERS, AP, AFP and others ran with the report -- despite having spent months ignoring these bombings until Haider's announcement.

The Sunday after the announcement?

The bombings continued as they always had.

No, REUTERS, AFP and AP did not follow up with a report on that.

They continued.

That terrorists kill is horrible.

That governments kill their own is legally unacceptable.

Legally unacceptable?

The White House should not be supplying the Iraqi 'government' with weapons or money per the law -- that's the Leahy Amendment (don't expect weak ass Patrick Leahy to stick up for his own legislation), that's international law as well as treaties the US government signed.

It's very easy for the so-called independent media to decry the attacks of the Islamic State.

But they're too cowardly to call out the attacks on Iraqi civilians carried out by the Iraqi government.

That's what makes it media propaganda.

It also continues the west's long attack on Arabs.

Whether it's any number of action films over the years or even something supposedly 'left' like the Jane Fonda produced ROLLOVER, Arabs are demonized repeatedly.

Bruce Riedel served on Barack Obama's 2008 transition team, served in four administrations, etc.

Huda al-Husseini (ASHARQ AL-AWSAT) reports:

In his first interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic printing daily, Riedel said that Iraq’s 2003 invasion had paved the way to take apart Arab states. He added that the Lebanon 70’s war was a taste of what is to come.
The intelligence expert highlighted that Syria and Libya are underway to dissolution and that Iraq will be losing its Kurdish North.
Riedel said that what Iran promotes to be an Islamic revolution in truth is sectarian-based upheaval—so long Iran-backed Shi’ite Iraqi militias roam, there will always be ISIS, he said.
Riedel says that Iran’s genuine ‘affection’ for Iraq is so great that it wishes to see three states rise within the country; a Shi’ite Iraq, a smaller Sunni Iraq and a Kurdish Iraq.

The separation of Iraq would facilitate Iranian exploitation of the territory.

You may agree with that take, you may not.

But if you haven't already grasped how Arabs are viewing things, you better.

Serious damage is being done.

And it's not easy to walk it back.

Even personally.

Look at the old drunk Tom Hayden.

Never really a revolutionary -- except for planning violence in Chicago in 1968 -- Tom is still propped up by the US media.

But the rest of the world long ago caught up with his anti-Arab views. He tried to walk back that well known hatred with his column a few years back admitting to being a Zionist tool and mouthpiece while serving in the California Assembly but as most Arab activists will tell you, his skin saving stunt meant nothing.

We are talking a decades long assault on Arabs.

It will not be forgotten or moved on from.

It needs to be addressed.

And until the persecution of Sunnis in Iraq is addressed, the Islamic State (or what follows) is not going away.

What follows?

Check the archives.

From 2011 to 2012 we were talking about what was coming and why.

If you think the Islamic State is bad, get ready for worse.

(For those late to the party, the Islamic State got a foothold in Iraq only after the 2010 election was overturned by Barack -- taking away the voice at the ballot bot -- and only after their politicians attempts to defend the Sunnis failed and then only after the Sunni protests were ignored. When you take away the ability to change things via vote, via politics and via protests, you really only leave violence as an option.)

On media propaganda, be sure to check out MEDIA LENS' Twitter feed today, they're holding various media 'stars' accountable for their part in the Iraq War.

The following community sites updated: