« Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings | Main | MSM vs Iraqi Constitution: Stuck On Stupid, Stuck On Blind »
October 25, 2005
Truck Bombs In Baghdad
The gym where I work out has a TV in the locker room which is usually tuned to something tolerable: one of the ESPN channels, or sometimes even Fox News. Yesterday however, someone left it on a local station, and after a while Tyra Banks' talk show came on and instantly drove me up the wall. I'm a fairly sensitive guy and all, but this relentless inanity was too much--it was the men's locker room after all. After almost killing myself trying to reach the channel buttons (the TV was on top of the lockers), I finally had to settle for CNN--just in time to catch their breaking news coverage of the latest Baghdad truck bomb attack. Since I very seldom watch CNN, I can't identify the woman anchor who was questioning a Baghdad correspondent live.
Although it was wearily predictable, the anchor's sensationalistic-yet-clueless manner was still breathtaking: the desperate search for an intelligent question and the affected gravitas almost made me wish I had left the channel on Tyra. Of course there was no background given, nothing to inform me of any trends in the frequency of the attacks, no comparison to this time last year; just another spectacular show of flame and smoke. At least the correspondent was able to summon up enough of his journalistic manhood to point out the jihadists had chosen the Palestine Hotel as their target so as to maximize the world media attention. CNN was certainly doing its part.
In direct contrast to CNN's coverage, Bill Roggio at The Fourth Rail has a typically excellent analysis of what really happened.
al Qaeda must attempt project its relevance on the Iraqi scene after it failed to thwart the constitutional referendum. This attack was well planned in advance and used significant resources to execute. [... But i]t is a measure of desperation when al Qaeda attacks the media, as al Qaeda depends on their promotion of jihadi violence for their survival and recruitment. [...]
No doubt al Qaeda had its own propaganda crews taping the event. The media’s reaction to viewing al Qaeda’s purposeful attack on their own is unlikely to match their fury over the accidental deaths of journalists during Operation Iraqi Freedom by U.S. forces at the very same hotel. Such is the war we fight.
Indeed. It just occurred to me that although the Left's attempts to equate Iraq and Vietnam are groundless and trivial, there is one comparison that is true: We are again fighting a two-front war, against our enemy in the field and their tacit allies in the MSM.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thebernoullieffect.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/391
