Sunday, July 26, 2009
Editorial: Repackaging the illegal war
Nouri al-Maliki came to the United States and if any efforts were made by the White House to press him to address the continued attacks on Iraq's LGBT community, they kept them secret. Similarly, no reporter asked him (at least through yesterday) about the assault on the LGBT community.
No one asked him much of anything.
And when he spoke and actually said something news worthy, they ignored him.
Thursday, he revealed what everyone should already know, the US may be staying in Iraq past 2011. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, have all made similar statements.
Somehow the press missed all that when reporting on Wednesday's Rose Garden photo-op between Barry and Nouri. And the next day, when Nouri said it publicly, they missed it again.
It should have you questioning just how much the press has actually 'changed' since they first sold the illegal war because, each day, they work a little harder to re-sell you the Iraq War all over again.
How well is it working?
In January, AP-GfK found 83% of the respondents thought Barack Obama would "remove most troops from Iraq?" The poll released last week [PDF format warning, click here] found that number had fallen by 15% and was down to 68%. Only 68% have faith in Barack on that issue -- a core issue when it came to his election.
That says a great deal and underscores how the public is yet again ahead of the press.