If you doubt it, you missed last week.
Saturday, many outlets were buzzing over a news story about 13 US troops dead in Afghanistan. That is news. So is the news of 3 deaths of US soldiers. But did you see a headline about the 3 US troops who the Defense Department announced died last week in the Iraq War? No, you didn't.
It did get covered in "I Hate The War."
Last Tuesday came the shocking news that an American journalist, Daniel Smith, had been arrested (the Friday before) in Iraq for either participating in the Friday Baghdad demonstration or for covering it. And you knew that from which US outlet on Tuesday?
None.
On Wednesday?
None.
On Tuesday, you knew if you read Arabic or if you read Tuesday's "Iraq snapshot." On Wednesday, you could read that Smith had been released at Aswat al-Iraq (which is in English).
Grasp that. Grasp that the Iraq War claimed 3 more US lives and that an American citizen and journalist was arrested in Iraq and the US media was not interested in either story. They didn't give a damn.
Now we're used to their not giving a damn about Iraqi lives, remember John F. Burns' stupid justification for that? About tailoring his coverage for "US tax payers"? But now they don't even give a damn about Iraqis.
Thursday evening twin bombings went off in Baghdad. The final death toll was 36 dead. Do you know which US outlets covered it, treated it as an actual news story? Just the AP and McClatchy Newspapers.
We're all starting to wonder, "The US press in Iraq does what all day?" They cover a circus coming to poverty striken Iraq, where tickets cost $12 a piece. That's news to them -- even if it's not news to most Iraqis who can't afford it and didn't attend.
They ignore Nouri al-Maliki's ongoing crackdown on protesters. They ignore Political Stalemate II. That last one, you've got Iraqiya and the Kurds openly discussing the stalemate and the press ignores it.
Why?
Well why do you think Quil Lawrence, the Monday after elections took place (Saturday, March 7, 2010) declared Nouri al-Maliki the winner of the vote?
The votes hadn't been counted. There was nothing to indicate who the winner was but a Nouri paid for poll, what Quil was using but not crediting.
Why would anyone ever make such a stupid announcement?
It was stupid.
First, Nouri wasn't on the national ballots. It was Parliamentary elections. The Iraqi people don't directly elect the prime minister. They elect members of Parliament.
Second, the winner in that election was not Nouri's State Of Law. Iraqiya got the most votes (Ayad Allawi's political slate).
Why would Quil Lawrence lie and declare Nouri the winner?
And why would NPR never issue a correction?
Because the US press isn't a press. It's a public relations firm for whomever is in the White House. It churns out one weak-ass article after another insisting that the distortions of the White House are the way things are.
In terms of Iraq, that means they ignore all the unpleasant news -- especially anything that might paint Nouri al-Maliki as less than a good reason for the US to have gone into an illegal war. You really saw that last week.
