On That Bread And Circuses Theme

image credit: Dept. of the Army


Photo caption:Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, speaks with Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander, Multinational Corps - Iraq and Col. Jeffrey Bannister, commander, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, during a visit with Soldiers in the Rusafa district of Baghdad, Sep. 2.


Media Matters has an interesting article up today concerning Katie Couric's decision to "report" from Iraq:

It's ironic because if CBS had simply aired more reporting from Iraq this summer instead of joining so many other news outlets in walking away from the story, then perhaps Couric wouldn't have had to travel 8,000 miles to find out the facts on the ground.

The Iraq news blackout: how the press spent its summer vacation

Eric Boehlert goes on to mention that they missed the "surge", which was the deadliest summer yet for U.S. forces in the Iraq. They also missed this:

Just recall the events of August 14.

That's when witnesses to the four synchronized suicide truck bombs that detonated in northern Iraq on that day described the collective devastation unleashed to being like an earthquake, or even the site of a nuclear bomb explosion; the destruction of one bomb site measured half a mile wide. A U.S. Army spokesman, after surveying the mass carnage from an attack that targeted Yazidis, an ancient religious community, called the event genocidal. Indeed, more than 500 Iraqis were killed, more than 1,500 were wounded, and 400 buildings were destroyed.

The Iraq news blackout: how the press spent its summer vacation

Of course, after a while they all start to run together, but this happened only three weeks ago. I don't remember reading or hearing much of anything. Creating that much havoc took some serious ordinance, not to mention planning and coordination.

The bombings in the towns of Tal al-Azizziyah and Sheikh Khadar marked the deadliest attack of the entire Iraq war. In fact, with a death toll topping 500, the mid-August bombing ranks as the second deadliest terror strike ever recorded in modern times. Only the coordinated attacks on 9-11 have claimed more innocent lives. Yet the press failed to put the story in context.

The Iraq news blackout: how the press spent its summer vacation

Yet, the Pentagon insists that the surge is going well, despite what the GAO says. Why would they do that, when it's pretty clear from this chart and many others show that such a conclusion is, at best, unwarranted? I think it's pretty clear they know they can count on the press to miss the point. As Taylor Marsh points out:

Many news organizations and anchors know less about the true reality in Iraq than you do. They haven't bothered to cover the war in any depth all summer. Bush's photo op in Iraq, however, now that was news. The unraveling of Iraq, not so much.

Couric Reporting for the Pentagon

It's no wonder that there are still people in this country who think that Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 attacks. With these bozos keeping them informed, it's a wonder they know anything at all.

UPDATE (Sep. 6): Corrected spelling of Eric Boehlert's name.