Garbanzo Toons

Is Al-Jazeera More Honest Than American Main Stream Media?

According to Jack Kelly,

Suicide bombings continue, as the news media make sure you know. But they haven't slowed recruitment for the Iraqi army or police, and have turned even most Sunni Muslims against the "insurgents." The blowback is so fierce that al Jazeera has stopped referring to the terrorists as "the resistance," and is now calling them "gunmen" or "suicide bombers."

"The fact that Iraqi civilians are the main victims of attacks is increasingly being stressed," reported the BBC in an analysis of broadcasts by al Jazeera and another Arab network, al Arabiya.

And yet, according to today's Associated Press report headlined, Sunni fighters unite in political group;

A Sunni Arab politician who brokered secret talks between U.S. officials and insurgents said Wednesday he has formed a group to give political voice to Iraqi fighters, and he demanded a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal.

That marked the most serious effort to date to draw disenfranchised Sunnis into the political process.

Former cabinet member Ayham al-Samarie, a dual Iraq-U.S. citizen, is thought to have tribal links throughout the Sunni triangle, where the Sunni branch of the insurgency is concentrated.

He said the new political front, the National Council for Unity and Construction of Iraq, is representing resistance fighters who have not carried out attacks against civilians.

The insurgents al-Samarie represents want U.S. troops to leave Iraq in one to three years and military campaigns against Iraqi cities and towns to end, al-Samarie said.

They won't put down their arms unless their goals are met, he added.

Other Iraqis aren't fooled.

But at least one prominent Shi'ite legislator dismissed al-Samarie's effort.

"The general terrorist program is to attack electricity plants, water and oil pipelines, mosques, churches and to target the innocents, police and the army. These are terrorist acts, and cannot be represented as acts of resistance," said the legislator, Saad Jawad Qandil.

OUCH! The T word, the one the American press is afraid to use. Newsweek, of course still refers to "the insurgency" but does mention "foreign terrorists". On page 22 of the print edition, there is the line, "Jihadist Web sites teach followers how to use car bombings to influence public opinion." That should be changed to reflect how car bombings turn reporters into hysterical Chicken Littles who then try to scare Americans into thinking we're losing the war.

Does our MSM need to take lessons in honesty from Al-Jazeera?

Labels: Al-Jazeera, Iraq, Jack Kelly, MSM, terrorism

posted by Harry @ 8:34 PM