Nobody Questioned Darth Rums on "100 Newspapers in Iraq"

[UTUSN]

When he got protested at the National Press Club, and one of our free speech reporters yelled at them "GO HOME", and Darth Rums missed making the point that dissent is ALLOWED here (as the dissenters were manhandled out)--------he said that one of the improvements in Iraq is that there are now 100 newspapers in Iraq.

Just wondering, they're having probs with water and electricity, but there's all that free speech over there? Which brings up the question, every time the Shrubbites claim the Iraqis are going to get universal health care and all these goodies WHILE curtailing stuff here: Uh, we'll take what THEY're having.

An amateurish, superficial Google search on "Iraq newspapers" results in the following: Link #1 lists mostly foreign sites. #2 lists about 26 opposition sites. #3 lists about 5 newspapers.

There is NO claim to scholarly or scientific methodology here, just saying that our CRACK reporters don't bother even to ASK. And by the time somebody writes a book about how the Shrubs got away with stuff, it is WAY too late. Like how the wingnuts do their dirty tricks, fingerpointing then say "Look to the FUTURE" and "no fingerpointing NOW" and make allegations then RUN.

******QUOTE*****
http://www.world-newspapers.com/iraq.html
http://www.iraqfoundation.org/oppositions/index.html
http://www.allyoucanread.com/newspapers.asp?id=C181
******QUOTE*****

[disgruntella]

1. that's a "darn good" question

I'm going to poke around a few web sites today and hopefully come back with more info. (It's the librarian in me)

[UTUSN]

2. A Positive Post Always Deserves a Big "Thanks!" n/t

[Bush_has_Parvo]

3. It doesn't surprise me, it really is a sad state

Just like when Bush* claimed Saddam wouldn't let the inspectors in, and our crack free press ignored the blatant lie. Why are they even there? Why not just print the WH spin, it's not like they are actually "reporting" anything.

[caledesi]

10. Ew, that one pissed me off. I was yelling at the reporter.

[StandWatie]

4. it's all american backed propaganda

We sent in a shitload of printing press along with the troops, it's not even a secret.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. There actually MIGHT be 100 newspapers in Iraq now

But I don't think Rummy should crow about it. Most of those "newspapers" probably have the circulation of a 'zine; self-respecting college town has hundreds of 'zines active at any given time.

Sure, it's a better situation than under Saddam. Which means that as the conquering army, we can do any damned thing we want ...

NOT!

--bkl

[Palacsinta]

6. Good question.........and how about his claim

that there are 55,000 Iraqi police now? (Did I hear that right?) Or that each security "incident" lasts only a couple of minutes?

[Cocoa]

7. Robert Fisk explodes the myth of the free Iraq

Only people that really want to believe that Iraq is free can possibly believe it. I mean they keep saying they're going to address the security problem with "better intelligence" which means make Iraq into more of a police state.

http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk09092003.html


Of course, Iraqis protest at much of this. They protest in the streets, especially against the aggressive American military raids, and they protest in the press. Much good does it do them. When ex-Iraqi soldiers demonstrated outside Bremer's office at the former Presidential Palace, US troops shot two of them dead. When Falujah residents staged a protest as long ago as April, the American military shot 16 dead. Another 11 were later gunned down in Mosul. During two demonstrations against the presence of US troops near the shrine of Imam Hussein at Karbala last weekend, US soldiers shot dead another three. "What a wonderful thing it is to speak your own minds," Lt-Gen Sanchez said of the demonstrations in Iraq last week. Maybe he was exhibiting a black sense of humour.

All this might be incomprehensible if one forgot that the whole illegal Iraqi invasion had been hatched up by a bunch of right-wing and pro-Israeli ideologues in Washington, and that Bremer- though not a member of their group--fits squarely into the same bracket. Hence Paul Wolfowitz, one of the prime instigators of this war-he was among the loudest to beat the drum over the weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist-is now trying to deflect attention from his disastrous advice to the US administration by attacking the media, in particular that pesky, uncontrollable channel, Al-Jazeera. Its reports, he now meretriciously claims, amount to "incitement to violence"-knowing full well, of course, that Bremer has officially made "incitement to violence" an excuse to close down any newspaper or TV station he doesn't like.

Indeed, newspapers that have offended the Americans have been raided by US troops in the same way that the Americans have conducted raids on the offices of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose leader, Ayatollah Mohammed al-Hakim, is a member of the famous Interim Council-not exactly a bright way to keep a prominent Shia cleric on board.

more...

[TahitiNut]

8. With the diarrhea of deceit emitted from the various orifices ...

... of this madministration and corporatist cabal, it's difficult to find enough toilet paper to keep the stench down. Would "100" be enough? :silly:

[nostamj]

9. questioning W and the rest of the cabal

is beginning to catch on.

reinforcing mistrust of the bushies is the best bet for bringing them down.

nothing they say can be accepted without absolute proof. and we know there'll be little of that.


?W SLIDE SHOW!

[disgruntella]

11. OK, here's what I found

Obviously I'm back pretty quickly, but I've already picked up a few interesting articles. I googled "rumsfeld iraq 100 newspapers" (in various combinations)

One thing I found is that Rumsfeld certainly likes to talk about the 100 newspapers in Iraq - he's made references to them in at least 2 public appearances before "Heckling Day" (see below). U.S. supporters of the war and the Bush regime in general also like to quote this.

I found a BBC article that gives a more nuanced report about the "100 Newspapers": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3144363.stm.

There is a reference in this article of one newspaper being shut down by the Coalition Provisional Authority for "publishing an article calling for all those who collaborate with the US to be killed." And an explanation from a Coalition spokesperson on why this is not censorship. (Does this mean we in the U.S. can censor Ann Coulter now?)

Another article from Australia puts things in perspective
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/25/1059084210391.html
<snip>
The promise of a new Iraqi democracy is a blurred bauble when the Americans threaten to confiscate the machine-gun Mohammed al-Ezedeen has taken to carrying since three of his friends were executed by different gangs of car thieves, and when a businessman, Faras al-Hadi, can count off half a dozen friends and neighbours who have been victims of Baghdad's new wave of car thefts and home robberies.

Mustafa Abdul Hamid says: "I can't leave my home after sunset, but" - and the 68-year-old pauses to mimic a drum roll - "they tell me I have freedom of speech."
<end snip>

Speaking of "Heckling Day" (my new holiday in honor of the protestors), here is an excerpt from the transcript:
http://www.dod.gov/transcripts/2003/tr20030910-secdef0661.html

<<Heckler: Mr. Rumsfeld, you're fired! Your foreign policy is based on lies. The war in Iraq is unjust and illegal, and the occupation is immoral. There are U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq --

Heckler: Go home!

Heckler: -- every day! Still dying! Bring the troops home now.

Heckler: Tell us when the troops are coming home!

Hecklers: (Chanting.) Hey, Rumsfeld, what do you say? -- How many troops did you kill today?! Hey, Rumsfeld, what do you say? -- How many troops did you kill today?! Hey, Rumsfeld, what do you say? -- How many troops did you kill today?! (Hecklers escorted out of room.)

Rumsfeld: Well, now. (Laughter.) You know, I just came in from Baghdad, and there are now over 100 newspapers in the free press in Iraq in a free Iraq, where people are able to say whatever they wish. People are debating, people are discussing -- something they have not done for decades. >>

Edit for a little clarity.

[disgruntella]

12. kick

because i'm good enough, i'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

[Cocoa]

13. to Heckling Day

may every day be Heckling Day to Rummy and all the rest. :toast: