Good news in Iraqi schools? Teacher beheaded in front of kids.

[BlooInBloo]

What a world. :(

And republicans complain about *media coverage*. Priorities - huh?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032501003.html

"On Wednesday, armed insurgents burst into the classroom of Khidhir al-Mihallawi, an English teacher at Sajariyah High School, accused him of being an agent for the CIA and Israeli intelligence and beheaded him in front of his students, according to students, fellow instructors and a physician at a local hospital."

[rocktivity]

1. But is it civil war yet?

:eyes:
rocknation

[babylonsister]

2. Can you imagine the nightmares for those kids?

How many times can I think this war sucks? :-( And for how many reasons?

[BlooInBloo]

4. I'd rather not.....

:(

[senseandsensibility]

30. The kids, yes...

but the poor teacher, OMG, it's beyond a nightmare. Welcome to hell, everyone.

[shenmue]

3. That'll show 'em!

Precisely what, I don't know. But something.

:mad:

:puke:

[Kerrytravelers]

5. Now, let's see if we can report this in a positive way.

New teaching positions open at Sajariyah High School. Teaching English, too! The language of the liberators!




I can not believe what is happening and what kind of a hornet's nest we have cracked open. Those poor kids in that classroom are basically fucked for life after seeing an adult that was their teacher, someone who probably cared a great deal for them, beheaded in front of them. You just don't get over that.

My heart is just breaking for those poor kids.

[wtmusic]

9. no kidding

I know there must be a good angle to this...if we look hard enough...:eyes:

:hi:

[Kerrytravelers]

11. There is always a good angle. But the mainstream media is against

our President and against our troops. They never report the positive. :crazy:


:hi: Hi wt!

[Kerrytravelers]

Mr. kt and I had dinner with a mutural friend of you and us last night.

Didn't know you were working on the campaign. Cool!

[0rganism]

81. Free anatomy lessons for the kids!

See, Tommy? That bone's what we call a "cervical vertebrae". The blood vessel you see spurting there, that's called the "anterior jugular vein."

Who says terrorism can't be educational?

[Cassandra]

6. Stop!

You're making David Horowitz and Lynn Cheney drool.

[WindRavenX]

7. jesus christ

:scared:

Freedom...on the march. Mmhm.

[greyl]

8. Holy crap.

I can't imagine the worldview the Iraqi children are growing up to have.

[blondeatlast]

15. Why, candy and roses! Love thy neighbor! Freedom on the march!

Safe for democracy!

You musn't focus on the negative. Here, have some kool-aid...

and a Xanax.

Now, isn't that all better... :sarcasm:

[blondeatlast]

10. We're making the Middle East safe for democracy.

Murder for teachers and terrifying for students, but by damn, freedom is on the march.

Civil war? What civil war?

[ruggerson]

12. "But he died with a smile!" - Laura Ingraham

n/t

[Iris]

13. This was on the VERY SAME DAY that Good Morning America announced

the results of its poll of viewers asking them what kind of news they wanted to see. I know I keep harping on this, but the irony in this case is just too much - ABC claimed that the "majority" of their viewers wanted to see stories about the positive things that were happening in Iraq - like all the schools that were now open.

Jesus Christ. Will this era of absurdity EVER end?

[babylonsister]

19. ABC-I used to like them because of

Peter Jennings. I even liked Charlie and Diane for awhile, but it seems they are in lockstep with the majority as far as spouting the corp. message. What happened to scruples?:(

Wasn't it the head shed of ABC who called * an ass, or worse, recently?

[Iris]

21. yes it was the head of ABC who called Bush an ass.

In fact, I suspect that might have been part of the reason for the "poll". You know, to kind of help them move to the right because that's what the VIEWERS want - not because they are trying to get back in Bush's good graces.

[babylonsister]

32. What's really disheartening to me are some media people

who will spew the corporate line, when I thought they had some integrity.

[Iris]

35. Me, too.

I remember Diane Sawyer talking about being on location and using TAMPONS to cover her eyes because she was sleeping on the ground and giant roaches were crawling all over her! I mean, can you imagine her giving the news with so much as a single hair out of place now? And Charlie Gibson - oh, just so sad.

[blondeatlast]

20. And I thought GOVERNING by the polls was a bad thing.

With this lazy lap-dog media we are doomed to live in absurdity for decades--or longer.

God help us all.

[Iris]

23. It just blows me away.

Really. I can't get over it. I keep bringing it up here because I just can't get it out of my head.

[blondeatlast]

31. I keep telling myself the press is finding its courage and rediscovering

its purpose. I keep trying so hard to persuade myself of it, because if they don't, democracy is dead.

I'm almost at the point I can't anymore but I keep pushing myyself to believe.

If DU didn't exist, I'd be a case, I'm pretty certain.

[Iris]

34. Yeah, but that's sort of like thinking doctors are going to start taking

bushels of apples for payments. They can't and won't because it's all run by corporations now. The "businessing" of America.


Remember the tv show Lou Grant? Ah! Those were the days!

[babylonsister]

42. Did you see Amy Goodman on CSPAN this morning?

She talks all about the news organizations, their importance, and how they've been compromised by the * Machine, be it Armstrong Williams or the propaganda in Iraq. That was on CSPAN, so that was a bit of progress.

[Iris]

70. No. In fact, I haven't even listened to Pacifca radio lately.

Is she still on?

[Horse with no Name]

60. I think it's GREAT the schools are open

that way the insurgents don't have to look too hard for victims.:sarcasm:
Seriously though, one has to wonder if the schools are open just so Fox News can say that they are open (progress being made and all you know) without any concern for the welfare of the teachers or the children that have to attend these slaughterhouses.
It's good for P.R.:(

[Iris]

65. wow! You are even more cynical than I am!

But one does wonder. . . .

[KansDem]

72. "...one has to wonder if the schools are open..."

I wonder how much of the "good news" in Iraq is a result of Halliburton no-bid contracts?

Let's get the schools built and never mind if the students or teachers can actually use them!

[Bluebear]

14. Look at all the people NOT beheaded!!!!!!111111

Why don't you report on THEM! :sarcasm:

[Iris]

16. Right. Those stinkin' journalists - refusing to put themselves in harm's

way so they can report the "positive" stories! Why, their nothing but terror enablers!

[Joanne98]

78. LOL!

[Canuckistanian]

83. Yes, it's the "Milhouse Defense"

"What about all those times I DIDN'T wear a tutu to school? Nobody remembers those"

[BlooInBloo]

17. Update/more detail (if you can stand it)....

From Atrios/NYT:

Mihallawi "looked at us just like he was telling us that we do not have to be scared. Even as we were running out of the door, his looks were still telling us that nothing will happen and we do not have to be scared," said a student, whose father asked that his name not be used. "I heard him screaming for a few seconds, then stop screaming."

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_03_26_atrios_archive.html#114343112147417153


Good thing the Iraqis greeted us like liberators and they're soooo much safer now - huh republican voters?

I fucking hate republican voters.

[Iris]

26. God, those poor kids.

They will never, never forget this.

[malaise]

74. If this was all that the kids will remember

that would be bad enough but this is merely one of many bad memories these kids will carry for life.

Get out of Iraq you bstards.

[Iris]

79. yes, you're right. I guess at some point it all just

turns into one big blog of anger and hate.

[cali]

18. And the bushco bastards are busy

mounting a campaign to bully the press into reporting that schools have been painted. Meanwhile inside the schools, this. On the way to school children murdered. They are beneath contempt.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Oh how horrific!

Would this have happened if our troops weren't there?

[BlooInBloo]

24. Where's '8 Days' Ingraham now?

Fucking tool that she is - here's the fucking "good news" she's been fucking looking for. Why doesn't she step up and tell us all "I told you so"?

Fucking sack of shit that she is.

I'm gettin pissed - think I'll go get some smokes...

[troubleinwinter]

25. The GOOD news is that children are attending school. Is they learning?

[LynnTheDem]

59. I didn't think I could laugh any more...

but your post gave me a much-needed laugh. Thanks. :hug:

[Gregorian]

27. Beautiful mind.

I don't know what else to say that wouldn't get me landed in jail.

[FatDave]

28. Now what I wonder is...

...will this be covered on the broadcast news? Or are they now afraid to run negative Iraq stories?

Man, what the fuck happened to my country?

[BlooInBloo]

29. Theory: The Media Strikes Back?

Any thoughts about the following conjecture?


One wonders if this week-ish old travesty is the media's reply to the republican jackasses complaining about "not enough good news". Parsed, I'm thinking of this as the media saying "Shut up about not-enough-good-news you jackasses - be thankful we're not talking about more of THIS".

[blondeatlast]

33. I'd really like to think so, and with WaPo I almost can convince myself

of it, but until the TV press, particularly the morning shows do the same, I think it's pretty much an isolated case of good journalism.

Sigh...

[BlooInBloo]

37. One can hope this at least has a lightning-rod effect.....

... so that this ends up being the LAST day we hear any crap about "why don't they show all the good news"?

The downside is, if this is the last we hear about that good-news crap, it's because there really isn't any good news. We broke it, we broke it. And now teachers are beheaded in front of their students because of it.

sigh.

[adriennui]

40. forget the morning shows

they've been irrelevant for years. the idiots who watch them are more interested in ways to cook turnips and dress sexy.

[blondeatlast]

41. But they are shaping the news--see Iris's post upthread about the

GMA poll.

Democracy is on life-support, and for once, the wacko wing of the Right is happy to pull the plug, I'm afraid.

[Iris]

44. Right. The poll basically is being applied to ALL of ABC's news.

Including the evening news. They basically brag about it at their website.

[adriennui]

36. this is barbaric

what kind of creatures would do something like this in front of children.

let's get out of that hellhole.

[Elwood P Dowd]

38. There are plenty of positives in this story that are not being reported

None of the children were beheaded, why wasn't that reported?

There is a new job now created in the Iraqi economy. It's a win-win for capitalism.

The funeral home now has increased economic activity. Another plus for capitalism.

The new teacher just might be better than the dead teacher, so the children might learn more and at a faster rate.

There is now more food and water available with one less person consuming valuable resources.

Five positives, only one negative, yet the communist, terrorist-loving, liberal press refuses to report it.




:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[blondeatlast]

39. Ahem. If the (tax-exempt) Heritage Foundation is lurking,

I hope you aren't whisked away in the dead of night to work in their (tax-exempt) Press Room.

If any of this shows up on FAUX, please promise you'll sue.

[Blaze Diem]

43. The Good News Is: Beheadings aside, Neil (S&L) Bush

stands to make a bazillion MORE dollars pawning his "no child left standing Edukational Software Tools..ya, for Dummies Even!", to newly reformed and Amerikan-ized Iraqi Schools.
Thanks brother George..Mama Babs is gonna be so proud of us both!!

Evil Bush Family.........More Evil Than SATAN!!!!!

[MODemocrat]

45. That's so unbelievable; I'm just sickened by that kind of violence

To say nothing about those poor students, and instructors having to witness such horror. Yet we are being lied to every day about how well things are going over there? :evilfrown: :evilfrown:

[BlooInBloo]

47. I find it almost impossible......

... to hear in my head people saying how it's going better than we're being told, after this story gets around the country....

Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong tho...

[Gabi Hayes]

46. whew! had me worried there for a minute. I thought it said

the kids did it.

I work in jr. high

sorry

that IS good news

[BlooInBloo]

48. Ok - that's disgusting, but funny....

... Sometimes dark humor is all there is I guess....

[Gabi Hayes]

49. thanks...you don't know how much that means to me

btw, I have a long last name, and once, when dining in a Chinese restaurant, the waiter brought me my check and said:

''Thank you, Mr. Bloobloo,'' trying to pronounce my 11 letter German surname

I thought that was what your pseud was at first, HA!

and I did have second thoughts about posting, but, hey compared to what they started over there (and over there, and over there, etc.), this isn't really so much, is it?

[BlooInBloo]

54. np Ms. Schnauzenheisendorff

teasing!

:)

[Gabi Hayes]

55. close!

[Bozita]

50. Barbara Bush could make a donation to the school, just like for Katrina

I have a feeling those poor Iraqi kids would like some of brother Neil's nice software.

[Gabi Hayes]

51. she couldn't bother her beautiful mind, I don't think

[Bozita]

52. but the donation is *tax deductible* even if she earmarks it

The less taxes she pays, the more the economy will flourish.

[Blaze Diem]

53. Scary Cretin-like hag!

What's up with those stupid glam earrings..HA.what a kook!

[formercia]

63. Lipstick on a pig. n/t

[C_U_L8R]

56. You won't see that on TV

these chickenshit republicans can't stomach REAL WAR....
they have to put a happy face on it... they hide.. they censor...
they obscure the truth. War is hell.. and it's time to start
reporting the TRUTH. It's time to lay the horrific consequences
of an administration gone haywire into the laps of these
armchair commandos and say ...HERE is your fucking war !

[Blaze Diem]

57. Agreed..

Great Post..
Pisses me off too!

[Neil Lisst]

58. time to hang this war on McCain, too!

He's clearly made his deal with the Bushies for 08, and he's totally sucking George's ass on the war.

[Nikki Stone 1]

61. Hey, but at least the school was newly painted

That's the good news, you see.

:sarcasm:

[lostnfound]

62. DN! interview: MANY professors killed, most were vocal anti-occcupation

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/09/1428223&mode=thread&tid=25

An interview with an Iraqi novelist

Today we are going to look at the targeting of one group that has received little attention -- hundreds of Iraqi academics and scientists have been assassinated since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The exact figure of deaths is unknown; estimates range from about 300 to more than 1,000. Iraqi novelist Haifa Zangana wrote in the Guardian last month that Baghdad universities alone have lost 80 members of their staffs. These figures do not include those who have survived assassination attempts.

Zangana writes there is a systematic campaign to assassinate Iraqis who speak out against the occupation.
...
People talk about it. People can really speculate about the killing or who’s -- but mainly, the main issue is: why are they targeted? We feel this is a kind of intimidating. What connect all of them, the main factor is they are people who spoke against occupation. They are outspoken against occupation. A few cases we know about, they were speaking on television, satellite Arab TV, condemning the occupation and also the interim government. So that could indicate, with the chaos taking place in Iraq at the moment, that could implicate Badr Brigade, for example, occupational forces themselves directly, if they don't like what they’ve been said, or anybody else.

Who's carrying it out vs. who planned it. There have been hitlists drawn up after other occupations -- assassinations of the communists, liberals, intellectuals. Greater presidents than Bush have signed off on this kind of thing. Why should we put it past him?

[JudyM]

67. This is a sickening thought. * is immoral..."The Prince of War"

Beyond reprehensible.

[formercia]

64. Have you noticed that when Fearless Leader says how

well progress is being made in Iraq, the insurgents step up attacks to prove him wrong. Osama doesn't have to send messages to attack, all they need is a pep talk from the messenger from God.

"Bring it on!"

[lonestarnot]

66. They have implemented "No child left behind" I see.

[rman]

68. The army rarely allows news crews at these schools,

because as a consequence of being in the news, those schools are likely to become a target of attacks.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/03/26.html#a7669

[Cleita]

69. So that's bringing up the next generation of sociopathic

murderers from the bottom up. Shouldn't someone make Mr. Bush aware of the freedom and democracy that he has brought to Iraq?

[dogday]

71. But the good news is the kids will get over it

:sarcasm: NOT EVER!!!!

[lpbk2713]

73. The BushCo "Rose-colored glasses" spin.

We're making progress, there were girls in that class.

[SoCalDem]

75. Just like Afghanistan.

How sad that we just ended up Talibanizing Iraq..:(

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

76. But..but.. the "good news" is that he wasn't beheaded in 'Murka.

Thanks to our Fightin' Fuhrer in Cowboy booties.

[yellowcanine]

77. Just like the Post to focus on the negative. Most teachers at that school

were NOT killed. Did the Post article point out that fact? No. Anyway the Al Quaeda group that claimed responsibility said that he was not acually beheaded, JUST killed. Leave it to the Post to exaggerate the negative part and not even focus on the positives. :sarcasm:

[kayice]

80. Attacks lately closer to schools......stupid BushCons. nt

[blondeatlast]

82. Kick. nt