I have learned more from Rachel Maddow's on the ground reports

[dkf]

Than all the rest combined. Even when she interviews Richard Engel I learn more from him than I do when he is on alone. It's kind of sad that we didn't get this kind of reporting all the way through.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I loved her reaction to the carp

the conditions they are describing though are what is going to lead to something ugly. Almost willing to say that after December 2011 our presence will not remain for long. A few expat polticos are running for the exists right now.

[Gin]

2. I agree..... she has told me more about that place than any

other news has....she is great

god...125 degrees...those poor people and our poor soldiers

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. We don't like Sadam, we hate Sadamn

but at least we had electricity....

That was the under message on this...

Definitely it will not end well.

She also went where nobody else does, with Richard Engel who has developed all the necessary contacts on the ground to stay as safe as you can. Why you got a whole different image of the place than when you get military escorts.

[Poboy]

16. Also mentioned was the 5x rents now.

A $50 apt. now costs $600

Electric surges that catch houses on fire.


Fantastic reporting.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. People really do not understand the kind of a beating

the electrical takes with every surge when the power comes back...

[dkf]

3. Did she mention why the electricity is so spotty vs Saddam?

Is it because Baghdad got the electricity at the expense of the rest and now it's evenly bad? Or is it just mucked up?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Mucked up

completely mucked up

And when you look at this from a green zone office, where I am betting they have power...

Reminds me of the mayor (in a lot smaller context by the way) complaining the people were not thankful... I remember inviting him on a ride along with me to the ciudades perdidas to talk to people who actually live there. I've seen it... technocrats vs the real people who actually go out amongst the people. Wanna bet Nouri Al Maliki has not walked among the people?

[dkf]

8. Are we sucking up all the power? Please tell me that isn't the case.

Ugh.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. NO, the US Military has it's own generators

but the Government is also based in the IZ. SO if the offices of the Parliament need power, we got the generators. So in effect a Parliamentarian does not deal with this every day.

In effect, they start believing their own press.

SO and so many more watts\hour produced. That is nice... what about the distribution network?

All those cables essentially stealing from each other told me that the distribution network has not been fully fixed. So it doesn't matter how much is produced. It goes away.

Also don't forget, it takes in the US a good five hours to change a bad transformer... we just went through that one recently. It takes more than that with the security nightmare, and every time a bomb goes off, it just doesn't kill people, but it destroys transformers that need replacing, for example.

SO no I would not accuse them of doing this on purpose, but under the surface what you got is oligarchic thinking laced with technocrats. That's part for the course for many countries in the third world, and it is deadly.

[blaze]

4. Tonight's show just grabbed me

And I agree with an above poster.... wonder what might have been different if we'd had this level of reporting all along.

Thank you Rachel and Richard.

[northoftheborder]

7. Rachel's show tonight.....

......in Baghdad was absolutely riveting. The best reporting I have seen in Iraq. Showed what it is really like. Richard Engle is an excellent correspondent - all of his shows with Rachel in Iraq and Afghanistan were excellent. I am really impressed with Rachel - she gets better and better. The shows done in Louisiana with her were some of the best. She just knows what is important, and gets to the grit of the situation. Must see, if you missed this one, on repeat.

[Withywindle]

9. I agree. I really hate most of the war coverage because it is SO superificial

I have always wanted more REAL on-the-ground coverage, and by that I don't mean "embedded" troops getting Pentagon-approved photo-ops, I mean real educational coverage about the Iraqi people and culture and what outcomes THEY would want. Ideally with historical context and real information, even if on a 101 level, that would help the American people really grasp what colonialism does. At the very least, some humanization, some basic nod to at least the idea that Iraqi civilian casualty numbers represent the death of REAL HUMAN BEINGS, with families and dreams, just like the American deaths.


Thank you, Rachel and Richard, for giving us that. Too little too late for sure, but that's not your fault, and it's certainly so much better than not at all.

[nc4bo]

14. I think that was the point of the (non) war coverage from M$M

If you show the human side of the enemy, America's appetite for revenge may not have been as strong and the MIC would be up against a very formidable opposition.

Like you said, too little too late and I'm afraid Afghanistan is going in the exact same direction.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. When this mess started I was living in Military Housing in Hawaii

and the cable system had News International, a channel that had news from all over the world.

So apart of CNN taking tikrit... they had this story with a Mexican Reporter who got caught off wiht some marines at Nassaryah. So the shooting stops, and here is this guy, a reporter, helping the Medic take care of the Marine. Here was the two things that told me all I wanted to know about the coverage. They not only showed the face of the casualty, a US Marine not older than 19, but also panned down to the injury, his leg was gone. And they had an Iraqi, not older than 20 also helping with the Marine on the ground.

That would have never been shown on American TV. I mean a leg blown off? That don't happen in war! A reporter serving as an IV pole? (I've used them for that, they are very easy to train)... and the Iraqi helping the Medic carry this guy to the medevac... it was... riveting TV in as real time as you can get...

[Withywindle]

20. Yeah, I think so too.

All of this time, through all of this war, most of what's on the "news" networks is all about celebrities, talking heads arguing, and "true-crime" pulp-paperback bullshit.

It is well within the networks' capability to do MUCH, MUCH better. CNN International, aimed at a, well, non-American audience, has so much more real news. Both times I went abroad in the 2000s and watched that in hotel rooms for a week or two, I had terrible reverse-culture-shock coming back. I was reminded anew how dumbed-down everything is in the US. This has to be for a reason, and marketing isn't ALL of it (though it is a big part).

[dkf]

15. I'm getting withdrawals turning from Rachel to CNN.

My goodness this is such superficial stuff. It's all arguing arguing arguing and no real insight.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. CNN news??? there should have been a warning

they are not as bad as FOX, but they are not that far behind.

[dkf]

24. Msnbc started doing their prison wacko series.

I don't know what I'm supposed to get from that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. They do that every weekend at the same time

if they do news... there is a problem.

Right now food network for me... nothing else on the tv

[Withywindle]

21. And it's all arguing by people who've probably never set foot in Iraq

Much less learned to speak Arabic and built real relationships with people there like Engel. Much less are willing to risk their precious skins walking around the streets. Much less have ever read any historical texts from a Muslim point of view.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Oh com'on if they are of a certain generation

they read Orientalism in college!

But that is as close as they will ever get to the culture.

[Withywindle]

23. And if they did read it, it didn't take. n/t

[bullwinkle428]

11. That final segment was SO powerful. About how everyone

is happier that Saddam is gone, but frustrated almost to the point of insanity about the lack of electricity. 7 YEARS...who can blame them?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. But at least the trains ran

that kept running through my mind.

[lob1]

12. I was interested to find out that there is a contractor

(read mercenary) for every soldier left over there. That leads me to believe this isn't as over as they'd like us to think.