UNbelievable -- Meanwhile, in Iraq....

[theHandpuppet]

Check out how the Cincinnati Enquirer did a sleight of hand with the announcement of 22 wounded and 2 dead missing GI's in Iraq yesterday. (Note: the italics are mine)

Apr 15, 6:58 AM EDT
HEADLINE
Insurgent Attacks Kill at Least 5 in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A roadside bomb exploded Saturday in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing three Iraqi soldiers, the army said.

At least one civilian was killed in fierce fighting between insurgents and the army in Fallujah, police Lt. Mohammed Khalaf said.

Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the country's main insurgent stronghold until U.S. forces overran the city in November 2004 in the most intense urban combat of the Iraq war.

In the southern city of Basra, four gunmen killed the director of traffic police as he was driving to work, police said. Basra is 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, two U.S. Marines were killed and 22 wounded - two of them critically - in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday. It was the biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in weeks.

MORE at http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_VIOLENCE?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=AMERICAS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Also note that there was no mention of these casualties on the front page. The only banners for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan were "Insurgent Attacks Kill at Least 5 in Iraq" and "41 Taliban Killed in Intense Fighting". Wouldn't you think 24 U.S. casualties in a single day would make front page news?

[oblivious]

1. That's AP for you. Take a look.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/15/ap/world/mainD8H0B5M80.shtml&scoring=d&sa=N&start=30

[theHandpuppet]

3. Shameful and pathetic!

Too bad it's not surprising, as well.

[flordehinojos]

2. they are living up to bush's propaganda ploy: all is wonderfully wonderful

in iraq. we are forging ahead.

[leftchick]

4. in old America it certainly would!

welcome to the new Corporate Fascist AmeriKa! :(

[TheBaldyMan]

5. no mention of the ambush of Iraqi police and 40 of them are MIA

last I heard. After picking up new vehicles from an american base they were refused permission to stay even though it was close to curfew. They were attacked by IED and small arms fire outside the base. 3 bodies were recovered at the scene and about 20 drifted into their destination base hours later. 40 were still unaccounted for.

[theHandpuppet]

6. I'm curious to know how many papers have this as front page news?

I just checked the online editions of both the NYTimes and the LATimes and neither one mentions the 24 American casualties in Iraq. Both carry a banner about "41 Taliban Fighters Killed", though.

Anyone else find this story has been buried in their newspapers?

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Can someone explain to me WHY this should be front page news

Two Marines were killed. This is an everyday thing in Iraq.

Twenty two were wounded. THis is everyday as well, just not in one engagement. About half of those have already been returned to duty.

I just don't get why this is supposedly a huge news story. :shrug:

[genie_weenie]

8. Exactamundo!

prize for alcibiades_mystery.

You can choose from the wax lips or 2 cent plastic comb...

[theHandpuppet]

9. Maybe you can explain to me why it SHOULDN'T be FPN

What's on the front page of your newspaper today? Are these casualties inconsequential news compared to, say, the Enquirer's front page stories of local proms or the new Reds' cheerleaders? When should 24 American casualties NOT be front page news? THAT'S the real question.

[cali]

10. That's the way

it goes when a war drags on for years. Death and destruction are everyday events. It becomes background. That's not entirely the fault of the media.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Presentation DOES Matter

They don't mind splashing headlines about "41 Taliban Fighters Killed" or "Insurgents Kill 5 In Iraq". Then 24 American casualites are buried further down in some story, prefaced by a "meanwhile..."

If it's background it's only because the MSM isn't shoving it in our faces every day (as they should be). Of course, after viewing that Australian video of Ameridiots I'm getting more and more jaded. I live in a country where more people vote for American Idol than they do for President.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. There are around 24 casualties nearly every day

There's no doubt that they splash "41 taliban killed" across the front page. I suspect they would also splash "24 Marines Killed" on the front page. But, as it stands, 2 Marines were killed. This is literally below the daily average of US deaths for the course of the war, and just slightly above average for the time period since the last Iraqi election. It is - quite literally - an everyday occurrence. So, should they have the death toll on the front page every day? That seems to be your position. Of course, that's not really how the news works, but hey, whatever.

The difference here - the fact that moves it away from a "dog-bites-man" story - is that all 24 casualties occurred during the same engagement. I agree that that may merit front-page status, since this hasn't happened in several months. But, as far as I can tell, nobody knows very much about this engagement, and it seems like CENTCOM is being tight-lipped. So there literally is no story, other than "2 Marines Dead, 22 Wounded in Anbar Fight," with no information about the fight, what happened, etc.

[theHandpuppet]

13. I heard you the first time

Around the third or fourth time you said, "there are around 24 casualties every day" (over two threads) I got the impression that if you think you just repeat this mantra enough times that I'll let this drop. Not so. You can keep talking over me but my mouth is still moving.

You said, "It is - quite literally - an everyday occurrence. So, should they have the death toll on the front page every day? That seems to be your position. Of course, that's not really how the news works, but hey, whatever."

Yes, that is my position as a matter of fact. Why SHOULDN'T the MSM be reporting casualties as front page news every day? Why is a missing girl in Aruba FPN every day? Or Barry Bonds, or American Idol, or a thousand other stories to mind-numbing repetition?

I remember during the Vietnam War the daily casuality list being read during each broadcast. Journalists such as Walter Cronkite never let us forget the daily price of war, and photojournalists brought Nam's bloody cost to us in mags like LIFE. I credit professionals like those as having contributed to turning the tide with regard to America's attitude towards that conflict. I don't want my news sterilized so as not to offend an American public more concerned with pics of Donald Trump's baby than the thousands of dead babies in Iraq. I want us smacked in the face with it every day, including the carnage we have wreaked upon Iraq and its people.

24 casualties may be business as usual for just another day in the "war on terra" but the fact that the loss of 24 in one engagement merits no more than a "meanwhile..." buried deep within some dispassionate account on page 47 of the paper should disgust us all. If nothing else this particular loss serves as an example of just how far we as a people and our conspirators, the media, have fallen as a society of conscience. As other posters here have pointed out, even here on DU threads regarding death in Iraq fall like stones into a bottomless well -- which is why I give a recommendation to EVERY thread I spot which reports on the latest casualties from Iraq, be it one or 24. In the meanwhile, I'm not about to let CentCom, this administration or the media think that if nothing is said, questions will not be asked.

So you can consider this latest post as just another kick to a thread which isn't simply going to go away without a lot of kicking and screaming.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Kick and scream all you want

And, as far as I can tell, they do announce the dead on every CBS newscast, and - your memory may be a bit foggy here - they did not read the daily wounded during Cronkite's broadcasts, so that's just false.

I have no interest in suppressing or otherwise trying to quell your wailing. My only point is that you're portraying the failure of this incident appearing on the front page as some kind of massive conspiracy to not report the war. It simply doesn't appear that way to me. The reason this incident isn't on the front page of every paper is because it doesn't really depart that drastically from the daily news from Iraq, and "dog-bites-man" don't sell papers. I look forward to another kick, though. Get as worked up as you please. The indighnation is quite charming, after all.

[theHandpuppet]

16. Thanks for your permission

In fact, I think I'll take you up on it and "wail" a little more since you find indignation so charming.

Too bad the news from Iraq -- especially because so much of it is about death, dying and destruction -- is so predictably boring that vast numbers among the American people would prefer endless stories about missing white girls, who Jessica Simpson is dating and seeing pics of Donald Trump's baby. Real news about what's going on in the world holds no interest for them. Such tedious subjects as war doesn't sell papers, after all. We want infotainment!

But go ahead and tell me once again why this story and others like it don't merit the front page of the nation's newspapers. After all, it will keep the thread kicked.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. Cheers

Kick

Have fun with that.

[flyarm]

15. So, should they have the death toll on the front page every day?

So, should they have the death toll on the front page every day?

THE ANSWER IS YES..yes yes yes yes yes yes ...

our soldiers put that uniform on in our name..each and every one of our names..and yes every casuality should be on the front page each and every day!

they were someone's son or daughter...they were all of our sons and daughters..

they should be honored on the front page of every paper..

and i will be damned if Barry Bonds is more important!

fly

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. And they accuse the Marxists of

utopianism.

:toast: