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Total Fucking Bullshit: CNN and Iraq

00:34 / 26.03.03

I guess this isn't solely about war time media, but what the fuck.

I'm not sure where to start, but I suppose I'm looking for argument or agreement to help discern what's utter bullshit and what makes a little sense. I understand that many of you likely have a huge list of poorly matched semi-facts of your own. If you'de care to contribute for the sake of analysis to this thread, I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one to appreciate it.

PBS says Vietnam cost $150 billion to execute over the course of 10 years. Bush says it will cost $75 billion to execute the invasion of Iraq over the course of 30 days. Is that really inflation?

Last night, Iraq's Minister of Trade came on Iraqi TV (whose broadcast was eliminated just in the last ten minutes, now -- 9:14p ET in the US). He requested that the UN reinstate the oil-for-food program, or at least permit the convoys containing the food and supplies already paid for via aforementioned program to cross the border into Iraq. Thus far, I've heard no response from the coaliation nor from the UN. Meanwhile, CNN says the coalition is on a rushed schedule to secure Basra in order to deliver the aid being provided by mostly, I think, British money. I understand that disabling your opponent's supply route can lend a huge military advantage, but is any of this reasonable? If it is, why can't they just be straightforward about it?

Most of the Iraqi officials speak English. When they make statements which are being broadcast internationally, U.S. media outlets have been translating entire speeches for the viewer from Arabic to English and cutting off or entirely omitting the portion of the speech in which they speak English themselves. Isn't this suspicious?

Bush's people recently told U.S. media outlets that Iraq (paraphrased) "May have drawn an imaginery red line around Baghdad that, if crossed, may trigger the use of chemical weapons". Is there something wrong with this information, or it's format? It certainly doesn't sit well.

I guess now that I've put a few down, I'd say my idea with this thread is this -- It's awfully easy, with all the propaganda and whatever, to get your signals crossed, to miss things. Furthermore, there may be an emergent truth in the pile of bullshit.

Help!

00:41 / 26.03.03

One more: Following the destruction of Iraqi TV's broadcast center, the Pentagon announces it wasn't one of their missiles and they don't know where it came from.

01:09 / 26.03.03

A quick amendment -- the Bush budget covers 30 days of combat and the U.S. occupation of Iraq for a period of five months following. There are other expenses, but they represent a minor fraction of the $75 billion.

02:29 / 26.03.03

Well, I heard that Saddam constructed a human sized paper-shredder--to shred humans, of course. He would have the victims friends and family watch. Sometimes they went in head first and it was over quickly. Other times they went in feet first and...well yeah.

I heard this on Americas favorite conspiracist syndicate Coast to Coast AM.

Can we trust that?

oh and the hell with trusting any thing on television.

03:37 / 26.03.03

I can't find the article now, but yesterday on Yahoo news they had a breakdown of the money. The best bit of the $75 billion was near the end of the list where it said:

"$1.7 billion for 'classified'."

Does that seem like a lot of money to grant someone for shady purposes?

Jack Rock-a-Pops

05:26 / 26.03.03

I think this is one of those war cases where you have to sit and wait five or so years before the "real story" gets leaked out.

11:33 / 26.03.03

I read about the breakdown of what the 75 bill was for and I'm sure 10 bill of it was for Israel. Can anyone confirm this? I think I've had over-sensory overload and might be getting my facts wrong! Anyway I'm sure most of the money was for the military anyway so my question is who is going to be paying for the rebuilding of Iraq and the humanitarian aid, or is this going to be achieved by using the oil revenue that will be going into trust for the populance? We get to see all the bombing on fighting in the media now but will we get to see the after effects and re-building? I doubt it.

15:01 / 27.03.03

Ray --

I can't verify your report in totality, but here's some data:

'Earlier, a Pentagon official said its request for emergency supplemental funding would provide $ 30.3 billion for "coercive diplomacy," $ 13 billion for the "major conflict phase," $ 12 billion for the "transitional and stability phase," and $ 7.2 billion for "reconstruction phase".'

It looks like it's a possibility, but not a done deal:

'The war appropriation is also likely to include increased aid for US allies who are supporting the war effort, including $ one billion in grants and $ nine billion in loans to Israel to prop up its sagging economy, $ one billion for Egypt, and $ one billion for Jordan, officials said.'

These are from the indiainfo.com's finance section. Exact URL:

http://finance.indiainfo.com/news/2003/03/25/25warbudget.html

You know, it's suprisingly difficult to locate a cohesive, U.S.-produced budget breakdown for this $75 billion.

15:06 / 27.03.03

I'm always forgetting to finish before I post.

One conflicting report as regards the budget comes from CNN:

"Byrd said the breakdown for the supplemental, as outlined by the White House was: $63 billion for defense for the war itself, $4.2 billion for homeland security and $8 billion for foreign aid and humanitarian aid."

From the URL:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/24/sprj.irq.bush.day/index.html

(I say conflicting because the $8 billion figure for foreign aid mentioned on CNN doesn't jive with the grand total of $10 billion supposedly going to Isreal alone mentioned on India Info.)

16:11 / 27.03.03

Thanks for clearing that up a bit Frances. It looks like the U.K. is contributing another 1.75 billion to the effort today. These figures are truly frightening. Just think what kind of good this money could do for the world in the right hands! Very sad times.

17:37 / 27.03.03

Baz: I think in the case of "$1.7 billion for 'classified", classified means rigging the next presidential election.

14:47 / 31.03.03

Can't find a transcript, but I saw the whole thing. Iraq's Information Minister for the first time since the beginning of the war, opens a speech in English instead of Arabic. He only got a few minutes of speech out before translators for numerous languages begin overlapping one another, translating from English. However, while he was speaking English (I believe I mentioned earlier that U.S. media wouldn't let us hear the Iraqi officials speaking English -- only translated versions of the Arabic portions of their speeches), he said a few interesting things. One being that he watched a Centcom report recently, and was surprised to find that they're only discussing news related to the first days of the war, but touting that news as if it's recent. Interesting. He was also considerably more articulate than the quotes floating around would indicate, but that's no big surprise.