yeah SMS you got me, to some extent you are right smack bang on the money. The term 'America and its power' is subjective so I will try to be succinct but at the same time widen the scope a little.
Yes I am unhappy about US foreign policy matters, unhappy about the situation in Iraq, unhappy about the Republican GOP and it's agenda, unhappy about US hegemony on other cultures, unhappy about the 'media lens' and embedded journalists who are nothing more than mouthpieces for the military to ignore the facts and say what they are told. It is why I used the term 'filter' because that is what the 'media lens' does; it filters out the necessary details needed.
Needed for what you ask?
Objective and rational reporting of the facts. Not to 'justify' one countries actions for what it does, not to include assumptions regarding insurgents or innocent civilians or otherwise. It is to give the observer the right to decide what is right or wrong without having so many implications and assumptions written into the text. Read the link, the video tape was shot by an Iraqi journalism student, it would not of seen the light of day if it had of been up to the Marines/Military, or an embedded journalist for that matter. One of the charges brought forward from this blatant cover-up is filing a false report, and in my opinion the entire coverage is one big false report, all the way back to 'shock and awe' and beyond that. Cue President Bush video looking under table and joking with the press saying "whoops, no WMD's there!" Looking into the details as to why this thing happened and the exact events will be like trying to map the boundary of a sand dune.
Slim, I agree totally that it was and still is a travesty, but your insinuation that this was a merely one off event that is very unusual really doesn't hold any water for me at all. Remember the Marine who shot an unarmed guy in the head in a Mosque that was broadcast on BBC about a year ago? I see these actions in the story quoted on this thread as having many correlations to the entire way this ‘war on terror’ has been fought from the beginning. Retaliations and reactions that will escalate until when? You speak of anti-US sentiment, well I have had anti-US sentiment since I was about 10 years old, so for over 20 years now, and it is not getting any nicer, my apologies though, I am a bit ignorant here, I have never been to the US. So SMS, you are not mistaken here. I do love many things about the big old USA so it is a bit of a love/hate relationship that I constantly grapple with.
So my exact reasons for wanting this to be exposed, for wanting everyone everywhere to see the horrific aftermath video and read the story? It is to further my own view in the minds of rational human beings that this 'war' or whatever it is called, it totally UNJUSTIFIED. The initial reasons for war in the first place are on very tenuous ground and I will do whatever I can to make as many people ask WHY. You cannot force American style Democracy onto these people, they don’t want it, and they may not even need it. The media gives a little spin to most political stories in the process. There is no spin the GOP media can put on this story, which is also why I want this to be big news. How this whole mess is portrayed to the people trying to get on with their lives is giving me the shits. The language used is mostly sugar coated to take your mind off the colour red and the stench of rotting corpses. The use of ‘buzz words’ is really grating to my intelligence, these ‘buzz words’ tend to cover a lot of ground and assume far too much when it comes to an Individual or group of people. This story adds to the ever widening river of blood that flows from this pursuit of 'Democracy and Freedom'.
So there you have it folks. I might add that I might be a bit over sensitive at the moment. I am working in a compound for the next 3 weeks in a 'sensitive' area and I cannot walk outside as my safety can't be guarenteed so I feel a bit trapped. I guess it shows. |
