Originally published June 19 2014
Media blackout of Iraqi war dead is striking double standard aimed at shielding Obama
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Left-wing reporters and editors dominate American news media, and that's a fact not even worth debating any longer. And while that in and of itself may not be a big deal to most people, it is, in fact, important because it makes the news and views we get completely slanted.
There are a few outlets that can be considered right-leaning, for sure, but they are outnumbered 3-to-1 by institutional media like The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe and so on.
Case in point: The current situation in Iraq specifically, but throughout the Middle East generally.
Foreign media have published numerous photos of members of insurgent groups like the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, lining up captured Iraqi soldiers and gunning them down in cold blood. In addition, foreign media have also carried similarly gruesome photos of uprisings and sectarian violence all around the Middle East, violence that is being stoked primarily by a number of al Qaeda-inspired militant groups.
Abu Ghraib much worse than shooting and beheading unarmed soldiers
But here in America, where the institutional media Leftists decide what their outlets and newspapers will, and will not, cover, there has been little front-page attention paid to such horrific incidents, and more than just a few observers think that is by design.
Do you remember a decade ago when the American media was obsessed with the Abu Ghraib scandal, which involved a handful of American soldiers doing little more than belittling a few suspected militant captives? Don't get me wrong: U.S. troops are trained to know better than to treat captives that way, and what they did is in no way acceptable behavior.
But they certainly did not massacre their captives by lining them up in ditches and shooting them. They did not beat them or stab them or cut their heads off. They tormented them and embarrassed them, but no lives were lost, and in fact, punishment was meted out to the guilty.
Still, for weeks on end, pictures of the Abu Ghraib incident adorned the front pages of most of America's institutional newspapers and media outlets. Left-wing commentators and opinion writers expressed no shortage of "outrage" and "anger" over the "cruel, reprehensible mistreatment" of "fellow human beings." Even today, when the subject comes around to "American abuses around the world," Abu Ghraib will be mentioned.
Just recently, in April, The New York Times ran a story about the prison being closed, harkening back to the "notorious abuse scandal" that took place there.
Obama policy in Iraq is responsible for current situation, but you won't hear the media say that
Could it be that, in their undying devotion to our ultra-Left-wing president, these institutional media outlets are downplaying the horrors now occurring in Iraq: a) because it was President Obama who decided to end the war there without an agreement with Iraqi leaders for a post-war U.S. military presence (the results of which we are seeing now); and b) because Iraq is no longer "George Bush's war" but is wholly owned by Obama? When things went awry in Iraq during Bush's tenure, the media immediately blamed him for it; now that Iraq is unraveling, thanks to Obama's policies, the media are silent.
Why does any of this really matter? Because perception is reality, and it is important to know that, more often than not, the American media is planting misperceptions in the minds of the public as reality; acting as a propaganda machine for either political party or ideology is not what the founders had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment.
Media in America is free -- and should always remain so -- but it was thought that it would serve as a check on government abuse and power, not as a protector of the same government that abuses your property rights, denies you the freedom to pursue your own healthcare choices and prevents you from buying any food in any form that you decide. More often than not, the same institutional, corporate-owned, Washington-friendly media is siding with the statists and tyrants in government who are denying you the right to live freely, as you see fit, in peace with your neighbors and your surroundings.
The hypocrisy displayed over how Iraq and the Middle East is being covered by the majority of American media now that Barack Obama owns the foreign policy is stunning. We just thought you should know.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com
http://www.newsmax.com
http://www.globalresearch.ca
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