This is CNN? Wow.

[uppityperson]

Headline on their main webpage:

Three years later: Insecurity, instability and hope in Iraq

There is this also on their main webpage about the article:

Three years after the start of the Iraq war, the nation remains gripped with insurgency, instability and insecurity -- a country where its citizens never know if they will live for another day.

Finally, this photo and explanation at the story page:

Iraqis watch as U.S. Marines pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdos Square in April 2003.

Hey Mr.bush, are you listening?

[madaboutharry]

1. I am beginning to think that CNN

is the Sybil of cable news.

[dchill]

11. But not the Sybel...

Edmonds, that is.

[madaboutharry]

13. The one from the movie with Joanne Woodward and

Sally Fields.

[uppityperson]

14. multiple personalities which don't know about each other?

read the book yrs ago.

[Ufomammut]

19. All by DESIGN, carefully crafted

Do not be fooled into believing that our "free press" has anything to do with reflecting any realistic public opinion. Those who oversee this consolidated apparatus fear losing viewers, now have to compete with the web, and so on. The pro-empire, pro-Bushco propaganda that our media shoved down the public's throat since being complicitous in the 2000 coup is wearing quite thin for a greater percentage of the populace. Those who "manage" the country, so to speak, obviously realize this, and keep a finger on the public pulse, largely through what they're reading from average people like us online/forums/blogs/reviews. They loveto see a thread like this! ...it's exactly what they want: get more people to "come back" to 24/7 propaganda. "Trust us..."

So, pushed into a corner and knowing that if they attempt to maintain their usual pro-Bushco position, they'll lose even more credibility, our press, across the board, will necessitate an illusory "adversarial" stance. There's a lot of slight-of-ideology maneuvering when it comes to state propaganda.

[uppityperson]

20. Don't worry about me being fooled. way no way (poor grammar)

The press rolls as public opinion does and existst to 1. sell advertising, 2. entertain, 3. inform somewhat. I am happy though that some MSM is showing these words under that picture and the combination "insecurity, instability, hope" which rather covers most every contingency. As far as "they love to see a thread like this", I hope that people reading DU will not base their opinion of press trustworthiness on one post. War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength. Here we are.

[upi402]

16. definitley NOT!

Sybil Edmunds rocks
:headbang:

[BlueEyedSon]

2. heh, looks like 10 people were watching the statue theatrics

[stop the bleeding]

3. they were probably paid by Rumsfeld to stand there, or this must

be the awe that they were referring to in shock and awe crap.....

[Canuckistanian]

6. It was a classic psy-ops demonstration

Conceived by the good folks in the propaganda division.

The way things are going now, I'll bet some Iraqis would like to put that statue back up.

[Marie26]

15. Wasn't the Rendon group behind that? nt

[Canuckistanian]

18. I believe you're correct:

How does one sell a war? This was a question that weighed heavy on the minds of those in the US administration long before the war had even started. Operation Saddam: America’s Propaganda Battle takes a look at the marketing of this war – a cocktail of distortion, lies and forgeries – as shown by former secret service agent Ray McGovern, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and best-selling author John MacArthur.

MacArthur, for instance, tells of how the amazing image of an Iraqi man climbing the huge statue of Saddam Hussein in central Bagdad at the end of the war and throwing an American flag over the head of the dictator, was actually a carefully staged publicity stunt dreamed up by an advertising agency in the US. “I think the Rendon group advised the Pentagon right up through the seizure or the knocking down of the statue in the central square in Bagdad … that was a set piece thought of ahead of time for the Bush re-election campaign.”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11054.htm

[FranzFerdinand]

9. i remember reading...

there were pics from the toppling of that statue and another protest in a different town. they matched up the same protesters.

[Canuckistanian]

17. There was a whole group of them

Soemone noticed the same people in the same clothing appearing at different "celebrations" in different areas of Baghdad.

Turns out they were members of Chalabi's entourage.

[tabasco]

4. Other than Chalabi's US-paid militia ...

there were only about ten Iraqis there.

[Marr]

25. And the entire corporate media pitched that propaganda event 24-7.

I'll never forget how comlicit big media was in selling the neocons' agenda.

I remember watching that statue episode live, and wondering why they wouldn't pull the camera back. It was being taped from the top of a hotel, after all (the media headquarters for all the big outlets)- but they wouldn't pull the camera view out to offer a better view.

Then I saw the wide shots on the internet, and understood what a shamelessly staged event it was.

[Sequoia]

5. I remember that day on the news and it showed some men

kicking his head down the street but they were wearing those yellow anti-drug DARE t-shirts. New too, just handed to them by the Americans, is what I was thinking.

[TomInTib]

7. And I know who owns the statue (really)

If anone else wants to know, you'll have to PM me. There is just no way I am putting the name in a public forum.

[uppityperson]

8. Yes, watching "marines pull the statue down"

CNN is doing interesting wording today.

[zbdent]

10. Looks like a

freeper pro-war rally . . . minus the port-a-potties . . . but there's too many people in the picture . . .

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. I like that picture.

Instead of the orchestrated crowd on the OTHER side of the square, this angle shows a scattered few locals standing around looking like "I wonder what they're going to do with that?"

This is NOT the picture we saw at the time.

[Richard Steele]

21. And it used to be "Iraqis pull statue down" didn't it?

They inched abit closer to the truth this time.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

24. And if you notice, there aren't the throngs of people there that had

been manipulated in the original photos. Perhaps CNN is beginning to realize that they only lose their credibility by lying for this sociopathic administration.



(edited to place the pic in my journal) ;-)

[long_green]

26. On the CBS Evening News last night

they had a cute blond reporter (a Brit, I think) doing a report from Baghdad. She actually put in the "Iraqis pulling down the statue" bit. Wait! That's not all! They had a taped bit from Ahmed Chalabi acting all statesmanlike and hopeful (he's rehabilitated, just like Newt Gingrich). I hadn't watched the network news in a long time and I was stunned at the propaganda.

[Ksec]

22. How could they deny it?

Even fox is confessing sometimes.

Its a tough position. I feel like I wanna scream "told you so, you dumb bastards" and then you see the lives that they destroyed with their boneheaded war. It makes me depressed at what they did in the name of my country..

[misternormal]

23. Confused News Network...

They have no clue which side of the fence to be on... I think they are playing both sides so they can be sitting on top if it when the fence falls, so they can say... "See... see... we were right all along!!"