2Slick has a great post about the media bias going on over in Iraq. It’s great to hear this from someone who has been there and can tell us the straight skinny. He checked out the newswire via yahoo and the first thing that pop’s up is the below story. I’m going to post the whole thing here since it seems that the AP pulled the story and watered down.
U.S. sweeps through Mosul after attack
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By Sloboan LekicDec. 22, 2004 Baghdad, Iraq — Hundreds of U.S. troops, backed up by armored vehicles and helicopters, on Wednesday blocked bridges and cordoned off areas of Mosul where insurgents have mounted attacks. The operation in the nearly deserted city came a day after one of the deadliest incidents for U.S. troops, when 22 people died in a blast at a nearby military camp.
There was little apparent sympathy for the dead Americans on Mosul’s empty streets. “I wish that 2,000 U.S. soldiers were killed,” declared Jamal Mahmoud, a trade union official.
On Monday, a blast destroyed a packed mess tent on Forward Operating Base Marez — a military camp for U.S. and Iraqi government forces just south of Mosul — killing 22 people and injuring 69. The lunchtime attack represented one of the worst single incidents for the U.S. military in Iraq.U.S. officials in Mosul said their investigation into the cause of the blast was continuing.
Initial reports said that a rocket had ripped into the tent. Later, however, a radical Sunni Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility, saying it was a “martyrdom operation” — a reference to a suicide bomber.
“We are not ready to release any official results of the investigation. Until that time comes we cannot say if its is a rocket or a suicide attack,” said Capt. Joseph Ludvigson of Task Force Olympia.
Regardless of the cause, the apparent sophistication of the operation indicated that the insurgents probably had inside knowledge of the base’s layout and soldiers’ schedule. The attack sparked renewed concerns about the ability of U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies to provide security for key legislative elections on Jan. 30.
The U.S. military said they had expected an increase in violence as insurgents attempt to disrupt the political process and derail elections for an assembly that will draft Iraq’s new constitution.
“Insurgents, who have everything to lose, are desperate to create the perception that elections are not possible,” said Gen. George W. Casey, the commander of multinational forces in Iraq. “We will not allow terrorist violence to stop progress toward elections.”
Mortar attacks on U.S. bases, particularly on the huge white tents that serve as dining halls, have been frequent in Iraq for more than a year. Just last month, a mortar attack on a Mosul base killed two troops with Task Force Olympia, the reinforced brigade responsible for security in much of northern Iraq. The dead included 13 U.S. service members, five U.S. civilians, three Iraqi National Guard members, and one “unidentified non-US person,” the U.S. military command in Baghdad said in its latest statement on Wednesday evening.
Of the 69 wounded, 44 are members of the U.S. military, seven are U.S contractors, five are U.S. Defense Department civilians, two are Iraqi civilians, 10 are contractors of other nationalities, and one is of unknown nationality and occupation, the statement said.
About 50 people — most of them injured soldiers from Mosul — arrived on an Air Force C-141 transport plane at Ramstein Air Base in Germany for treatment at nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, said Maj. Mike Young, a base spokesman.
The hospital said at least eight were in critical condition, Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw said. With a light snow falling, some wounded were carried out on stretchers, while about a dozen were expected to be well enough to walk off the plane.
In the immediate aftermath of the occupation of Iraq in April 2003, Mosul — with a population of 1.2 million — was cited as a model success story by U.S. commanders. But armed opposition has mounted steadily, especially since last month’s U.S.-led operation to retake the rebel-held town of Fallujah.
In November, guerrillas launched a coordinated surprise attack against a number of police stations and occupied all of them. The municipal police force, estimated at over 6,000 officers, disintegrated and — despite the success of U.S. forces a few days later in re-establishing control — to this day only a small portion of its members have returned to work.
Last week, rebels ambushed a car carrying Turkish foreign ministry guards in broad daylight on one of the main avenues, killing all four occupants.
On Tuesday, hundreds of U.S. troops blocked off five bridges over the Tigris river and patrols spread out through the mainly Sunni Muslim neighborhoods of Muthanna, Wahda and Hadabaa.
Although no curfew was proclaimed, an Associated Press reporter said city streets were virtually deserted as Bradley personnel carriers and armored Humvee vehicles rumbled along supporting the infantry.
Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, spokesman for Task Force Olympia, said the operation had been planned before Tuesday’s attack on the base. He added that five of the city’s bridges were closed for civilian traffic and only “pre-authorised traffic is allowed” to cross.
“We are targeting certain objectives, geographical as well as intelligence information about the terrorists,” Hastings said. “We are going to take the fight to the enemy.”
Some of the residents watching the U.S. troops said they were worried about the possible repercussions of the base attack. Sadiq Mohammed, a grocer, expressed concern that the U.S. military would use the attack as a pretext to launch a major crackdown in the city.
“Yesterday’s attack on the American base will for sure lead to an escalation in U.S. military activities in Mosul,” he said.
Izdihar Kamel, a civil servant, praised those who had carried Tuesday’s attack saying, “it was a heroic operation. This is Jihad and he who carried out this attack is a hero.”
In other developments Wednesday:— Poland’s Prime Minister Marek Belka toured Camp Echo in Diwaniyah, the new headquarters for the Polish-led international security force in central Iraq, on a Christmas visit to some 2,400 Polish troops stationed in Iraq.
— Four Iraqi civilians from one family were killed and three others were injured when U.S. soldiers opened fire on their car in the Abu Ghraib area just west of Baghdad, said Akram Al-Zaobaie, a doctor in the local hospital.
The seven were traveling in a taxi when a roadside bomb hit an American military convoy, he said.
— In the Sunni Muslim cities of Haditha and Haqlaniyah in central Iraq, lists posted on walls of local mosques carried the names of 170 police officers who said they had quiet their jobs in response to insurgent demands. The rebels often target policemen, accusing them of being American collaborators.
As 2Slick rightly points out this is one piece of garbage writing. All this reporter wants us to know is that no one in Mosul supports us. How do we know this? He interviewed and printed 3 people who obviously hates us and printed that. No one else was printed that supported us.
This is what the AP wants you to know about how the locals feel about this suicide murder-which also claimed the lives of 3 Iraqis. One guy wishes thousands had died, one guy is an armchair General, and one guy thinks the terrorist was a “hero.” Not a single quote from anyone else in Mosul. Not one. Must be that everyone in Mosul was either happy about it, disappointed that it didn’t kill more people, or just simply didn’t care. Un. Be. Lievable.
I am here to tell you that if I were to go into downtown Mosul, the University, or just about anywhere else in the city- the overwhelming majority of Iraqis would be expressing their heartfelt condolences. I know this for a fact, because it’s exactly what happened during the days following our incident with the 2 Black Hawks. The people felt absolutely terrible about what happened, and many of them were tearful when expressing their sorrow. I am going to make an accusation here, and I need you to know that this accusation is not based on an assumption- this is something I know for a fact:
This AP reporter deliberately sought out pro-terrorist/anti-American Iraqis to quote for this article.
Go check out his blog for details on how the jackass’s over at AP tried to cover their ass’s and water down this article….this writer and his editor should be burned at the stake.
I’m gonna steal a comment made on 2Slick’s blog made by Heather, it details what and who makes up the AP and who we should write, call, email to let our voice be heard over this crap.
I am sending this around:
The Associated Press is a COOPERATIVE, owned by some 1500 newspapers, headquartered in New York. Its executive/board has a number of members who should be asked those questions posed by wretchard…
MARY E JUNCK, is the CEO, Chairman and President of Lee Enterprises, Iowa Based, (www.lee.net) – owner of 44 daily newspapers in 19 states.
R JACK FISHMAN, publisher & editor of CITIZEN TRIBUNE, Morristown (TENNESSEE), and President of Lakeway Publishers… and is on the Associated Press Board in order to represent cities of under 50,000 population.
STEVEN O NEWHOUSE, editor in chief of the Jersy Journal, Jersey City (www.nj.com).
JULIE INSKEEP, publisher of The Journal Gazette in FORT WAYNE INDIANA (www.fortwayne.com). She even has a listed email: jinskeep@jg.net These people consider that being on the Associated Press Board of Directors is an honour, sort of like being on the Tennessee Board of Regents (Like R. Jack Fishman). They own and control newspapers throughout the American heartland, however, and SHOULD BE MADE TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS POSED BY WRETCHARD.
posted by heather
The questions she is alluding to from WRETCHARD are in this post from Belmont Club where he has questions about how that cameraman just so “happened” to be there to shoot pic’s of the execution of those election officials the other day.
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