Rush Limbaugh: Propaganda from Saddam Was Fine with Press

RushLimbaugh.com ^ | 12/2/05 | Rush Limbaugh

[wagglebee]

RUSH: I want to continue on the sound bite roll here, because this next is just choice. Talked about this yesterday. The media being all upset about the fact that the Pentagon reportedly buying space, buying stories, planting good news in the Iraqi media. "We can't have that, why, we can't have good news in the Iraqi media. Who gave them a right to do that? We can't go shaping and bending the news like that." The media's got an idea the news out of Iraq is going to be all bad. The Pentagon says, "Hey, we're going to look into it." Now Congress and the Senate want to investigate how this has all happened? It's all they can do is investigate. They don't have an agenda. They got nothing positive. All they can do is demand investigations. Let's go back to the Rose Garden. The president today speaking about the economy, final portion of his remarks. Listen to what the first question is.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'll continue to push for pro-growth economic policies, all aimed at making sure every American can realize the American dream. Thank you very much.

BILL PLANTE, CBS NEWS: What about the planting of paid propaganda in the Iraqi press, Mr. President?

RUSH: (Laughing.) "What about the planting of paid propaganda in the Iraqi press, Mr. President?" Can we go back, does anybody remember the name Eason Jordan? Remember Eason Jordan? Eason Jordan was the bureau chief, or some executive position at CNN, and he purposely did not report the bad news of Saddam Hussein because they wanted to keep their presence there. They wanted to keep their bureau open, and they were afraid that if they reported bad news that Saddam would kick them out. What was the point of staying if you weren't going to tell people the truth about what went on in Iraq? Eason Jordan on April 16th, 2003, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, the question: Did the people who came to work for you, including the Iraqi nationals, know that it was dangerous work?

JORDAN: All the Iraqi people knew they lived in a tyrannical dictatorship that was ruled by terror. I told a handful of stories in the New York Times. There are hundreds of journalists who know similar stories that have said nothing, and I don't know if they'll ever come forward now, given the grief that I've gotten for just telling some stories that were absolutely true. And there were millions of Iraqi people who knew stories like this, and I'm sure that they will eventually come forward as soon as they feel like they won't be punished for doing so. But I think the outrage over truth telling is really misplaced and misguided and it will discourage people from coming forward to tell stories that they could not tell until that regime was gone.

RUSH: But what good was your presence there if you were burying those stories, if you were spiking them? You had to hold onto your bureau; why are you worried about your bureau? If you know Saddam is going to be gone someday, you can go back in anyway. So here's a CNN executive who wrote a piece in the New York Times admitting all this, that he had to cover up bad news and not report it in order to keep the bureau -- and went on TV to say, "I believe it was very virtuous and there were a lot of journalists who did the same thing." Well, those journalists are absolutely worthless, then. They're worthless. If they're not going to tell us the truth. This is why you end up having to plant good stories around because you can't count on the mainstream press to tell the whole story. It's not just what they report, folks, it's also what they leave out, and Mr. Jordan eventually got pressured into leaving CNN after another ill-fated admission that he made at this World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, about which I will remind you when we return.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

By the way, folks, back to this CNN and Eason Jordan business, I am reminded, the press didn't just suppress the bad news in Iraq; they actually reported Saddam's propaganda. They reported his propaganda and his lies. They didn't just bury things. Here's an example, Nic Robertson, CNN, in Baghdad, American Morning, October 14th, 2002. "Iraqi reverence for president Saddam Hussein is rarely more expressive than when their leader calls a referendum. 'To paint for the president for this special day is important,' explains artist Abdul. 'It shows our love to him.' Amid even bolder demonstrations of devotion to the Iraqi leader, students at Baghdad's fine arts school, too young to vote in the last referendum in 1995 appear eager to vote now." Now, that is pure propaganda. That is CNN running pure propaganda for Saddam Hussein.

Now, they have the guts, the audacity to be upset over what is the planting of true, good news in Iraq. The crime is, it has to be planted. The crime is that accurate, good news has to be planted. Here's another one. This is Reuters reporter Nadim Ladki, October 14th, 2002, dispatched from Baghdad, "Defiant Iraqis lined up to show their support for Saddam Hussein Tuesday as western powers were deadlocked over how to deal with the veteran leader they say threatens world security. Iraqis were in a festive mood as they turned out to vote in a presidential referendum Saddam is sure to win." Yeah, got 99% of the vote, the 1% that didn't vote are probably in a prison and dead by now. Talk about propaganda. We get propaganda in the news every day, propaganda from the Democratic Party, the New York Times is the Democratic National Committee Times. AP, Washington Post, all these networks, they're simply slaves to the Democratic Party. They're simply a giant collective house organ, and the news in Iraq is propaganda. The news on the economy, propaganda. It's not factual.

END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Background Material...

(WS: Eason Jordan's admission of complicity with Saddam's regime
raises a host of questions that must be answered by CNN)
(The News We (CNN) Kept To Ourselves - Eason Jordan)
(Washington Post: CNN's Jordan Resigns Over Iraq Remarks)
(NRO: Eason Jordan vs. the Blogosphere)

*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.

[wagglebee]

And what the media fails to realize, is that what we are having reported in Iraqi media is TRUE (actually, they may realize it and that is what bothers them the most)>

[goodnesswins]

The MSM is going to REGRET having brought this up.....LOL.

[Firefox1]

...anything to stop the spread of human rights and democracy

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

Hopefully they will have a Republic, not a Democracy. A Democracy will lead to mob rule, and too much civil unrest. They need a representative government. Not a government who makes all their decisions based on polls instead of leadership by elected officials. It is one of the main reasons we are so messed up in this country today, we think polls should dictate policy. Bad idea.

[Krusty]

"Hopefully they will have a Republic, not a Democracy."

Yes, there is a distinction between a republic and a democracy. The term 'democracy' has been misused so often that everybody just adopted the new definition.

[xzins]

I understand that much of what was paid for was in the form of advertisements, event notices, and opinions.

Honestly, I can see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

If I faked some information or reported information incorrectly, then there's an ethical issue with that, but to pay for having true information spread....isn't that what happens daily all over America in the public relation mills? It's part of what newspapers do.

[wagglebee]

It would be nice if Americans would learn that we actually have a Constitutional republic and NOT a democracy. Neal Boortz does a great job explaining this, the problem is that his listeners generally aren't the ones who need to hear this.

As far as I am aware, a "democracy" as people seem to imagine it with the "one man, one vote" on everything has never worked anywhere. A republic actually protects the interests of the weaker members of society, while a democracy will invariably disolve into an oligarchy or dictatorship.

[p23185]

It is one of the main reasons we are so messed up in this country today, we think polls should dictate policy. Bad idea.

Besides Bush being a Christian, this must be another reason why the Lefty Loonies hate this man so much. Bush pays no attention to the polls unlike Clintoon who ran everything from the polls including his foreign policy.

[MillerCreek]

With this, these statements and references and how they are reasoned together, my estimation of Limbaugh vastly improves.

[Zman516]

You're right. A pure democracy is bound for failure as soon as people realize they can vote for themselves the wealth of others.

Democracy ---> Two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

[Cobra64]

With this, these statements and references and how they are reasoned together, my estimation of Limbaugh vastly improves.

I've been listening to Rush for 14 years. He deals with FACTS (soundbites, etc.) and then connects the dots. He has an unbelievable research staff and terrific writers.

You may want to ask to be put on the Rush "ping" list.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Remember Eason Jordan?

Those CNN clowns were the first ones I thought of.

Anymore bottle rockets found around NBC? fake pcitures at the LA Times? phony stories at the NY Times? bogus people in news stories at the Washington Post? . . . .

[no-s]

my estimation of Limbaugh vastly improves.

I can't stand listening to him on the radio, sounds like a pompous blowhard, but I enjoy reviewing the transcripts. He makes fine points, well worth repeating - as in this example...

[Yorlik803]

The MSM is pissed because all these years they were writing Propaganda for Saddam for free, never considering asking for money...

[Bullish]

The MSM is now a laughingstock to anyone who's not slurping up the democrat kool-aide.

Lies upon lies designed to advance their own personal political agenda. They deserve what they're getting and that's disgust and disdain from the American public.

[MillerCreek]

Yeah, that's my conclusion, too. Reading his reasonings and comments is far preferable to listening to him. I realize mine/yours aren't such popular opinions among some, but, I hear him and tune him out due to about same as your take about him, but when I read his columns/transcripts, I agree with (most of) his points of view.

[MillerCreek]

I just find his vocal delivery too tense and it's distracting from what he has to say. I prefer to read him, let me just put it that way.

I'll look into the Rush Ping List, thanks.

[Milhous]

An online documentary movie named Pallywood shows how Islamofascists create propaganda for Olds Media. (Hat tip to ASA Vet for finding Pallywood link.)

[PISANO]

The MSM is NOT worried about being labeled 'hypocritical' otherwise they would not have run with the "POSITIVE & TRUE" but paid for news in IRAQ.

This is all very simple. If a conservative is caught in a 'hypocritical' moment they are ashamed of themselves and usually RESIGN rather than try to defend. If they try to defend themselves, no matter, for they are ALWAYS punished anyway.

Why does this ALWAYS happen? Because the DIMS and their cohorts in the MSM will NOT LET IT GO AWAY. They stay on message until the results 'they' want are obtained.

However if the MSM OR a DIMWITCRAT exhibits any hypocrisy, well it is just not talked about, it is buried and in essence it does NOT exist. It is just some sort of alternate reality that the GOP lives in...........but not the REAL world that the MSM resides in.......hence it is NOT reported and thereby does NOT exist.

[no-s]

never considering asking for money...

heh-heh...or maybe they did...