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Iraq "Debacle" Rant Debunked
Geraldo Rivera on Fox

Posted on 02/20/2004 8:27:48 AM PST by Moby Grape

Interesting, isn't it?

The buildings that AREN'T burning in Iraq. "They have a saying in the news business," Geraldo Rivera related this week. "Reporters don't report buildings that don't burn." And with that introduction, he told a TV audience about the story that is being systematically denied to our entire nation: the success story of post-Saddam Iraq.

Are we losing some soldiers each week? Yes. Is there some frustration in the public about electricity and waterservice? Yes. Are some Saddam Hussein loyalists throughout the land, making trouble? Yes. Has this opened a window for some terrorist mischief? Yes. But that's ALL we hear. No wonder the country is in a mixed mood about Iraq. If you hear about the buildings that are not burning, though, it is a different story indeed.

Rivera is no shill for George W. Bush. But Bush, Condi Rice and Colin Powell together could not have been as effective as Geraldo was Thursday night on the Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes program.

"When I got to Baghdad, I barely recognized it," he began, comparing his just-completed trip to two others he made during and just after the battle to topple Saddam. "You have over 30,000 Iraqi cops and militiamen already on the job.

This is four months after major fighting stopped. Can you imagine that kind of gearing up in this country? Law and order is better; archaeological sites are being preserved; factories, schools are being guarded." But what about the secondhand griping that the media have been so efficiently relating about power, water and other infrastructure?

"To say that Iraq is being rebuilt is not true," answered Rivera. "Iraq is being built. There was no infrastructure before; we are doing it. I just think the good news is being underestimated and underreported." At this juncture, one must evaluate how to feel about the voices telling us only about the bad news in Iraq, whether from the mouths of news anchors or Democratic presidential hopefuls. At best, they are underinformed. At worst, their one-sided assessments of post-Saddam Iraq are intentional falsehoods for obvious reasons.

If I hear one more person mock that "Mission Accomplished" banner beneath which President Bush thanked a shipload of sailors and Marines a few months back, I'm going to spit. That was a reference to the ouster of Saddam's regime, and that mission was indeed accomplished, apparently to the great chagrin of the American left. No one said what followed would be easy or cheap, and that's why the dripping-water torture of the cost and casualty stories is so infuriating.

Remember we pay our soldiers whether they are in Iraq or in Ft Bragg, North Carolina.

We should all mourn the loss of every fallen soldier. But context cries out to be heard. Our present news media is not performing this task. As some dare to wonder if this might become a Vietnam-like quagmire, I'll remind whoever needs it that most of our 58,000 Vietnam war toll died between 1966 and 1972, during which we lost an average of about 8,000 per year. That's about 22 per day, every day, for thousands of days on end.

Let us hear NO MORE Vietnam comparisons. They do not equate. What I hope to hear is more truth, even if we have to wrench it from the mouths of the media and political hacks predisposed to bash the remarkable job we are doing every day in what was not so long ago a totalitarian wasteland. Local elections are under way across Iraq, Rivera reported. "Where Kurds and Arabs have been battling for decades, things have been settling down. Administrator Paul Bremer is doing a great job."

So does Geraldo think his media colleagues are intentionally painting with one side of the brush? "I'm not into conspiracy theories,..but there's just more bang for your buck when you report the GI who got killed rather than the 99 who didn't get killed, who make friends, who helped schedule elections, who helped shops get open for business, who helped traffic flow again.

"The vast majority of Iraqis are very happy to have us there. I would like to see a bit more balance." This needs to be reported to the American Public who are presently being duped. I expect the dominant media culture to nitpick and attack Bush, and Democrats to blast him with reckless abandon. But when that leads to the willful exclusion of facts that would shine truthful light on the great work of the American armed forces, that level of malice plumbs new depths.

If you have a friend that is looking for the truth, pass this on.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bushdoctrine; foxnews; geraldo; goodnews; iraq; iraqifreedom; markdavis; mediabias; personalaccount; progress; quagmire; rebuildingiraq
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DEBACLE.....BUSH'S MESS....QUAGMIRE...

This post dedicated to the DNC, the media, and to the Pat Buchanan cultist.

1 posted on 02/20/2004 8:27:49 AM PST by Moby Grape
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To: Impeach the Boy
Good find.

It's refreshing to hear a one-time Clinton lackey like Geraldo actually "getting it". Perhaps more media types should go over there and actually see with their eyes what's really happening on the ground without the DNC/mainstream media spin.

2 posted on 02/20/2004 8:33:30 AM PST by bassmaner (Let's take the word "liberal" back from the commies!!)
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To: Impeach the Boy
Geraldo has been doing this a lot. What's got into him ?
3 posted on 02/20/2004 8:33:50 AM PST by stylin19a (Is it vietnam yet ?)
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To: Impeach the Boy
Wow! This is great stuff.

hawk

4 posted on 02/20/2004 8:34:28 AM PST by hawkaw
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To: Impeach the Boy
Iraq "Debacle" Rant Debunked

Say that ten times real fast.
Betcha can't.

5 posted on 02/20/2004 8:35:43 AM PST by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: Impeach the Boy
Whatever you say about Geraldo Rivera, you have to admit that he always does our troops proud, always has a bunch of them in his broadcasts, always tells the poitive about what's going on in the War on Terror, Afghanistan or Iraq. He is the only one, and the troops must absolutely love him.
There should still be reporters imbedded with the troops, very sad that there are not.
6 posted on 02/20/2004 8:36:50 AM PST by tinamina
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To: stylin19a
I think 9/11 popped his head out of his behind.

CG
7 posted on 02/20/2004 8:38:38 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (I'm not stupid. I just act that way.)
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To: Skooz
I can't say it fast ONE time.
8 posted on 02/20/2004 8:38:50 AM PST by Moby Grape
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To: Impeach the Boy
DEBACLE.....BUSH'S MESS....QUAGMIRE... This post dedicated to the DNC, the media, and to the Pat Buchanan cultist

You should also dedicate it to the DUmmies. Plus... Someone should sneak over there and post this and watch the flames flare! I'd like to, but they banned me, DAMN!

9 posted on 02/20/2004 8:40:45 AM PST by RogerWilko
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To: Impeach the Boy
Let us hear NO MORE Vietnam comparisons.

Much of that came from a hope in the more liberal circles in the media that the Vietnam antiwar movement could be resurrected, morphed into an Iraq antiwar movement, and used as a lever for the defeat of Bush in November. It wasn't specifically for Kerry's benefit, that came later (but it did pressure the Democratic slate to adopt an antiwar posture, much to the detriment of Lieberman). In fact, now that Kerry's the front-runner du jour it looks to be somewhat of a negative - Kerry was just a little too strident way back when and carries negative baggage to a degree that I think surprised a lot of people, at least a lot of liberal people. I think they estimated a couple of medals would offset that. I think that was a mistake.

10 posted on 02/20/2004 8:48:49 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Impeach the Boy
Google is your friend :)

source of the text: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/6662465.htm

   Posted on Sun, Aug. 31, 2003

    The buildings that aren't burning in Iraq

Mark Davis is a talk-show host on WBAP/820 AM. mdavis@wbap.com

11 posted on 02/20/2004 8:56:35 AM PST by Tolik
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To: Impeach the Boy
LOUD APPLAUSE FOR GERALDO!!!!

Clap, clap, clap,clap!

Write FOXX news and tell them to give that boy a raise!
12 posted on 02/20/2004 9:07:33 AM PST by Notasoccermom
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To: Notasoccermom
I think this story deserves a few BTTT. Both for the Opinion and Geraldo. This and that USA Today story on Iraq's economy are, in my mind, some really good and accurate stories.

hawk

13 posted on 02/20/2004 9:09:21 AM PST by hawkaw
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To: Impeach the Boy
BUMP FOR LATER DISTRIBUTION. My extended family only watches network news and is constantly being told of the Iraq disaster and the disaster of President Bush. They have told me they will vote for anyone but Bush. I love them still and will try to save them.
14 posted on 02/20/2004 9:09:25 AM PST by IrishCatholic (Liberals are proof that public education has failed.)
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To: RogerWilko
You are right...I left off so many...MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Bon Jovi, the Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson....and the UNITED NATIONS.
15 posted on 02/20/2004 9:24:18 AM PST by Moby Grape
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To: Impeach the Boy
While I strongly agree with this article I am confused.

How much of this was written/spoken by Geraldo and how much by someone else? You listed Geraldo as the author but it reads like a second person is selectively quoting him.

Also, when was this originally written/spoken. Though you listed a current date, the "4 months after end of major combat" obviously indicates it was written last year. If so then I'm afraid this is old news and to most people irrelevant to today's campaign.

Please be careful with your posts. We have plenty of current, good justifications to validate our arguments.

16 posted on 02/20/2004 9:26:09 AM PST by nevergiveup (We CAN do it!)
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To: Tolik
Thank your for the scource...I recieved the info via email, and it mentions the quotes from Rivera....
17 posted on 02/20/2004 9:26:15 AM PST by Moby Grape
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To: nevergiveup
The QUOTES are attributed to Geraldo for comments he made while reporting about his visit to Iraq....the article, as another Freeper has noted, was published elsewhere.
18 posted on 02/20/2004 9:32:47 AM PST by Moby Grape
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To: Impeach the Boy
Rush should bring up this article on his show today.
19 posted on 02/20/2004 9:36:31 AM PST by hawkaw
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To: hawkaw
Another Freeper has pointed out that this is an older article, alhtough true in its' assesment. The date line was unknown to me. Geraldo said these things only 4 months after the fall of Bagdad, so for this reason, Rush should not use it, unless in the context of when written.
20 posted on 02/20/2004 9:45:50 AM PST by Moby Grape
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