Posted on 05/24/2004 3:12:01 PM PDT by swilhelm73
The supposed U.S. killing of 40 Iraqis in a “wedding party” in Western Iraq, though the U.S. Army says it hit arms smugglers near the Syrian border, led the ABC, CBS and CNN evening newscasts Wednesday night as each portrayed the event as symbolic of why the U.S. is losing support in the region. “We’re going to begin this evening with why it is so hard for the United States to make headway in the Middle East,” ABC’s Peter Jennings announced as he cited the killing, the court martial for prisoner abuse and how Israeli, “using American helicopters and tanks, attacked Palestinians in Palestinian Gaza.”
“Tonight, the fog of war in Iraq,” Dan Rather teased as he presumed U.S. guilt: “Dozens dead, many of them children. Was it a mistaken U.S. attack which caused this?” Rather soon explained: “The Army insists it was targeting a nest of, quote, 'foreign fighters.’ Iraqis say the dead were celebrating a wedding, many of them women and children. As CBS’s David Hawkins reports, this incident seems certain to stoke Iraqi anger.”
From the White House, CBS reporter John Roberts maintained even Bush allies believe Iraq is “beginning to spin out of control.” Roberts claimed that “Republicans I talked to today said if it’s true that a U.S. helicopter shot up a wedding celebration, it just adds to a growing belief in the President’s own party that the situation in Iraq is beginning to spin out of control.”
CNN’s Aaron Brown opened NewsNight by citing a dour newspaper story: “A headline in today's Washington Post says a lot about the state of play in Iraq these days: 'U.S. faces growing fear of failure.’” Setting up the lead story on the killed Iraqis, Brown asserted that while “the circumstances are hotly disputed, the facts not fully known, save two. A lot of Iraqis died and life for the United States in the Arab world just got a lot tougher.”
The court martial led the NBC Nightly News, but Tom Brokaw too devoted a story to the mass death of the Iraqis. He set it up: “On the ground in Iraq tonight, what could be another case of the fog of war. Did the Americans launch a deadly air assault on the enemy, or on a joyful family celebration? As NBC’s Ned Colt reports tonight, it is question critical in the battle for hearts and minds.”
Now, a more complete rundown on the Iraq war spins offered Wednesday night, May 19, on the ABC, CBS and CNN newscasts:
-- ABC’s World News Tonight. Peter Jennings began by looking at developments from the perspective of those who hate America: “Good evening everyone. We’re going to begin this evening with why it is so hard for the United States to make headway in the Middle East. The first court martial in Baghdad of a soldier who abused Iraqi prisoners [photo on screen of Special Jeremy Sivits] in the infamous Abu Gharaib prison was a reminder of how this has undercut the U.S. with Iraqis. The U.S. has killed 40 people in the western part of Iraq [video of bodies in body bags and people wailing] and there is some suggestion by Iraqis, not yet confirmed, that the people may have been at a wedding party. That version of the story is all over the region. And today the Israelis [video of helicopters and people running as they carry wounded], using American helicopters and tanks, attacked Palestinians in Palestinian Gaza. Many civilians were killed and many more were wounded. Those pictures are all over the region as well.”
Despite Jennings’ sequence, he went first to Martha Raddatz at the Pentagon for the versions of the killings and how “both sides have evidence to back up their claims.”
Jennings also featured, as did CNN’s Aaron Brown on NewsNight, a couple of new Abu Ghraib photos, this time of individual soldiers giving a thumbs-up next to the body of a dead Iraqi man. For one of the two photos showcased by Jennings: abcnews.go.com
-- CBS Evening News. With “Desert Bloodbath” on screen over video of body bags being carried, Rather intoned: “Tonight, the fog of war in Iraq. Dozens dead, many of them children. Was it a mistaken U.S. attack which caused this?”
Rather led his newscast: “A U.S. Army helicopter opened fire today on a site in Western Iraq. The results, American and Iraqi officials agree, were devastating. Dozens on the ground were killed. But there the stories diverge. The Army insists it was targeting a nest of, quote, 'foreign fighters.’ Iraqis say the dead were celebrating a wedding, many of them women and children. As CBS’s David Hawkins reports, this incident seems certain to stoke Iraqi anger.”
Hawkins noted how the U.S. Army said it found weapons and cash with the bodies before he concluded, over video of men digging graves: “Regardless of who’s to blame for the tragedy in Iraq’s Western desert, these pictures are sure to further inflame anti-American sentiment here.”
From the White House, John Roberts noted how the Bush administration let the UN pass a resolution condemning Israel for destroying Palestinian homes. He then contended: “The White House is also anxious tonight to find out just what happened overnight in Western Iraq. Republicans I talked to today said if it’s true that a U.S. helicopter shot up a wedding celebration, it just adds to a growing belief in the President’s own party that the situation in Iraq is beginning to spin out of control, Dan.”
-- CNN’s NewsNight. Brown began with his “Page Two” comments: “A headline in today's Washington Post says a lot about the state of play in Iraq these days: 'U.S. faces growing fear of failure.’ The piece details how even the war's strongest supporters now admit to major miscalculations, not simply about the strength of the insurgency but of the willingness of ordinary Iraqis to put up with an American occupation. There is a feeling that we've now reached a critical point, the most critical point yet in Iraq that no political leader in that country, who is at all close to the United States, can survive, maybe literally, certainly politically. That even the moderates in Iraq, our best hope, will not be singing our praises. They argue that the hearts and minds battle is lost and nothing in today's news is likely to change that.”
Brown soon introduced his lead story handled by Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon: “We begin tonight with the fog of war and perhaps the monster that lives in it. When it lifted dozens of people in a village in the western part of Iraq had died, they say killed by an American air strike, the images beamed around the Arab world. Tonight the circumstances are hotly disputed, the facts not fully known, save two. A lot of Iraqis died and life for the United States in the Arab world just got a lot tougher.”
Which is, after all, why we show them.
Thank goodness I don't work for one of the broadcast networks. What a mess over there at ABCBSNBC land.
I don't remember it ever being this bad.
These reports are moronic. The "wedding party" incident has not had the effects they are blathering about. Regimes like Iran, Syria, etc are not going to be throwing any celebrations for us one way or the other. When the liberals get in full bs mode like this it gets sickening.
haha great!
This smells like the wedding party in Afghanistan, the "Baby Milk" factory in Bagdad, The "aspirin factory". Let's get real here. How many of these totally unrealistic stories can the "highly educated" American public fall for?
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