If the press "cared" about the Iraqi people, they wouldn't attack their liberators daily [rant]

Aug. 23, 2003 | Me

[AmericanAssyrian]

Those of us with friends and loved ones in Iraq are grateful to have FR and other honest vehicles for the truth.

I have been getting my news from FR since the days of the Elian Gonzales stories, but it wasn't until we were able to contribute concerning Iraq that my husband, AmericanAssyrian, began posting, with help from me when he cannot get the word out.

We have frequent reports from the Assyrian people in Iraq that don't come out in the mainstream media. We have yet to see an adequate report on the death of our friend Nadan Yonadam this week. He was the unidentified "Iraqi civilian" of Wednesday's news stories. Now that his family and friends have been notified of his death by a guerilla attack in Tikrit, we want the world to know that Nadan was a naturalized US citizen, a veteran of the US Navy, and a courageous Assyrian Christian who answered the military call to go to Iraq as a translator.

We know that readers on FR do care that Nadan died serving his adopted country, the US, and his desperately persecuted Assyrian brothers and sisters in Iraq. Thank you all for spreading the word when the media turns its back.

[MEG33]

Thank you for sharing your sad story about Nadan's service and murder..(it is murder).May God comfort his loved ones.

[MEG33]

You are right.We should note the good guys in the press.

[AmericanAssyrian]

Assyrians in the West have a direct link to the news as it happens through calls from family members and from returning volunteers who are working to help their fellow Assyrians throughout Iraq.

We appreciate postings on FR from scholars like Paul Marshall who put the plight of the Assyrians into words for the world to know this incredible remnant of survivors that God called "the work of My hands" in Isaiah 19:25.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/968374/posts

Before his visit to Iraq, Paul Marshall was briefed by a delegation from the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA), including Senator John Nimrod, a retired Illinois state senator who is now the Secretary General of the AUA, and Rev. Ken Joseph, an Assyrian missionary from Japan who aided in the initial relief effort this spring, and is best known on FR for his articles about how a "human shield" was converted to be pro-Iraqi war by his confrontation with the truth.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I lost it last June after FN continued to play the pro-Saddam propaganda video from Iraqi Info Ministry. Finally gave up on the press changing. I just couldn't understand why those who were charged with the responsibility of bringing us the news from Iraq didn't know how these tapes were used to hurt the Iraqi people for years.

Our troops were trying to reassure the Iraqi people that Saddam was NEVER coming back, were dependent on them for tips in locating the Saddam loyalists who were trying to kill them (and the Iraqis who support us) - and with Iraqis now getting FoxNews - I couldn't believe FN would treat these 'terror videos' as entertainment. It still makes me cry every time they show that video of a smiling Sad-DAMN surrounded by an 'adoring' crowd. Earlier rant on the subject.

[kattracks]

I recently watched a movie about WW11. In some of the scenes a there was a radio broadcasting Tokyo Rose propaganda. She was giving out the names of the dead and using that information along with other remarks to lower the morale of the American troops.

The first thought that came to me was that today's leftist media have taken over where Tokyo Rose left off. Including the "American" media.

[swany]

Thank you so much for your post. God bless you all.

Nadan's story is a hero's story. I pray someday all Americans will hear it.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You're right McGavin. There are some fine reporters. Perhaps if they joined together and started their own news outlet, we could find their work instead of having to hunt so hard for it among the mass of anti-American propaganda pieces. National Review, Opinion Journal, Townhall, NY Post run regular, supportive articles and editorials. Most of the military reporters have been doing a fine job.

Our mainstream news sources rate an overall "F" for failing our nation, our troops and freedom-loving people everywhere, imho. I'm not in the mood to appease those who are currently putting our troops in harm's way, undermining the will of the American people - and misinformed people around the world who then influence their leaders to pull back promised help in $$$ and troops (or give already unwilling leaders an excuse). When our press joins with our enemies to undermine America, they get no pass from me.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you for the link, AA. The Assyrians have an amazing history.

The people of Iraq have reason to be afraid. They suffered for a very long time. They have real enemies still hoping to wrest control. It is a delicate time.

We are winning.

Amb. Bremer and Gen. Abizaid are good men, wise. Their briefings are reassuring.

The letters from the troops are hopeful, too.

The Iraqi people who are helping us rebuild are very brave and grateful. They are determined to make sure no one like Saddam - or the Mullahs in Iran - rule again. They want freedom.

We are taking out more bad guys daily. All the forces say things are improving - contrary to press accounts.

Prayers are working.

"Saddam wanted to kill us all, but now he's gone and the Americans have come to bring us law and democracy."
-- Jamil Azad, owner of a tea shop in Halabja, The Washington Post, August 7, 2003

"We suffered 35 years. Now the best job is done, there is no more Saddam Hussein and his regime."
-- Yonadam Kanna, leader of the Assyrian Democratic Movement and member of the Governing Council, Christian Science Monitor, August 7, 2003

Baghdadis now freely surf the Internet and send e-mail without a government official pacing behind them."
-- The New York Times, August 5, 2003

"Iraqis are very thirsty to learn what is happening outside of Iraq."
-- Abbas Darwish, owner of a Baghdad shop that sells newspapers, The New York Times, August 5, 2003

"Recruitment for Iraq's post-Saddam army started on July 19, and this week, a two-month basic training course gets underway to produce its first 1,000-strong light-armoured mechanised infantry battalion."
-- Agence France-Presse, August 5, 2003

"I can put my head on the pillow and sleep deeply. I can rest now."
-- Ayad Hosni, a barber in Baghdad, Knight Ridder, August 5, 2003

"But neighborhoods in and around Baghdad, staggering from uneven electrical power and water supply, also buzz with normal summer delights. Ice-cream stands are jammed, soccer fields swirl with the dust of matches and bookstores down from the Shabandar [cafe] are open all hours and selling posters of imams and politicians once-reviled by the ousted regime. Booksellers grin when asked about their new reality."
-- Chicago Tribune, August 5, 2003

"You never knew who was sitting next to you. In the past no one would dare to just speak out. Now everybody is talking. About federalism, about a monarchy. ... I think our aims are just one, to eliminate persecution for anyone ever again."
-- Jafar Adel Amr, a tool salesman in Iraq, Chicago Tribune, August 5, 2003

VOICES OF FREEDOM
Quotes from the grateful Iraqi people. Y

[Spruce]

[blackie]

Be Well ~ Be Armed ~ Be Safe ~ Molon Labe!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

The first thought that came to me was that today's leftist media have taken over where Tokyo Rose left off. Including the "American" media.

So true, kattracks. I stopped waiting for the villagers to revolt. FR and other news outlets can at least encourage the troops today, let them know we are finding the truth and sharing it.

Many of today's reporters probably view Tokyo Rose as a hero. I think they should all spend a few weeks on mass-grave digging duty, under the supervision of Saddam Hussein's living victims.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Back at ya, blackie. Thanks.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Yasser Alaskey, Feb. 2003:

Media affairs director, Iraqi Prospect Organisation

"The authorities came to find my parents in the middle of the night - they suspected my father of being involved in the opposition. My uncle pretended to be my father to give him time to run away. My father was taken to the Iranian border by a friend while my mother was driven to Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. She was hiding in a small village when she gave birth to me in August 1980. She later fled with me to Syria with fake documents, before coming to Britain.

When Saddam's men come after one person they hunt the whole family. My mother's sister and her family were also suspected of supporting the opposition. In Iraq, mere suspicion of something is enough to get you taken in for questioning. Reports from people released from prison say they saw the authorities burning my two-year-old cousin alive in front of her parents to get them to talk. As they refused my aunt was raped in front of my uncle and executed. Eventually my uncle was also executed. My grandparents managed to hide their one-year-old son; he was later smuggled to Iran."

~~~

Yasser Alaskary
Wednesday May 21, 2003, UK Guardian

 

"I am feeling quite low at the moment; I did think that people opposed to the war were genuinely concerned for the Iraqi people and the losses we might have suffered. Now I realise that people's opinions of this war were based almost entirely on a hatred of American policy.

 

I have always said that declaring war on the basis of the presence of weapons of mass destruction was stupid, but I would have supported anything that got rid of Saddam. It is only now that people living in Iraq can say that they supported the war."

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

"In terms of what kind of economic system they wish to establish, as you point out, the Ba'athist Party was a socialist party. I think it's very hard to imagine any strong support in this country for a return to that economic system, which has left the country really flat on its back, and which does not really provide a model for getting the kind of vibrant private sector which I think most Iraqis now realize is a sine qua non for a stable economy and stable economic growth. So if they choose socialism, that will be their business. My guess is that's not going to happen." ~ Amb. Paul Bremer  - Briefing on Coalition Post-war Reconstruction and Stabilization Efforts ~ 6/12

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the pic, Spruce. Bless our war photographers.

WELCOME HOME, DADDY! Air Force Staff Sgt. Alden Morrow, with the 202nd Red Horse Squadron, Camp Blanding, Fla., embraces his daughter, Camee, at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., Aug. 18, after returning from his unit's deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chad Chisholm

AMERICA'S press is also neglecting our troops on the homefront. If they can find a reporter and cameraman to cover the nitwits protesting John Ashcroft, they can sure as heck find a reporter to cover a rally in Melbourne, Fla., or Cleveland, Ohio...or anywhere Americans are gathered in support of the troops protecting these reporters right to mislead the world.

'Lack of interest' won't wash. This isn't about ratings.

Americans care about their troops.

(To be cont.)

[blackie]

Be Ever Vigilant Ragtime Cowgirl!

The Second Amendment...
America's Original Homeland Security!

[PhilDragoo]

TERRORISTS AND THE BUTT-KISSERS IN THE MEDIA WHO LOVE THEM

[freekitty]

Regarding the press; it's not about Iraq; its about Bush and America.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I know. Funny how we all make excuses for them selling out our country and our troops. I don't care why.