Inside the mind of NPR (Reporter admits taking perverse pleasure in US "failure" in Iraq)

TruthLaidBear.com ^ | 9-12-03 | Staff

[veronica]

I like NPR. I don't agree with their slant of coverage much of the time, particularly regarding the war. But I listen, simply because there just ain't any alternative if you want continuous radio news coverage. But even I was taken somewhat aback by an interview I heard yesterday.

In a bout of self-examination (or is it congratulation?) NPR's Terry Gross interviewed NPR's Anne Garrels on Fresh Air yesterday. Garrels was NPR's correspondent in Iraq during the early phase of the war, and has just written a book on the experience.

The interview is available in RealAudio format here --- the segment in question begins at about 28 minutes 30 seconds in. (The transcript below is my own transcription from listening to the audio (repeatedly)).

Gross asked a simple question, Garrels answer to which speaks volumes:

Terry Gross: Could you describe what you consider to be the emotional high point and low point for you during the war --- as a reporter and as a human being being there?

Anne Garrels: I think a curious high point was in the weeks afterwards when I realized that all the months of staying there had really been worth it because Iraqis had so accurately predicted what was going to happen; Iraqis knew themselves and made it very clear. So in a perverse kind of way I guess that was a high point. I was astonished at how ill-prepared the Bush administration was for the aftermath from the very beginning. And that continues to this day.

Think about this. Garrels witnessed the fall of one of the more evil regimes of the past century. Even for the most staunch opponent of the war, the end of Saddam's power and the beginning of the Iraqi people's freedom must be recognized as a huge achievement for human decency. But what was Garrels emotional high point? That's right: when she felt reassured that yes, things really are going badly for Iraq -- and the U.S. When her view that America was screwing things up was confirmed.

It is human to want to validate one's own actions; to feel some smug self-justification if events do indeed turn out badly when one has been predicting they would. But in Garrels situation, with all the things she must have seen and experienced, to declare that feeling to be the high point?

It is honorable of Garrels to admit this honestly. But that doesn't make it any less pathetic.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

NPR and PBS are public dog ticks.

[facedown]

I was astonished at how ill-prepared the Bush administration was for the aftermath from the very beginning. And that continues to this day.

Bolshoi. Major progress is being made every day. It's just not reported, or maybe on page 11 section E.

[Noachian]

Why does NPR continue to get public funding when we have a budget problem in this country?

[Quilla]

The only NPR correspondent I'm aware of is Mara Liasson. Several freepers have pointed out to me that she's not as bad as the rest of the NPR gang. I know I couldn't handle additional exposure to any other NPR types as Liasson makes me stand up and scream everytime she comments on Brit Hume's show.

[GOP_Proud]

I'm outraged! Outraged! NPR? Oh...nevermind. Nothing new here.

[mystery-ak]

I wonder how she feels when a US soldier is killed....reaffirmation?

[veronica]

This reporter is typical of the attitude I see at some other sites, where anti-war, anti-America types post, wherein every loss of a US soldier, or any perceived misstep by the US, is met with barely contained pleasure. To be against the war is one thing, to use the occasion of the deaths of soldiers as a "gotcha", is despicable.

[Amelia]

This has been obvious from listening to Anne Garrell's reporting before and after the war. (Yes, as I've stated here many times before, I do listen to NPR during my daily commute. It's useful for getting 'the other side', I've been able to teach my teenager how to spot bias in coverage, and sometimes their stories are interesting and/or less biased than you'd expect.)

After one report a few weeks ago, I intended to call or email the "Your Letters" part and ask if Garrells really thought Iraq would be better off if Saddam were still in power -- one gets that impression often. (No, I didn't do it; got distracted when I arrived at work & forgot. *blush*)

[Amelia]

This has been obvious from listening to Anne Garrell's reporting before and after the war. (Yes, as I've stated here many times before, I do listen to NPR during my daily commute. It's useful for getting 'the other side', I've been able to teach my teenager how to spot bias in coverage, and sometimes their stories are interesting and/or less biased than you'd expect.)

After one report a few weeks ago, I intended to call or email the "Your Letters" part and ask if Garrells really thought Iraq would be better off if Saddam were still in power -- one gets that impression often. (No, I didn't do it; got distracted when I arrived at work & forgot. *blush*)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

This is the most powerful argument we have against every lying left-wing special interest group and politician working to change the FCC regulations in an attempt to silence conservative voices in the name of "fairness". Free Speech for left-wing views only. Every other speech is "hate speech".

Enough's enough!

Thanks for the head's up, m-a. You know we aren't just going to take this. Yes, we are making progress every day in Iraq. The fact that the public believes any different condemns the press, NOT the Pres., or the troops.

E-mail major (inter)national "news" outlets.

 

E-mail members of Congress.

 

Contact the FCC:

Chairman Michael K. Powell: mpowell@fcc.gov
General information and inquiries: fccinfo@fcc.gov

[Publius6961]

This is only one additinal story about the sad state of a great idea.
I once read, somewhere, a long time ago, that all good institutions ultimately fail and fade due to excess of basic principle.

Equality. Great-sounding word. However, the universe and nature is uncompromising, and if equality is taken as giving the mentally deficient the same value as normal human beings, and the same rights, why are we surprised that the results is a train of disasters?

I never thought I would live to see the day when, on a national level, it is argued that black is white, bad is good, taxes are "investments", success is bad, and self-esteem trumps the laws of mathematics and physics.

What is remarkable is the number of true mental deficients who are allowed to vote and set social policy at all level of government.
Take the California legislature. Please.

The darkest sides of human nature intersected our peculiar American concept of equality quite a ways back and the question now is, can the damage be reversed? or are we condemned to the downward spiral that ends... ?

[Publius6961]

What is it that enables people like Anne Garrell to exist at all? Public assistance? A circle of friends similarly inclined who also exist on grants and welfare and similarly lash out at the system which makes their existence possible?
Think really hard, and try to think of a single positive contribution to society by these mites and lice of society. A single one.
It is more and more evident that the inexplicable hatred of success and envy of comfort and happiness that we experience worldwide by people whose main activity is killing, destroying and tearing down, is mirrored in our own society, the domestic disaffected, lashing out and hating with a palpable passion that goes beyond reason, and the rest of us need to live "around them".

The number of certifiable nuts among us is scary.

[Publius6961]

BUMP!

[wizardoz]

Truth laid a bear? That's pretty kinky...

[SevenDaysInMay]

Media and political hack carping about Election 2004 "Bush's planning failures without exit strategery" bases their analysis more on comparison to a tv/movie script's tidiness than any reality.

Garrels' & Co. plus the current 9 dwarfs and the Clintons' DNC Politburo's immaturity/delusion/5th column propaganda is pathetic, as it is dangerous to our Republic.

If we are again to be attacked by islamists or others, I pray that within our body counts of dead and maimed, media stars and politicians are among them. One fine media lady died at the Pentagon islamokazi attack. Self-important "Libral Elites" and diplomats believe that they should remain above "the street". Our fellow average citizens who makes this republic work despite continuous efforts of media stars and politicians deserve not to bear the burden of islamist war crimes alone.

[RicocheT]

"What is it that enables people like Anne Garrell to exist at all? Public assistance? A circle of friends similarly inclined who also exist on grants and welfare and similarly lash out at the system which makes their existence possible?"

This is SO TRUE! We have to continue the fight to defund the left. They have wormed their way into all those grants and programs they created to "help" the poor, etc.

Actually, the programs were set up to be a rice bowl for liberals in the bureaucracy.

[happygrl]

But that doesn't make it any less pathetic.

The word is not pathetic.

It is Evil.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Unbelievable. Good post.

NPR ~is~ an excellent tool for teaching kids about bias in the media. My kid's middle school teacher "told" the class to listen to NPR. Boy, was that fun (oops, and educational) for us. Now my kid can pick up liberal phraseology everywhere.

Newsweek (free subscription) is another premier source for demonstrating how "news" gets twisted into biased critique, regardless of any perception of it being "popular" or "mainstream".

[jaz.357]

And what is it with all the BACH and MOTZART?

If it is a true PUBLIC radio station, play more COUNTRY music!