Catching up with the blogosphere after a long weekend away...Misha's post gets the WTF award of the day. Mind blowing.
Apart from hiring armed thugs to intimidate iraqis, did you see either of these stories anti-terrorist demonstrations covered by our news media? An extensive search on EIN turned up nothing in the world press either.
::Huge anti-terrorism demonstrations were held in Nassiriyah yesterday by students association condemning the attacks on the Italian force carrying signs such as 'No to terrorism. Yes to freedom and peace', and 'This cowardly act will unify us'. I have to add that there were similar demonstrations in Baghdad more than a week ago also by students against the bombings of police stations early this Ramadan. I hope the demonstrations advocates that bugged me are satisfied now. There are also preparations for anti-terror demonstrations before Id (end of Ramadan holidays).
How about this story?
Frantic Iraqi students jostle for U.S. scholarships
BAGHDAD, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The beefy security guard raised his arms as scores of Iraqi students surged forward, trying to get into the exam room, their degrees and references held aloft.
"It's getting out of control," said one U.S. official.
Competition for places in America's coveted Fulbright Scholarship programme -- being revived in Iraq after an absence of 14 years -- is that intense.
Only 20 to 25 students will win places in the Fulbright programme starting in January, but that has not stopped thousands of university students across Iraq from applying.
A 57-year-old programme named for a late U.S. senator, the Fulbright scholarship finances the exchange of students between the United States and other countries.
While many Iraqis express anger at the U.S.-led occupation and attacks on American troops mount, in the corridors of institutions such as Baghdad's Mustansiriya University where English language exams were held on Saturday for the Fulbright programme, the United States has quite a few friends.
"In my field of study, politics, all it concerned was Saddam," said Rami Rudainey, 22, a political science major dismissively referring to ousted leader Saddam Hussein, as he waited in the lecture room with 100 students to take the exam.
Outside the room, some 200 students were still trying to get in, even though there was only space for a few dozen more. Many had been turned away because they lacked complete documents.
For decades, ordinary students were forced into Saddam's army, were banned from studying abroad or lost university places to sons and daughters of the regime.
An October United Nations/World Bank report said Iraq's education system was among the best in the Middle East until the 1980s. It said the system was driven into decline by Saddam's expenditure on the military and the politicisation of teaching.
I think you didn't hear of this, because it is fake. Reading around the story, the local papers report hundreds, not thousands. The lower 3,000 figure was reported as exaggerated. The photos look doctored, and the looks on the people's faces, in the photos; look like people who were paid, people who were uncomfortable.
It has taken the government spin machine a while to figure out, that they need to compete with the real bloggers in this realm. Here is their first attempt.
If you read the main post, you will see American, midwestern syntax, with msn groups, net expressions. A real linguist would have a heyday with this. An Iraqi didn't write the post.
A real photographer here is telling you the shadows don't fall right in the picture of the Big Tribal chief holding up the piece of paper.
Holy whatever, if I am going to live in poverty so the jingoists that are in power can do their thing, at least they should do it well.
Yeah and the Jews were warned on 9/11. Whatever.
Posted by: feste at December 12, 2003 08:22 AMThis falls more into the realm of who buys what information? Who sells? There is a current campaign, selling that the media just isn't reporting what is happening in Iraq. The buyers of this are those that want a trap door in their heads, so they don't have to examine what is going on in this nation, or in Iraq. The campaign that the truth isn't coming out of Iraq, works well with the idiots. It keeps them in their comfort zones. I just have to see the pain in the faces of the families that regretfully explain how their children are in Iraq, but have nothing else to hold onto but pain and doubt. Deliberate disinformatin is not going to help anyone, but those for whom the reality of the situation, interferes with potential profit taking.
Posted by: Dayle at December 12, 2003 09:04 AMThank you for setting me straight, could you point me to a few hard sources? or are you receiving your info on your back fillings?
I went with amalgam, fillings, they are low mercury, white, and don't carry much of a signal.
The pixel density varies too much in the photo of the Tribal Chief holding up a slogan. The chief is one density, and the paper out front is another. The light source doesn't cast appropriate shadows on the paper for the angle of the sun. High School kids do better photoshop. Ask a linguist to check out this Iraqi's banter. It is definitely midwestern, US Web. If my tax dollars are buying this mock up of reality, then we need a better provider.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but until you can offer credible sources, we really don't have much more to discuss.
This report from AFP might be of interest.
"Thousands take to Iraqi streets to protest "terrorism"
Wed Dec 10,11:27 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqis, some watched over by US Apache helicopters, demonstrated in Baghdad and other cities to condemn "terrorism" in their country. "
I doubt the French Press is in on the scam.
Posted by: feste at December 12, 2003 09:40 PMYes, and I don't think they really caught Saddam, either. By now, they have had time to genetically engineer him, and build him from the ground up. Heh. What a sad and lengthy outcome, issued from his narcissism.
Posted by: Dayle at December 14, 2003 09:23 AM