A tale of two stories.
Reading Capt(Major) B’s post on Rummy yesterday was funny ’cause I later ran across this example of gross media bias (lies?).
Tuesday, August 28, saw a lot of action in Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq, when attacks in three different districts by asshats loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr went on a killing spree. Who won? Depends on what news source you believe.
The official version from Multi-National Forces - Iraq is: Good Guys! Yay!
An alternate version from the San Jose Mercury News: Bad Guys! Boo!
MNF-I story IA, IP in Ad Diwaniyah Repel Attack
DIWANIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi Army and police forces successfully fended off an attack by a large group of terrorists in the Al Eufrat, Al Jumhuri and Al Nahda districts of Ad Diwaniyah after a 12-hour battle today that ended at approximately 3:00 p.m.
Alternate reality story: Militia takes southern city after battle with military
By Thassin Abdul-Karaim
Associated Press
AD-DIWANIYAH, Iraq — The fighting lasted through the night and most of Monday, with more and more Iraqi troops moving in to try to put down a militia led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. By the end of the battle, the militia controlled a large swath of this southern city, and 40 people were dead.
The Mercury Spews piece is presumably reporting on the action in the same parts of Iraq on the same day as the MNF-I report, but is scoring the outcome in a very different way. It details every excruciating Coalition (U.S.) death and Iraqi police murder, but lumps all the “innocent” and terrorist asshats together into one lump. The MNF-I article unfortunately does not include numbers for my Dead Terrorist Counter, but the Spews article would undoubtedly and very purposefully leave that number out even if it were known.
Something I found interesting at the very bottom of the Spews article:
The New York Times contributed to this report.
Why am I not surprised? You must always take NYTimes stories with a grain of salt, and these kinds of stories make it hard to take them at all.
Even with a fistfull of salt.
A fistfull of salt rubbed in to their … (must stop violent thoughts)…
August 31st, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Lemme think *weighing…weighing* hmmmm Capt B or the New York Times? *snort* No decision required. He kicks their ass.
September 1st, 2006 at 5:19 am
[...] Semper Gratus! reads difference versions of the same story. [...]
September 1st, 2006 at 11:35 am
How about rubbing it in there eyes!! That way they could “see” the story a little bit more clearly!