{"article":{"id":104441,"heading":"Geraldo from Baghdad","author":"Hector McLean","created":"2004-03-07 01:01:30","modified":"2004-03-09 21:22:31","last_modified":"Wed, 10 Mar 2004 04:22:31","article":"

The buildings that AREN'T burning in Iraq.... Probably each of you has wondered if things could be as bad as Brokaw, Jennings, et al, have been painting it.

\"They have a saying in the news business,\" Geraldo Rivera related this week. \"Reporters don't report buildings that don't burn.\" And with that introduction, he told a TV audience about the story that is being systematically denied to our entire nation: the success story of post-Saddam Iraq.

Are we losing some soldiers each week? Yes.

Is there some frustration in the public about electricity and water service? Yes.

Are some Saddam Hussein loyalists throughout the land, making trouble? Yes.

Has this opened a window for some terrorist mischief? Yes.

But that's ALL we hear. No wonder the country is in a mixed mood about Iraq. If you hear about the buildings that are not burning, though, it is a different story indeed.

Rivera is no shill for George W. Bush. But Bush, Condi Rice and Colin Powell together could not have been as effective as Geraldo was Thursday night on the Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes program.

\"When I got to Baghdad, I barely recognized it,\" he began, comparing his just-completed trip to two others he made during and just after the battle to topple Saddam. \"You have over 30,000 Iraqi cops and militiamen already on the job.

This is four months after major fighting stopped. Can you imagine that kind of gearing up in this country? Law and order is better; archaeological sites are being preserved; factories, schools are being guarded.\" But what about the secondhand griping that the media have been so efficiently relating about power, water and other infrastructure?

\"To say that Iraq is being rebuilt is not true,\" answered Rivera. \"Iraq is being built. There was no infrastructure before; we are doing it. I just think the good news is being underestimated and underreported.\" At this juncture, one must evaluate how to feel about the voices telling us only about the bad news in Iraq, whether from the mouths of news anchors or Democratic presidential hopefuls. At best, they are underinformed. At worst, their one-sided assessments of post-Saddam Iraq are intentional falsehoods for obvious reasons.

If I hear one more person mock that \"Mission Accomplished\" banner beneath which President Bush thanked a shipload of sailors and Marines a few months back, I'm going to spit. That was a reference to the ouster of Saddam's regime, and that mission was indeed accomplished, apparently to the great chagrin of the American left. No one said what followed would be easy or cheap, and that's why the dripping-water torture of the cost and casualty stories is so infuriating.

Remember we pay our soldiers whether they are in Iraq or in Ft Bragg, North Carolina or Ft Hood, Texas or where ever.

We should all mourn the loss of every fallen soldier. But context cries out to be heard. Our present news media is not performing this task. As some dare to wonder if this might become a Vietnam-like quagmire, I'll remind whoever needs it that most of our 58,000 Vietnam war toll died between 1966 and 1972, during which we lost an average of about 8,000 per year. That's about 22 per day, every day, for thousands of days on end.

Let us hear NO MORE Vietnam comparisons. They do not equate. What I hope to hear is more truth, even if we have to wrench it from the mouths of the media and political hacks predisposed to bash the remarkable job we are doing every day in what was not so long ago a totalitarian wasteland. Local elections are under way across Iraq, Rivera reported. \"Where Kurds and Arabs have been battling for decades, things have been settling down. Administrator Paul Bremer is doing a great job.\"

So does Geraldo think his media colleagues are intentionally painting with one side of the brush? \"I'm not into conspiracy theories... but there's just more bang for your buck when you report the GI who got killed rather than the 99 who didn't get killed, who make friends, who helped schedule elections, who helped shops get open for business, who helped traffic flow again.

\"The vast majority of Iraqis are very happy to have us there. I would like to see a bit more balance.\" This needs to be reported to the American Public who are presently being duped. I expect the dominant media culture to nitpick and attack Bush, and Democrats to blast him with reckless abandon. But when that leads to the willful exclusion of facts that would shine truthful light on the great work of the American armed forces, that level of malice plumbs new depths. <\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"I am not a big fan of Geraldo, but I have to give him this one. He is so right about the reporters who "Report" the news.\r\n","numcomment":15,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/03\/104441.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":104447,"heading":"lots O yuks","article":"priceless!!\r\nwell; this will dispell the countless time the libral media spends denouncing this heroic endevor to liberate the Oil of Iraq.","author":"master card","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-07 02:03:30","modified":"2004-03-07 02:03:30","fileurl":""},{"id":104451,"heading":"It makes sense","article":"Buildings, hospitals, pipelines slowly being built are not news, for the soundbite times we live in.\r\n\r\nOf course we're not getting the real story in Iraq, you have to go there to really see for yourself.\r\n","author":"Barney","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-07 02:09:26","modified":"2004-03-07 02:09:26","fileurl":""},{"id":104454,"heading":"being there","article":"as one of the reporters on the ground, I must say that these troops\r\nsure like to play here in the sandbox.\r\nsee ya soon. Barney.","author":"master card","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-07 02:19:42","modified":"2004-03-07 02:19:42","fileurl":""},{"id":104482,"heading":"Isn't it interesting","article":"Isn't it interesting that the anti-war crowd has been silent in this thread.\r\n\r\nPerhaps they're starting to realize that they were wrong about Iraq all along, and are best off keeping their mouths shut to avoid further embarrassment.","author":"Johnson","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-07 14:43:20","modified":"2004-03-07 14:43:20","fileurl":""},{"id":104510,"heading":"WMDs are here","article":"and fresca is the most Wasted Mental Defective To come across in years.","author":"Heh","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-07 18:00:20","modified":"2004-03-07 18:00:20","fileurl":""},{"id":104513,"heading":"I guess","article":"and since you're here all the time...","author":"Heh","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-07 18:26:23","modified":"2004-03-07 18:26:23","fileurl":""},{"id":104530,"heading":"horsebacon sandwich","article":" "...What I hope to hear is more truth, even if we have to wrench it from the mouths of the media and political hacks predisposed to bash the remarkable job we are doing every day in what was not so long ago a totalitarian wasteland.."\r\n\r\nrivero seems to have it quite close, to ground level that is.","author":"ant","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-08 00:15:23","modified":"2004-03-08 00:15:23","fileurl":""},{"id":104531,"heading":"I know what you mean","article":"I can't turn on the televison without the constant media hacks telling me what an awful job we are doing there. The constant views of the over crowded hospitals of Iraqi civilians and the shots of our troop[s firing on civilians... Without letup. All the time dissing the wisdom of the heroic Bush Presidency.\r\nmakes me want to puke.","author":"Torgus","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-08 00:33:59","modified":"2004-03-08 00:33:59","fileurl":""},{"id":104542,"heading":"Geraldo?","article":"Tabloid jounalist.\r\nIs that the best hawks can come up with?\r\n\r\na pin for your bubble:\r\nhttp:\/\/www.occupationwatch.org\/","author":"builder123","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-08 05:00:26","modified":"2004-03-08 05:00:26","fileurl":""},{"id":104544,"heading":">Builder124","article":"You wouldn't remember, Builder, because you're not old enough.\r\n\r\nBut 4 years ago Geraldo had a TV show on MSNBC every night. It was a current events talk show.\r\n\r\nThe point is that Geraldo was and is very liberal. He appeared to be on Al Gore's payroll back then. \r\n\r\nNow he works for Fox but I'm sure his political loyalties aren't changed.\r\n\r\nSo what we have here is a leftist journalist going over to Iraq and reporting what he's see with his own eyes.\r\n\r\nAnd so why are you in denial?","author":"Johnson","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-08 05:58:36","modified":"2004-03-08 05:58:36","fileurl":""},{"id":104554,"heading":"the guy's a toothpaste salesman...","article":"...and a light weight in need of controversy as seen here. \r\n\r\n\r\n Rivera aired a story for Fox News about American soldiers who were killed abroad by friendly fire during a US bombing raid. Rivera intoned the Lord's Prayer and described the site as ''hallowed ground''. The problem was, David Foklenfilk of The Baltimore Sun discovered Rivera had been hundreds of miles away during the incident. The Fox News Channel concluded that Rivera had made a regrettable error. \r\n\r\nIn March of 2003, while on assignment covering the war in Iraq, Geraldo was told by American military officials that he was no longer welcome to accompany U.S. soldiers. It turns out that during an on-air appearance, he'd drawn a map in the sand revealing sensitive information about U.S. troop locations. \r\n","author":"builder123","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2004-03-08 07:09:10","modified":"2005-08-15 02:51:19","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/03\/untitled2.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/03\/untitled2.jpg"}},{"id":104555,"heading":"you guys","article":"Television is a pentagon platform of propaganda.\r\nEmbedded is the word that comes to mind.\r\nI think this 9mm packing mouth is as funny as your attempts to portray\r\nany of the overpaid taling heads as anything but a BS salesmen.\r\nSpin anyone?","author":"Heh","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-08 07:14:33","modified":"2004-03-08 07:14:33","fileurl":""},{"id":104628,"heading":"yes a great journalist","article":"The Titanic, pointless stories on 20\/20 (prefiguring the conservative dork\/ass\/hack John Stossel), that nazi broken nose spectacular on his sensationalist talk show, and now this.\r\n\r\nHe's no leftist. He isn't even a liberal, and never has been. He's a middle-of-the road American opportunist.","author":"more rational","parent_id":104441,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-03-09 21:22:31","modified":"2004-03-09 21:22:31","fileurl":""}]}