Redstate

Now there is a credible, balanced, right-down-the-middle source of info for you, eh?

I suppose al-Jazzera doesn't have an OpEd on this "attrocity" up and running yet.

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

and just move those goalposts as far as ya need to to feel comfortable.

The thing that gets me about this story - on one hand, we have allegations that a car bomb blew up a bunch of kids at a soccer field.

On the other, we have the Army saying that some people were merely hurt when THEY blew up a bomb next to a soccer field.

Though according to the military account noone died - which is nice - the question still remains as to what exactly happened, that so many were injured by a blast we set off?

Pray tell, which goalposts are I moving?

And pray tell, why are you seemingly so hesitant to believe the Army account of the story?

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

The 'this whole story is made up by terrarist stringers employed by the AP!' goalpost. But that's really aside the point.

You say,

'And pray tell, why are you seemingly so hesitant to believe the Army account of the story?'

Oh, I'm not hesitant to believe that side of the story. But, if we are to believe that side of the story, there are some serious questions that need to be answered as to who thought what they were doing was a good idea. There are times when civilians are unavoidably injured; was this avoidable?

I don't like reading about civilians getting injured by our actions, especially when there doesn't seem to be any enemy engagement involved. The worst possible PR for our troops.

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

Fourth of July, in which I celebrated my country in grand ol' style by blowing up a small part of it in spectacular fashion. That anthill will never mess with me - or anyone else - again.

Seriously though; yes, explosives are dangerous and unpredictable. That's why ya gotta be careful. That's why I hate reading things like this.

It doesn't matter who is right, unfortunately, it reflects poorly on the US soldier either way. PR and the opinion of the average Iraqi are damned important things... oh, for the days when we had clearer battle lines...

If someone messed up I am confident corrective action will be taken. And sure, I would just assume that not have happened.

Crossing a street reflects poorly on the US in some circles these days, however. Damned if you do...

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

I think you're pretty badly mischaracterizing streiff's POV. He is not saying "the story was made up by terrorist stringers" - he pointed out that the source for the stroy was of somewhat dubious origin and that apparently the AP did very little in the way of verification.

Which seems to be pretty much standard operating procedure for "journalism" in Iraq these days. Which streiff (and I, and a few others) think is a, well, problem.

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

Let's face it - Iraq isn't a safe place for journalists to go running around. This is inevitably going to lead to a certain reliance upon the locals for material.

What are you to do as the head of a Baghdad bureau? The paper who is paying your salary wants a story from the field, do you tell them 'well, we couldn't travel to Mosul or wherever to personally verify any of the stories we heard about, so we can't report anything.' Not gonna happen, people gotta keep getting paychecks, so the quality is going to deteriorate naturally in any war zone.

Just take it with a grain of salt - some of the reporting will be false, some will be true. I wish we could get to the point where stories such as this seemed like impossible acts, instead of common ones, in Iraq.

some of the reporting will be false, some will be true.

Then it's not REPORTING, duh!!! It's called guessing and has no business being passed on as reporting, period.

Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin

there is no reporting, anywhere, ever.

Because some stories reported on will be true, and some false. Hard to verify 100%. Why, I think we've seen plenty of examples where reporting turned out to be false, even many in which there was good reason to believe it was true to begin with.

I find your black-and-white demands about reporting standards to be out of step with the reality of the profession and the reality of a war zone.

as in the above example, the is no "reportedly", "there are unconfirmed reports", in the paragraph about the children being killed. THEY made it black and white where it seems that it is otherwise.

They should just report the war the same way they do when it comes to misdeads by democrats, use words like alleged, claimed, uncomfirmed.... you know what I'm talking about I'm sure

Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin

I see you aren't all that acquainted with it.

When you say something happened there is an expectation, at least among civilized peoples, that you have in fact verified the "something" if you are a person of integrity.

The fact that 1) the war in Iraq is an information war and 2) the story played into the hands of al Qaeda/al Sadr makes this piece of crap particularly offensive given that it didn't happen.

Honestly musings, I'm having a hard time believing this is a serious line of inquiry. But in case it is, here's the answer - They. Suck. It. Up.

In other words: They get the story, they verify the story, they write the story, they mail it in. That the "reporters" in the Green Zone are failing utterly in the first two parts of that line equates to malpractice in my book - and seeing as how said strategy plays directly into the hands of our enemies I find it, well, reprehensible isn't too strong a word.

Let's face it - Iraq isn't a safe place for lots of people to go running around. But the fact of the matter is that there are plenty of westerners working in, just as an example, the energy industry who are somehow managing. Why "journalists" should be given a pass on that is something I'll never understand.

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

really?

Sometimes people get too close to things that blow up. It happens.

But you are establishing a fairly odious smokescreen for what would be malpractice if journalism had standards of behavior.

My point is that neither version of the story - the terrorists did it on purpose, we did it by mistake - reflects well on the US soldier.

You are correct that journalism doesn't have established standards of behavior the way that doctors do; but I'm not exactly sure why they would, or should. You, me, anyone else who watches or reads their work, is free to judge them as competent and trustworthy or not competent and trustworthy.

Noone forces anyone to watch the news, read the internet, or peruse a paper. We all choose to do so. There seems to be a perception that accurate information exchange, the timely reporting of actual events exactly as they happened, is some sort of right, when it is merely a convenience.

Decide to use the convenience, takes yer chances.

The article asserts that "Accurate information in Iraq is like water in the desert: precious, rare, often polluted."

You disagree with this?

using an anti-American screed factory like the UK Independent isn't a particularly effective tool.

That was my point.

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

makes the AP and Reuters reporting from Iraq, and the NYT reporting from Russia when Stalin was starving millions look like material for Pulitzer Prize nominations.

Oh wait, the NYT got one for their lies.
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

it was hardly "knee-jerk" - I was sure to read it before determining it was typical twaddle from Fisk.

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So libs, how's that Congressional Resolution to end The War™ coming along?

there is a process called "Fisking". It refers to a line by line deconstruction of a news or opinion piece, pointing out the inconsistencies and outright lies. It derives it's name from Robert Fisk, the idiot you linked to. The name came about because bloggers got into the habit, a couple of years ago, of deconstructing Mr. Fisk's screeds.
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

Robert Fisk as a source for anything but methane (and on another subject, HE could be the cause of global warming) is beyond asinine. The fact that Fisk wrote the story should give anybody with an IQ higher than a small rock and any experience in reading his tripe cause to immediately doubt the veracity of the story.
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

You appear to call me "beyond asinine" with an IQ of a small rock.

I have no respect for you either.

Please. You need to offer something rational to earn that. And I didn't "call you "beyond asinine", I said referring to Fisk was that.
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

What would that be? Oxinine?

"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle

I re-read your comment a few times and it does appear that you might just infer that.... it could be a brain thing, have you had an MRI lately?

Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin

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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

or read this, what have you...

very off topic but I'm busting

As you personally know my daughter in law(I mis-like that phrase), daughter! who was scheduled for Iraq.... not going, or at least not until after she has my GRANDCHILD... haha ha

I'm gonna be a grandfather, honest to god I swear I prayed that I would outlive my dog, a ferret we had, a frog we still have and live to see a grandchild. I had one of the oldest ferrets I think that ever lived, my poor dog was so full of cancer I put her down last year one day after a bad day at the doctors (I cried like a baby doing it) and the frog is over 12 years old and shows no sign of anything, grrrr but the baby is due right around my bday in oct, not too far off.

I really am one of gods favorites I tell you! ok sorry for the little rant but I kinda figured you would get it!

Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin

you are a blessing to us all. We will add your grandchild to our prayers. And we'll pray the little kiddo is overdue. :>)
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

oh I'm not planning on checking out mind you and besides that frog looks pretty spry, how long do those things live anyway!

Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin

that a frog will live forever if you kiss it on the lips a minimum of four times a day. I had a link to a health website about that, but I can't find it. Just start kissing the frog, I'll look for the website.
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Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — J. Michael Waller

by using a Robert Fisk article as proof of something I don't see where you have any grievance with being labeled an ass.