# Bush whines about media "filter" on Iraq, damn those pesky facts! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221 "2003-10-13T17:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/1 "2003-10-13T17:51:08Z")
Gee despite all the unwaivering support from most of the conservatively controlled media outlets, Bush still is whining about the media coverage on Iraq. I know he doesn’t read newspapers, so how would he know? Maybe somebody could turn his TV to Fox News Channel so he could see how stupid he sounds: > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - President Bush, annoyed by what he considers the “filter” of news reporting, will seek to go around the press on Monday through television outlets that do not routinely cover the White House. > > Bush was giving a series of interviews to make the case that the situation in Iraq is getting better. > > The appearances are part of a week-old administration initiative against critics of the war and its aftermath. It’s included speeches by Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and even first lady Laura Bush. > > The offensive comes as polls show Americans increasingly worried by Iraq policy. > **[Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines](https://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=%2Fap%2F20031013%2Fap_on_go_pr_wh%2Fbush_1)** > > The latest news and headlines from Yahoo! News. Get breaking news stories and in-depth coverage with videos and photos. Gee maybe its because the facts disprove your foolish spin control. That’s not a “filter”, its reality. Here is a hint- just because you repeat it over and over, doesn’t mean its true. Any 5 year old has learned that by now. Things are getting better huh? > [@](#): > > BAGHDAD (AFP) - Two US soldiers and an Iraqi were killed in the latest violence to rock Iraq, a coalition official said as several people were arrested following a Baghdad bomb blast a day earlier that killed eight people. > > A US soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the northern Iraqi town of Tikrit on Monday, a US military spokeswoman said. > > Two more soldiers were slightly injured in the attack in former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s hometown, 175 kilometers (110 miles) north of the capital. > > Another US soldier died of his wounds after his Bradley fighting vehicle hit a landmine Sunday night near Baiji, 220 kilometers (140 miles) north of Baghdad, a US spokesman said, adding that another soldier was wounded. > > In another violent development, a firefight with US troops early Monday left one Iraqi dead and three others wounded, including a policeman, near the flashpoint town of Baqubah northeast of Baghdad, police said > **[Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines](https://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=%2Fafp%2F20031013%2Fts_afp%2Firaq_us&cid=1503&ncid=1480)** > > The latest news and headlines from Yahoo! News. Get breaking news stories and in-depth coverage with videos and photos. > [@](#): > > A suicide car bomber killed six Iraqis yesterday in a huge explosion at one of Baghdad’s most heavily guarded hotels where CIA teams, American contractors and senior Iraqi officials were staying. > The lunchtime blast, which rocked the Iraqi capital, was the latest in a series of devastating bombings over the past six months that have claimed nearly 200 lives, most of them Iraqi civilians. > > Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq has been shaken by 84 major attacks, and countless smaller incidents and acts of sabotage, that have transformed America’s promise of rapid reconstruction into an increasingly bloody guerrilla war. > > Resistance fighters have grown more sophisticated and more daring. Yesterday several witnesses said two cars were involved in a coordinated attack on the high-security Baghdad Hotel. > **[Another day in Iraq, another bomb - 84 dates that tell tale of mayhem](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/13/iraq.rorymccarthy)** > > A suicide car bomber killed six Iraqis yesterday in a huge explosion at one of Baghdad's most heavily guarded hotels where CIA teams, American contractors and senior Iraqi officials were staying. 84 attacks? People, including American troops are dying every day and that’s “better”? No end in sight for our occupying troops, many of them Reservists and National Guard troops who don’t have their daddy’s connections to get them out of the war or even bothering to serve out the rest of their Guard obligation. Well, things must be going better on the UN front, right? Nope. > [@](#): > > An amended resolution on Iraq is to be presented to the United Nations Security Council on Monday, diplomats have said. > The US resolution has been redrafted to win international support for peacekeeping and reconstruction in Iraq after an earlier text failed to draw broad backing. > > . . . > > According to AP news agency, which has seen a copy of the text, the proposed resolution says the UN “should strengthen its vital role in Iraq” by providing humanitarian assistance, promoting economic reconstruction and helping to restore “institutions for representative governments”. > > Earlier this month, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed unusual criticism of the earlier draft, privately telling diplomats that the UN would not accept the limited political role proposed by the US. > > But a source has told the BBC’s UN correspondent, Greg Barrow, that the new text is not radically different from the earlier versions. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle\_east/3187658.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3187658.stm) Yep, things are going great! > [@](#): > > To those fighting the U.S. presence in Iraq – loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein, religious extremists, foreign terrorists – Iraqis cooperating with the U.S.-led occupation have become the new target of choice. From police officers to Governing Council members, they are regarded by opponents of the occupation as collaborators – and as much easier prey than U.S. soldiers and civilian reconstruction workers, whose compounds are now encircled with tall concrete barricades, dirt-filled barriers and miles of razor wire. > > “They are targeting the new leadership of Iraq because they can’t get to the Americans, because the Americans are very well protected,” Rubaie said an hour after the explosion, as he sat in a windowless room, his arm in a sling. > > Sunday’s car bombing of the Baghdad Hotel – home to five Governing Council members and several cabinet ministers – was the latest in a series of attacks on Iraqis who are working with the occupation authority. Vehicles packed with explosives have been detonated outside two Baghdad police stations, including an attack on Thursday that killed eight people. The leader of Iraq’s largest Shiite Muslim political party was assassinated in August outside the country’s holiest Shiite shrine by a massive car bomb that killed more than 80 other people. And last month, one of Rubaie’s colleagues on the Governing Council, Akila Hashimi, was gunned down as she drove to work. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17508-2003Oct12.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17508-2003Oct12.html) While Mr. Positive is sure we will find those pesky WMDs and that things are going great in Iraq, it’s the media’s fault for telling the painful truth, oops I mean “filtering” the facts. Funny, the same guy then claims he doesn’t know if we will ever find out who in his Administration violated federal law to smear the wife of an Administration foe. Gee I wonder why [cough cough] coverup [cough cough]. > [@](#): > > President Bush said yesterday that he has “no idea” whether the administration officials who exposed the identity of an undercover CIA agent will be identified, as the White House counsel’s office sorted through responses from Bush aides to the Justice Department’s request for phone records and other documents. > > “I don’t know if we’re going to find out the senior administration official,” the president said in response to a reporter’s question. “Now, this is a large administration, and there’s a lot of senior officials. I don’t have any idea.” [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56989-2003Oct7.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56989-2003Oct7.html) A Post editorial called out Bush on this as well: > [@](#): > > PRESIDENT BUSH SENT the wrong message when he announced, in response to a reporter’s question last week, that he has “no idea whether we’ll find out” who disclosed the identity of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame to columnist Robert D. Novak. Washington, the president said, “is a town full of people who like to leak information. And I don’t know if we’re going to find out the senior administration official.” The president insisted that he’d “like to” know. But, alas, “this is a large administration, and there’s a lot of senior officials.” And with “all due respect to [the press], you do a very good job of protecting the leakers.” > > Mr. Bush has ordered his staff to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation, and in an analytical sense his observation is correct: Leak investigations seldom unearth the culprits. But the president is not an analyst; he’s supposed to be a leader. He would presumably never say about a bank robbery, “We may never catch the perp. We’d like to, but bank robberies are tough.” He would, rather, express commitment to finding out what happened. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17923-2003Oct12.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17923-2003Oct12.html) Your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Blackclaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/2 "2003-10-13T18:01:19Z")
I think there is indeed a media filter on the coverage of Iraq but it may not quite be what Bush has in mind. I think what is driving the media now is what always drives the media. How exciting does this look on TV? Fiery smoked ruins always look better than a picture of an Iraqi bank with a voice over on economic reform. We see very little reporting done on the rebuilding of Iraq -be it good news or bad. Is the electricity still problematic in Bagdad? How’s the drinking water now? What’s the unemployment level? How many Iraqis are back to work and drawing pay? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/3 "2003-10-13T18:13:33Z")
Cmon, the Prez learned a NEW WORD, and he’s checking it out to see where it fits in the national discourse. There’s no need to get all REVISIONIST over his ass for it. It shows that he’s at least _trying_ to enlarge his vocabulary, and put those years of self-cultivated vocabularistic-_ignorance_ behind him. He should be applauded for his efforts at self-improvement. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/4 "2003-10-13T19:28:47Z")
Step 1: Fake “Iraq is just peachy” letters from soldiers Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit. > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (AFP) - Identical letters signed by different soldiers describing their accomplishments in Iraq (news - web sites) have been appearing in newspapers across the United States. > > It was unclear who wrote the letter or organized sending it, USA Today reported. The letter-writing campaign could violate military ethics if it was intended to sway public opinion. The morons however, used the exact same letter with different names in 11 different newspapers-- brilliant! **Nobody** will notice that. > [@](#): > > Six soldiers contacted by USA Today said they did not know who wrote the letter but agreed with its message. A seventh soldier said he only learned of the existence of the letter when his father congratulated him for getting “such a good letter” published in his hometown paper. > > Another soldier told the daily his platoon sergeant had distributed the letter and asked soldiers who agreed with it to sign it. The platoon sergeant also asked for the names of soldiers’ hometown newspapers. [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031013/ts\_alt\_afp/iraq\_us\_letters\_031013133922](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031013/ts_alt_afp/iraq_us_letters_031013133922) Smooth! Almost as good a plan as illegally leaking Cia spy’s indentities to somehow smear her spouse. I guess it’s that pesky “Step 2” that I still can’t figure out (with a tip o’ the cap to South Park). :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/5 "2003-10-13T19:54:09Z")
> [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - President Bush, annoyed by what he considers the “filter” of news reporting, will seek to go around the press on Monday through television outlets that do not routinely cover the White House. So, where’s George going to appear first? **Oprah? Good Morning America? Entertainment Tonight?** Wait, I know – **Judge Judy!** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/6 "2003-10-13T20:25:25Z")
> [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - President Bush, annoyed by what he considers the “filter” of news reporting, will seek to go around the press on Monday through television outlets that do not routinely cover the White House. Welcome to ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, with special guest, George W. Bush! Bush: Thank you, and i want to say, hooray for the Cubs, since i traded them Sosa! ESPN guy: Uh, no, actually you traded Sosa to the White Sox. Bush: I’m sick of this media filter! I’m leaving for greener pastures! ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/7 "2003-10-13T20:34:09Z")
Now now, it will be interesting to see if the media blitz will work. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/13/national1600EDT0610.DTL&type=printable](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/13/national1600EDT0610.DTL&type=printable) Well, it looks like it is: > [@](#): > > President Bush’s job approval rating, which had slumped in several recent polls, has bounced back to 56 percent in a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll released Monday. ---
**Author:** ![keithnmick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@keithnmick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keithnmick)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/8 "2003-10-13T20:48:46Z")
I’ve found it funny that not one news story has been aired concerning the burial of the returning dead, ‘a community mourns’ kind of thing. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Blair and her Maj attended a memorial servce for the war dead: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk\_news/3179442.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3179442.stm) Of course the media places emphasis on deadly attacks on American soldiers. I’ve seen plenty of other reconstruction reports as well though. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/9 "2003-10-13T21:10:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackclaw \* > **Fiery smoked ruins always look better than a picture of an Iraqi bank with a voice over on economic reform.** The fiery smoking ruins of a bank _is_ economic reform, of a sort. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/10 "2003-10-13T21:39:30Z")
I don’t know. While I think the “filter” the “media” has been applying to the news coming out of Iraq is exactly the same “filter” “they” have always applied(whatever will sell), it is indeed painting the occupation in a bad light. I saw [a Frontline report](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/truth/)(video available online from this link, a transcript should be up in a few days) which contained the following sequence. Troops were ordered to stop looters. A tank patrol was on the streets of Bhagdad and pulled over a vehicle with a small amount of wood(a dozen 2X4’s tops) strapped to the roof. The troops were attempting to speak to the people from inside the car, but the language barrier was seemingly insurmountable. No translator was with the patrol. The troops concluded that the vehicle was carrying looted wood, so they made the group get out and stand away from the vehicle. They fired their rifles and sidearms into the vehicle and then ran over it twice with their tank. They destroyed both the wood and the vehicle in the middle of the street. The news crew, who apparently had a translator available to them, tracked down the Iraqi’s who owned the vehicle and spoke to them. The owner of the vehicle said he was a taxi driver and the vehicle had been his family’s source of income. As far as I can tell the charge of carrying looted goods was not contested. I’m not a big fan of cowboy justice, and if these events are indeed common in occupied Iraq, then something needs to be done about it and damn fast. However, if this was an isolated incident, then it was misleading to play it up as sensationally as the program did. It was a very powerful segment and it really did get both myself and my wife pretty hot under the collar. To have someone dispensing this kind of justice when they can’t even speak the language and the “criminals” have both no chance to defend themselves and no recourse just really makes my blood boil. Like I said, if this is common, I want to see heads roll. If it is not common, then I want to see heads roll. I do not condone sensationalizing rare events and selling them to the public without clear disclaimers of the rarity of such events. There was no disclaimer on the event described above in the program. I think there should have been and now I’m all annoyed. While I still believe the sensationalism(and the accompanying increased viewership/sales) is what the “media” is mostly after, I think some responsibility should be expected as well. I have used quotation marks around terms like “media” in this post because there is no real unified media viewpoint in the US. Each station and news organization makes their own calls. Even from something like an AP wire, or a Reuters feed, there are enough correspondents writing in various ways, or editorial freedom on the part of the broadcaster to re-write or combine stories if they feel the balance is not fair. There is no monolithic, or even consensus-driven, “media” viewpoint. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/11 "2003-10-13T22:06:50Z")
I saw the same sequence, **Mtgman**. Appalling. For a pile of wood? Fucking _wood_! I don’t really care if it was looted or not, its just wood, fer chrissake! As LoonieLefty as I may (proudly) be, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it. ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/12 "2003-10-13T22:24:33Z")
Mtgman: Thanks for the link. I will have to wait until I am home to watch it though. I love Frontline. There multi part piece on the first gulf war was excellent. Worth it alone just for the Collin Powell interview. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/13 "2003-10-13T22:52:38Z")
Quite frankly I think I was annoyed by the senseless firing of the weapons into the vehicle. I mean, they had already decided to destroy it by running over it with the tank. If that is indeed the punishment deemed for looting(and seizure of property used to facilitate illegal acts is a long-established rule in the US) then confiscating the vehicle is within the rights of the occupation government. Destruction of the vehicle is within the rights of the occupying forces as well. But to fire the bullets into it? And THEN run over it with the tank? What kind of cowboyism was this? What possible purpose did it serve to have bullets flying? The destruction of the vehicle was accomplished by running over it with the tank. I don’t understand. If this is the kind of justice and rule of law the occupation has brought to Iraq then we’ve got to make some changes and damn quick. I hate to say it, but I think we need to ship some lawyers over to Iraq. I’ve got a few ambulance-chasers in my town that I can nominate. At least one of them even has experience with tanks.(this is an obscure nod to a friend of mine) Even operating under Martial Law people shouldn’t be allowed to get away with crap like that. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/14 "2003-10-13T23:09:38Z")
[Warren Zevon] “Send lawyers, guns and money!” [/Warren Zevon] ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/15 "2003-10-13T23:11:56Z")
I saw the same Frontline report, **Mtgman** , and I agree with you completely. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/16 "2003-10-13T23:14:30Z")
Oh, for anyone who wants to see the incident I mentioned above. Please check out [the segmented downloads page](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/truth/view/) for the show. There are seven segments for the 90 minute program. The sequence I am referring to is approximately seven minutes into the first segment, the Prologue. Upon review I see it was a bit more wood than I had remembered from my first viewing. There appear to be a few half-sheets of plywood and about a half-dozen 2X4s. It also seems guilt was more certain than I recalled. The program said the troops “caught a group of Iraqi’s stealing wood”. Still seems very much outside the idea of proportionate justice, even under Martial Law. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/17 "2003-10-13T23:19:44Z")
How to win friends and influence people. Why doesn’t the Bush admin look to Basra and the way the Brits are handling it down there? They have nowhere near the trouble the US is having. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/18 "2003-10-13T23:29:12Z")
How to win friends and influence people. Why doesn’t the Bush admin look to Basra and the way the Brits are handling it down there? They have nowhere near the trouble the US is having. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/19 "2003-10-14T00:55:43Z")
I wonder how soon before Shrub is going to announce that it is no longer in the national interest [meaning his re-election campaign] to report the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq. Or at least in a timely fashion. ---
**Author:** ![jamcracker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jamcracker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamcracker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221/20 "2003-10-14T03:18:57Z")
Regarding the OP: For years, I’ve heard conservative pundits allege that the media is liberal biased. Is this the first whiff of the administration adopting that same position? The AP calls Bush annoyed by the media “filter”. Bush has said he doesn’t watch or read much media, and that he counts on his advisors for news. So, how can he be annoyed by something he doesn’t pay attention to? Or is it just that his advisors are annoyed? To continue the _Frontline_ hijack: I was similarly stunned by the tank crushing segment. I told an ex-Army buddy of mine about it. He was immediately and temporarily pissed at me for “blaming the troops”. I really want to think that those soldiers had no instructions or bad instructions for dealing with looters. I think it’s important to blame shitty planning instead of the men. It’s not the soldiers’ fault - it’s the fault of the guy who sent the fucking army in a fucking tank to catch some guys stealing wood. After all, I must admit, if I were 18, and I were stationed in Iraq, I’d think it’d be pretty cool to crush a car with my tank. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-whines-about-media-filter-on-iraq-damn-those-pesky-facts/207221.md?page=2)