I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there were mass demonstrations in Iraq today. Al Jazeerah says there may have been 10,000 people there. Representatives from almost all the political parties. Kurds, Sunnis, and Shia all marched in solidarity.
So why isn’t this big news? I can’t find a single report of this on TV so far, or in any of the major newspapers.
It must be that liberal media Sam. Why, its even creeped into your links! Yes! The Perfidious Liars are hard at work. All the photos of the crowds carrying giant photos of GeeDubya garlanded with flowers have been suppressed! But they managed to get in the couple or three people, here and there, that are carrying pictures of mullahs or ayatollahs. Well, maybe more than two or three.
But I just can’t see how it can be possible that ten thousand joined the demonstration.Here is the picture that I found that seemed to have the most people in it, but that, to me, looks like several hundred to eh, maybe 1,500, tops.
Is this demonstration news? Yes, it seems to be an interesting development that folks like the INC and Communists can join each other in the streets. But as far as Iraq goes, I think the desertion of members of the New Iraqi Army is far more important news about the status of the US occupation of Iraq.
And as far as what gets covered on TV, I haven’t heard any reports whatsoever of Israeli-Palestinian violence in probably a couple of weeks. I guess that news isn’t good enough for a 26-minute program. But that’s why I read newspapers.
Well it is, but that blog claims 10,000 protesters, in the AFP report, only 1000 were reported. I would still say I am supportive of that protest, but I am not impressed, in many occasions I have seen the images of attacks to American soldiers being cheered by bystanders, that some leaders say are supportive of the Americans is laudable, but I think it will be meaningful only when everybody stops cheering attacks.
elucidator I also think there is no need to bribe anyone, no matter what is the nature for an invation, one will always find people willing to help the conquerors, specially the ones that opposed the former regime.
IMO, I still see an uphill battle to gain the trust of the Iraqis, acting like a colonial power (like in the contracts case) does not help.
Al Jazeerah said 10,000, apparently. I actually shouldn’t have said “Tens of Thousands” in the title. My bad.
Clearly there were thousands of people there, though. Just look at the images.
You mean like every time some left-wing group claims that hundreds of thousands or millions of people march in some protest, and the media breathlessly reports those numbers, only to find later on that the actual size was 1/10 that number? That’s a common occurance.
But hey, if they are waiting for accurate numbers, how about just reporting on the demonstrations, sans numbers?
When doing this search, I kept running across dozens of media reports about an anti-occupation protest five months ago. That one was much smaller than this one, but it’s all over the media, including getting a whole special section on the BBC web site, including multimedia clips and slide shows.
I guess anti-U.S. protests are just more newsworthy. No news here, huh?
Anyway, seriously - what do you guys think of this? Is this a major positive development? A sign of hearts and minds being won? Or is this just not newsworthy?
Because one link from the AFP isn’t much of a media splash, and this seems like major news to me. I never claimed left-wing bias, although you all were quick to accuse me of it. I’m asking a serious question - isn’t this big enough news that it should be covered? And if it is, why do YOU think it hasn’t made more than a ripple in the media?
It’s normally a good idea to give stories from Iraq a little time to percolate into the news before climbing on the liberal conspiracy train. In addition to AFP(see Yahoo), Knight Ridder, CTV, and even the San Jose Mercury News have pickd up the story (Look here for more.)
"Abbass Hamid, 24, an off-duty taxi driver, decided to participate when he saw the crowd walk past. ** “This is the first time I’ve participated in one of these by my own free will,” ** Hamid said. “I hope, if God is willing, the government will listen to us. I’m depending on them to make life better for us.”
Anyone else reminded of all those chortling threads back in the month or two after the war started, in which one or another of the Usual Suspects would breathlessly declare that the naysayers ought to be ashamed because they found the WMDs!!!?
Nothing to see here, folks. Just more Republican porn.
Have a look at the third picture down. There are at least several thousand people just in that frame. I think the 10,000 figure is low, especially considering that similar protests happened in two other cities as well.
And wow, there was a pro-democracy protest in Syria today.
The larger figures lumps together protests in multiple cities, including Karbal, Baghdad, and others.
Gee, 1000 people marched in Baghdad, a city of 6.5 million. Bully. The demonstrations against the U.S. dwarf this one, so I wouldn’t say we’re winning the straw poll yet.
As to why isn’t this on every front page: I think Rumsfeld’s visit may have overshadowed the Friday demonstration in some media outlets.
Try reading my messages again. I asked plenty of questions that have been ignored in favor of accusing me of blaming this on a ‘liberal media conspiracy’ - a claim I never made.
I agree, the New York Times should have put out a special edition of their paper tonight. Or maybe one should wait until the traditional media sources have their edit/publish lag time before asking such questions. When the Times buries this in the backpages, you’ll have a lot more to go on than just the fact that blogs are faster than newspapers and Broadcast News.
Well, he never had SEX with that woman, technically.
“So why isn’t this big news? I can’t find a single report of this on TV so far, or in any of the major newspapers. Maybe it’s because it’s a march against Terrorism and in support of reconstruction and the United States”
“This would seem to me to be amazingly good news, and a very welcome development. So why is no one talking about this?”
Using the same logic some Bushites used in the pre-war period:
Well the other millions who aren’t marching must be against Bush then… (When a million marched in London that was a common stupid response… where are the other millions.)
Its laudable that they are "protesting" and not being shot at by the americans. Obviously it wasn't too spontaneous and seems organized by the INC. I hope its not just for getting some media attention and promoting political groups.
Best of all... Iraqis will have to solve their own mess. Its Iraqis that have to stop helping insurgents. (The US is obviously incapable of doing so) A demonstration is smallish step into creating a national aversion to the insurgents... it still will take years to get things straight there.
In a place with thousands upon thousands of men unemployed and just standing around, you could draw a crowd of a couple thousand by banging a drum and playing a kazoo.
Apos’ quotes of Sam != him saying that there is a “liberal media conspiracy”.
It’s perfectly reasonable for Sam to ask why there isn’t reporting of this event going on. He doesn’t deserve to have words put in his mouth about any conspiracy.
