# Yet another disparity..... \[Cheney shooting\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 14, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526 "2006-02-14T20:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/21 "2006-02-15T09:40:17Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Well, looky there: it’s the press whining and bitching: “Waaah! Why did it take a whole day to tell _us_ about the Cheney shooting incident?”. And now that is the hot, hot topic: CHENEY SHOT SOMEBODY!! Oh, the horror. Oh, should he resign over this? Etc., etc. > > Last Wednesday (or Thursday; I’ll have to double-check this), there was a press conference in Iraq. At that conference, it was announced that Iraqi forces have been fully responsible for more than 40% of the missions being run, and have participated in another 35% or so. Now, that was big news. But it wasn’t reported mainstream until today, when USA Today ran an article about it. And I’m curious as to why the mainstream media would choose NOT to report on something positive coming out of Iraq, but are having a feeding frenzy over an accident involving the Vice-President. > > Goodness. Could this possibly be (ohmygodlookouthesgonnasaytheBword) bias (ohmygodhesaidithesaidit) on the part of the media? Are they so interested in reporting \*anything whatsoever \* that makes the current administration look bad that they would deliberately choose to not report the details of that press conference? I gotta say: when the press conference indicates that we are nearly to the halfway point of successful completion of our mission instead of being “bogged down in a quagmire”, it sure looks like it. Cite from an independent, reliable source and not lying scumbags with a vested interest in lying to us again about the ‘readiness’ of Iraqi forces please. How about: [Decline in Iraq troop’ readiness - sept 05](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/29/AR2005092902085_pf.html) > [@](#): > > The number of Iraqi army battalions that can fight insurgents without U.S. and coalition help has dropped from three to one, top U.S. generals told Congress yesterday, adding that the security situation in Iraq is too uncertain to predict large-scale American troop withdrawals anytime soon. > > Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who oversees U.S. forces in Iraq, said there are fewer Iraqi battalions at “Level 1” readiness than there were a few months ago. Although Casey said the number of troops and overall readiness of Iraqi security forces have steadily increased in recent months, and that there has not been a “step backwards,” both Republican and Democratic senators expressed deep concern that the United States is not making enough progress against a resilient insurgency. Because - gee - we’re all sure things other than spin for gullible fools have changed dramatically in4 months. Or from [those commies over at Fox News, Jan 06](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183345,00.html) > [@](#): > > BIDIMNAH, Iraq — Just two days before a mission to send hundreds of Iraqi soldiers after insurgents in this troubled western part of Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi commanders confronted an untimely problem — an Iraqi battalion commander was suddenly fired for incompetence. > > The commander’s soldiers, a third of those assigned to the mission, would be absent for an operation designed in part to introduce the unit to residents in this town between the troubled cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, about 50 miles west of Baghdad. > [@](#): > > American commanders said an entire Iraqi brigade, about 2,500 troops, has taken over parts of the nearby city of Khaldiyah and an adjacent agrarian area from U.S. troops. But U.S. military advisers who mentor the Iraqi unit said just over half those assigned Iraqi soldiers were actually present. > > The Iraqi brigade already was short several hundred soldiers before they deployed to Anbar province from the northern city of Mosul, the advisers said, and about 500 more deserted when they arrived in late August and faced their first insurgent attacks. > [@](#): > > But other fundamental problems persist in the new army. Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded during Sunday’s operation by their own friendly fire. > > And, during a handful of gunbattles with insurgents last year, Iraqi soldiers simply dropped their weapons and walked away while U.S. Marine advisers continued fighting back, Newell said. In other cases, though, Iraqi soldiers jumped in front of U.S. troops to protect them, he added. Why oh why does Fox Hate America? Unlike [The Miami Herald](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/13713638.htm) > [@](#): > > DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - With American help, the Iraqi army is emerging as a lightly armed counterinsurgency force that may control more of the country than the U.S.-led coalition by this spring, U.S. military officials say. Hurrah. Break out the emergency stash of flags Clot. But wait. > [@](#): > > But in coming years, the Iraqi army will remain too weak to defend the country and will be reliant far into the future on America to guarantee Iraq’s sovereignty, experts say. But at least Iraq will have a national army, right? [Kurds say, ‘So long - and thanks for all the fish.’](http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13495329.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp) > [@](#): > > Kurds in Iraqi army proclaim loyalty to militia > > By Tom Lasseter > Knight Ridder Newspapers > > KIRKUK, Iraq - Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan. > > Five days of interviews with Kurdish leaders and troops in the region suggest that U.S. plans to bring unity to Iraq before withdrawing American troops by training and equipping a national army aren’t gaining traction. Instead, some troops that are formally under U.S. and Iraqi national command are preparing to protect territory and ethnic and religious interests in the event of Iraq’s fragmentation, which many of them think is inevitable. > > The soldiers said that while they wore Iraqi army uniforms they still considered themselves members of the Peshmerga - the Kurdish militia - and were awaiting orders from Kurdish leaders to break ranks. Many said they wouldn’t hesitate to kill their Iraqi army comrades, especially Arabs, if a fight for an independent Kurdistan erupted. > > “It doesn’t matter if we have to fight the Arabs in our own battalion,” said Gabriel Mohammed, a Kurdish soldier in the Iraqi army who was escorting a Knight Ridder reporter through Kirkuk. “Kirkuk will be ours.” Boy - if I was an Iraqi I’d be feeling so safe. No chance of the army being just a training ground for factional fighters at all. No siree, move along - nothing to see here. > [@](#): > > Their strategy mirrors that of Shiite Muslim parties in southern Iraq, which have stocked Iraqi army and police units with members of their own militias and have maintained a separate militia presence throughout Iraq’s central and southern provinces. The militias now are illegal under Iraqi law but operate openly in many areas. Peshmerga leaders said in interviews that they expected the Shiites to create a semi-autonomous and then independent state in the south as they would do in the north. No doubt clot will be back with a witheringly well-cited rebuttal. As soon as he’s checked if that magic bean has sprouted yet, cleared his property of tigers with his magic rock and puts in a bid for that bridge going for a snip on E-Bay. Better be quick though because before you know it some evil terrorist genius with a blow-torch will cut it up for scrap. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/22 "2006-02-15T10:45:00Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > And we all know what P. J. O’Rourke says: “Life is full of ironies - for the stupid.” > [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > 😃 I love that quote, and O’Rourke and I are political opposites, ironically. _Opens mouth, raises finger…_ Nah… _Shakes head and walks away._ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/23 "2006-02-15T13:00:26Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > So your saying the hundreds of thousands of employees in the media industry are in some sort of organized cahoots against the president? > > I don’t know what your smoking, but roll the windows down a bit. No, I think he’s saying that the conservative corporations that own 90% of the media are in some sort of organized cahoots against the president. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/24 "2006-02-15T13:20:37Z")
I sort of think it’s news when the vice-President shoots somebody. But a couple hundred years ago, undoubtedly someone was ticked off because the media was reporting about Burr shooting Hamilton, when the _real_ news was a 40% increase in the goat population of Weehawken, N.J. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, I think he’s saying that the conservative corporations that own 90% of the media are in some sort of organized cahoots against the president. I didn’t know there were “conservative corporations” and “liberal corporations”. I thought they all wanted to make money and make sure that the bozos who ran them glided off into Nirvana on golden parachutes. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/25 "2006-02-15T13:33:59Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I thought they all wanted to make money and make sure that the bozos who ran them glided off into Nirvana on golden parachutes. Those parachutes are a whole lot more golden and fly a whole lot farther when Republicans are in power. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/26 "2006-02-15T14:22:24Z")
**Clothahump** , please recognize and admit to the fact that this story was too good. It would not have mattered if the VP was Cheney or Al Gore. When the VP accidentally shoots a 78-year-old friend IN THE FACE in a hunting accident, it is the top story for the week. This is not bias, this is comedy/ratings gold. I hope that Mr. Whittington completely recovers. Unfortunately, the story has taken a turn for the worse as he suffered a heart attack due to a piece of buckshot being lodge in or near his heart. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/27 "2006-02-15T14:59:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Those parachutes are a whole lot more golden and fly a whole lot farther when Republicans are in power. Yes, I’m sure that under Clinton all the retiring top corporate execs had to make do with gruel and cheap scratchy cotton twill garments. Just as I know that your claim must have something to do with the news media. :dubious: Hint for **Clothahump** : The most “scandalous” thing about the Cheney incident is not that he shot up a lawyer, but that the White House tried to cover it up (the first news apparently leaked from a private citizen who called a Texas newspaper). ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/28 "2006-02-15T15:04:49Z")
Gremlins ate my cite but I tracked down a report on Clot’s press conference and what it was actually saying was that 40% of the Iraq army was ‘ready’ (define ‘ready’). Not that it was performing 40% of the Ops. It was in USA Today but I can’t find it now. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/29 "2006-02-15T15:30:44Z")
**Clothahump** I guess a lot of folks have already joined the “pile on Clothahump bandwagon” so I’ll try to avoid repeating what may already have been said. Let’s take the Clinton administration. Remember the “Whitewater scandal” ? even vaguely? The news media didn’t play that up much because it was too complicated and well … boring. But wait? President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky did what ??? Hey let’s play that story to the hilt !!! But heck, Clinton was a liberal and the liberal media “turned” on him? Hell no. Anything sensational, _especially_ about a public figure, is going to be reported to the minutest detail. It’s a liberal media ??? Hell no. It’s a ratings-minded corporate mentality media. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/30 "2006-02-15T15:33:36Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Clothahump** > I guess a lot of folks have already joined the “pile on Clothahump bandwagon” He invited us to hop on. It would have been rude not to. Consider it the Dope version of one of those oh-so-sporting Cheney quail ‘hunts’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/31 "2006-02-15T15:39:44Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Clothahump** > I guess a lot of folks have already joined the “pile on Clothahump bandwagon” He invited us to hop on. It would have been rude not to. Consider it the Dope version of one of those oh-so-sporting Cheney quail ‘hunts’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/32 "2006-02-15T15:51:05Z")
Can’t say I know **Clothahump** from Humpacloth. I took a shot at a foolish OP. **Jackmannii** , thanks for saying that. I almost responded, but I had other, work-related, windmills to tilt. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/33 "2006-02-15T15:52:36Z")
In my Junior Clot role - Cite found. [USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-02-14-us-role_x.htm) > [@](#): > > The U.S. military says 40% of Iraq’s combat battalions are effective enough to have taken the lead role in fighting the insurgency, The rest of Clot’s post seemed to have been pulled from his ass though. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/34 "2006-02-15T16:03:01Z")
Have any of these “media bias” posts ever worked out for him? I seem to recall several where he just gets his ass handed to him (the CNN X for example). Is he just trying to support the idea of media bias by asserting it often even if he is shown to be wrong? I can’t think of a single time that his cries of failure to report a certain event were not met with cites of that event having been fully reported. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/35 "2006-02-15T16:03:19Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > _Opens mouth, raises finger…_ > > Nah… > > _Shakes head and walks away._ Smart! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/36 "2006-02-15T16:06:57Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Have any of these “media bias” posts ever worked out for him? I seem to recall several where he just gets his ass handed to him (the CNN X for example). Is he just trying to support the idea of media bias by asserting it often even if he is shown to be wrong? > > I can’t think of a single time that his cries of failure to report a certain event were not met with cites of that event having been fully reported. Not to my knowledge. I just pile on in the hope that at some point he’ll run out of ass to be handed and go away. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/37 "2006-02-15T16:13:48Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nearly half of the Iraqi security forces are trained and prepared? Yes. 40% is nearly 50%. Why are you even asking? The “yardstick” for measurement has been preparing the Iraqis to stand on their own. As they take over more and more of the missions and the US forces take a smaller stance, things continue to improve. And it was also pointed out in the conference that having the Iraqis running the missions is better because they can identify the foreign insurgents better than we can. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/38 "2006-02-15T16:15:03Z")
To the OP: May I ask, are you really the person called **Clothahump** , or are you just someone who got hold of **Clothahump**'s account, and thought it would be teh funny to post a ridiculously over-the-top loudmouth kneejerk OP as a satire of the usual **Clothahump**'s OPs? IOW, is your entire online persona becoming some sort of elaborate practical joke? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/39 "2006-02-15T16:15:07Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > What’s the betting on when **Clothy** comes back to the thread? > > I am going for 2 1/2 days. And he says he was right anyway. Kiss my ass, **rayh**. You lose. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526/40 "2006-02-15T16:21:32Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > And it was also pointed out in the conference that having the Iraqis running the missions is better because they can identify the foreign insurgents better than we can. Damn straight! The Kurds and the Shi’ites won’t have a bit of trouble sorting each other out, let alone spotting any Sunnis that wander into the crosshairs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-disparity-cheney-shooting/344526.md?page=3)