Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Law Students Blogs -> SoapBox Law

Law Students

: SoapBox Law

That Crazy Media

Michael Goldfarb warns that the media reporting of the new pentagon study is misleading at best. As the headlines by ABC, NY Times, and others say, apparently the pentagon report reveals ?No Al Qaeda Link? between Saddam and the terrorist organization. Why not report it that way? After all, this is the theme trumpeted by main stream media for years. But what does the report actually say? Look at the following quotes:

"At times, these organizations would work together in pursuit of shared goals but still maintain their autonomy and independence because of innate caution and mutual distrust" (abstract)

"Captured documents reveal that the regime was willing to co-opt or support organizations it knew to be part of al Qaeda -- as long as that organization's near-term goals supported Saddam's long-term vision." (p. 34)

"Saddam supported groups that either associated directly with al Qaeda (such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led at one time by bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri) or that generally shared al Qaeda's stated goals and objectives." (p. 42)

"strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism"

?The Iraqi Perspectives Project (IPP) review of captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism. (ES-1)

While the report does say that there is no ?smoking gun? between Al Qaeda and Saddam (I?m not sure what a smoking gun would constitute in this context), it is quite clear that the report shows significant links between the two. This is what angers me every time Obama derides Hillary?s early support of the war and when Hillary runs away from her earlier position. Leaving Saddam in power would have been a net gain for world peace? This report makes it clear that Saddam supported terrorism, sponsored it, participated in it generally and with Al Qaeda specifically. This is important news. It?s even more frustrating than the lack of reporting that last year was much colder than previous years because the reports are the opposite of the truth. It would be like saying that last year was the hottest year in history despite the fact that the opposite is true. Oh wait, I guess that happened too.

And while I?m bashing on left wing political bias, newsbusters compared reporting on Eliot Spitzer and Larry Craig and noted,

?the bottom line is that in the early days of their scandals, Vitter and Craig were labeled as Republicans on every broadcast news program ? 100% ? that mentioned their wrongdoing. For Democrat Spitzer, four out of five news programs (80%) have skipped his label.

As a conservative Republican, this kind of stuff can drive me absolutely batty. I feel I am swimming in liberalism up here in the bay area and when I try to find out what?s going on in the world I have to peel back the liberal bias in order to find the truth and it is exhausting. I?m going to take a nap.

Full post as published by SoapBox Law on March 14, 2008 (boomark / email).