More Liberal lies in Reporting News about the War
By Steve Boggess (08/27/06)
According to an article by Major General Bill McCoy, submitted to the European edition of the military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, the media has been, and are missing so much of the good that is happening in Iraq.
The general is the commanding officer of the United States Army Corp of Engineers, Gulf Region and Division/Project and Contracting Office in Iraq. If anyone knows the good things going on in that country, Major General McCoy would surely know. The article is from the Saturday, August 12 edition of the Stars and Stripes.
The general starts by pointing out a poorly written article that was entitled; ("Audit: Much undone in rebuilding Iraq." This was from a Washington Post article dated August 3; in the Mideast Edition; "Rebuilding efforts in Iraq flailing, report says," European edition.) General McCoy states: "I'm astounded at how distorted a good story can become and what agenda drives a paper to see only the bad side to the reconstruction effort here in Iraq. Instead of distorting the facts, lets get to the truth."
He says there is no flailing construction effort in Iraq and the United States hs rightfully invested twenty billion dollars in Iraq's reconstruction, and that, in the opinion of many here (in Iraq,) we should do more. How interesting it is that Major General McCoy is saying these things about the reconstruction efforts there. In an e-mail from Army Lieutenant Colonel Tim Ryan, who was a part of the First Cavalry Division in Iraq and also Task Force 2-12 commander, also mentions the distorted media coverage of Iraq's reconstruction efforts. The e-mail is dated Tuesday, January 8, 2005. The Lieutenant Colonel writes; "All right, I've had enough. I am tired of reading distorted and grossly exaggerated stories from major news organizations about the 'failures' in the war in Iraq. 'The most trusted name in news' along with a long list of others continue to misrepresent the scale of events in Iraq."
"The fact is the Coalition is making steady progress in Iraq, but not without ups and downs. So, why is it that no matter what events unfold, good or bad, the media highlights mostly the negative aspects of the event?" He adds that the media has the mantra, "If it bleeds, it leads." But he also asks why it leads only if it is American blood that is spilt? The task force commander (at that time) goes on to talk about the news event in which a suicide bomber killed six people in Baghdad. The headline read; "Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad" and how the other headline read; "Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes." Lieutenant Colonel Ryan states that although the headline was true, it was not comprehensive by any means. He asks if the author of that article bother to mention that Coalition troops killed about fifty terrorists while incurring those losses? No, of course not. Nor were there any mention about the substantial progess these offensive operations continue to achieve in defeating the insurgents.
In another e-mail, dated October 30, 2004, this one from Chaplain (Captain) Christopher Bassett, who at the time, was the Battalion Chaplain for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/303 Field Artillery Battalion, headquarted in Baghdad, Iraq. The chaplain starts out his e-mail to his family by saying, "I am expressing this letter to you to express a frustration that I know has been voiced time and again, yet is met with little change. It concerns the media coverage of this war and the effect of that coverage on the morale of our troops."
Captain Bassett goes on to say, "Only twenty four hours ago the NBC news media crew arrived here and filmed hours of footage with our unit. They were told of numerous projects in which our unit is involved, not only in the area of force protection and Troop Medical Clinic support, but also humanitarian aide to a local village here in Baghdad." The chaplain lists the projects that his unit were involved in at that time. The projects were the reconstruction and furnishing of an (Iraqi) clinic, Miscellaneous enhancements for a local elementary school and a local day care center, reconstruction of the decimated electrical, sewer and water systems, repair of exterior walls and gates surrounding the village, rubble and garbage removal projects to clean up the entire village, construction of a protective chain link fence around the local Shi'a Mosque, and the ever growing clothing and school supplies drive for the children of the village.
What did that same news crew wind up showing on national television? They showed the First Lieutenant who was in charge of those projects saying how he never would have believed he would be in Iraq, being a National Guard Soldier, and an interview of another soldiers wife saying her husband was supposed to have retired that summer, and how his responsibility to the military should be over. Nothing was shown of the humanitarian projects that unit was involved in.
Now, Major General McCoy echoes these same sentiments by soldiers who were, and are there, and know more than does the liberal media, what good we are doing in Iraq. Continuing to talk about the reconstruction efforts there, the general talks about how this massive undertaking is part of a wider strategy for success in Iraq that involves the establishment of a democratic government, the development of professional Iraqi Security Forces, and the restoration of basic essential services and facilities to promote the sustained economic development of this new country.
Major General McCoy also reveals that the heart of the article in question rests on several old statements by the Special Investigator General for Iraq Reconstruction that infer these are recent or recurring problems. Major General McCoy also states that in fact, the special investigator knows that program management, construction quality, progress and accountability have all improved significantly since the early days of the effort some three years ago.
He states that when he arrived in Iraq a year ago, the Corp of Engineers planned to complete three thousand two hundred reconstruction projects. Today they are focusing on the completion of three thousand seven hundred projects. The Corp has also started three thousand five hundred of those projects and completed almost twenty eight hundred and the work is continuing. He adds that this is not a failure to meet their commitment to the Iraqi people, as the article states.
The reporter for the paper of record was told that while one hundred and forty one health clinic construction projects were taken away from a United States contractor who failed to perform, they were reawarded to Iraqi contractors who are already demonstrating progress, have improved quality and shown thrie great desire to work with the United States to help Iraq improve, and they are doing so phenomenally.
The reporter was also told about the electricity, and how three quarters of Iraq now gets twice as much of it today as it did before the war. Furthermore, the Corp is also working with the minister of electricity to improve the situation in Baghdad daily and have doubled the hours of power from four to eight in the capital in the last six months in spite of the fact that demand is markedly increased with the Iraqi's new ability to buy personal electrical products.
Major General McCoy states, "What is truly amazing to me is that we took the reporter to the Nasiriyah prison project and while it is true that we terminated the prime United States contractor for failure to perform, the Iraqi subcontractor continues to work there, now directly for the Corp of Engineers, and his progress and quality have improved significantly, and the reporter saw that!"
As usual, the liberal reporter didn't mention in his article about the hundreds of dedicated military and civilian professionals he saw over there working to make Iraq better, or the Iraqis who come to work everyday at their own peril because they believe in what the military and themselves are accomplishing together. The reporter didn't write about the Water Treatment Plant he visited that will provide fresh potable water to more than half a million people in southern Iraq in just two more months. Or the one in northern Iraq that is providing water for the three hundred and thirty three thousand citizens of Irbil.
He never told about the thousands of school children that are now in eight hundred new or rebuilt schools, or about oil production now being back to pre-war levels and getting better everyday. Or the raw sewage being taken out of the streets and put back in the pipes where it belongs, or about the thousands of miles of new roads, or post offices, police stations, or court houses. The list could go on and on.
This should be a shining example to those who are spoon fed all of their information via the liberal media, and believe everything they are told. This should also be an example of how distorted the media has been, and has, since the war began, in reporting the news.
Don't believe everything about the war the liberal media tells you, America, as you can see from these example's, there is more to it than you're being told.
Sgt. Steve Boggess
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