U.S. media still hiding bad news from Americans

[moghrabi]

U.S. media still hiding bad news from Americans


ANTONIA ZERBISIAS

And now the good news from America's accomplished mission in Iraq ...

The other night on ABC News Nightline, Ted Koppel asked National Public Radio war correspondent Anne Garrels, who has been in Iraq throughout the war, "When you hear people in this country, Anne, say, look, the media is only giving the negative side of what's going on there, why don't they ever show the good side, what do you tell 'em?"

"I tell them that there isn't much good to show," she replied, describing how even military commanders have only bad news to share.

Two weeks ago on CNN, Time's Michael Ware, who has been covering Iraq for two years, gave an alarming account of being trapped in his Baghdad compound, which is regularly bombed and encircled by "kidnap teams."

He reported that the U.S. military has "lost control" and that Americans are "the midwives of the next generation of jihad, of the next Al Qaeda."

cont....

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...out/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1102547410018

 

[Ten Packs]

Insurgent attacks, desert conditions take toll

By Jim Miklaszewski
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 7:21 p.m. ET Dec. 10, 2004
Before the war in Iraq, Pentagon officials had predicted that by now, Iraq would be pacified and most American troops would be long gone. But as the war drags on, the toll it's taking is far greater than expected — not only on the soldiers, but their equipment as well. In fact, senior military officials now tell NBC News all major military equipment — trucks, tanks, helicopters and even guns — is breaking down or wearing out at a faster rate than first estimated.
It's not only due to the harsh desert conditions in Iraq, but the enemy has proven far more effective and resilient than anyone in the Pentagon had imagined. That's putting a far greater load on such equipment as Humvees and tanks — which are working at ten-times the normal rate.
"We're running the tracks off them," says NBC military analyst Gen. Barry McCaffrey (ret.) "They're going, instead of 800 miles a year, 8,000 miles a year and we're not rebuilding it."It's also putting a tremendous stress on the military’s ability to fix them. The number of tanks requiring major repairs is up 600 percent. Before the war, some 300 Humvees a year would go through a major overhaul. Today that number has skyrocketed to 5,700 — a jump of nearly 2,000 percent.
"Our folks are in a constant cycle of repair, repair, repair to return this equipment to the force," says Gary Motsek, with the U.S. Army Support Operations.
And the cost is staggering. Last year the Army got an additional $1 billion to pay for wartime repairs. This year the price tag is expected to climb to $9 billion.
Even then, it's an increase in military spending that will extend well beyond the war.
"Should the war end today, it would take two years for the United States Army to replenish itself and bring its equipment back to proper state," says Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
But in fact, the war appears nowhere near ending. Friday, Military officials said current plans call for the same number of American troops to remain in Iraq for at least the next two years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6694659/

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: U.S. media still hidi

Ah, what's another 9 or 10 billion?