The Media Are the Enemy
One of al-Reuters’ Arab stringers, Fadil al-Badrani, has a report from Fallujah about the damage to the city, denouncing coalition forces for the destruction and giving a complete pass to the murderous mujahideen who turned the city into a nightmarish hell: Falluja Returnees Angry, ‘City Unfit for Animals’.
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqis reacted with anger, frustration and resentment Friday after many returned to Falluja to discover their homes in rubble and their livelihoods ruined following last month’s U.S. offensive.
“I saw the city and al-Andalus destroyed,” said Ali Mahmood, 35, referring to the district of the city he returned to briefly Thursday but now plans to leave after seeing the mess.
“My house is completely destroyed. There is nothing left for me to stay for,” the teacher said, adding that he would rather live in the tented camp outside Falluja that has been his family’s home for the past two months.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a suprise pre-Christmas visit to Iraq, visited troops at a base near Falluja Friday but made no mention of the city’s rebuilding.
Marine Lieutenant General John Sattler told Rumsfeld how intense the fighting had been in the city, where much of the combat was house-to-house and even hand-to-hand.
“You come through the door and it’s who wants it most, and it was us,” Sattler said, praising the resolve of his men.
The media are doing their best to turn Fallujah into America’s Jenin, with article after article focusing on the damage to the city, and not a single piece about the mosques used as weapons dumps, the torture and beheading rooms, the bomb factories, or any of the numerous war crimes committed by the holy warriors.
UPDATE at 12/24/04 9:21:40 am:
Fadil al-Badrani has been at this for quite a while; here’s a report from November in which he was interviewed by the BBC, identified only as “a resident of Fallujah:” BBC Knowingly Spreads Arab Propaganda.
Apparently, Mr. al-Badrani is now on the Reuters payroll. Makes sense; he’s exactly the kind of “journalist” Reuters wants.
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