Gingrich: Reports Of Iraqi Desertions In Basra Shows ‘Stunning Bias Of The American News Media’
Gingrich: Reports Of Iraqi Desertions In Basra Shows ‘Stunning Bias Of The American News Media’
The New York Times reported this week that in recent fighting in Basra, more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen “either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts.” Iraqi military officials said this included “dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is trying to spin the mass desertion as a minor blip –- and an exaggeration by the media. Yesterday, on Hannity and Colmes, Gingrich accused the “American media” of having “stunning bias” in its coverage of the recent militia fighting in Basra:
GINGRICH: Let me give you an example, Alan, of the stunning bias of the American news media. 15,000 Iraqi troops went in to Basra, 1,000 of them didn’t fight very well. 14,000 of them fought very well and, in fact, were defeating the militias. Guess what the report essentially was in the elite news media? It was the 1,000 that didn’t fight very well. And the 14,000 that were risking their lives on behalf of their own country, without American forces present, didn’t get very much credit.
Watch it:
Gingrich is trying to equate desertion with not fighting “very well.” And while Gingrich believes that the sour performance in Basra is an example of liberal media “bias,” even Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the war’s strongest supporter, focused on the “disappointment” in Basra in the hearing yesterday:
McCAIN: What’s the lesson that we are to draw from that, that a thousand Iraqi police deserted or under-performed?
PETRAEUS: Well, one lesson, Senator, is that relatively new forces — what happened was in one case, a brigade that literally had just come out of unit (inaudible) fielding was pressed into operation. The other lesson is a recurring one, and that is the difficulty of local police operating in areas where there is serious intimidation of themselves and of their families.
McCAIN: Suffice to say it was a disappointment.
Today, Petraeus again discussed the operations, saying “the fight itself was hastily done with many units unprepared for battle,” according to the AP.
Does this show the “stunning bias” of McCain and Petraeus?
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it is stunning that the ratwing American news media have actually reported something true that is not Bush-fluffing. It’s long overdue, of course, but a GOP traitor like Gingrich hates nothing more than his side being exposed for the rotten antiAmerican weasels they are.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:17 pmIt’s funny this clown would pose as Newt.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:19 pmThe real Newt actually outsmarted all of the man killing Alien beasts that destroyed the human colony.
If there is a liberal bias, it is only because people want the truth.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:20 pmbloated idiot.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:27 pmUmm. If Private John Everyman “didn’t fight very well” like the 1,000 (if they admit 1,000 I suspect it’s closer to 5,000) Iraqis? He would be SHOT!
Seriously, how can one spin the footage of Iraqi soldiers tearing off their uniforms and handing over weapons? Weapons which we supplied and are now in the hands of our enemies.
BTW, are the weapons they turned over in addition to the 190,000 rifles and pistols we just “lost track of”?
KEERISTE! What phucking idiots!
April 9th, 2008 at 5:28 pmIf this is the Iraqi version of standing up so we can stand down, our feets are gonna get real tired.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:31 pmFourteen years later, the small witted reptile is still trying to pass off his piss as holy water…
April 9th, 2008 at 5:32 pmPete makes a good point. If the official story is that 1,000 troops deserted, it was probably more like 5,000.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:33 pmNewts are amphibians and are less advanced than retiles
April 9th, 2008 at 5:34 pmThanks for the correction dbadass! More like the toad that Gingrich really is.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:38 pmNah, Newt, it’s only “stunning bias” when the media reports something not totally in line with the Bushco talking points…REALITY DOES NOT = BIAS! you simpleton…
April 9th, 2008 at 5:38 pmIt’s interesting, the way they use adjectives as such weapons… “the elite news media”.
Didn’t “elite” used to be a good thing? Didn’t it used to mean, “the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons”?
Tighty-righties like the Newt know that regular people reject their values, when explained clearly to them, so they try to swap places with liberals, portray them as the “elites” and put a negative spin on it.
It’s a sophisticated version of schoolyard crap.
And now, because the “elite” news media (I’m surprised he didn’t just spit, “drive-by” while he was at it) focused on the sizeable group that deserted rather than celebrate the forces that were doing what they had supposedly been trained to do, this shows a “stunning” bias.
Well, get used to it, Newtie, reality has a liberal bias.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:39 pmYou’re right Ralph. Karl Rove mastered the technique: identify your own worst traits and assign them to your opponent. It still blows me away that John Kerry’s war record was somehow questioned in an election against W!!! It still pisses me off beyond belief.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:43 pmAnd the multimillionaire Gingrich, like many of our pundits in the village, think they speak for “everyman”. How delusional must it be so that people know that folks like Gingrich, o’reilly, matthews, etc…are not anything like an everyday American. They are whores using the divided citizenry to advance their careers. God, the right side is a dumb bunch of americans.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:44 pmEr, Newter, 1 in 15 deserting is not very good.
How would Newter feel if he was in a fighting unit (ha, as if) and 1 out of 15 were to run out or turn on him, I’m sure he’d feel real secure in that knowledge.
Newter you are a neocan’t fool.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:44 pmStunning bias of the news media? If this were the case, the Sibel Edmonds information would be oozing out by now. Give me a break! He means the sycophantic whoring Bushitco media – wholly owned by the fascists, doesn’t he?
April 9th, 2008 at 5:45 pmThank goodness that the majority of americans stand to the left of Newt, the aging goofball. Actually, it’s not difficult to stand to the left of this reichwing, kool-aid drinking fascist, is it?
April 9th, 2008 at 5:46 pm“Gingrich shows stunning bias”. Shouldn’t that be the real headline?
April 9th, 2008 at 5:47 pmfrom swimming freestyle:
“Perhaps if we look at the problem like grown-ups, not petulant kids who demand the game be played their way or no way…
No one wants a shattered Iraq, full of sectarian militias battling each other, a nonfunctional government, and a bitter, pissed off populace. Instead of stubbornly adhering to a simplistic, “if I just wish hard enough it will happen” Bush strategy (a long term military presence to tamp down violence waiting for the Iraqi government to get it together), why not consider how we help the Iraq government function more effectively? If our current strategy is not yielding the desired results (some end point for U.S. involvement), isn’t it smart to change strategy until you find one that works?
Isn’t that what grown-ups do?”
http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com
April 9th, 2008 at 5:47 pmSo, by that line of reasoning if 15,000 American troops went into a battle and 1,000 of them (including officers) laid down their arms and deserted, then it would be “bias” if the media reported what happened.
Newt is nothing more than a stooge. He is so done.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:51 pmSir Bedevere: “How do you KNOW she’s a witch?”
(pause, sient confusion)
Peasant: “She turned ME into a NEWT!”
Sir Bedevere: “A NEWT?!”
Peasant: (apologetically) “I got better…”
Newt is still a Newt. He never got better.
He can’t tell the difference between a duck and a witch.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:51 pmOMG the truth has a liberal bias! When did this happen?
April 9th, 2008 at 5:52 pmI was thinking the same thing.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:54 pmNewt has a bias about the kind of bias the media should have.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:57 pmDesertion does NOT equal “not fighting well.” One out of EVERY fourteen troops in a battle deserting is STUNNING!
April 9th, 2008 at 6:01 pmWhen will this liberal media stop rolling over for the Dems? Can anyone imagine the kind of economy and strife in the world that would exist if only we had a more conservative media? lol
April 9th, 2008 at 6:05 pmIf our current strategy is not yielding the desired results (some end point for U.S. involvement), isn’t it smart to change strategy until you find one that works?
Isn’t that what grown-ups do?”
If that’s the goal. It isn’t. The goal is troops in Iraq until the sectarian violence ends, and Al Quaida left with NO safe havens inside the country. It’s not acheivable, of course, but it keeps us there until the last “terrorist” dies, probably of old age.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:05 pmProfessor Newt tellin’ like it isn’t. A typical right wing “intellectual.”
April 9th, 2008 at 6:08 pmOne out of EVERY fourteen troops in a battle deserting is STUNNING!
Those must be the anti-American, Islamofascist, Socialist, librul branch of the Iraqi Army.
/snark off
April 9th, 2008 at 6:14 pmFor once I agree with Newt. There is a “stunning bias of the American news media.”
Unfortunately, that bias, which has become obvious over the past three decades, favors Republicans.
And if anyone reading these words doesn’t share my view, then please explain why GOP presidential candidates are allowed to get away with “gaffes” that would doom ANY Democrat. Please help me understand why the American news media gave candidate George W. Bush a free ride EVERY TIME he ran. Also, if you could shed some light on why McSame can demonstrate — on a regular basis — that he can’t tell the Sunnis from the Shi’a in Iraq, but he’s still somehow qualified to be POTUS. In addition, perhaps you would be kind enough to explain how Bush could lie America into a disastrous war of choice in Iraq and still get re-$elected? Or perhaps you would have us believe the General Electric bought a TV network just so they could inform and enlighten the electorate?
Ah, Newt. How can you tell when he’s lying? Easy, his lips are moving.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:15 pmLet’s face it, the belief that the media is liberally biased is hardwired into the winger mind. Imagine how happy we would be if it really were so biased.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:26 pmI just got this image of George Patton if 1,000 of his men took off their uniforms and gave up their guns. I don’t think Newt would have the guts to tell Patton he was “biased” for executing them on the spot.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pmI think that Newty might sit up and take notice if 7% of US forces simply put down their weapons and went home. Just a guess, mind you. And if the media focused on all the troops that didn’t desert . . . hmmm, probably not a pretty picture.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:58 pmoh newt, you poor, sad, old bastard. the “liberal media” thing was a myth from day one and is no longer taken seriously by thinking people.
i know, it propelled you and your boys to infamy back in the day, but that day is long passed, your crones are in jail, and you’re a has-been with nothing new to contribute to the discussion.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:03 pmNewt doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about. I have never heard of 1,000 members of a US infantry division, which numbers about 15,000, deserting when going into combat including several high ranking officers. And from what I read al Maliki’s Iraqi soldiers (aka Badr Brigade) who did not desert, fought poorly.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:39 pmGingrich left Congress because of ethics violations….why is this jackass even on my tv?
April 9th, 2008 at 8:56 pmIf the media is so liberal, why is this idiot still given a platform every two days on national TV? Can you say PROJECTION? Whatever they accuse the Dems of doing, they themselves are guilty of. They have manipulated every opinion, every election, every American value in the book. Turn off your TVs and call Pelosi to impeach. All of the Bush bunch.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:21 pmDoesn’t he have a young Hill Staffer to go bang?
April 10th, 2008 at 7:58 amWho, besides the rabid right wing neocons like Hannity, care what Newt’s opinion is on anything. I saw him once in Greensboro, NC, where he stopped to visit his daughter and saw it was true.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:47 pmNewt is the only man ever seen who leaves a trail of slim as he walks. He ain’t called “newt” for nothing.
Unfortunately, that bias, which has become obvious over the past three decades, favors Republicans.
And if anyone reading these words doesn’t share my view, then please explain why GOP presidential candidates are allowed to get away with “gaffes” that would doom ANY Democrat. Please help me understand why the American news media gave candidate George W. Bush a free ride EVERY TIME he ran. Also, if you could shed some light on why McSame can demonstrate — on a regular basis — that he can’t tell the Sunnis from the Shi’a in Iraq, but he’s still somehow qualified to be POTUS. In addition, perhaps you would be kind enough to explain how Bush could lie America into a disastrous acer batcl50l4 battery,acer travelmate 290 battery war of choice in Iraq and still get re-$elected? Or perhaps you would have us believe the General Electric bought a TV network just so they could inform and enlighten the electorate?
October 15th, 2008 at 8:04 amIf only Condi saved her dressessohbet instead of cleaning them. But in today’s twisted America, I don’t believe anything would happen if George Bush was cetcaught in bed with a dead girl AND a live boy. And it all procedes with a cheeky grin and a sickening smugness that is as arrogant as it is insultingBedava mp3 indir.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:14 pm