‘The violence has a way of rearing its head’

March 20, 2006

Over the weekend, as the media focused on the third anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, the White House played “blame the messenger.”

Dick Cheney said, “There is a constant sort of perception, if you will, that’s created because what’s newsworthy is the car bomb in Baghdad.” (He didn’t say, “Look at all the cars that didn’t explode,” but he came close.) For that matter, Donald Rumsfeld added, “Fortunately, history is not made up of daily headlines, blogs on Web sites or the latest sensational attack.”

ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper told CNN yesterday that he tried to do a good-news story. In fact, as a sign of the new freedoms enjoyed in Iraq, Tapper was going to do a feature on a new Iraqi sitcom. It didn’t go well.

Tapper: We wanted to do a story about the freedom of the press in Iraq, and we went to the set of a new Iraqi sitcom that they’re filming, because there’s been -there’s all this entertainment now, and it’s one of the things that the ambassador there has trumpeted.

Howard Kurtz: So what happened?

Tapper: We got there, and the guy who had set it up with us, we shot, we shot for a little while, and the guy who had helped us arrange it was assassinated the very morning while we were there on the set. And so our cameras were rolling while the director and the producer and the cast and crew found out that the guy that had green-lit the show and the guy that had set up our being there was killed. So no matter how hard we try to cover the positive, the violence has a way of rearing its head.

Indeed, it does.

Or, from reporters regarding the Sadministration or Congress: “So, no matter how hard we try to cover the positive, the incompetence and corruption has a way of rearing its head.”

  • Why is ABC TRYING to do a positive news story about Iraq? Shouldn’t they play it straight and just report the facts on the ground?

  • Brian,

    I think the ABC reporter was there at the behest of ABC executives who were looking for a Spring replacement for “Commander in Chief”. (only because they received word from the FCC that CiC ‘may’ have to be pulled for showing a woman as a competent Pres., which is against the admin’s policies…showing competence, that is)

  • Speaking of “latest sensational attack”, Donny, how’d that Operation Swarmer work out for you there, buddy?
    “Biggest air assault since 2003!”
    Thankfully, no American troops were killed, but I wonder if this little field problem required taking assests away from real missions in other parts of the country.
    Time Magazine online has a great after-action that explains the operation better than I can. My favorite quote:

    “Before loading up into the helicopters for a return trip to Baghdad, Iraqi and American soldiers and some reporters helped themselves to the woman’s freshly baked bread, tearing bits off and chewing it as they wandered among the cows. For most of them, it was the only thing worthwhile they’d found all day.”

    God, I miss the Army……………….

  • I think the perfect analogy to spout back at these people has already been clearly said (and I wish I could remember the source).

    To whit: If 5 car bombs were going off every day in New York City, would people really expect the latest Broadway Show opening to be on the headlines of the Metro section?

  • I know Tapper was talking about filming the sitcom, but he probably shouldn’t use the phrase “we shot” in anything but a literal way when discussing Iraq.

  • The effing asses stole some poor farmer’s bread? Hearts and minds, boys and girls, hearts and minds!

  • So the Bush administration is so annoyed that we are not covering the good news out of Iraq.

    Let’s see:

    Oil Production (below pre-war levels)
    Electricity production (still below pre-war levels)
    Clean water availability (about 20%, isn’t it?)
    Educational opportunity for girls (I’m afraid to ask)
    Right to sell alcohol from your store (gone since Saddam’s ouster)
    Trash pickup (practially non-existent in most Baghdad neighborhoods)
    Functioning government (not really)
    Secure borders (Nope!)

    I’m curious, what is the GOOD new out of Iraq?

  • Lance,
    From what I pasted together over the past three years, every Iraqi child has their own schoolhouse. No teachers or books, but a schoolhouse, none the less.

  • Iraqi sitcom?
    How’s this for a pilot. A sunni, shiite, and kurd are roomates. Then they are beset by an obnoxious asshole American named George who moves in uninvited and takes over their house. He displays a hilarious lack of understanding and respect for their cultures, and when they get really mad at him, he call them insurgents and kills them in order to bring them his idea of democracy.

  • As some wag observed, there was some overlooked good news in the story about the math teacher who was beheaded in form of his students: the schoolroom looked freshly painted.

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