Editor&Publisher: In war coverage, "insurgents" have morphed into "Al Qaeda"

In War Coverage: Have 'Insurgents' Morphed into 'Qaeda'?
By E&P Staff
Published: June 23, 2007

NEW YORK As E&P has noted in the past week, the U.S. military has increasingly referred to insurgents in Iraq as "al-Qaeda fighters" or "Qaeda militants." When and why this is happening is not certain, although linking the insurgents to those who attacked us on 9/11 would appear to have certain benefits in the court of public opinion.

In the past, however, both military and outside observers have long stated that so-called "foreign fighters" or members of the group Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia have made up only a tiny fraction of those who are actively battling the U.S. occupation.

Blogging at Salon.com today, Glenn Greenwald has a lengthy take on this issue. "What makes this practice all the more disturbing is how quickly and obediently the media has adopted the change in terms consciously issued by the Bush administration and their military officials responsible for presenting the Bush view of the war to the press," he concludes.

It's at: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/23/al_qaeda/index.html

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003602778

Everytime I've heard that phrase it's been accompanied by, "according to Pentagon sources", or "military sources say", etc.

The fact that they're not questioning it more is troubling.

I first noticed this new trend at the end of April, right after Michael Weir of CNN ripped into McCain for his idiotic (and probably Pentagon driven) remarks about how safe his Baghdad shopping trip was. I have wondered since how & why not only Michael Weir but also Arwa Damon began using this talking point seemingly at the same time. Also, I have not seen nor heard from either one of them in several weeks.

I could be wrong about the timing, but that is when I first noticed it.
Anyway, here's the thread that I wrote about this subject at the end of April:

Have you noticed this lately? Suni insurgents=al qaeda, Shia insurgents=Iran:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=742893

is really grabbing at straws now. Branding everyone in Iraq who resists the occupation as "Al-Qaeda" will probably catapult the real Al-Qaeda into superpower status when the U.S. inevitably loses in Iraq and pulls out. In the near term the American public is going to get increasingly frustrated with the Bush regime as they wonder why the military doesn't just pulverize Iraq if the whole country crawling with Al-Qaeda.

Most insurgents are nationalists, whether secular or not, and oppose the presence of these outside forces, putting them on par with the occupation forces.

I ask this keeping in mind that anything resembling the truth from our government has been very scarce.

Don

Makes people think Al-Quaeda is all over the place fighting against us, killing our soldiers. Many coming from Iran. Who will soon have nuclear weapons. Which they'll give to Al Quaeda. Which means any patriotic American will be quaking in his boots and champing at the bit to bomb Iran.

Sounds like a rove-cheney plan to me.

That's a pretty significant distinction, although one that would undoubtedly be lost on the the FOX News crowd.

It certainly was at the outset. And yup, the Fox News crowd wouldn't have a clue.

"a battle with al Qaeda forces," except once I heard them
describe some insurgents as "al-Qaeda inspired."

I thought I was the only one disturbed by this. Bravo, E&P,
you've done it again!

He mentioned insurgents only twice. It was very obvious what was going on, not to mention disheartening to hear this from a station I had thought I could trust.

...for making this mess.

Idiot.

LIKE JOHN EDWARDS SAID: We have created more terrorist and now have fewer allies. Idiot Son has exacerbated the problem - as usual.

If Cheney/Rove tells them the moon is bigger than the sun, they'll print it too.

...they'll say "The democrats didn't correct us." It seems they have no responsibility to fact check any longer.

He was the moderator at a forum on Book TV. He as much as said that if a Democrat didn't counter their lies, he had no responsibility to do it. That wonderful fellow from the BBC (Senior moment, but you know who I mean. The guy who gave Conyers the e-mails.) nailed him for it.

:)

Palast jumped all over that.

The Shia majority will wipe them out

If they are trying to use AQ as an excuse to stay in Iraq, that doesn't cut it with reality. The Shia will NOT put up with them

as have others,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2888506#2889286

How does this actually work? I noticed the same thing. I was looking at a picture in the Boston Globe (sunday page 7 where they buried the ongoing bad Iraq news) of the usual captured iraqi scene: overstuffed storm troopers, cost-plus vehicles looming around, and your basic third world group of men, plastic handcuffs, blindfolded (what is with that? but I digress) and the caption indicating these were of course 'Al Kader's Big Band'. Did they have Official Al Kader IDs? When asked did they state name rank and serial number of their Al Kader unit? Were they captured in the local Al Kader Jihad Fun House?

So is there like a memo? Is there nobody in the media who even asks a few basic questions along the lines I outlined above (sarcasm ommitted of course)? I mean really, do they get sacked on the spot for questioning anything?

I suppose the Pentagon just started using that term in their reports to the media, and the media simply copied the words, never thinking and/or questioning.

stenography

n/t

certain and the they can stop their pretending otherwise.

Especially since they answer their own question in the next sentence

"the court of public opinion"

to manipulate the public into believing Bush's lies...and not just his lies.

This is your patriotic duty."

Propaganda, USA.