Let us take a moment to mourn the passing of news in America

Soldier admits murdering Iraqi girl

Excerpted from the story:

He said: "During the time me and Barker were raping Abeer, I heard five or six gunshots that came from the bedroom.

"After Barker was done, Green came out of the bedroom and said that he had killed them all, that all of them were dead."

Cortez added: "Green then placed himself between Abeer's legs to rape her. When Green was finished, he stood up and shot Abeer in the head two or three times."

The entire crime took about five minutes and the girl knew her parents and sister had been shot while she was being raped, the hearing heard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6384781.stm

This story came up in LBN a little while ago, but didn't get much response from DUers. I suppose it should come as no surprise as there is virtually no coverage in the US news media.

A Google search on "soldier admits rape" brings up articles on the BBC, the London Times, The Guardian, Al-Jazeera (no surprise there) and various small sites.

The silence from the American "news" media speaks volumes. There are thousands of Anna Nicole and Bald Britney stories, yet our revered Fourth Estate can't seem to find the space to write about this grisly attack on an innocent family by vicious and dishonorable men.

Never mind that justice is at last being served; that two have already been convicted and sentenced to terms far longer than their life expectancies, and that another may receive a death sentence. Apparently, there are far more important things to do than face the stark brutality that is war. No, better to cover things that won't stir up the 101st Konservative Keyboard Korps, which would inevitably lead to thousands of caustic emails accusing them of liberal bias for daring to relate hard facts.

So, as these fiends are convicted and thrown into Leavenworth for the next 100 or so years, let's take a moment to say a final farewell to news in America. It might have been great, had it not been replaced by Greed, Fear and Apathy.

I am developing a deep contempt for everything "conservative".

Why am I not surprised? :nuke:

is absolutely in keeping with the man's character (or lack thereof).

Absolutely.

My mind reels at the thought.

As far as I can tell, right-wing nuts like Savage (and the Big Dick) are wrong about every single thing they say. They seem to deliberately choose the inhuman, cruel, unfair side on every issue, including this one. They are sociopaths.

Our local paper had a headline this morning saying "Former State Senator Faces Ethics Charges". I saw it and thought "He's a Republican" and guess what! I was right.

The Republican party is packed to bursting with criminals, traitors, and perverts. I mean, look at them! The ones that aren't in "rehab" are in jail or on trial for lying. No matter how many times they bring up William "Freezer Cash" Jefferson, it's clear that 99% of the law-breaking and rampant immorality is coming from one party only - the Republicans.

May those plastic newsreader prostitutes and their pimp owners never again have a moment of peace in their lives. A pox on all their houses.

>>>A Google search on "soldier admits rape" brings up articles on the BBC, the London Times, The Guardian, Al-Jazeera (no surprise there) and various small sites.>>>


... like the weather: everyone ( here , anyway) talks about it but no on *does* anything about it.

I just checked, and there are 506 articles in Google News under "soldier rape," led by the New York Times. You need to remember the time-zone difference affects the news cycle; Britain is five hours ahead of New York, and Dubai three hours ahead of that.

So once again, the sky is not falling. Stay tuned for updates.

Do those articles mean that this news is widespread? How many newspapers are there in America?

Google News groups stories by subject; there were a lot more hits, but that was just for this one story. There are only about 1,500 American newspapers, and the vast majority of them don't do their own international news, they run wire, so wouldn't necessarily have a link.

It means the story is extremely widespread. Not as widespread as Britney shaving her head, but it's not like it's a breaking story; the basic facts have been known for some time, and other defendants have already been sentenced.

The online version I found for the La Times is one paragraph long buried under some chemical leak story and 3 or 4 more above it including the one paragraph about the soldier getting time for "desertion" being above and therefore more newsworthy than the antics of these three.

one time while the non-news is run over and over in all types of media. I'll bet Britney Spears appeared in more than 500 papers and on that the story was repeated several days.

I am resigned to the fact that even though I voted for change nothing really is going to change in America. Its about time the media just stops giving this corrupt pathetic government airtime to spew their lies and BS and start focusing on other less nausea inducing subjects like local crime or even celebrities.

Frankly, I too am nauseated by the sickness of what is going on in Iraq, but until each and every American is psychically drenched in their blood we won't wake up as WE THE PEOPLE and kick this useless bushit administration out for good.

And honestly, if I'm going to be sick, I'd rather it serve a useful purpose.

Local crime which is usually of the DWB (driving while black) flavor and celeb crap is more depressing.

Haliburton stole 8.8 billion dollars and we're all worried about people who rip off a 7-11 for 35 buck and some change.

summer when the charges were first filed.

This did, after all, happen last March and was quite a hot story for a while when it came out.

Too bad those nasty, and now deceased, media types can't find the space or time to headline every followup to every story ever printed.

as an Iraqi 'woman'.

a bit after the story first broke.

Don't blame the media for the Army's initial lies and spin on this.

Third Soldier Charged With Rape, Murder
Army Arraigns Soldier For Deadly Attack On Iraqi Woman And Family <--Nice headline. Must be our liberal media.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/28/iraq/main2135258.shtml

Cnn, Yahoo, was doing the shit, too. There were quite a few threads on it here at DU when it first broke.

in this whole wretched administration and all they've done to our rights and privileges. we will have to have new blood in the ranks now 'cause I won't ever believe anything they say to me, outside of Keith Olbermann

broadcast media about much at all except celebrities has been a pretty good indication it died. The restoration of the Fairness Doctrine and the breakup of media conglomerates is needed or some rules for programming that calls itself news is needed.

Television is entertainment. Edward R. Murrow notwithstanding, it's never been much of a news source. Real news is in print.

I plan on for the first time, cancelling daily paper service for just the weekend service and just reading The Nation as the add on. The problem is there is little chance the public can grasp the issues of the day and will be cotinually influenced by political lies which does not bode well for the future of this country. It's just not healthy. Besides, Stephanie Miller is going to film a pilot show on CNN I want to see.

I have been a subscriber for several years, but I get aggravated at how untimely the news is. They always seem to be a week or more behind important news events. Yes, the in-depth reporting is superb, but I wish they could be more up-to-speed. Is it because I live in Missouri??

Sometimes they are timely, other times just in depth analysis. Either way, it's better than nothing or the bush administration spin.

i.e. entertainment disguised as news . . .

back in the early days of television, the news department was considered a public service and wasn't expected to be a money-maker for the network . . . Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley and the rest were true journalists who were selected for their credentials, their objectivity and their integrity rather than their looks . . . most Americans got their news from television and from their local newspapers, and there was a certain measure of trust that the information being conveyed was pretty accurate and didn't overlook the important stories . . .

"news" today is nothing but gossip and titillation . . . a singer's bald head receives wall-to-wall coverage while the daily casualties in Iraq go unreported . . . the death of a media-created "blond bombshell" is on the front page while the conditions at Walter Reed are nowhere to be found . . . network anchors are chosen for their telegenic qualities rather than their experience and expertise, and the notion that any of them might ever be considered "the most trusted voice in America" (as Cronkite was) is ludicrous . . .

the bottom line is that anyone wanting to be informed about what's happening in the nation and the world MUST use the Internet to access news sources from other countries and alternative publications . . . Americans who still get their "news" from television, newspapers and magazines are woefully uninformed, ill-informed, and misinformed -- and are the reason BushCo can run roughshod over their rights and their lives . . .

However, alot of people will ignore what they don't agree with and question it. You also have to specifically find the information whereby the "news" pushes its way onto the viewing public.

You make some very salient points. Radio and broadcast TV use the public airwaves, which belong to the American people, so government was able to mandate that they be used to serve the public in a limited way in exchange for licensing the spectrum. Cable TV is totally private so there is no such public stake and even broadcast TV has given up its public service ethos in search of ratings. The abolition of the fairness doctrine and corporate concentration has killed any hope for viable news programming.

We can't boycott the mainstream media and be satisfied with the internet. There is a huge vital public service that is unmet. It is essential to a functioning democracy. Without it we have no hope of turning around America's rapid descent.

I'm in step with you on every other point you've made except that I don't believe cable TV is without a public stake. Aren't they granted use of public rights-of-way to run their lines? If so, how is that so different from the airwaves?

I know this is bound to bring up the issue of railroads, etc., but really...what is it about cable being land-based that makes it so different? Airplanes and automobiles have to adhere to government guidelines in order to use the properties and services it provides.

This isn't so much directed at you, T&P, as at the concept of "private ownership" of stuff that has so much impact on public life.

god only knows whose fault it is since SOMEBODY trained those boys to kill, handed them guns and then turned them loose on a city with no rules or supervision.

Shit. Life in prison is not long enough; death is too good for people like this.

News? Ya' got to be kidding!

Besides, there are such people as Keith Olberman who might take this and run with it.

should be doing. And, why won't they?

You and me against the tide of media apathy KO!!

"The silence from the American "news" media speaks volumes": Yes, indeed.

Our three branches have been failing us, and the fourth branch, the spineless media, has made it all possible.

Thank you for this post,Spiffarino.

...something so awful hadn't compelled me to post. Like all of us, I love this country and want to be proud of it. I want to scream in Dick Cheney's miserable, crooked face for dragging us into an unjust war and making this kind of thing inevitable.

'cause she didn't have to go to school. :sarcasm:

:grr: :banghead:

...those treasonous left-wing commie bastard networks won't stop doing 24/7 "all the troops are animals" coverage and attacking this illegal war....

Oh wait....

Never mind....


:grr:

If ever there was a story that highlighted to even the most brain-dead of morans that the "liberal media" is a fucking myth, the almost total lack of coverage about this dreadful act of cowardice and hatred by the fourth estate in this country proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

:puke:


This makes me so sick I can't speak.

kick

TO: The reader rep who I actually met at a media fair*

Can you find someone to handle a big hairy question? Not the prince.

BBC is covering this trial and while I realize that most of our military behave themselves, here is an offshoot of the Abu Ghraib mindset.

Barker & Cortez raped a girl while Green murdered her parents in the other room, then stood by as Green raped and murdered the girl.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6384781.stm



All I found in the Strib online is one paragraph buried underneath several stories : byline of Peter Spiegel / LA Times


• A soldier was sentenced to 100 years in prison at his Fort Campbell, Ky., court martial Thursday for the gang rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family last year. Sgt. Paul Cortez, 24, of Barstow, Calif., also was given a dishonorable discharge. He will be eligible for parole in 10 years under the terms of his plea agreement.








* She does usually respond, eventually. Her "defense" of MN Strib was that they ran stories on the Downing Street Memo 30 days after the WAPo did, of course that made them like 2nd nationwide.

Those were the times when the press was still lap dogging it behind that marine prostitute cum reporter. Jeff Gannon aka Guckert.

The cynicism and outright corruption of bushco has all but destroyed any notion of a free press.

When we lose that entirely, we're screwn.

and the scooter libby trial SHOWCASED the dangers of the media hobnobbing with politicos and then being dispatched to do their dirty work.