Tag Archives: Afghanistan

'Civilian Deaths Imperil Support for Afghan War'

Posted on 05/07/2009 by Isabel Macdonald

In the wake of the release of the U.S. military's own figures showing a record number of bombs were dropped by U.S. warplanes in Afghanistan during April, newspapers are reporting today on a particularly deadly bombing attack on Monday that … Continue reading →

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Pentagon Pundits Still Thriving at MSNBC

Posted on 05/01/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

During coverage of the Obama administration's 100-day mark, MSNBC had war reporter Richard Engel and anchor Tamron Hall interview MSNBC analyst Barry McCaffrey, who CJR.org's Clint Hendler (4/29/09) calls "the retired army general whose many conflicts of interest have been … Continue reading →

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Why Some Deaths 'Don't Seem to Impinge on Our Lives'

Posted on 04/28/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Having covered the U.S. war on Afghanistan at his TomDispatch website from the outset, Tom Engelhardt marvels (4/23/09) at how, "almost like clockwork, the reports float up to us from thousands of miles away" of "so many lives snuffed out … Continue reading →

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NPR's Afghanistan Stenographers Bureau Still Open

Posted on 03/30/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

NPR watchdog Mytwords (NPR Check, 3/28/09) would just "love to know what it costs NPR to station Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Afghanistan," from where she dispatches to U.S. public radio such "news" as U.S.-installed Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai telling reporters … Continue reading →

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WaPo's Prescription for War Without End

Posted on 03/27/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Considering the fact that, "while the Obama administration says that the problems of the region cannot be solved by military means, the basic approach is reliance on heightened military means," FAIR associate Norman Solomon (Huffington Post, 3/24/09) thinks that "we … Continue reading →

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Euphemisms and Afghanistan

Posted on 03/23/2009 by Peter Hart

The lead of an articlein the New York Times today (3/23/09): KABUL, Afghanistan â┚¬” A predawn raid by United States Special Forces that killed five people on Sunday has produced sharply conflicting accounts from the American military and local Afghan … Continue reading →

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USA Today's Afghan Poll

Posted on 03/17/2009 by Peter Hart

People dislike the Afghan war more than ever, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll; 42 percent of Americans now think invading that country was a mistake. For some reason,the paper'sfrontpage write-up of the poll (3/17/09) quotes two experts: John … Continue reading →

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On the 'Silver Lining' of Coffin Photos

Posted on 03/04/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Media reporter DeWayne Wickham sees (USA Today, 3/3/09) the new Pentagon rules allowing photography of U.S. casualty coffins as "just the silver lining" around the dark cloud of a fact that "our free press is still being stage-managed by those … Continue reading →

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NY Times: The Military's View of Afghanistan

Posted on 02/24/2009 by Peter Hart

Apparently the New York Times hasmoved Elisabeth Bumiller over to the Pentagon beat. Her record as Bush White House correspondent producedsome memorable missteps ("You canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t just say the president is lying," for example), so it wasn't a surprise to see … Continue reading →

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NPR's 'History Scrub' of U.S. Fault in Afghanistan

Posted on 02/19/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

"A rather major problem with nearly all of NPR's reporting" has been identified by NPR Check blogger Mytwords (2/18/09) and named the "history scrub." The definition: "If the essential background history to a story reflects poorly on the actions of … Continue reading →

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USA Today: Obama's War, No Critics Allowed

Posted on 02/18/2009 by Peter Hart

USA Today's "Obama's War" cover story today (2/18/09) is long by that paper's usual standards, but can't seem to find any space for critics of the plan to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Quoted in the piece: –Barack Obama … Continue reading →

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Move Over, Taliban–CBS Is the Real Master of Manipulation

Posted on 02/04/2009 by Jim Naureckas

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric (1/27/09) introduced a segment on civilian casualties in Afghanistan by saying, "Our Elizabeth Palmer spoke with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who says the Taliban have become masters of manipulating public opinion." That … Continue reading →

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Media's 'Axiomatic' Warmongering

Posted on 12/09/2008 by Gabriel Voiles

Recalling that "during the mid-1960s, the conventional wisdom was what everyone with a modicum of smarts kept saying: higher U.S. troop levels in Vietnam were absolutely necessary," FAIR associate Norman Solomon is distressed to find (AntiWar.com, 12/9/08) that "today, the … Continue reading →

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Who Gets to Speak: Iraq, Afghanistan and the NY Times

Posted on 11/24/2008 by Peter Hart

The New York Times' Week in Review section yesterday (11/23/08) gathered a group of op-eds under the heading "Transitions," which they described as "a series of Op-Ed articles by experts on the most formidable issues facing the new president." The … Continue reading →

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The Peculiarities of Afghan Society

Posted on 11/10/2008 by Peter Hart

New reports of civilian casualties in Afghanistan (37 dead) were covered in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. The story provides a decent sense of thedeath toll, but near the end makes a rather bizarre point (see bold): Afghan weddings … Continue reading →

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