Saturday, May 26, 2007

MEDIA ACCURACY

This is not so much about Filipino media accuracy as World media accuracy.

I want to give you some headlines about a country you will never read about in the media. These are true facts about a real place. It is almost the same size as Iraq. The population is almost identical to Iraq. Interestingly enough you NEVER hear the media screaming about these shocking facts.

Last Night They Suffered 6 Violent Deaths. ( that the average every single night for an annual total of 2,196 nightly murders ; three times as many that are killed in Iraq annually)

Two Hundred Poor Citizens Were Butchered This Month!

600 Women Raped in February & Over 600 Violent Robberies and Assaults in March (Talk about Iraq having a police / security problem)

You heard about Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison scandal, this country has 170,000 prisoners crammed into its prison system (more criminals than Germany and France put together), which cost its citizens 7 billion dollars each year. Here are some actual headlines about these prisons: "Guards Watch as Inmates are Raped!" And "CorrectionOfficer Accused of Having Sex with Under-Aged Detainee! " Kind of makes Abu Ghraib seem like a fraternity party.

In less than two years Saddam was given a trial, sentenced to death and executed. This country had a heinous murderer on death row for 26 years before justice was finally done.

In the five years America has been in Iraq, we have tragically lost 3,500 lives; In this country over 20,000 lives were needlessly lost during that same period of time.

There are an estimated 2,000 terrorists in Iraq. A few of these terrorists are from other countries. This country has 150,000 violent criminals from another country in its prisons with thousands more that are still roaming free and hurting innocent citizens.

The media wants us to seal the Iraqi border. That border is almost 3,000 miles long. There are Iraqis who live and work on both sides of the border and cross it legally many times each day. This other country has only a 150 mile international border and they can not keep out invaders. An estimated 1 million infiltrators cross illegally every year.

Much has been made about the fact that Baghdad has electrical problems. The media ignores the fact that electricity outside of Baghdad has improved 600%. In this country the people pay outrageously high electric bills and still have an average of 32 days a year with black outs (no power). They also have frequent brown outs(reduced power).

Iraq has had an economic surge since the invasion. Business has never been better. The oilfields are back to 92% production. Profits are pouring into the government. A sergeant in the 1 st Cav Division along with Texas A&M University has boosted Iraq produce production to a level where the Iraqis now export. You never hear these things, nor do you hear about this other country, despite being a major agricultural center, has run a 3 billion dollar debt each month for the past several years.

What is the name of this horrible country? What is the name of this country so much worse than Iraq? They call it “CALIFORNIA”. Is California really a worse place to live than Iraq? Having lived in California I can tell you it is a great place to live.

What is my point? The media can distort the truth and make ANYPLACE seem worse than it actually is. . Ask yourself two questions. Seventy percent of the American people, based on distorted reports from the media, have decided Iraq is a failure.
The questions are: "Why have the troops in Iraq, the people who know the whole truth about the war, the people who risk their lives everyday…...Why have they , by poll, voted overwhelmingly in support of the war?" and " Why do the soldiers re-enlist and extend tours of duty at unprecedented levels?"
Just maybe the troops know something the media is not telling you.

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