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thedrifter
10-25-06, 07:28 AM
CNN Terrorist Outreach
By The Prowler
Published 10/25/2006 12:09:45 AM

SNIPER NETWORK NEWS
Much has been written about CNN's decision last week to run portions of a video provided to the news network via a group identified by CNN as "the Islamic Army of Iraq."

This video, shot by the insurgent groups as propaganda for the Muslim world as well as a recruiting tool for a number of Islamo-fascist websites, showed terrorist snipers attacking American soldiers in Iraq.

According to CNN, the video was provided after a producer for CNN sent the group an email asking about its activities.

"I think the American public would be interested in exactly what the email contained, at least from the CNN side of things," says a producer for a rival news network, who was made aware of the video's existence before it aired. "My understanding is that email sent by CNN could not be construed any other way than as supportive of the Islamic militants' position in Iraq. There are people inside CNN who are disgusted by their colleagues' activities in Iraq and here in the United States in covering the war."

Attempts to get a copy of the email were unsuccessful. But one CNN source familiar with the techniques employed by network producers to get the Islamic extremist perspective says that it's common for producers to use Iraqi or Muslim contract employees to get information and access to the terrorists, and they do so by claiming sympathy or support for what the terrorists are doing.

"Anti-Americanism pays off for us over there, no doubt about it," says the CNN employee. "Questions were raised about this video and the way we got it. Once it was confirmed that it was real, the next question was how did we get it. And the answer was, we promised to give the terrorists a fair shake. I know that we are saying there was soul-searching here about running the tape. But I didn't see much of that. There were somber people here, but there was also a segment of people on staff, once the tape had run and created a firestorm, that celebrated. They thought they were so courageous."

A former CNN news employee says that at that network there is a decidedly anti-war approach to what they do. "It might not be so clear from some of our anchors, but there are people here who direct the news operation who are very comfortable giving aide and comfort to the enemy. They wouldn't call it that, but I would."


DEMOCRATS' ITERA BROWNOUT
For all the talk inside Washington about lobbying activities of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter, lost amid the MSM coverage is a Democrat who may be far deeper into the ugliness than any Republican. Congresswoman Corrine Brown, who represents Jacksonville, Florida, and has been even more visible in her support of a Russian energy company, Itera, than Weldon.

Like Weldon's daughter, Brown's daughter has served as a lobbyist for Itera, and along with Sen. Tom Harkin was instrumental in giving the Russian business interests access to Democrats on Capitol Hill and the Clinton Administration. But funny how Brown's activities and possible role in any Russian energy scandal gets almost no coverage during an election cycle.


MAGAZINE DEMOCRATS
More evidence about where the mainstream media is getting its marching orders, and where its allegiances lie, is on full display out in Phoenix this week, where the American Magazine conference is being held. Beyond the booze and swapping of hotel room keys among editors and their "editorial assistants" at the Biltmore Resort & Spa, the crowd listened rapturously to a Q&A session between New Yorker editor David Remnick and Sen. Barack Obama ("I inhaled...that was the point") and a scathing criticism of the media by Robert Kennedy Jr. Both presentations were received with wild applause.

Ellie

jinelson
10-25-06, 08:20 AM
CNN's conduct seems to be in line with party agenda!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/jinelson/thom54jh1.gif

thedrifter
10-25-06, 02:42 PM
October 24, 2006
Lawmaker seeks ban on CNN embeds

By Rick Maze
Staff writer

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is calling on the Pentagon to bar CNN from accompanying U.S. military units in Iraq because the cable news network aired a controversial film last week showing insurgent snipers targeting U.S. troops.

“I think it could easily encourage terrorists, who apparently killed with impunity on the tape,” Hunter said in a Tuesday interview. “It definitely is terrorist propaganda.”

The film included videotape prepared by an insurgent group showing a sniper’s eye view of U.S. service members being picked off.

Hunter said the footage sends a false message by not showing instances when U.S. forces stopped snipers, and could end up making things worse for American troops.

Hunter and two other California Republicans, Reps. Brian Bilbray and Darrell Issa, expressed their concern in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“CNN has now served as the publicist for an enemy propaganda film featuring the killing of an American soldier,” the letter states. “Our strong recommendation is that all CNN reporters presently embedded with U.S. soldiers be removed from their embedded positions immediately.”

The Pentagon has not had any official reaction to the letter.

CNN has defended its decision. “Of course, we also understood that some might conclude there is a public relations benefit for the insurgents if we aired the material, especially on CNN International,” said David Doss, executive producer of the CNN program “Anderson Cooper 360,” which aired the footage.

“We also understood that this kind of footage is upsetting and disturbing for many viewers,” Doss said. “But after getting beyond the emotional debate, we concluded the tape meets our criteria for newsworthiness.”

Doss noted that the footage does not show any U.S. troops actually being hit by insurgent fire.

“We dipped to black at the moment of actual impact of the rounds,” he said. “A number of us felt airing that precise moment was simply too horrific. That decision, as well as the decision to build a piece around the sniper tape — in fact, all the decisions about this story — were subject to hours of intense editorial debate at the highest levels here at CNN.

“Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can,” Doss said.

CNN “tried to put all of this in context,” he said, by including an interview with a current U.S. sniper; a statement from Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq; and input from a CNN military analyst — a retired Army lieutenant general and former special operations member — about the threat of sniper attacks against U.S. troops.

Caldwell is quoted on the tape as acknowledging the presence of insurgent snipers.

“It is always a real threat,” he says, while declining to discuss details of anti-sniper operations.

Hunter said CNN seems to be treating the war “as a disinterested observer, as if this was a sporting event.”

He believes embedded reporters should operate differently.

“When you are embedded, you are part of the family,” he said. “It seems to me that CNN doesn’t care if we win.”

Ellie