Iraq

Media Conglomerate Funds Pro-War Rallies

"These demonstrators wore shorts
and ball caps, pushed strollers and carried American flags,
but what most set them apart was the support they displayed ... for the
American-led war in Iraq. ... It was meant as ... an
angry protest against the antiwar sentiment that has been
more visible elsewhere, particularly in large cities. 'Don't let these peace protesters confuse you,' Glenn Beck,
a conservative radio host from Philadelphia, told the crowd

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Shocking and Awful

Pundits have depicted the U.S. military strategy of "shock and awe" in largely sanitary terms, suggesting that the high accuracy of laser-guided "smart bombs" will make it possible to decapitate the Iraqi command and control structure while leaving the country's infrastructure intact and limiting civilian casualties.

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Anti-War Reporting Banned in UK Papers

"Sir Ray Tindle, the editor in chief of over 100 weekly newspapers across
Britain has informed all his editors that they can no longer report any
anti-war stories in their newspapers," reports Andy Rowell. Jeremy Dear of the UK's National Union of Journalists, condemned the move: " So much for the right to know, free speech and all those other rights which our forefathers fought to establish and which Sir Ray Tindle seeks to demolish at the stroke of a pen," Dear stated.

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Media Allowed Bush to Mislead the Public Into War

"Critics of the war ... blame the
news media, asserting that they failed to challenge the
administration aggressively enough as it made a shaky case
for war. In an interview, Eric Alterman ... argued,
'Support for this war is in part a reflection that the
media has allowed the Bush administration to get away with
misleading the American people.' ... The strongest indictment of the press, many of these
critics argue, are recent polls that suggest many Americans

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Secret Bids to Rebuild Iraq

"Weeks before the first bombs dropped in Iraq, the Bush administration began rebuilding plans," reports ABC News, which has obtained a copy of a 99-page contract worth $600 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) - the most money the agency has ever spent in a single country in a single year. Among the companies believed to be bidding are Bechtel, Fluor, Parsons, the Washington Group and Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's old firm," ABC reports. "All are experienced. But in addition, all are generous political donors - principally to Republicans."

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Spinning the "Coalition of the Willing"

"The Bush administration has frequently compared the level and scope of international support for its military operations in Iraq to the coalition that fought the first Persian Gulf War," reports Glenn Kessler. "But the statements are exaggerations, according to independent experts and a review of figures from both conflicts." The so-called "coalition of the willing is almost entirely a U.S.-British campaign, with virtually no military contribution from other countries except Australia.

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Making A Killing On War

"As the first bombs rain down on Baghdad, CorpWatch has learned that thousands of employees of Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, are working alongside United States troops in Kuwait and Turkey under a package deal worth close to a billion dollars. According to US Army sources, they are building tent cities and providing logistical support for the war in Iraq in addition to other hot spots in the 'war on terrorism,'" CorpWatch writes.

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A Call For Independent Community Media

"The new US war on Iraq has begun: arguably the greatest moral tragedy of a generation, an unprecedented failure of diplomacy and international order, and a profound crime against the principles of democracy," the Independent Media Center wrote in a statement calling on citizens to seek out news from and create news stories for their nearest IMC.

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