WAR: The Story of Iraq No Other News Source is Reporting

Everything we see on tv, or we read in the newspapers, would make us believe that Iraq is hell because of the coalition. We, Americans, as well as the rest of the world, are being told that most Iraqis hate the coalition and Americans. But is this really what people in Iraq think? Is this really what they feel? Is there nothing really good happening in Iraq? Or are News sources just reporting the bad news that happen in Iraq, and blowing them out of proportion?

Let's take a look at the good things that are happening in Iraq.







The news media in the US, and around the world post only news about terrorism and about how many Iraqis are death or die, but none of them are stating that most Iraqi deaths nowadays are caused by the insurgents, who are mostly radicals from other countries who want to take advantage of what is happening in Iraq to further their own agendas, killing Iraqis as well as soldiers of the coalition.

The truth is that many soldiers in the coalition have died protecting Iraqis against insurgent attacks, yet this is not shown in the news at all. According to the news media, the American public and the world don't want to know the good things happening in Iraq. They don't want to hear or read about the places in Iraq where violence is almost non-existant, or that violence and terrorism are mostly isolated to two or three places in Iraq.

They don't want to show to the world, and to Americans included, the good things that soldiers of the coalition and people from all over the world are doing to help the children and people of Iraq now that Saddam is not in power.

But the truth is that there are "tons of good things happening in Iraq."

Their efforts have met with immense gratitude from local Iraqis and their children, who now have access to the basic tools of education for the first time in their lives. "I have seen Iraqi kids climbing on our soldiers and hugging them and kissing them," remembers Sinise, who recently accompanied Army soldiers to a dilapidated school they were rebuilding. "I have seen their smiling faces and their attempts to say 'I love you' in broken English. The folks I saw had hope in their eyes and gratitude in their hearts for what was done for them."

And this is not an isolated incident, what I excerpted above is happening all over Iraq. Take a look at the links below if you want to continue reading about the good things that are happening in Iraq, and if you don't want to be influenced into believing that everything that happens in Iraq after the war is violence and death.



Related News Links:
www.operationiraqichildren.org
www.centcom.mil
www.rebuilding-iraq.net
www.freedomofthought.com


[edit on 30-10-2004 by Banshee]

Originally posted by Muaddib

The news media in the US, and around the world post only news about terrorism and about how many Iraqis are death or die, but none of them are stating that most Iraqi deaths nowadays are caused by the insurgents, who are mostly radicals from other countries who want to take advantage of what is happening in Iraq to further their own agendas killing Iraqis as well as soldiers of the coalition.


[edit on 30-10-2004 by Muaddib]

Ah yes, the news media. You are so right, and this is why I love ATS - to really see the big picture.

Thanks for putting together this terrific submission Muaddib!

there is good and bad to every situation.... the sad thing is good news doesn't sell as much as bad news

I echo Relentless - thanks for posting Muaddib



[edit on 30-10-2004 by UK Wizard]

I just did some edits to this submission, hoping that it will meet the standards to make it an ATSNN story. Let's not follow the media into believing or showing to the world only what is wrong with Iraq, but the good things that are happening over there daily, things that have improved ever since the coalition ousted Saddam.



[edit on 30-10-2004 by Muaddib]

Look out kid, They keep it all hid.�
Bob Dylan �Subterranean Homesick Blues�

nice post Muaddib, we need to focus more on what has been accomplished over there.

the sad thing is good news doesn't sell as much as bad news

This is true yet the entire situation over there is being reported with such a negative approach, it's left us with no knowledge at all of the progress that's been made! The major news networks are so caught up in this negativity they don't realize how overdone its been and people now want to hear the good news from over there.

-raven

does good outweight bad? we will never know because there is no right answer. its depends how you depict good as being what. im sure there be some person who sees this good as bad - the future to be westernised losing tradition or something. i dont know and i dont think that but thats what extremists of iraqi people might say.

Well im sorry. I cant get excited by pretty pictures of Soldiers habding out toys to kids when latest reports indicate that 100000 people have died in the Iraq war so far. Seems like the most sinister propoganda. Sorry

Those might be the story's they don't tell you about but some of the things I've heard about Iraq by someone is sick you help them all you can and you get your hand bitten for it.

[edit on 30/10/2004 by SE7EN]

Originally posted by Smoker
Well im sorry. I cant get excited by pretty pictures of Soldiers habding out toys to kids when latest reports indicate that 100000 people have died in the Iraq war so far. Seems like the most sinister propoganda. Sorry

Ok, people keep bringing this numbers up, where exactly are you getting these numbers?..... and who do you think its killing most Iraqis over there but the insurgents....once more, the news say that Iraqi people are being killed, but they don't say by whom.....Did you know that Iraqis were being killed before the war just the same?.....was it the coalition? No... It was extremists and Saddam's regime. BTW the numbers I see are in between 14,000-16,000.... even one dead is too many...but most Iraqis have died by the hands of insurgents than by the coalition.

The insurgents are using suicide attacks and mortar attacks and kill many Iraqis, they also kill coalition members.



[edit on 30-10-2004 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by SE7EN
Those might be the story's they don't tell you about but some of the things I've heard about Iraq by someone is sick you help them all you can and you get your hand bitten for it.

Yes, there are some cases like that. I have some friends over there and I keep in contact with one of them by email, he is in a more secured zone in Iraq so they don't see a lot of violence. The violence is in some places like Fallujah... In northern Iraq violence and car bombs are almost non-existant, and the people are pro-Americans. Northern Iraq is where most Kurds live, and these people were being massacred by Saddam along with other minorities in Iraq.

Iraqis from the north are not the only ones who live almost normal lives, there are sporadic fights brought by the insurgents, as they come from Syria, Iran and other places to try to gain a foothold in Iraq.

BTW...I still want to see "these latest reports" that there are 100,000 Iraqis dead.....

I am not going to say everything is well and dandy over there, it never was even when Saddam was in power.

[edit on 30-10-2004 by Muaddib]

..Well...


I think it's pretty clear no one is reporting the pretty picture because there isn't one. ...It takes chutzpah to push a 'focus on the positive' agenda under these circumstances. ...and a great degree of irresponsibility.

The truth is - war sucks. Kids die. Iraqis have had their whole world torn apart and unfortunately, their lives are WAY worse than they were under the last dictator. ...now the plague is on its way. Charming.

But hey - a few rich guys are richer now and who cares whose backs they're riding on.



.

Originally posted by soficrow
..Well...


I think it's pretty clear no one is reporting the pretty picture because there isn't one. ...It takes chutzpah to push a 'focus on the positive' agenda under these circumstances. ...and a great degree of irresponsibility.

The truth is - war sucks. Kids die. Iraqis have had their whole world torn apart and unfortunately, their lives are WAY worse than they were under the last dictator. ...now the plague is on its way. Charming.

But hey - a few rich guys are richer now and who cares whose backs they're riding on.



.

Any evidence to confirm that their lives are are WAY worse than before? At least now they have lives. Sure, many people have died and that is a tragedy. I wish all of them, Iraqi's and all servicemen and women, could be returned.

Well just so you know, I talked with a Congressman yesterday, and he seems to have the same feeling.

He said the biggist worry the Iraqi's have is that we leave to early. Not that they want us to stay there a long time, but to get the country on its feet and leave.....

I think the pictures are lovely and represent the human side of the Americans. however, the death toll stands at over 100,000, and that includes men, women and innocent children. I do not blame the troops. I blame this government and its invasion.
Saddam had pictures kissing babies, of course, dont you know, he ATE those babies. Fidel Castro poses with the people, hugs and kisses for everyone. Hitler did photo ops.

Originally posted by dgtempe
I think the pictures are lovely and represent the human side of the Americans. however, the death toll stands at over 100,000, and that includes men, women and innocent children. I do not blame the troops. I blame this government and its invasion.
Saddam had pictures kissing babies, of course, dont you know, he ATE those babies. Fidel Castro poses with the people, hugs and kisses for everyone. Hitler did photo ops.

Again, what death toll? Is this the amount of deaths directly caused by coalition action?

Let us not forget what Saddam did to his own people.

www.cnn.com...

thanks - - lots! for the artical

we will all be victorious!!

Originally posted by soficrow
..Well...


I think it's pretty clear no one is reporting the pretty picture because there isn't one. ...It takes chutzpah to push a 'focus on the positive' agenda under these circumstances. ...and a great degree of irresponsibility.

The truth is - war sucks. Kids die. Iraqis have had their whole world torn apart and unfortunately, their lives are WAY worse than they were under the last dictator. ...now the plague is on its way. Charming.

But hey - a few rich guys are richer now and who cares whose backs they're riding on.

Iraqis were dying under Saddam, including women and children under what Saddam called "arabization..." According to different reports Saddam killed 300,000 Iraqis in his 24 years in power. Althou there are some human right groups which say the count is higher up to 500,000, since the 300,000 dead Iraqis were from what is now known as Kurdistan from 1980-1990. There were millions more misplaced, and without homes because of Saddam.

Saddam had also waged personal wars against other minorities like Assyrian Christians, the true natives of Iraq.

At the following link you will find this information.
users.erols.com...

Under the UN and Clinton's sanctions on Iraq there were from 500,000-560,000 children who died in Iraq, and this is without counting the older people who died which put the figure to possibly 1,000,000 Iraqis dead... meanwhile countries like Russia, France, Germany, NK, and a few other were making billions. (Is this what you were refering to when you said millionares were getting richer at the expense of Iraqis? )

Let me quote.

Iraq (1990-): 350 000
International Embargo
According to the 21 March 1998 Times Union (Albany), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 1,000,000 Iraqis, incl. 560,000 children, died as a result of malnutrition and disease caused by the international embargo imposed following the invasion of Kuwait. The article mentions the use of these numbers by an official of the United Church of Christ, and also labels the figures "commonly used -- but also disputed".
9 Oct. 2001 Slate "Explainer" acknowledges the possibility of 350,000-500,000 excess deaths among children since 1991, but points out that Saddam blames the UN and the US blames Saddam [slate.msn.com.../9/2001&idMessage=8414 or www.casi.org.uk...; it's a moving target.]
Ramsey Clark: 1,500,000 including 750,000 children [www.twf.org...]
UNICEF: 500,000 excess child deaths (under-five) 1991 to 1998 [www.unicef.org.uk.../news/iraq1.htm]
6 Aug. 1999 CNN [www.cnn.com...]
UN: 1M excess deaths
Al-Thawra newspaper: 1.5M
Project on Defense Alternatives, 20 Oct. 2003: "[T]he sanction regime probably cost the lives of 170,000 children. (Much higher estimates for 1992-1998 sanction deaths ... are based on faulty baseline statistics for prewar childhood mortality in Iraq)." [www.comw.org...]

Excerpted from.
users.erols.com...

So as you can see Iraqis were dying under Saddam before any sanctions or any war by the coalition, and when there were more "peaceful solutions imposed" on Iraq meanwhile "rich people were getting richer"....

More sanctions would have meant even more deaths, not only children but as the UN and other organizations said between 1 Million- 1.5 Million people in total in Iraq died because of the sanctions.


[edit on 30-10-2004 by Muaddib]

Let me post from another source revealing the amount of Iraqis that Saddam killed....

No-one can deny the fragility of the situation in Iraq. Nevertheless, the nation is slowly recovering from a generation spent under Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi dictator was responsible for murdering between 300,000 and 500,000 Iraqi citizens who opposed him, out of a population of 25 million. Those numbers dwarf anything we have seen in the past days, or even in the entire year since Saddam�s overthrow. Iraqi oil production is back at pre-war levels, and last week the Iraq National Theatre managed to reopen its doors.

Excerpted from.
news.scotsman.com...

Now let's see how many people Saddam killed in Baghdad...

Saddam Hussein's government may have executed 61,000 Baghdad residents, a figure much higher than previously believed, a new study suggests.

The bloodiest massacres of Saddam's 23-year presidency occurred in Iraq's Kurdish north and Shi'ite Muslim south, but the Gallup Baghdad Survey data indicates the brutality also extended into the capital.

The survey asked 1178 Baghdad residents in August and September whether a member of their household had been executed by Saddam's regime, with 6.6 per cent saying yes.

The polling firm took metropolitan Baghdad's population of 6.39 million people, and average household size of 6.9 people, to calculate that 61,000 people were executed during Saddam's rule.

Past estimates were in the low tens of thousands. Most are believed to have been buried in mass graves.

The US-led occupation authority in Iraq has said at least 300,000 people were buried in mass graves in Iraq.

Human rights officials put the number closer to 500,000, and some Iraqi political parties estimate more than 1 million people were executed.

Excerpted from.
www.smh.com.au...

Now, I want to see where the 100,000 figure of Iraqis killed in this war comes from...and I suppose all these people claiming this say the coalition forces killed all these people?......which is an outright lie..... if you follow even the mainstream media most Iraqis are dying by attacks done by insurgents' attacks.....

BTW, I really hate having to present proof of these attrocities...which some people don't seem to believe proof is needed and making wild claims is just enough....

---edited to correct errors---

[edit on 31-10-2004 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Muaddib
[So as you can see Iraqis were dying under Saddam before any sanctions or any war by the coalition, and when there were more "peaceful solutions imposed" on Iraq meanwhile "rich people were getting richer"....

More sanctions would have meant even more deaths, not only children but as the UN and other organizations said between 1 Million- 1.5 Million people in total in Iraq died because of the sanctions.
[edit on 30-10-2004 by Muaddib]

So what are you trying to say? It is morally preferable to go in and kill people violently, as opposed to blockading them and starving them after blowing up all their sewage treatment plants and hospitals?

The US built up Saddam to attack Iran, who had revolted against the CIA-led dictator Shah M. Reza Pahlavi. The US decided to take Saddam out because he threatened Israel, so suckered him into invading Kuwait when the UN wouldn't settle the dispute he had with them. Then the US attacked Iraq AFTER they had retreated from Kuwait and murdered tens of thousands of retreating Iraqi soldiers flying white flags of surrender. That is a war crime, and many Nazi officers were hung for less. Then the US pushed through a santions regime that brought the standard of living in Iraq from the highest to the lowest in the region. Then they attacked them illegally and now continue to occupy the country despite having overthrown Saddam and being criminally wrong about his supposed WMDs.

Face it: the US is guilty of genocide by several different methods. Unless you don't believe the UN Charter and the Geneva Accords apply to the US. But they were signed by the President and ratified by the Senate, and so are on a legal par with the Constitution.

Fact is, most criminal don't think of themself as bad. There are always "good reasons" for what the "have to do."

Photo ops with innocent children don't change that.