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> My stuff
> The Persuader Blog![]() |
24.3.06 Getting credit![]() I worked till 4 a.m. today—the final days before plating and printing at Lucire can be heavy—and got the news overnight that US and UK special forces had rescued New Zealand resident Harmeet Sooden, plus two other Christian peace activists, from their captors in Iraq. Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News gave credit to American troops. Reuter said ‘U.S.-led forces’. Radio New Zealand gave credit to ‘multinational forces’. Fairfax was vague with ‘coalition forces’ in print. CNN, from the broadcasts I heard today, identified American and British forces. The Canadian press (e.g. the National Post) mentioned that Canadian special forces were involved. I know the United States has many issues relating to its behaviour in this war on terror, but all I ask for is fair reporting. New Zealand media enjoy laying the blame over the Iraq war on the United States’ intelligence over weapons of mass destruction—or, more commonly, at the hands of President Bush personally. It seems like a raw deal for the US military to not get some credit when it has done something good for one of “our” own (well, a Canadian national living here), yet it always gets slammed for the bad things that happen. I admit ‘multinational forces’ is accurate, but I have to wonder: would we be so anti-war if we were told that ‘multinational forces’, rather than the US and the UK, ‘invaded’ Iraq? After all, we were in the coalition in the first Gulf War, and it should be borne in mind that more countries participated in Gulf War II in Iraq than during the Korean War. But my impression is that this war is shown in the media here as an American war. The six o’clock network TV news will perhaps be more determinative of how mainstream media in New Zealand treat the United States. At this point, too, semantics aside, we should remember slain hostage Tom Fox, whose tortured body was found two weeks ago. May he rest in peace, more so now that his fellow hostages are free. War, whomever is responsible, whatever the motive, is a horrible business. Posted by Jack Yan, 03:44 ![]() ![]() Comments:
Update: TV One credits the British SAS, which stormed the property where Sooden was held. The Americans play a supporting role with getting intelligence of the hostages’ whereabouts.
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NoteEntries from 2006 to the end of 2009 were done on the Blogger service. As of January 1, 2010, this blog has shifted to a Wordpress installation, with the latest posts here.With Blogger ceasing to support FTP publishing on May 1, I have decided to turn these older pages in to an archive, so you will no longer be able to enter comments. However, you can comment on entries posted after January 1, 2010. Quick links![]() Add feeds
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