Anyone remember CNN and Poppy Bush's Gulf War?

[Laurian]

I think that was an absolute ratings and revenue bonanza for CNN and all the cable networks look for opportunities to replicate it. The constant beating of the war drums over this past week with ALL of the anchors/correspondents flocking to Paris has worn me out and pissed me off.

I've turned off the TV.

I hold the media responsible for a lot of the hate and immigrant bashing that has come gushing to the surface. Shame on them. This story should have reverted to short updates after the first couple of days instead of the continuing, 24 hour a day horror fest it has become.

[CJCRANE]

1. I said last year here on DU that we're in the War On Terror Redux.

It just took a bit longer to finally kick off but all the signs have been there for a while now.

[sailfla]

2. I remember Blitzer's war countdown clock

[summerschild]

3. War drums roll!

World War III.

Brought to you by your friendly COMCAST corporation and all their usual media buds.

Lots of nice new KOCH energy commercials, too.

What a bunch of boobs we are....

[Octafish]

4. Nation's eyes were on the SCUD Stud. And no one asked why Poppy lied America into war.

The warmongers trotted out the Kuwait ambassador's daughter to testify under oath to Congress she was a nurse at a Kuwaiti City hospital who saw the Iraqi soldiers take babies from their incubators and leave them on the cold, hard floor so they could steal the machines for the Thief of Baghdad, Poppy's former errand boy and erstwhile business partner, Saddam Hussein.



"If I wanted to lie, or if we wanted to lie, if we wanted to exaggerate, I wouldn't use my daughter to do so. I could easily buy other people to do it." -- Kuwait Ambassador

http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html

[EX500rider]

5. "And no one asked why Poppy lied America into war."

The war was to expel the Iraqi's from Kuwait....that was no lie, they did invade their much smaller neighbor in a aggressive war.

[Octafish]

6. ''President Bush, too, wants friendship.'' -- April Glaspie to Saddam Hussein

http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/01/09/wikileaks-april-glaspie-and-saddam-hussein/

[EX500rider]

8. Saying:

"We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait."

Is not the same as "Go ahead and invade!"

[CJCRANE]

9. It is in diplomatic language. nt

[EX500rider]

13. Yes it is....but saying you have no side in a border dispute..

.....is not the same as a green light to conquer and annex a neighboring country. As Hussein found out.

[CJCRANE]

20. That could also be called a double-cross or leading someone into a trap.

Implicit and explicit meanings are quite well-known in diplomatic language.

The Downing Street Memo illustrated a more obvious example of the west trying to lead Saddam into a trap by baiting him to shoot down a US or UN plane.

[Rex]

16. I guess some forget how Poppy told his buddies they could drill vertically into Iraq territory.

And I know they loath those of us that will not forget it either.

[Octafish]

19. Like a Well Oiled Machine

Cheney Coordinated Halliburton Iraq Contract: Report

Agence France Presse, May 31, 2004
 
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon e-mail said Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a huge Halliburton government contract for Iraq, despite Cheney's denial of interest in the company he ran until 2000.

The March 5, 2003 e-mail, from an Army Corps of Engineers official, said that top Pentagon official Douglas Feith got the job of shepherding the contract, according to the newsweekly Time that hits newsstands Monday.

Feith had approved the multi-billion-dollar deal "contingent on informing WH (the White House) tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w(ith) VP's (vice president's) office," said the e-mail obtained by Time.

The newsweekly said it was three days later that Halliburton won the contract, although no other bids had been submitted.

"As vice president, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government," Cheney told NBC's "Meet the Press" in September, Time said.

Cheney had been Halliburton's CEO until 2000, when he accepted the vice presidential spot.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0531-02.htm

Doug Feith was called the fucking stupidest man on planet by Gen. Tommy Franks. He's got competition.

[Rex]

15. LOL! Poppy knew as soon as he gave Kuwait the greenlight to drill vertically it would cause a war!

Ah...so many people want to rewrite history or omit the important factors. Of course Saddam was stupid enough to take the bait.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/23/opinion/23iht-edcool.t.html

[EX500rider]

18. Really? Kuwait had to get US permission to drill? Unlikely

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Scud Stud was not the only winner in this war

The war made more than one career

[Snobblevitch]

21. The SCUD Stud refused his assignment

to cover the war in the Balkans, quit his network TV job and went back to Canada.

[treestar]

7. I remember that. It was sickening.

So many people treating it like a Big Show. It was entertainment, really.

At least, looking back, they were honest. Saddam could not have control over the oil. That's what we were "fighting" for, said out loud straight up like that.

And how they loved all the rockets and new military toys, made me sick. I met very few people who were not excited as all get out about that.

[Boomerproud]

11. Shock and Awe! Sorties! Pretty bomb blasts lighting up the night sky!

The only time I heard honest reporting was when whats-his-name on CNN was hiding under a bed in a Baghdad hotel room with American bombs falling on top of him. The local news outlets were even worse with their cheerleading, if that's possible. Makes me sick thinking about it.

[Arugula Latte]

10. Hey, it worked for William Randolph Hearst with the Spanish-American War.

[Ace Rothstein]

12. The little tent city wherever CNN is stationed in Paris is creepy.

I think they've sent half their anchors over there. Everything is also BREAKING NEWS. Just awful coverage, no shame.

[Rex]

14. It was the day the music died.

Objective journalism went out the window on that day. CNN reporters running along side marines as they started their invasion of Iraq, "are you here invading Iraq?" "What are your plans?"

It was one of the most surreal moments in my lifetime. I was half convinced some of those marines were going to shoot the reporters for getting in the middle of a miltary operation.

After that, they were all embedded. And the beat rolls on.

[Pathwalker]

22. My eldest son is a disabled veteran of that war, so I'll NEVER forget it.

Any of it. It made me diabetic. It made my son disabled.

[Laurian]

24. I am so sorry. The media's constant use of war terminology

and relentless coverage of incidents such as the one in Paris must be especially painful for you and your family.

[TM99]

28. My heart goes out to you.

I am a veteran of that war as well. I do not have the physical scars, but I sure have the mental ones. My young eyes were thrust wide open for the first time then.

I lost a close friend from college who was an Apache pilot. The second Gulf War has overshadowed how bad that war was as well.

I am so sorry.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Sure, I remember.

It was terrifying.

[ryan_cats]

25. I

I remember the buildup.
Then I remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach once it kicked off and then the jubilation about it by everyone I knew except me.
Wasn't a fan then nor now.

[nruthie]

26. I remember it well.

And yes, the media loves a good war. They get to wear their long somber faces and their patriotic pins and dream up catchy phrases and martial music. They are having a field day with it all.

[bigwillq]

27. I blame our government.

They keep getting us into all these problems.