September 27, 2006- Coverage

   Ever since this Administration took office back in 2001, it has had possibly the most strained relations with the American press in many a year, at least since Richard Nixon's Administration. The current Administration seems to be obsessed with secrecy, not ever wanting to tell anyone what they are actually up to, especialy the preess, who they seem to regard as the enemy. We have seem high ranking Administration officials go right out and browbeat and ridicule the press right in front of them in what is supposed to be a news conference, there have been many times over these last six plus years that they have been downright contemptous to them for just doing their job, which happens to be one of the freedoms that Washington always says that they are fighting for all over the  world. They only seem to have a use for the press when they have some kind of propaganda message that they want put out, other than that, they seem to regard the press corps as a terrible nuisance that should not even be allowed to get near them, let alone actally ask them just what the fuck they are doing.  As one could imagine, that has not set very well with the American media, they do not like being used as propaganda machines and not much else, although they do go along with that scene quite a bit, broadcasting whatever propaganda that Washington wants broadcast, but whatever they do, it seems to not be enough for Washington, and that has pissed the media of America off no end. as a result, we have seen the rise of certain media outlets that just fucking hate the Administration abnd everything they say and do, they have taken it upon themselves to become the enemy that Washington treats them like to begin with. People like that Keith Olberman dude are making quite a name for themselves doing just that, in his case, going on TV every night and blasting the Administration and openly questioning everything that they have to say. They have had enough of this Administration's ways and are not shying away from saying so any longer either, and that has led to some dandy feuds between Washington and these various media outlets. Leading this charge against the Administration is the New York Times, they have seemingly truned totally against the Administration in every way and on every issue, and the two sides have been bickering back and forth like a couple of old hags for the last couple of years now. Lately, things have gotten seriously heated between the two over stories that the Times has been printing about the War on Terror and  the effort being made in it by America. First off, it was revealing the name of whoever blew that Valerie Plame chick's CIA cover, then it was the publication of a supposedly top secret plan that Washington had to track the money and finances of the terrorists through keeping tabs on bank records, wire transfers, and the like. When that came out, Washington said that now the terrorists will know what is coming off and switch tactics, leaving them back at square one, all thanks to the anti-Administration stance of the Times. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen, but it made the Times and the Administration worse enemies than ever, and that relationship seemingly just got worse this past week with yet another story that the Times printed  on their front page or whatever.

   What this story dealt with was the results of another top secret Pentagon report dealing with the progress in the war, especially the one in Iraq. According to the Times, this report painted quite the bleak picture of things over in Iraq, it essentially said that the country was sliding right into Civil War and that the American prescence there was just worsening this. It said that instead of reducing terrorism, that the American presence in Iraq had actually made that problem much worse by destroying any and all order there and giving the terrorists of the world a new safe haven to work out of, and that this made America much more unsafe than it was befoe September 11th, 2001. It also said that America was losing the war in Afghanistan as well, that the Taliban was back and better than before, basically that America was fucking itself big time with these wars and that they would soon pay the price for that. Once this hit the streets, it was  the greatest ammunition that the anti-war forces in America could havbe ever hoped for. Everyone that had been clamoring for Washington to take the troops out of Iraq was seriously emboldened by this report, Olberman straightened his tie, smoothed down his hair, pushed his glasses up his nose, and joined the crowd loudly clamoring for the end of hostilities in Iraq and the return of the American troops. Since that crowd had been coming on like gangbusters as of late, this report could not have come at a worse time for the Administration. After all, it does look pretty bad when you see a classified report from the dudes that you put in charge of fighting this war saying that it is being done all wrong and that the results that are coming out of  it are disasterous. It's one thing if the editor of the New York Times goes onto the editorial page of his paper and says shit like that, that's just his opinion, that's why it is on the editorial page, but it is totally another when this story is splayed all over the front page of that paper and the people quoted in it are not Times employees, but the Pentagon itself. If they are saying that everything is fucked, then how long can it be before disaster does strike again? That's the question that Olberman and all the other self  appointed anti-Administration media people are asking everywhere, they are saying shit like this could make America vulnerable to another September 11th style attack, only this time a far worse one, that it puts the lives of every American servicemember in severe danger, as if being in a war zone was not dangerous enough as it is, that it emboldens America's foes, so on and so forth. They are saying that this report undermines everything that the Administration has said concerning the war, that they have been lying to everyone all along and don't care what the consequences of that might be, some are even using it to try and start the Impeach Bush bandwagon up again, many are quite pissed off at this. The Pentagon does not say that thi sis a ficticious report or anything, they admit that it is the one that they submitted, and to look at it this way makes it look as if America needs to quit wasting their  time in Iraq and get the fuck out of there sooner rather than later because even your own people fighting this war are saying that it is a lost and hopeless cause. That has stirred more controversy across America than Cindy Sheehan could ever hope to accomplish and made many start asking the Administration exactly what the fuck is going on here anyway. The people want to know just how something like this could have gone so badly and they want to know right  away, no more excuses or bullshit.

   The Administration is full of answers for them too, they have spend virtually the entire week thus far giving their side of the story, and it is different than the one that the New York Times has. What they're saying is that the Times took that report out of context and only printed parts of it. According to the Administration, that report was not just an assassment of America's progress in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was actually an overview of the entire military system and scene. What they said that it was about was how America and its military interact with people and situations all around the globe, not just in an active war theater, and beisdes that, the report had far more information about Iraq in it than what the Times printed. They said that there was no mention of the progress that America has brought to Iraq and Afghanistan, like the fact that schools are open and women are voting in Afghanistan and that tyrants have been dethroned , the usual bullshit that the Administration always says when they talk of their successes in the war effort.  Even the Pentagon is saying that while they did say those negative things about the war in the report, that there were at least as many, if not more, positive things that they said about it and what it has done for Iraq. They have been bemoaning the media's choice of how they cover this story, saying that at first, there was 24 hour a day coverage of the  war effort, so that everyone could see and hear and read all that they desired and then make their decisions based on that, but now that tghe war has been pushed back in the news, that there is not enough coverage for anyone to make rational decisions, that reducing it all to soundbites and the like does not give the proper information on it all. What they were telling everyone was that if they had a chance to see that report in its entirety, that they would get an entirely different picture than what the Times and Olberman were giving them. The problem with that was that the general public could not see that entire reoprt, no one could, since it was classified and top secret, and the only way that the Times got a hold of it was through another of those unauthorized leaks that Washington is famous for. So how could the average Joe know exactly what the report said if they could not see it, and President Bush heard that and came up with a solution. Yesterday, he said that he was going to declassify the entire report so that everyone could see just what it had to say in its entirety and make the judgements for themselves. That's pretty heavy shitl seeing Washington dceclassify a current document so soon, usually, it takes decades and decadces before they declassify anything, they are just getting around now to declassifying Reagan era shit as an example, so to do it in one day is extraordinary. Bush says that he wants everyone that is interested, even Olberman, to see it all for themselves and see what the Pentagon really said, not what the New York Times claims that they said. For an Administration obsessed with secrecy, this is about as bold a step as they ever have taken, and for them to do that means that they really want the people to see this for what they claim it really is and not even just meekly accept their nonsense explanations and stories like they are told to do for everything else. That is as far a departure from the usual tactics of thge Administration as it gets, so to many, that makes it look like they are starting to get desperate here on this issue and are starting to grasp at straws in the face of increasing opposition to their policies here at home.

   However, that is not at all the reason that Bush is goinjng to declassify the report in its entirety, he is not desperate in any way, shape or form. he actually loves the fact that the Times started all of this shit up, because it  gives him a chance to make the Administration into the victim here, at the mercy of a bullying press corps. Bush knows that hardly anyone in America is going to read the fucking thing at all, and besides that, even if they did, they could not possibly understand it, because there would be so much military and political jargon in it that they would be clueless, so he knows that they are going to have to rely on the likes of Olberman and the New York Times to read it for them and them tell them in a nice, succinct way just what it says. When they  do, they'll have to talk about all the positive shit that the Pentagon put in it, and that will make the Administration look like the victims that has been bullied by the media for no reason at all. They can say that the media took the report and turned a fair and balanced report done by Washington themselves into a political issue, just to smear the Administration and promote an agenda. Olberman and the others will only be able to sputter and stammer some kind of excuses and spin, making themselves look very much the bad guys here. That's exactly what the Administration wanted, and that was why they made sure that someone leaked that report to the Times in exactly the way that they did. With elections just a few weeks away, making the press look like jealous bastards out to assassinate the Administration scores huge political points, as much as allowing another terrorist attack like so many said they were going to. The Administration knew that everyone was looking for that one these next few weeks, so they went and threw them all a curve with this one. That way, they get the support and sympathy from the American people that they desire, and they do not have to deal with another disaster, they have enough of those on their hands already  and don't need another one, that's why they used this tactic. There's nothing in that report that the public cannot know, if there truly was, Bush would never declassify it no matter what. All that's going to come out of this is that the Administration's propaganda and spin on the war will be front and center once again, just in time for elections,and this time no one can say that they are trotting out the same old rhetoric spoken by the same old dudes. Sure, it wil be the same old propaganda, but there wil be new dudes saying it, the likes of Olberman and the Times, and that fits right in with the Administration's views of the press as nothing more than talking heads that need to spew their propaganda and nothing else. This way, they get to do another of their favorite pastimes, humiliate and embarrass the media, but not directly, they have it set up so that they embarrass and humiliate themselves. Again, this fits right in with the Administration's view of things, that those that oppose them must be destroyed somehow, and if this is succesful enough, it can utterly destroy the credibility of the Times and Olberman on these types of issues, although they don't want to utterly destroy them yet, because they will have other propaganda needs before they leave, and they'll want to use these same outlets then. so when the Administration or the Pentagon go on  about how they are so disappointed in the way that the media is covering the war, don't believe it for one nanosecond, because they are the ones that are manufacturing every bit of information that comes out about the war, and they will spin it and use it any way that they feel necessary in order to achieve their goals, and if that consists of making it seem like some unauthorized fucker with an axe to grind leaked informatiomn to the press in order to embarrass the Administration, so be it, when that fucker was indeed authorized to leak everything to the press in exactly the way that he leaked it, because the Administration has it set up so no matter how  bad it looks for them, they are the ones that turn out victorious every time, and the likes of the New York Times and Keith Olberman are just unwitting dupes in the process.

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