VontreMar 20, 2023
Jen Sorensen
Reflecting on the start of the Iraq War 20 years later. I cannot overstate how appallingly one-sided the news coverage was in the US during the buildup to the invasion.
Mar 19, 2023 at 6:02pmWeb
Show threadRoy Brander🍁Mar 19, 2023

@jensorensen

Before Pat Donahue was fired, they first had the rule that he must have two pro-war guests on for every anti-war. *AND* Donahue himself counted as an anti-war "guest". So he had to have five guests crowd the stage, four of them pro-war, to interview a single anti-war voice.

The funnier MSNBC story is the screwup: they hired Jesse Ventura on the obvious assumption he'd be pro-war. When he wasn't, they paid him out $3M over 3 years to remain silent and off-the-air.

MSNBC!!

Show threadJen SorensenMar 19, 2023
@RoyBrander Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about Jesse Ventura.
Show threadRoy Brander🍁Mar 19, 2023

@jensorensen

Don't forget to just skim the front pages of the Times and Post today, where I see not much but crickets, snickered at in in a few hundred blog words:
http://brander.ca/reply#crickets

...when they were so fulsome in Iraq stories 20 years ago.

Sorry to see "Iraq" not appear on McClatchyDC front page, no football-spiking about being the one team to call out the lies.

Stackback

Show threadJen SorensenMar 19, 2023
@RoyBrander Yep, this is one reason why I switched to the Guardian myself
Show threadJoe ❌👑Mar 19, 2023
@RoyBrander There are people who call MSNBC the inverse of Fox News but nothing could be further from the truth. Conservatives run the network, but they saw liberals as an unserved market so they let some host shows, as long as they don't get out of line.
Show threadVirtue signal 💉💉💉🇺🇸 🇺🇦Apr 2, 2023

@RoyBrander @jensorensen

IIRC there were other news ppl who suffered retaliation for criticizing the war. IIRC one was an anchor at NECN.

Show threadAyris HawkeMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen Yep. And having lived through that, I can kind of see how Putin is keeping his popularity numbers up.
Show threadJen SorensenMar 19, 2023
@deathpierogi Agreed
Show threadPierreMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen not the same in #France - I seem to remember the ensuing « French / liberty fries » episode. But oh well, we’re this country of cowards as some parts of the world conveniently like to depict us :)
Show threadJen SorensenMar 19, 2023
@_pierre_ True story: I printed out the French flag and hung it in the rear window of my car after the "freedom fries" episode
Show threadPierreMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen I truly admire you for this. Given the animosity at that time (and still sometimes to this day, that’s how powerful the press’ narrative can be) it must have taken a lot of courage!
Show threadJen SorensenMar 19, 2023
@_pierre_ Amazingly, I did not get harassed even once -- but I lived in a progressive college town that was mostly against the war.
Show threadJeremy HumphreyMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen I feel old... I was thinking "Oh 20 years ago they're talking about the Gulf War." then realized that was 30 years ago....
Show threadGrandma BatesMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen It is only missing Condoleezza Rice explaining how Russia invading a sovereign state is bad from her office in Stanford .
Show threadTrue SlickyMar 19, 2023

@jensorensen It's not just that. It's that former defense officials from the Nixon Administration found themselves in the Shrub Administration & viewed the Iraq Invasion as their opportunity to fix the failings of Vietnam.

That book in the Bible with all the "begats" comes to mind.

Show threadCharlotte Ariel FinnMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen I felt like I was literally going mad watching the whole thing unroll despite the largest at-the-time anti-war protests in history.
Show threadWade WainioMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen And prior to the war, there was no significant mainstream coverage of Iraq at all. That was itself sort of a telltale sign they were full of shit.
Show threadKris HardyMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen The number of military members and civilians who were killed and incurably injured (physical and mental), but that harm was never truly felt because "support our troops". (I was involved in coordinating deployments to Afghanistan at my base, and was a true believer at the time. Many years later I realized just how much damage I was involved with.)
Show threadBadger AF (he/him) DEMOCRACYMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen THIS. GWB has never faced any sort of accountability for the needless deaths of Iraqis and American soldiers.
Show threadIsaac RabinovitchMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen I've actually heard it argued that 400K corpses was a small price to pay for getting rid of Saddam. Those people who got it all wrong aren't ostracized cuz too many people are fine with their moral logic.
Show threadmalenaMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen let’s name names: the #NYT and #WaPo, as papers of record, sold that war to this country. may as well have had state run media
Show threadtolortsluborMar 19, 2023

@jensorensen The sides were the corporate warpig upper class against Homo sapiens and civilized society.

The NY Times, the paper of record, published a whole series of Judy Miller citing Dick Cheney and other Unprosecuted war criminals as unnamed administration sources for evil twisted warmongering lies. https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/finding-the-truth-in-935-lies-about-war-with-iraq/

Putin & Republicans are evil but corporate Democrats are using Ukraine as a proxy

Finding the truth in 935 lies about war with Iraq

25 years, countless investigations and 935 lies By Charles Lewis June 20, 2014 False pretenses By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith January 23, 2008 Center for Public Integrity founder Charles “Chuck” Lewis has just published a new book with the provocative title, “935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity.” […]

Center for Public Integrity
Show threadAlicePaulMar 19, 2023

@jensorensen

I mentioned this in a post just the other day. It was horrible—coming back from a protest and not one news site mentioned the 100s of 1000s of voices yelling on Main Street.

Show threadRobert DenbyMar 19, 2023

@jensorensen

Agreed. Dubya and the GOP crashed this country into a ditch on a lie. And they destroyed quite a few careers to get their precious forever war.

General Shinseki
The Chix
Phil Donahue
Valerie Plame/Ambassador Wilson

That's not even counting the tens of thousands of americans forever disabled for serving their country in the wrong place for the wrong reason through no fault of theirs. Nor does it count the ones who never came home at all.

This. This is why the GQP can never, ever be trusted until every single one of the criminals who got so many people killed on a fucking lie are long dead and gone, and their influence forgotten.

Show threadAviva GaryMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen Truth... and this thread is true... but as a teen living in this era let me say this: be careful what you do because the blowback is incalculable.
Show threadKlausEnMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen I cancelled my newspaper subscription in liberal Portland, OR back then out of pure anger about its blind parroting of Bush government propaganda in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. 9/11 caused a real mass hysteria that shut off people’s critical thinking abilities.
Show threadChris BroomeMar 19, 2023
@jensorensen Donahue wasn’t even that anti-war. He lost his show for trying to be balanced and booking people who would speak out about the invasion on a panel with hawks.
Show threadEric LawtonMar 19, 2023

@jensorensen

I was in the US for a few days shortly before the start.

Socialising in the bar after work, most people were against the war and particularly against Bush. (A biased sample, I know. Middle class IT professionals).

I returned a few weeks later, working with the same people. I was really taken aback by the complete change in opinion to fairly strong support for Bush and the war. Strong "patriotism" vibes.

I wish I'd seen more of the process that changed their opinions so quickly.

Show threadJen SorensenMar 19, 2023
@EricLawton In addition to the round-the-clock fearmongering on virtually every mainstream media outlet, lies from trusted figures like Colin Powell swayed a lot people (as another commenter mentioned).
Show threadElizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Mar 20, 2023

@jensorensen I remember losing a bunch of readers to my blog because I spoke up against the war. (i am Malaysian)

This wasy first exposure to American groupthink on certain issues 😬

Show threadJen SorensenMar 20, 2023
@liztai The US was definitely in a bubble then (though many opposed the war and received little attention).
Show threadニルス・スキニールMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen Why aren't the living architects of US war in VN and Iraqi Wars in prison? Killed millions, but walk free and are all wealthy.
Show threadBrad MillerMar 20, 2023
@Skirnir Not that simple... read your history, visit Vietnam, talk to people there, think critically. I'm not saying what is right or wrong, only that if you study and think you will realize it is more complicated than you can express in a toot.
Show threadニルス・スキニールMar 20, 2023
@bnmnetp Respectfully disagree about VN. I was there. And Ive been back to VN twice btw. And I have read more history than most folks.
Do agree that short msgs cant do the horrors of the US genocide in VN, Laos and tribal areas of Thailand justice, but at the very least I can remind people.
Show threadElledeeayMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen During the lead up to the war, I felt like I was taking crazy pills seeing everyone knew fall for that jingoistic crap! Well not everyone I knew, but most people.
Show threadLeisureguyMar 20, 2023

@jensorensen

This is worth reading:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-lords-of-chaos

Makes my blood boil.

#IraqIvansion #GWBAdministration #lies #warCrimes #noAccountability

The Lords of Chaos

The politicians and shills in the media who orchestrated 20 years of military debacles in the Middle East, and who seek a world dominated by U.S. power, must be held accountable for their crimes.

The Chris Hedges Report
Show threadBc Clarity Carlton-MartinMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen "Nobody cares what you think." W.
Show threadnshrubsMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen Truth. I was lucky that I could get a Canadian TV station & learned way more than what the US news was telling me.
Show threadSpacewizard! (Ed H)Mar 20, 2023

@jensorensen @avarowell And the fact that the mainstream news outlets were just transparently lying to us all, gave a lot of fringe outlets a lot of seeming credibility that was absolutely unearned and that they ended up abusing and exploiting in later years.

thinkin bout Infowars and such

Show threadDavid Scott MoyerMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen The really scary thing is that Trump made W look like a statesman.
Show threadOGJester has movedMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen the Bush presidency was such a nightmare; the lead up to the Iraq war was a particularly low point.
Show threadLen LaytonMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen That was one of the reasons I left the USA for Canada in 2004 - my wife and I just couldn’t believe the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld regime was so obviously corrupt & evil - but we were utterly appalled that so many seemingly intelligent and well-informed Americans went along with it.
Show threadJen SorensenMar 20, 2023
@lenlayton I'm curious how that experience has been for you. Few regrets, I imagine.
Show threadLen LaytonMar 29, 2023
@jensorensen It’s been brilliant- Vancouver is a great city to raise a family - expensive- but highest quality of life anywhere on earth. Just one small example: my daughter speaks fluent French from attending a public elementary school.
Show threadJen SorensenApr 2, 2023
@lenlayton Sounds nice!
Show threadnewsorpigalMar 20, 2023

@jensorensen

george w bush is a criminal.

Show threadJürgen HubertMar 20, 2023

@jensorensen I remember this:

https://youtu.be/CpuN-yM1sZU

German FM makes impassioned plea for peace

YouTube
Show threadLilyshomeMar 20, 2023
@jensorensen the Bushes War. By which they profited greatly.
Show threadkirtMar 21, 2023

@jensorensen @kirt @kirt

didn't they ban Al Jazeera English?

Show threadArp Laszlo • Comics • ADHDMar 21, 2023
@jensorensen Our troubles began when the news coverage glossed over SCOTUS handing the presidency to W in a clearly political decision. No details, no investigations, no nuance - same with Iraq.
Show threadJen SorensenMar 21, 2023
@arpcomics Exactly.
Show threadPeterD 🇩🇪 🇨🇦Apr 6, 2023
@jensorensen It can't be overstated how appalling news coverage of anything is by the #USA media. #TotallyUGH