Real News Network: US Media Spins Sadr City 'Success'
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2008
9:00 AM
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CONTACT: Real News Network
Nina Aghdasi, 416-916-5202
smcommunications@therealnews.com
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US Media Spins Sadr City 'Success'
Pepe Escobar: Media's depiction of Iraqi troops "regaining" Sadr City as a turning point misses the point
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May 21 - US corporate media has found a feel good story about Iraq, and the spinning is massive. It's all about "Operation Peace" – three brigades of ten thousand Iraqi soldiers taking over the giant Sh'ite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad.
Real News Network analyst Pepe Escobar says US troops aren't part of the operation because they have already thrown everything they have against Sadr City – accusing the Mahdi army of getting weapons from Iran, unleashing "precision bombing" air strikes killing scores of civilians, and starting to build a giant wall to isolate the giant slum. But nothing has worked, and it's now up to the Maliki government, that can't even govern properly, to give an impression of "progress".
The whole thing is still about Maliki supporting the al-Hakim family in its war of influence against the Sadr family. The Americans may "muscle up" any time and the truce between Maliki and the Mahdi army can be broken any time, as it already has according to the Sadrs.
Meanwhile something has got to be spun, so give the people at home the illusion of "progress".
The full piece can be viewed at The Real News Network website here
The Real News Network investigates reports and debate stories that help understand the critical issues of our time. TRN combines breaking-news footage from around the world with reportage from some of the world's best journalists, expanding from several news items per day to a 24/7 news website and daily news hour for television.
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