Iraq bans footage,photos of bombing

[joquim]

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Iraq bans footage,photos of bombing
No photos allowed after Iraqi blasts....BAGHDAD - Police fired warning shots in the air at the scene of a double bombing Tuesday, enforcing an order banning news photographers and TV camera operators from filming the aftermath of deadly bombings....The Iraqi government said it decided last weekend to keep photographers and camera crews away from blast sites to prevent them from damaging forensic evidence. Media groups feared the order was aimed at preventing scenes of horrific carnage from being broadcast around the world

[cellardoor6]

I don't know what to think about this.

Theres a few conclusions someone could come to about this:

- Obviously hypocritical liberals are going to attack this policy by saying it is against free speech and free press etc, and thus use it to attack supporters of the war and supporters of the Iraqi government. Meanwhile, they themselves don't even really support the democratic Iraqi government anyway. Thus entirely repudiating their point while they say it, because if they had their way, and we didn't oust Saddam Hussein, press freedoms would be far worse today, and there would be no Democracy in Iraq.

- People are going to defend it also by suggesting it takes away the propaganda advantage Al Qaeda has in Iraq. The vast majority of this war is being fought in the media, thats the whole reason indiscriminate bombings are used by the terrorists. They want to fill TV screens of world with scenes of death and destruction, creating the appearance of chaos and to invalidate our goals They can't really gain any military advantage, they can only create the illusion of victory. Thus, take away their propaganda, you damage their efforts and put the focus on ACTUAL strategic achievements relative to both sides.

Because the terrorists know they can't actually kick out US forces or topple the Iraqi government military. They lose every single actual battle they ever fight against US forces aside from sporadic ambushes and bombs etc... So they have to create propaganda to demoralize the US to cause a precipitous withdrawal so that they can achieve their goals in our absence. They play within our own political atmosphere by fueling the fire of the anti-war movement in our own country. They are giving the Democrats what they want, emotional, irrational scenes of chaos to be used against the President, in order to facilitate a retreat from Iraq.

The propaganda allows the terrorists to defeat us politically. Take it away, and they cannot win. Because military they will always lose.

[bcdemon]

It's a safe bet that the right-wing extremists will see this as a terrorists propaganda deterrent. Meanwhile all it really is, is censorship.

Don't worry, give it a week or 3 and Iraq will be a peaceful and happy place, with no bombings or violence...

[Boltrig]

Your photos are nondescript, and your source uncredited. Im not saying this didnt happen, but you've really not given any proof that it did.

[Memorize]

At 5/24/07 08:24 AM, bcdemon wrote:

Don't worry, give it a week or 3 and Iraq will be a peaceful and happy place, with no bombings or violence...

Or you could be like bcdemon and pray that violence will ensue Iraq and kill as many as millions of civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers in hopes that the insurgents win.

[Tukie]

Well, at least they're working on the pressing issues, instead of, oh i don't know, FIGHTING THE FRIGGEN INSURGENCY.

[cellardoor6]

At 5/24/07 08:24 AM, bcdemon wrote: It's a safe bet that the right-wing extremists will see this as a terrorists propaganda deterrent. Meanwhile all it really is, is censorship.

Censorship of terrorist propaganda... we are in a war mind you, the Iraqis are fighting a life or death battle to protect their democracy.

Preventing carnage from being reported and exploited by terrorists is an entirely legitimate practice. The terrorists can only use the media as their weapon, they can't gain ground, take power, kick US forces out, or gain any tactical, actual advantage. So instead they create disturbing images for the media to report in order to demoralize the public, and cause a premature withdrawal.

See, people turn the TV on and see chaos and say 'the US is losing because a bomb went off, and the terrorists are winning" etc... People don't know enough about war to realize that sporadic bombings and ambushes have no real effect on the situation. So the terrorists intentionally create hysterical propaganda to get to the minds of uninformed people like yourself, American liberals, etc... this makes people lose support for the war even though tactically, the terrorists are getting raped and cannot POSSIBLY gain ground, usurp the authorities, etc.. which is their goal.

They need people to want to leave, so that after we leave they don't have to fight us, but instead and just step into the power vacuum created by our absence.

Don't worry, give it a week or 3 and Iraq will be a peaceful and happy place, with no bombings or violence...

Eh, give it a year and the terrorists will have no more incentive to create horrific scenes of violence in order to bombard the world with propaganda. They may continue to some extend, but those bombings will lose their effect on the war as a whole.

[Tukie]

I think that overall this could be an insurgency that'll fizzle or it could become like Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, causing military shakedowns and an eventual forced pullout of our Army on their terms.

[JudgeDredd]

At 5/24/07 09:24 PM, cellardoor6 wrote: the Iraqis are fighting a life or death battle to protect their democracy.

That's so sweet. *sobs*

[Elfer]

I can actually see the official explanation as somewhat plausible. TV crews and such do tend to do a lot of damage with no regard to other people's property.

[JudgeDredd]

And police firing warning shots will certainly make far less journalists converge on the scene.