Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Now Do You Understand?

by Larry Johnson
Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 02:56:05 PM EST

Breaking news! At least 22 Virginia Tech students gunned down. Cable news channels are wild with activity as they pump up the coverage a focus on the latest "crisis". The media is commenting that this shooting is overwhelming the local medical facilities. Crisis is in the air. Well, at least it ain't Iraq.

Okay. Big deep breath. This is horrible and this is tragic and this gives us an idea of what it is like to live just one day in Iraq. Consider the following:

(cont.)

04/15/07 Reuters: 19 bodies found in Baghdad on Saturday
Police found the bodies of 19 people in various parts of Baghdad in the past 24 hours, police said.
04/15/07 Reuters: 20 Iraqi troops and policemen abducted.
A group linked to al Qaeda said it abducted 20 Iraqi troops and policemen and demanded the release of all Sunni women held in Iraq's prisons, according to a Web statement.
04/15/07 Reuters: 4 killed by suicide bombers in Mosul.
Four people, including two Iraqi soldiers, were killed and 16 wounded when two oil trucks driven by suicide bombers exploded outside a military base in the northern city of Mosul, police said.
04/15/07 AP: Suicide bomber kills 5, wounds 11 in northwest Baghdad.
A suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus in northwest Baghdad, killing at least eight people and wounding 11, police and hospital officials said.
04/15/07 AP: 37 die as car bomb hits near Iraq shrine.
A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines Saturday, killing at least 37 people, police and hospital officials said.

Let's total the score: at least 65 Iraqis dead in four attacks vs. 22 Americans shot at Virginia Tech. Whoops, forgot the 20 kidnapped policemen. Can you imagine?

The next time you hear Dick Cheney or George Bush blame the public attitude regarding Iraq on the media's failure to report "good news", examine carefully our reaction to the shooting at Viginia Tech. Look at our collective shock. Our horrified reaction. The public sorrow. Yet, in truth, this is an exceptional, unusual day in America. It is not our common experience. But we cannot say the same about Iraq.

The people of Iraq are living in a Marquis de Sade version of Groundhog Day. It is like the Bill Murray movie--the same horrible day repeated with some new, bizarre twists--only not funny. Multiple body counts and explosions and shootings are the daily experience of the people of Iraq. They have been living this hell for four years. Just keep that fact in mind as you mourn the deaths of 22 American students slain in Blacksburg, Viginia.

Now Do You Understand? | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 7)

My first thought when I logged on and saw all the hysteria - 2 rec posts and one on the FP on Orange - this is terrible, but we'd better keep our collective eye on the Bush Stories. This is sort of the thinking person's White Woman in Peril story - let's not get distracted by this. We can keep plugging away on the major life threatening and civil rights threatening stories out there while this is being sorted out.

And a huge personal pulitzer for this:

The people of Iraq are living in a Marquis de Sade version of Groundhog Day.

I only give those out about once a year.

by dksbook on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 02:52:32 PM EST

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 5)

Bush, then, immediately consoles not the parents but the NRA, issuing a statement saying he "Supports the right to bear arms..." Is this guy crazy or what?

Michaela

by michaelmt (MrMichael_t@yahoo.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:24:18 PM EST

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 3)

To be precise, that was what Dana Perino, Deputy WH Press secretary, said regarding Bush's reaction. I doubt he had a thought in his head, other than "Oh Shit! Now I gotta attend a funeral."

Obama is a Patriot

by Steven D on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:28:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Can we outlaw right wing extremist hate? (4.00 / 2)

There is a link here. Right wing extremist hate.

Saudi Arabian right wing hate caused 9/11. Right wing extremists hate caused Iraq. Right wing extremist hate caused Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Right wing extremist hate caused the Olympic Park Bombing. Right wing extremist hate caused Oklahoma City.

I guarantee you when all said and done it's some right wing freak full of hate that went on a rampage on the VA Tech campus today.

Ban right wing extremist hate.

"...Dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure?..." -Al Gore

by afs on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:43:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Can we outlaw right wing extremist hate? (none / 0)

I guarantee you when all said and done it's some right wing freak full of hate that went on a rampage on the VA Tech campus today.

Not likely. Rightwingers wouldn't have gone for the Engineering Department. Most likely more like Columbine than OKC.

50 states, 210 media market, 435 Congressional Districts, 3080 counties, 192,480 precincts

by TarheelDem (editor@thepartielion.com) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 08:11:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Can we outlaw right wing extremist hate? (none / 0)

preliminary reports on the note left

News reports also said that he may have been taking medication for depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic, and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. - linkage

Of course, it's all way too early to know what really happened. Plus, the media with its impeccable reputation, will undoubtedly change their narrative a few times before the end.

Latino Político v3.0

by Man Eegee (man.eegee at gmail.com) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 01:20:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 3)

Dana Perino was the one with the seemingly crass comment. I don't know whether or not it was in response to some kind of question from a reporter.

Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia.
"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," Perino said.

Can we anticipate some more equally "sensitive" statements from this administration?

Probably so.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"

by MikeInOhio (miken45054@yahoo.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:47:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 5)

An absolutely horrible, horrible tragedy.

How many mainstream media outlets do you think will point out the fact that this is what is exactly what is happening every day in Baghdad. That answer is, depressingly, too obvious.

So why don't we have the same revulsion in this country about the body counts when they are dark skinned Middle Eastern people? The dead in Iraq every day are children, teenagers, students, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Just like those that lay dead right now in Virginia. Why do we not weep every day for those innocent lives like we will weep for these innocent young people and their teachers?

Dead is dead. It is high time that the mainstream media begun to pull back the veil on the carnage that is occurring every day all over Iraq. We hear and read the words about it. We see the video of distant explosions and columns of smoke. But will we ever see anything that truly represents the bloodletting and savagery of what we have unleashed and continue to enable every day in Iraq?

How many major bombings have there been over the last year at schools in Iraq? We have probably one major incident like this for every ten that have occurred at schools in Iraq. Where is our country's humanity? Why have we allowed ourselves to become so insulated from what we, the United States, have permitted to be done to hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis?

What has happened to our country's heart and soul? Has it become too hardened to have any feelings at all for the suffering of someone other than ourselves?

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"

by MikeInOhio (miken45054@yahoo.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:41:28 PM EST

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 3)

Am I the only one cynical enough to think that the media coverage of the horror at Virginia Tech will mean less coverage of Alberto Gonzales' testimony tomorrow? Please, somebody tell me that even this criminal cabal wouldn't go that far.. It makes me sick that this administration is such that the thought could even cross my mind.

One way or the other, this darkness has to give....

by Denim Blue on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:52:57 PM EST

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 0)

Students are saying the gunman moved around campus and campus buildings as if they knew it very well.

It had to be someone from there in the University community. Student. Faculty. Support staff. Something like that.

"...Dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure?..." -Al Gore

by afs on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:03:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 0)

Thanks for being the first to put that toe into the water. I typed up a comment on this for another blog but decided not to post it. I, too, was afraid to express this with the tragedy in Virginia still unfolding.

But the question definitely bears asking. You can be certain that the coverage tomorrow will be virtually invisible to 99% of the country. The news in Virginia certainly should be front and center, but your sentiments are certainly valid.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"

by MikeInOhio (miken45054@yahoo.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:06:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 0)

The simple fact that the criminals in the Bush regime could experience benefit from such a tragedy is perhaps one of the saddest commentaries on the state of things.

Could someone like Gonzales, who never met a death sentence he wanted to stay or commute, who thought the Geneva conventions "quaint" and outdated; does anyone imagine such a creature could have any regard for the victims of today's shootings except as their plight might be helpful to him on the PR front?

I'm sure there were plenty of champagne corks being popped amongst the neocons the day the idiot lunatic bin Laden attacked on 9/11.

Surely it's clear that the players in the Bush regime are incapable of empathy or compassion! Surely it's clear that, to a man/woman, they are the very embodiment of the quintessential "Psychopathic Personalities" the recently departed Kurt Vonnegut railed against with such enthusiasm.

Denial is our most dangerous adversary.

by sbj on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:45:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 0)

Nope.

by dksbook on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 06:45:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 0)

You're not the only cynical one here. The thought entered my mind as well.

"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." Dorothy Thompson, Journalist

by Indianadem on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 07:59:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Numerical context please? (4.00 / 2)

The numbers of Iraqi casualties are never put in context as to the US; i.e. the population of the US is approximately 11 times that of Iraq.

Today 65 Iraqis died. That would be the equivalent of 715 American deaths in a single day.

by nlacey (nlacey) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 05:19:07 PM EST

Re: Numerical context please? (none / 1)

Yes, but Joe Lieberman assures us that we're finally making progress, unlike the last time we were finally making progress. So what's the equivalent of 715 deaths a day against Joe?

http://moderateleft.com
http://minnesotamonitor.com

by Jeff Fecke (moderateleft@gmail.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 05:26:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Do You Understand? (4.00 / 2)

What a tragedy! Yet, I am glad you put it in perspective. I am watching wall-to-wall coverage of the shooting on all channels - imagine if the Iraqis had such resources to cover their own version of Dante's Inferno.
The outrage; the uprising - would have been monumental.

John McCain - Less Jobs More War

by ask on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 06:30:14 PM EST

Good Call, Good post (none / 1)

by northcountry on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:26:58 PM EST

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 1)

Right wing extremists sent the anthrax (consider the targets), shoot gynecologists, picket the funerals of soldiers...let's not go on. It's too depressing.

Michaela

by michaelmt (MrMichael_t@yahoo.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:36:57 PM EST

Re: Now Do You Understand? (none / 1)

Larry, I'm really glad to see this comment here. It's exactly what I've been saying to everybody all day long.

It really is a tragedy.

But so are the five or ten such tragedies that occur EVERY DAY in Iraq due to the United States.

by Arminius on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 06:11:01 PM EST

We are not counting (none / 1)

the effects of depleted uranium yet are we.
We are also not counting the cost, data mining expansions or galactic waste of HR 1.
We gloss over the endorsement of the PNAC principles in HR 1 just as a redstater affirms Americans have lost none of their rights.

I don't have a gun but in these times I want one.

by Lasthorseman (Lasthorseman@comcast.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 07:43:12 PM EST

Now Do You Understand? | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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