A People of Limited Vocabulary - Shell, Kill, Burn, Bomb

[jbg]

A random perusal of the today's news shows two stories that seem, on their surface, unremarkable. Excerpts below:

Guerrillas in clashes with Revolutionary Guards

· Conflict threatens stability of Kurdistan region

Michael Howard in Irbil

Monday August 20, 2007

The Guardian

Kurds flee homes as Iran shells villages in Iraq

Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.

Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.

Link

Iraqi Governor Killed in Bombing

New York Times (link)

By REUTERS

Published: August 20, 2007

Filed at 11:15 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi provincial governor was blown up by a roadside bomb on Monday in what appeared to be an escalation of a power struggle between rival Shi'ite factions that threatens to destabilize the oil-producing south.

Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, governor of Muthanna province, was on his way from his home in the city of Rumaitha to Samawa, the provincial capital, when his convoy of nine cars was hit by a powerful roadside bomb, provincial officials said.

One bodyguard was also killed and two others wounded.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for Iraqis to exercise restraint, saying the perpetrators were seeking to "drown the province in chaos."

It is clear that the political vocabulary of certain groups is limited to "shell, kill, burn, bomb". What is remarkable is that Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo or the latest, du jour Israeli "atrocity" (typically one or two people letting terrorists live among them killed, or the "fish wife" shrieking of the mother of a killed terroriist) garners reams of highly critical press, but these largely senseless, savage day-to-day activities do not (unless a Western country is involved, of course).

It is time that the West stop the self-flagellation, and either report on all of the violence, or none of it.

[Keepitsimple]

I agree. Our media has been sucked into the theory of moral relativism.......the West is supposedly more "civilized" and should know better. The rest of the world can be excused because they need more time to mature - they don't know any better. Hogwash. High-browed moral relativism is nothing more that censorship. The truth - the whole truth - is what's important - how we decide to respond to that truth is a separate issue.

[Bonam]

Indeed. Media coverage of our current conflicts seems aimed solely at the purpose of sabotaging any chance of success.

[Black Dog]

It is clear that the political vocabulary of certain groups is limited to "shell, kill, burn, bomb". What is remarkable is that Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo or the latest, du jour Israeli "atrocity" (typically one or two people letting terrorists live among them killed, or the "fish wife" shrieking of the mother of a killed terroriist) garners reams of highly critical press, but these largely senseless, savage day-to-day activities do not (unless a Western country is involved, of course).

Which, I suppose, is why you had to dig through alternative, underground publications like the New York Times and The Guardian to find those stories.

And what does this have to do with Federal Politics in Canada?

[jbg]

Which, I suppose, is why you had to dig through alternative, underground publications like the New York Times and The Guardian to find those stories.

The point is that there will be no followup coverage of these stories, no Congressional or UN investigations, no poltiicians condemning these activities.

And what does this have to do with Federal Politics in Canada?

I will leave to minds far better than mine the issue of proper sub-forum placement of threads. I will say that I posted this after posting on or reading the "Afghanistan" thread which I believe is also grouped here. And it has everything to to with Canadian or other Western countries' peoples' views of the conflict and the mass media that isn't giving equal weight to different parts of the story.

[Topaz]

I suggest if you go to www.skyreporter.com you will be kept updated with what is REALLY going in Afghanistan and Arthur Kent even takes on PM Harper and his view of the war and Harper's view of Quebec's military over there!!

[geoffrey]

Indeed. Media coverage of our current conflicts seems aimed solely at the purpose of sabotaging any chance of success.

I know. It was much cleaner when there was no accountability and we could off all those that we wanted.

Remember what gives us this moral advantage you folks speak of. It's our democratic nature and finding solutions other than blowing the crap out of each other that makes us morally superior. Let's not drop to their level and then blame the media for covering it.

Not being quick to unneccessary violence is one of the few things that seperates us from them. It's a fine line that is being crossed more everyday.

[jbg]

Remember what gives us this moral advantage you folks speak of. It's our democratic nature and finding solutions other than blowing the crap out of each other that makes us morally superior. Let's not drop to their level and then blame the media for covering it.

Not being quick to unneccessary violence is one of the few things that seperates us from them. It's a fine line that is being crossed more everyday.

You make good points. The problem is that we shouldn't let our relatively peaceful nature allow far more aggressive people to triumph over us.