XPost: alt.politics.liberalism, alt.society.liberalism, alt.poli   
   ics.democrats.d   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics   
   From: mars1933@hotmail.com   
      
   "My own experience of a controlled media in the Mideast came on the   
   morning of March 4, 2002, in a Cairo hotel where I watched a CNN   
   firsthand report of a smoking Palestinian ambulance by Israeli tanks   
   or rockets. All on board were killed, including a 57-year-old   
   doctor. The story was shown all morning in Egypt; but it was played   
   late the following night on CNN International USA, so late it was   
   seen only in Hawaii by the few people who were still awake! And the   
   story was doctored. Mideast news that is unfavorable to Israel   
   disappears on that station...   
      
   'The systematic massacre of Iraqis, especially the women and children,   
   are obscured from our view by distance and by the censorship imposed   
   by U.S. government threats to bomb newsmen who stay in Iraq on their   
   own. Without the foreign media, few facts would be heard, and we   
   would never know if what we heard was truth or fiction...   
      
   "On March 30th, during the reported slaughter of civilians by air in   
   Najaf, a US platoon (about 40 or more men plus lots of weapons) of   
   the Third Infantry Division, deliberately and under orders, killed as   
   many as 10 women and children riding in a Toyota van. Accidents   
   happen in war, but this was not in the heat of battle. The   
   passengers were fleeing the besieged town of Najaf, south of Baghdad,   
   with their possessions crammed into the tiny white van. By all   
   accounts, the van was blasted with multiple cannon rounds designed to   
   destroy armored vehicles, mangling the bodies inside...   
      
   "An Army TV general blandly varnished over the story for the evening   
   news, brazenly lying when he stated the ladies had already run a   
   roadblock when the soldiers opened fire on them. But one of   
   the "embedded reporters" happened to be near enough to report the   
   incident based on first hand testimony from the soldiers involved.   
   This is a rare case where the public has access to both the original   
   and the doctored story, and the discrepancy tells us how badly we are   
   being lied to every day.   
      
   Here are both versions of the story from a member of the embedded   
   press, Bob Roberts, for the Mirror.co.uk from US Central Command in   
   Qatar and Naveed Raja. Roberts quoted the official version given to   
   the US evening news.   
      
   "US troops last night shot dead at least seven Iraqi women and   
   children at a checkpoint. The victims, in a van, were said to be   
   fleeing fighting at the southern city of Najaf when they came under   
   fire from the 3rd Infantry Division.   
      
   "American military officials, on high alert after a suicide bomber   
   killed four troops in Iraq, said the vehicle, carrying thirteen   
   people, was traveling at speed and refused to stop despite verbal   
   warnings and shots fired."   
      
   Note the report says it was traveling at "speed." But any movement   
   is speed, how much speed? So much for the official version, which   
   was doctored even more by late night war news. Robert's continues by   
   quoting the version received from the military involved and   
   eyewitnesses:   
      
   "But Washington Post reporter William Branigan, embedded with the   
   military unit, gave a different version of events. He reported that   
   soldiers at the checkpoint failed to fire warning shots in time."   
      
   Branigan continues his onsite report: "The Iraqi civilians were   
   packed inside a Toyota van along with as many of their possessions as   
   the jammed vehicle could hold."   
      
   And: "Army medic Sgt. Mario Manzano said one distraught and wounded   
   woman refused to leave the van as she clung to the mangled bodies of   
   two of her children."   
      
   The following account by Branigan was confirmed by the official   
   government sources:   
      
   "AMERICAN SOLDIERS GAVE THE SURVIVORS TEN BODY BAGS FOR THE VICTIMS   
   AND OFFICIALS OFFERED MONEY AS COMPENSATION TO THE RELATIVES." (our   
   emphasis)   
      
   "'Fire a warning shot,' Johnson ordered as the vehicle kept coming.   
   Then, with increasing urgency, he told the platoon to shoot a 7.62mm   
   machine-gun round into its radiator. 'Stop messing around!' Johnson   
   yelled into the company radio network when he still saw no action   
   being taken. Finally, he shouted at the top of his voice, 'Stop him,   
   Red 1, stop him!'   
      
   "That order was immediately followed by the loud reports of 25mm   
   cannon fire from one or more of the platoon's Bradley vehicles. About   
   half a dozen shots were heard in all."   
      
   Branigin reported: "Captain Ronny Johnson was quoted in the Post   
   telling his troops: "You just killed a family because you didn't fire   
   a warning soon enough."   
      
   Contrary to the smooth military media reports, the Toyota was   
   destroyed not after it ran a road-block but long before it got there,   
   and Captain Ronny Johnson could not see who the passengers were until   
   he looked at the destroyed van with his binoculars...   
      
   "According to former Marine Chris White*, Marine recruits are trained   
   to the rhythm of little ditties like this one, which they must sing   
   as they march:*   
      
   Throw...some...can...dy...in the...yard   
   Watch...the child...ern...gather...round   
   Lock...un-load...your AK...forty...seven   
   Mow...them...lit...tle...bastards...down   
      
      
   WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS (www.whtt.org)   
      
      
      
   http://www.ihr.org/      http://www.natvan.com   
      
   http://www.thebirdman.org     http://www.nsm88.com/   
      
   http://wsi.matriots.com/jews.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)