Saturday, March 22, 2003

'Dead bodies everywhere' in Safwan; napalm used:
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, hundreds of Iraqi were killed in the border town of Safwan and allied forces used napalm in the attack: ["'Dead bodies are everywhere' ... Saddam's first martyrs lost"].
That's funny, I haven't heard anything about this on American television. However, I will give the media some kudos for covering the protesters both locally and nationally. During the last Gulf War, local media ignored numerous protests. I only knew about one of them because I heard it out my window and went outside to see Boylston Street filled with thousands of people - in the middle of January - marching against the war. Later that night, none of the TV stations covered the march. This time around, there was a lot of coverage of the protests. C-SPAN even aired some of the Canadian Broadcasting Company's [CBC] news shift which was extremely interesting to watch. The difference in coverage was startling. While US broadcasters have been in "awe" of the impressive explosions and vapid military analysis, the CBC actually interviewed humanitarian and refugee workers preparing to fly to the region to assist.