FAUX News: All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?

[edbermac]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602240003

Fox News featured two onscreen captions during a segment on escalating violence in Iraq that read: " 'Upside' To Civil War?" and "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?"

A segment about escalating sectarian violence in Iraq on the February 23 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto featured onscreen captions that read: " 'Upside' To Civil War?" and "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?"

The segment, guest-hosted by Fox News Live (noon-1:30 pm hour ET) anchor David Asman, featured commentary by Fox News military analyst Lt. Col. Bill Cowan and Center for American Progress senior fellow Col. P.J. Crowley.





:wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf::wtf:

[ncrainbowgrrl]

1. Let me be the first to answer.

HELL NO!

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Why do you hate the Rapture?

[Tom Rinaldo]

55. ROFLMAO! n/t

[Daphne08]

2. Why are the morons worried about our soldiers? I know I am!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. How in the world can war ever be a good thing?

I'd be really interested in hearing this one.

[Oreo]

4. scary

Rice just made a statement about the civil war spreading beyond Iraq. They know they won't be able to attack any other countries so they plant some explosives and start a regional civil war.

Since FOX is their propaganda arm... this is really bad.

[rodeodance]

13. and raw strory has post saying nyt--scrubed 'civil war' from their headlin

e---just a bit ago it was posted on DU>

[zbdent]

6. Do you mean they aren't trying to pass this off as

what the Dems/Libs have been encouraging?

They must have found a way to make some $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ off the civil war . . .

[Lexingtonian]

7. That's the trial balloon

to see how much more Koolaid their True Believers can take.

Sounds like cut-and-run is the grand Napoleonic strategy now.

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. Wow - new low

But yes, I do think they CAN sink lower and they will.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

9. Stunned and speechless here.

:wow:

[otohara]

77. AMAZING EDITORIAL - About This - Opinio Juris Blog

When I was a kid in the 1950's, my dad had some hidden war memoribilia from WWII that I found in the basement. It was a variety of things, but among them was a photograph of the corpse of Benito Mussolini.

In the picture, Mussolini is lying dead on the floor and a woman is standing on his face with the heels of her high heeled shoes in his eye sockets. All around the woman people are smiling and laughing, a man gallantly extends his hand to her to help her balance on Mussolini's face. The woman has a big smile on her face too.

I was young, maybe 8 or 9, and this confused the hell out of me. The juxtaposition of death, mutilating a dead body and happy, smiling people was just too disconcerting.

I'm not confused anymore. I get it now. I also understand the French Revolution and Marie Antionette's unhappy end. I understand the Russian Revolution and why the Tsar's family were horribly murdered.

Most people never want anything to do with that kind of horrible mob mentality. But, there comes a time, when the insane madness of rulers intoxicated with their own power and uncaring about the devastation they cause, when otherwise normal people snap.

And I wonder, when people in this country truly realize what has been done in our name and what now is being done to us, will we snap too? http://lawofnations.blogspot.com/2006/02/fox-news-insightful-analysis-of.html#comments

[NanceGreggs]

10. I suggested in a thread yesterday afternoon ...

... that I was giving it twenty-four hours before we saw the spin cycle kick in.

Serving suggestion: "This violence just demonstrates how passionate the Iraqi people are about participating in their newly-formed government."

I wish the MSM would replay some of their old footage right now in connection with what's happening, to whit:

RUMSFELD: "Democracy is sometimes untidy."

CHENEY: "The insurgiency is in its last throes."

OR MAYBE just that still shot of Bush in front of the 'Mission Accomplished' banner!

[Mz Pip]

11. Let the spin begin

Pretty soon they'll be saying this was all Bush's plan in the first place. It was his secret plan so he couldn't let on to anyone in the public. See how well Bush's plan worked? My, how brilliant he is!

Mz Pip
:dem:

[sabra]

12. reco'd - this is insane!

[BOSSHOG]

14. Should poor people die painful deaths? - The upside!

The end of social security - happy times ahead for all.

CAVUTO DOES NOT DESERVE CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTIES.

[npincus]

15. oh my. talk about trying to make lemonade from lemons!

can't they just admit, "we were wrong?"

[gkhouston]

22. more like making lemonade from sulfuric acid. n/t

[oblivious]

16. (1) Iraqis fighting the US vs (2) Iraqis fighting each other. No brainer.

The results of John Negroponte's work. No accident.

[bloom]

65. I agree

No accident.

But the people over there see that, too.

So while there may be a civil war - the US won't be excluded from that.

[Ksec]

67. WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, go directly into a surreal dreamworld.

Talk about out of touch with reality. OMG. Thats serious whackjobbery. Even I didnt think they could possibly sink this low.

[Bozita]

17. and a burning bag of dogshit on your porch means Santa brought you ...

... a puppy.

Those folks at Faux are nuts.

[mom cat]

42. Or testing Admin strategy out on the publik.

[AlCzervik]

18. Standard Faux operating procedure--lets see how we can make

bank over human misery and suffering.

[The Magistrate]

19. There Is No 'Upside' To This Developement, Sir

The nearest thing to one is that the chaos might motivate our country's people to really demand a speedy withdrawl.

In a full-bore civil war there, militants on all sides will find their surest roads to popular support to be identifying their opponents as collaborators with the U.S., and attacks on U.S. forces. Oddly enough, the U.S. will find the closest thing to real allies amid the chaos among the Sunni tribes and ex-Baathists. The Shia will be enjoying considerable support from Iran, and eager to have us gone and out of the way of their vengeance on the Sunni. The Kurds will want independence, and kill eagerly over it. Only the Sunni and ex-Baathists will want anything close to what the U.S. wants, namely an intact Iraq ruled from the center.....

[Warren Stupidity]

30. "The Shia will be enjoying considerable support from Iran,"

And thus the entanglement that the administration wants in order to provide the justification for war with Iran. The more I think about the Golden Dome, the more I see the machinations of our puppet masters.

[The Magistrate]

34. That Seems Over Intricate To Me, Sir

The hate of salafist jihadis for the Shia is very deep and very old, and they have every incentive for such an act as the attck on that shrine: they consider the Shias collaborators with the U.S.; they consider shrines of this sort the blackest possible idolatry; they actively desire an open civil war, as they are best able to operate in chaotic circumstances. Indeed, even a tip of the U.S. towards action against Iran would suit their views and purposes.

But there will not be any great U.S. action against Iran owing to their support for the Shia. That support will be covert and low-keyed: infiltration of intelligence officers and engineers for training in guerrilla activities and bomb-making, smuggling of some more advanced arms, such as light anti-aircraft missiles, and the like. Not the sort of thing you can stop readily, or even demonstrate satisfactorily against. Even a major bombing campaign would not affect it in the slightest, particularly as the mullahs' government in Iran is quite willing to have its populace shot over a good deal, martyrs being useful and an outside attack the surest means they have of ending the varieties of dissent they must now contend with in the large cities.

[Warren Stupidity]

36. "The hate of salafist jihadis for the Shia is very deep and very old"

Yes indeed, and yet it appears that the bombers carefully planned their attack so that nobody would be killed. As others have pointed out, this bit of evidence points away from "the sunnis just plain hate the shiites" as motive. Had the attack been timed for 30 minutes earlier it would have killed and injured those assembled for morning prayer.

"But there will not be any great U.S. action against Iran owing to their support for the Shia."

We will have to disagree about that. I think this is a very likely scenario: civil war, Iranian entanglement, US Iranian confrontations. Our propaganda machine has Iran becoming the 'agent of disruption' in poor beleagured Iraq. We are 'forced' to engage in border operations, Iranian territorial defense is used as justification for escalation against Iran. Then again I start from the assumption that Iraq is intended as a staging ground for military conquest of the other hostile regimes, (Syria and Iran) and you perhaps continue to believe in other narratives about why we are there.

[oblivious]

66. I can see several upsides to this from the US perspective.

1. Iraqis concentrate on fighting each other instead of targeting US troops.

2. There is less chance of Iraqis uniting and demanding US withdrawal from the Green Zone and bases, in which the US has clearly invested heavily for the long term.

3. The Iraqi government, if it can be called that, becomes even more dependent on the US for protection and restoration of order.

4. The US may have an opportunity to shed its invader cloak and set itself up as the peacekeeper, just there to help the various factions resolve their differences.

5. The factional fighting takes the negative attention off the US to some extent.

And so on.

[MidwestTransplant]

20. If the Admin. has Faux asking the question, then it's definitely coming or

alread here. They are just trying to prepare their moronic viewers with talking points.

[Plaid Adder]

21. Next on Fox: The Surprising Health Benefits of Nuclear Fallout!

These people need help.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[IsItJustMe]

57. Remember Regan's response to depletion of Ozone layer, Wear sun glasses

[thereismore]

23. Sick bastards. I bet they light the fireplace at home and cuddle with

their kids.

[Inland]

24. If you can't stop it, join it! Next segment, should US join Alqaeda?

In the same way that Bush's stumbling speech and vacation time became virtues, Fox just takes whereever we end up with Bush and makes it into the Best of All Possible Worlds. Yep, Kerry probably would have foolishly tried to prevent a civil war, but Bush in his wisdom is playing his cards just right!

[ginnyinWI]

25. Oh sure--let's make a civil war a good thing!

Because everybody knows that Fearless Leader and his stupid minions are responsible.

Yeah, let's blow the arms and legs off some more little kids! Yeah it's a good thing all right! :eyes:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

26. Of All The Twisted Propaganda They've Spewed This Is One Of The Sickest

angles I've seen from them. They are obviously working propaganda overtime to try and keep their sheep supportive, but holy cow what a disgraceful thing to ask.

[Emit]

27. I would really like to hear exactly what these talking heads had to say

I'm assuming the transcripts won't be available until tomorrow. Anybody catch this on teevee? What was their reasoning?

[norml]

28. It's a good thing. It's a very good thing. More Kool Aid!

[giant_robot]

29. It's a good thing that the neocons wished Iraq into the cornfield!

Yeah! A real good thing!

[phusion]

31. Faux News reflects the cultural psychosis that drives this country. n/t

[madrchsod]

32. these fuck`n morans think they are right on top of things

guess what- everyday they mouth this shit more the iraqi people hate this government and every day more of our sons and daughters will die. the iraqi people do not hate us they hate our government.they will do anything possible to rid themselves of the occupiers. wouldn`t we do the same?

[girl gone mad]

33. War is Peace, after all..

:eyes:

[Warren DeMontague]

35. I'm sure someone will figure out a way to make money off it.

But the gall of that particular shameless propaganda outfit never ceases to amaze me.

[tex-wyo-dem]

37. Boy, their attempts at re-framing are getting more ridiculous and...

desperate every day. Of course the sheep will buy right into it.

Unfrickingbelievable...where the hell is my country?

[Disturbed]

39. Yes, a good situation for the...

MIC and Multi-Corps. Crushing the Sunni Insurgency is the goal. The Sunnis are the impediment to US/UK domination of Iraq, of the strategic Military force and the flow of oil. Shias and Kurds dominate Iraq and are willing to accomodate Western commerce but the Sunnis are getting the short end. The Western Powers do have an agenda.

[ClintonTyree]

71. I think one third of the sheep will buy into it........

the third that would follow bush over a cliff because it's the "patriotic" thing to do. :eyes: The other two thirds of Americans seem to have awakened from their terror induced coma and are aware that bush's little "experiment" of exporting Democracy is a lost cause.
FOX caters to the aforementioned one third, the third that is hopelessly addicted to "bush".
This all stems from the neo-cons disbanding the Iraqi Army after the invasion. They had a golden opportunity to use Saddam's former Army to keep peace, to interact with the people in a way we NEVER can. Instead, the bush regime disbanded the Army, sent them into crushing poverty with no hope of employment and tried to keep the peace with a skeleton crew of "coalition" soldiers. Those ex-Iraqi
Army people want to make money somehow, and if Zarqawi offers them $500 to blow up Americans, they're going to jump at the chance. After all, they have to "put food on their families" too.
This total breakdown, this anarchy that exists in Iraq at the moment, is the direct result of Rummy, Wolfowitz, Cheney et al. not having any plan for a post-invasion Iraq. The "civilians" knew better than career soldiers, they had all the answers. We were going to be "greeted as liberators", the war "paying for itself", remember? :eyes:
Never has an administration been SOOOO wrong about policy, NEVER! And of course, the little dictator will never admit to making wrong decisions, so we continue, "staying the course", a course that they never had in the first place.

[iamthebandfanman]

38. hahahahhaha

that goes WAY beyond spin even!
thats just desperation trying to get people to continue to support the war!

[swimboy]

40. Sick fucks

since no one else has said it just that way yet.

:grr:

[leeroysphitz]

41. Brainwashed MUTANTS. nt

[against all enemies]

43. A brilliant strategy by George W. Bush. And you thought he wasn't

paying attention.

[neuvocat]

44. Only if you're an insurgent.

If you're an insurgent, you would size up the situation that your enemy is up against. The enemy came in for oil but not only do they fail on that, they also have a situation where they have to stay there after they politically destabilized the area. Of course destablization works well for you, so how do you bring that about?

Bomb someone's prized mosque. You'll bring about complete chaos by attacking someone's religion even if it happens to be your own. Now your enemy will have an even worse time trying to contain the violence and its pretty likely you'll gain so much more control in the aftermath.

[W_HAMILTON]

45. Cavuto always has the stupidest headlines

I guess it's Fox making up for the fact that he isn't as outrageously crazy as guys like Hannity and O'Reilly, so they have to add in some extra flavor to make him appealing to the RW nut-jobs.

No matter how bad something is, they will always turn it around and make it sound like a positive. This was the same show that ran the "Torture: What's the Big Fuss?" headline. And one along the lines: "Tax Breaks for the Rich: Works Out For Everybody!"

[Bluzmann57]

46. Ok so call me a friggin' idiot

But I don't understand how an Iraqi civil war is a good thing. Perhaps I'm missing something here, would someone please tell me what it is? Ah, on second thought, never mind. Maybe in this case ignorance is a good thing. The short answer to the faux news question is no.

[LSK]

47. HOW THE FUCK CAN IT BE A GOOD THING?!?!?

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[stubtoe]

48. That's pathetic.

Sick and sad and pathetic.

[Joe for Clark]

49. They really said that??

Out loud ??

Not even those morons could say such a thing - but they really did, huh??

Uh-oh,

Joe

[NickB79]

50. With this much spin, we'll never have to build another power plant again

Hook a solenoid up to each Fux News reporter and let them spin baby spin!

Some quick calculations show that O'Reilly alone could power the city of New York for a year!

The waste he would spew from his piehole would be quite toxic, unfortunately. Effects of exposure include liquification of the brain and persistant drooling and knuckle-dragging.

[smartvoter]

51. Wow. This is a new low in spin. There is no line they will not cross.nt

[Spinzonner]

52. If you ignore all the death, destruction, and suffering

war is good for the economy.

:sarcasm:

[The Doctor.]

53. God Damn... They'll spin anything....

Justification for the invasion;

"We need to stop Iraq from Using WsMD on America!"
-and-
"The war will pay for itself"
-and-
"They'll greet us as liberators."
-then-
"We need to keep Saddam from developing WsMD!"
-then-
Saddam... 9/11, Saddam... 9/11"
-then-
"We need regime change in Iraq"
-and-
"We're spreading Democracy to the Middle East."
-then-
"It's better we're fighting them over there than over here!"
-then-
"Civil war is good- the terrorists can kill each-other!"

Brought to you by Faux News.

[RedEarth]

54. That is exactly what the right wingers are saying ... I posted Buckley's

article about "we failed in Iraq" on a right wing board and nearly every response to that article was "civil war is not a failure".....these people are sick, sick MF.....

[IsItJustMe]

56. I do believe they would spin a turd.

[pa28]

58. Another brilliant Republican theory.

Like most Republican theories it sounds like something you might have overheard on a bus.

[ClintonTyree]

72. Overheard on a "short" bus....

the kind our "dear leader' had to ride when he was a youngster.

[Spinoza]

59. Are you TRYING

to give ammunition--against DU--to the Freepers?

[moondust]

60. Pornography.

Faux News is morally bankrupt. Call the FCC.

[CottonBear]

61. Your World With Neil Cavuto's staff is KO's worst person of the day ! n/t

[2QT2BSTR8]

62. I think Fox News is fronting for Bush....

The monkey in the White House is calling in favors from FOX News executives, and using them as a front to see how the general, rational folk such as ourselves will react. THERE now that I have that off my chest - WTF? WTF? WTF?

[WeirdHoward]

63. The *only* way this could have ended is Civil War

The Iraqis need to own their own country. As occupiers, the Americans have been, well, let's say, not so great. It was always a matter of time.
As sad as the curfews and martial law stuff is, it is heartening that they are moving into this phase. I know it involves more pain and destruction, but so has the prior phase.
The country was constucted artificially, pushing Sunnis, Shiites, and Serbs, into one government. Perhaps it will be split. Perhaps it will remain Iraq.
I wish all of the people the best, but this painful step must happen.

Howard

[FrankBooth]

64. FAUX are reprehensible sleazebags

But they aren't journalists, unless you considered Pravda journalism.

[minkyboodle]

68. wow

that is incredible.....

[nonconformist]

69. Now I've seen it all.

Unfuckingbelievable.

[slybacon9]

70. Now does everyone get that we probably bombed that mosque???

think about the connection dick cheney has to FOX... and how he uses them as a megaphone...

now what would they possibly be trying to prepare us for? hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

CLUE: listen to W yesterday.

[Ben Ceremos]

73. Upside to civil war in

AmeriKKKa? Indeed, the world would be much safer if you spent your time killing each other instead of waging racist warfare all over the globe. "All out civil war in America: could it be a good thing?"

A B S O L U T E L Y!!!

[petepillow]

74. Bird Flu in America: Could it be the best thing ever?

Check Fux for the latest propagandic view from the WH!

:eyes:

[madmark]

75. i think civil war is inevitable and quite frankly if it came in force all

at once it would result in our forces deploying out; given that I would rather the civil war occur sooner rather than later to stop as soon as possible the drip drip drip of dead and wounded US service people and budget destroying expenditures.

[imperial jedi]

76. A good thing?

:wtf:

[Trevelyan]

78. This is why the Veterans are running as Democrats.

Please support them.

http://www.bandofbrothers2006.org/ http://www.shockedandawful.com/

~The cowardly chickenhawk neocons sit at home cowering while Brave Patriotic Liberals support our troops. Band of Brothers is a group of Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans who are running for Congress as Democrats.

Our current crop is overwhelmingly frightened of the bush crime family and their many murders. We need courageous Democrats who have proved their courage and to get rid of the DINOs.

="Support the Troops, Send them to Congress!

Warm Regards,

General Wesley Clark (Ret.), Board of Advisors
Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Executive Director
Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC

[Voltaire99]

81. "Brave Patriotic Liberals support our troops"

That jingoism isn't going to win my vote.

Invading or occupying Iraq is no qualification I am seeking in a candidate this year, next year, or ever.

As with Cindy Sheehan, I won't vote for any candidate unless he or she is unreservedly against the war and categorically for ending it now. No votes for the war party--simple as that.

[madrchsod]

79. it looks like the iraqi people maybe waking up

to the fact that this is what bush wants---that fox news shit really pissed off the intellectuals in iraq..

[Voltaire99]

80. This is the guy who'll send you to the concentration camp with a smile.

Face to face with the banality of evil: some chirpy little dweeb in a yellow tie, bit of a grin curling his dewy gob, searching for the "upside" in murder.

Behind him, the Dow Jones numbers strut gloriously like pairs of synchronized boots...