Adam's Practical Matamatics: Lesson 2

+ Information X Spin = Fox News Reports = Lies... LIES.... LIES!!!!

For those of you who dont believe me, I refer you to example 1(a), this article (which you can also watch video somewhere):
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119936,00.html

Now, lets not get into the issue of Nick Berg's death. It was horrific, and no-one should have to die like that. I truely hope the killers suffer, as anyone that cold hearted should. My issue, is with this Fox asshole and his blatent lying and spin, along with the opportunism he approaches this story with. He claims that the death of Berg puts an end to two major arguments of the anti-war movement.

The first is that the invading of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction was a lie.

We hear that over and over as if it were liturgical chant, but it is phony through and through.

Ok... I dont know how Bergs death effects this debate in any way, but lets just pretend it does... how exactly does it destroy this argument?

Bob Woodward's book tells how CIA Director George Tenet assured President Bush that WMD was a "slam dunk."

So if the wMD story was wrong, it was wrong. But Woodward himself proves it was not a lie.

Really? wow... now I'm not sure what the book says, but lets just say it does say Bush was apprehensive but was told by the CIA it was a good case, and that what the book says is fact (I'm taking a leap here...). Now.. the WMD claim was used with much zeal until the US realised the steam had run out on it, and the truth was now obvious. They then began to back-track. So, you say, that if the WMD story was wrong, it was wrong, but not a lie.. I see... so them telling us that Iraq had WMD when it was clear that they didnt is wrong but not a lie?? So US officials (CIA, FBI or Bush, whoever it was) knew the case was weak (understatement), told us they had water-tight proof, and led a war on that basis, and yet they didn't lie?? hang on, let me check my dictionary...

wrong adj.
Not in conformity with fact or truth; incorrect or erroneous.

lie n.
A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.
Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.

So from that we can gather that the wrong is in something that is untruthful or false, while a lie is to tell something that is untruthful or false. I do believe we were told that WMD existed in Iraq.. therefore, they lied. You could say that they CIA etc etc didnt know it was untrue, but seriously, do have such a lack of faith in supposedly the best surveilence opperation in the world to say that they couldnt figure what was in Iraq or not... are they that incompetent? all of them? If your answer is yes, then tell me this... why have none of these incompetent fools been sacked?? From the FBI, to the CIA to the White House, alot of people must have been stupid to make such a big mistake, and should be fired.

Lets move on:

Then there's the Al Qaeda-Iraq connection.

We know Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is an Al Qaeda associate sent to Iraq by Usama bin Laden. Now we've seen him in Iraq cutting off the head of an American, and holding it up to the camera.

I dont think anyone is going to say that Al Quaida is not involved in Iraq at the moment, maybe they're not, but I'd say they are, its a perfect breeding ground for their fundamentalist ideals, and they get the chance to take on the people they seem to dispise.
However, the anti-war argument did not say 'Al Quaida will not be involved in Iraq in afew months', it said 'Al Quaida are not in cahoots with Saddam Hussein'. You see, the pro-war heads were trying desperatly to get the peoples support, and they knew that anyone who deals with Bin Laden is an instant enemy of America (the Bush family excused, of course). Sadly they just couldn't plant any links between the two for one small reason.. It was a total lie and (as I have said before) would have been a complete ideology and personality clash between Bin Laden and Saddam.

This kind of Journalism is disgusting. This guy takes advantage of a horrific incident in Iraq to try and take apart two of the countless credible arguments against Bush. The first one has nothing to do with the story, he just hopes he can fog your mind with patriotism and emotion so that you'll open up and swallow anything he throws at you. The second is a complete 180 spin and ignores the fact that the disputed link was refering to Saddam and not post-war Iraq.

back to my maths.... ermm.... QED.

"Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies."
Edgar Watson Howe (1853 - 1937)

"The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others."
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

Adam