Umm, CNN, Isn't There Still a War in Iraq?:
Now, the Rude Pundit ain't a stinkin' head-up-his-ass nationalist, nor is he a "USA, USA" chantin' buffoon. But one doesn't have to be a pledge takin', anthem singin' xenophobe to think that it's just entirely fucked-up that the three cable "news" networks have decided to cover the Israel-Lebanon/Israel-Gaza conflicts almost non-fuckin-stop for the last dozen days while making the Iraq War - you remember, the one where nearly 150,000 Americans are fighting - a story that comes somewhere between Indiana highway snipers and how much M. Night Shamalamadindong's latest film twaddle sucks balls.
This is not to say that what's going on over in Israel and just above and below it isn't horrible. It is. It's fucking gut-wrenching and hideous, as every regional conflict is, as every time some nation blows the fuck out of another nation is. But it's a rerun, and even though summer is the time for reruns of our favorite TV shows, we should probably pay a little more attention to our long-running programs that don't take the summer off.
Seriously, check out CNN's transcript index for yesterday. The only story worth individual mention from Iraq is the hospitalization of Saddam Hussein. Otherwise, Iraq is shoved aside quite literally to "in other news" or one badly put transition or another. Check out the program This Week at War. On yesterday's edition, John "Behold My Magnificent Grey Helmet o' Hair" Roberts reported, like just about everyone else on the CNN payroll, from the border between Lebanon and Israel, and after going on a bit about that conflict, added, "There was also a lot of bad news in Baghdad. Some 50 people killed, 165 wounded in a series of suicide car bombings." He spoke for the next 15 seconds about Iraq before devoting nearly all of the hour to the Israeli battles, except for a few minutes about Afghanistan.
What the fuck? No, really, and, c'mon, what the fuck? Our little attempt to completely mash down and rebuild Iraq like it's so much Play-Doh on the kiddie room craft table has been relegated to afterthought, much like the post-invasion planning. And it certainly ain't just CNN. MSNBC and Fox "News" have more or less declared the Iraq War old and tired, while the Israel/Lebanon/Gaza blow-up is the new hotness.
It's like a form of denial or overcompensation. See, every group of friends has the pal who is so fuckin' good at solvin' everyone else's problems: "Oh, yeah, Greg, fuck that bitch - dump her and you'll be a new man. Of course you should take that new job, Julio; you're goin' nowhere fast at anonymous corporate entity #45. No, no, Tom, that just looks like a regular lump to me, but, you know, I'm not a doctor." Yeah, advisor-buddy can be awesome to have around, but advisor-buddy sucks at cleaning up his own shit - his refusal to stand up for himself at work, his dead-end marriage, his issues with his parents. But if he can't handle his own problems, the ones that he thinks will never go away, well, you know, at least he can deal with yours.
So we get to hear about every warning siren that goes off in Haifa, and the deaths of two U.S. soldiers and hundreds and hundreds of Iraqis now becomes "in other news," the explosions of cars and suiciders so much white noise against the rockets falling in Northern Israel and in Beirut.
Howzabout this: yeah, we know, we know, Iraq and Afghanistan have had their day in the media spotlight. But Americans oughta care first about our own messes. Maybe the news networks could put our story first - the Israeli conflicts can be a close second. But just for some kind of statement that the tens of thousands of Americans over in Iraq and Afghanistan, still risking their lives for the neocons quixotic nightmare, for the miasma of blood and violence we have created, still matter.
