CNN’s obtuse logic: Show American troops being shot, but not a dictator being hanged

By: Steve Yuhas

Peaceniks around the world along with their complicit anti-American (and obviously anti-Iraqi) journalists, governments and protestors against the death penalty have been blessed with a new poster boy who just happens to have 72 brand spanking new virgins at his disposal: Saddam Hussein, executed at 69. 

As rational people and the vast majority of Iraqis were overjoyed that the reign of the brutal dictator came to an end with his appearance at the gallows after an elongated trial that was never afforded to the people he killed; the liberal left is apoplectic that Saddam was “heckled” before the noose around his neck snapped it.  Most of them would have preferred that he spend “life in prison,” but surely if anyone deserved the death penalty – Hussein did.

Not funny is the fact that ostensibly intelligent people actually argue that Saddam should serve “life” in prison for nearly 30 years of despotic rule, not very hard to do for a man with as many years under his Kofiyah as he has.  Funny is the fact that these same people make no mention of the fact that a life sentence for Saddam would subject him to less time in prison than the falsely accused Duke Lacrosse players face in the miscarriage of “justice” in North Carolina.

The coverage of the execution was on the whole almost surreal: a death clock in the corner of television screens counted down the final hours of Saddam’s life as speculation on the ground as to the where, when and by whom kept coming live from Baghdad.  Eventually it was a Middle Eastern news station that reported the death of the dictator and the special graphics prepared for the various stations began their every ten minute appearance with round the clock coverage.

Just when people were getting back to saying farewell to former President Gerald Ford who lay in state in the Capitol rotunda on the morning of the execution the Internet came to life with a cell phone style video of the actual execution.  Not the little parts that all of us saw earlier in the evening that showed Saddam walking to the gallows and a noose being placed around his neck; rather, the entirety of the event with the heckles from the crowd and the final act of his neck being snapped and his open eyed carcass being wrapped in a cloth to await whatever was going to become of it.

Ironically enough not even CNN will air that video – they simply described it for viewers and talked about the outrage in the Arab Street (a term used a lot by news organizations when more than 100 Arabs get together to celebrate or protest anything as if it were a true barometer of Arab sentiment).  The thing is I don’t understand why they won’t show it – after all, they had no problem in October 2006 showing a video of insurgents in Iraq firing upon American troops. 

Anderson Cooper, you know Anderson – from the seldom watched Anderson Cooper 360, the hurricane Katrina covering Prada wearing Nancy whose claim to fame is an Emmy for covering (what else) Princess Diana’s funeral) defended the insurgents killing Americans video on his blog.

Cooper wrote that “whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can.”

Apparently showing American troops being the targets of Islamic fighters in Iraq is a way to provide the unvarnished truth, but showing a dictator responsible for more Islamic deaths than anyone on the planet would not prove useful to that end.  The rationale fails the logic test because if showing Americans being the target of Islamic fighter bullets proves a valid video montage then surely the end of a dictator does as well.

If you’re scratching your head you’re not the only one: Saddam Hussein deserved to die for the death and carnage he brought to the region and after all of the protests in the Middle East over the video nobody is really arguing against his execution – only that it was not friendly enough.  But, come to New York or Los Angeles and there are people crying for the dictator.  It is reminiscent of the Menendez trial when a juror that helped create the first hung jury lamented the fact that they were boys left without a mother.

THEY KILLED HER!

CNN and the mainstream press in general have access to the same information and videos as anyone else, but there is an editorial decision as to whether or not it warrants television time in order to present a story.  For some reason CNN consistently sides with Saddam Hussein and against not just American troops, but America as a nation.

Who can forget that Eason Jordan, the de facto Iraqi propaganda minister and former CNN chief news executive defended his networks decision to cover up murders and brutality in order for CNN to maintain an office in Baghdad?  CNN has become the Hezbollah of news outlets inasmuch as wherever there is a dictator or despot opposed to anything America stands for – CNN is right there to pull for them.  Whether it is the Hugo Chávez loving bunch in Venezuela or the group in Cuba waiting to mourn the passing of their Communist hero Fidel; CNN is to news what Damascus is to terror groups.

In the finality of it all – everyone who wants to see Saddam Hussein face justice will be able to see it anywhere on the web, but the absurdity of showing American troops being fired upon by insurgents in Iraq while refusing to show a dictator get his just rewards is sickening and should remind people where the real news is quickly being shown.

If you want to see real news without the powers of spin at work, especially if you stand behind America and believe that watching American troops get shot is not the highpoint of entertaining or informative television, there is only one place to go now – the Internet.

It is bloggers and U-Tube aficionados that will allow real news to be seen by people who choose to make up their own mind.  Frankly, I enjoyed watching Saddam Hussein be hanged by the people running Iraq.  It is a shame that demands by governments like the Vatican is forcing the Iraqi government to investigate who made the tape.  If only the Vatican would release all of the records of the boys molested by priests or Nazis they helped flee Germany after WWII (it seems that the Vatican is only for investigating wrong doing when it deals with the hanging of dictators; not molestation or Jew killing).

CNN should really take stock in the fact that not only did it show, but it defended showing our military men being shot at by insurgents after being played for a decade as stooges of Saddam Hussein in order to cover-up his brutality.  They call themselves the most trusted name in news when, in fact, they’re the most trusted name in propaganda for enemies of America.

I simply cannot wait for the death of Fidel Castro and the loving video montage that CNN probably already has in the can.  I can see the open now – “the world has lost a dear leader…” oh wait – that is North Korea.  Either way – CNN will cry open tears when any enemy of America is lost whether it be by execution or natural causes and that is shameful for the men and women in the American military who make it possible for Anderson Cooper’s man loving gay award winning journalism to make it to air.

One 2,000 pound bomb on the headquarters of CNN in Damascus is all I wanted for Chanukah and I didn’t get it – maybe next year.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on NewsRadio 600 KOGO and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com