That's Entertainment?

Y'know the Fox Network's lovin' this:

Media films Saddam sons
BBC News
Friday, 25 July, 2003, 19:33 GMT 20:33 UK

The United States military has allowed TV journalists into a morgue in Iraq to film two bodies said to be Uday and Qusay Hussein, in another attempt to convince Iraqis the men are really dead.
US officials said the bodies, each with more than 20 bullet wounds, had undergone post-mortem "facial reconstruction" to make them appear more like they did in real life.

The new footage came a day after US forces released graphic photos showing the mutilated bodies of the men - a move defended by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

--edit--

No deception

The BBC's Matthew Price in Baghdad says that, compared with the photographs, the bodies lying on mortuary tables looked slightly unreal.

Uday's beard had been trimmed to the length he had worn it in life.

Morticians also removed a large gash that had cut across the middle of his face.
Autopsy incisions were also visible on Uday's left leg, where doctors removed an eight-inch (20cm) long bar that had been inserted after a 1996 assassination attempt.

Qusay's beard had been shaved off leaving only his trademark moustache.

A US official told reporters the aim was to make the men more closely resemble the brothers in life in order to convince people that Uday and Qusay are indeed dead, not to deceive.

US military morticians and forensic pathologists told journalists there was no evidence the men committed suicide.

Distrust

The release of the photos and footage has caused much debate in Washington and on Arabic television, as the US does not usually publish pictures of dead combatants and objected when dead US troops were shown on the Arabic Al-Jazeera TV channel during the war.


Mr Rumsfeld said the publication of pictures would save American and coalition lives and prove that Iraq's former rulers would not return.

But some Pentagon generals are reported to have found the release "repugnant".

--edit--

-M!

That's the News!

Well, who'd'a thunk it: Mr Nice applauding Merle Haggard:

Haggard Tune Blasts Media Coverage of War

By JOHN GEROME, Associated Press Writer
7/24/03

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new Merle Haggard song that's critical of the media's coverage of the war in Iraq (news - web sites) is garnering so much attention that it's being rushed to thousands of radio stations around the country, a spokesman for the country singer said Thursday.

"We're mailing it out as we speak," Tom Thacker, vice president of Hag Records, said of the song "That's the News." "It's going to a broad range of stations."

Thacker said the song has generated interest from media and fans.

"It's another one of Merle Haggard's social commentaries," he said. "This time it's kind of opposed to the tone of 'The Fightin' Side of Me.'"

That 1970 song was a pro-America anthem at the height of the Vietnam War.

The new song chides the media for focusing on celebrity news and the death of Laci Peterson and her unborn child while fighting continues in Iraq.

Haggard sings, "Suddenly it's over, the war is finally done/Soldiers in the desert sand still clinging to a gun/No one is the winner and everyone must lose/Suddenly the war's over, that's the news."

The song ends with the lines, "Politicians do all the talking, soldiers pay the dues/Suddenly the war is over, that's the news."

The single will be included on Haggard's new album, "Haggard Like Never Before," to be released in October.

Haggard's song strikes a different tone than two recent country hits that supported war with Iraq: Darryl Worley "Have You Forgotten?" and Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)."

It also follows a sharp backlash against the Dixie Chicks earlier this year after singer Natalie Maines made a remark about President Bush at a London concert shortly before the Iraq war. "Just so you know," she said, "we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Maines apologized for the phrasing of her remark, but sales of the Texas trio's discs plummeted and some radio stations banned their singles.

In an essay on Haggard's Web site, the singer writes, "I don't even know the Dixie Chicks, but I find it an insult for all men and women who fought and died in past wars when almost the majority of America jumped down their throats for voicing an opinion. It was like a verbal witch-hunt and lynching."
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See Merle Haggard: http://www.merlehaggard.com/

-M!

Fair Use Notice

The Hate Goes On

Insightful essay by Geov Parrish on the sad, hateful, greed-ridden state of American talk radio.

Is there anyone who doubts that these angry hosts wouldn't change their views - be liberals, be moderates, dress up like ducks or sing show tunes - if that's what was "selling" at the moment?

-M!