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Old 02-07-2003, 06:10 PM
Mark Heide Mark Heide is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Illinois
Posts: 646
Default It looks like I was right!

Colin Powell's presentation at the UN significantly increased public opinion for war against Iraq. Every major American news media broadcast the statistics from the Washington Post poll. It was noted that his speech did not have any influence on changing opinions of other countries. The BBC World news interviewed a french official who stated his opinion is still the same. By the way, the BBC was the only major broadcast news outlet that actually interviewed a US senator that did not change his opinion based on Powell's presentation. He was firmly against war with Iraq unless the US gets multilateral approval from the UN. All the other major American news outlets--ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and FOX were biased as they mostly broadcast people that had changed their minds to favor the Bush strategy.

I have two reasons for bringing up this issue. The first reason proves how easy it is for the news media to show clips of Powell's case against Iraq and gain support. It shows how powerful the media is in changing opinion. The other reason is it makes me sick that many people will believe anything their government tells them. I'm not just harping on just the US, because all countries are guilty of slanting the news in their favor. But, the US has been terrible since the 9/11 incident. The US media no longer questions the motives. Rarely do I see a press conference at the Pentagon that allows the media to ask the questions against the current policies, its as if the news media is censoring itself, and that is why I consider their opinions biased. It appears more that our government comes out to the press room and makes their statement and you are suppose to believe it without question.

It took me a long time to read through all the posts and I thank everyone for their opinions. Someone had mentioned that there are other sources for news to be more informed, but I just wanted to state that most Americans get their news from broadcast news stations. This is limited to ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and FOX. All of these stations appear to report the stories the same. I did not see any differing opinions.

Lastly, my opinion on Saddam. First I think he is an evil dictator. Secondly, I believe he does probably have the weapons he is accused of. Thirdly, I believe that we need multilateral support to start a war, and it should be used as a last resort. What makes me suspicious of the Bush administrations motives is how quickly he wants to go to war to remove Saddam. For this reason, many people and countries believe that the US wants to just control the oil. Powell produced photographs that show how Saddam is moving the alleged weapons of mass distruction. My question is why was this information not turned over to the weapons inspectors?

Anyway, before you make a hasty decision to support war with Iraq, think of the alternatives for solving the problem with Iraq. Futhermore, think of the consequences. In most wars the innocent usually pay with their lives.

All comments welcome.

Mark
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