CNN Supports TYerrorists...

They showed 150 hours of gruesome killings of stray dogs by Al Qaida and they said how cruel it was but they didn't mention the killings of innocent children in Afghanistan, Palestine, Africa and the rest of the world. We get emotional when we see animal die but what about human beings?

Well as for the other TV stations, they didn't publicize this issue. It was only CNN that did. Since they allegedly paid a huge sum to Al Qaida, they showed the gruesome stuff exclusively for 150 hours. Just imagine how much needy people benefited if they would have donated that amount to some charitable organization?

And one more thing, I doubt that the video clips were made by Al Qaida because everything Al Qaida had, was completely destroyed so how can some fragile video cassettes be left in tact.

hmmmmm without readin everything b/t the first post and here id have to say that its prety pointless, theres no way that censorship in the states will alow them to show half of it on TV. hell here in the UK weve got biographys on the air channels about porn stars, but i doubt that wed allow it here either.

thats my 2 cents

I think if they were gana pay that much for the video's that they sould of also bought some weed and supported them some more.

So, we have several pages of replies and people are guessing about a lot of things. One of the more important ones is that we don't know who CNN bought the videos from. Yes, I do think it is quite possible that CNN bought them from the Al Qaida, it is a business worried about money and image. That may sound a little cynical but it is true. But how much does a five figure amount help them compared to the number of people who have seen what they do just for testing. And, these people are already extremely rich. It would be like me going and giving $1,000.00 to Bill Gates.

And for those people who say this is CNN they would not have done that. I simply have to say, Why not and look at MIRC - things get around even when they are not suppose to. Yes, I think supporting them is wrong, no I don't think anything will happen about it, and yes I think that a lot more people became more aware and that anger was stirred again.


Just a couple of thoughts I had about this.

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America's heritage is one of diversity and understanding. An act of war was commited on us, but not by the nation of afghanistan.. it was commited by people living within this country. We've set up a new democratic government, we've killed nearly twice as many afghan soldiers as they killed american citizens, and we are now currently detaining more people at Guantanimo Bay than I can remember. These detainees are held without access to lawyers or even basis of guilt.

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The reason for ousting the previous regime and implementing a new democratic government is simple. The regime that was in power, or dictatorship, supported terrorism. They harbored and funded them. They basically said go ahead and do the heinous things you do and we will allow you to hide, neigh, cover for you when someone comes looking for you.

Just because the actual Taliban weren't the one's to fly the planes into the buildings, doesn't mean they weren't involved. At least indirectly. The soldiers that were killed were from the Taliban. The body of government that was harboring the Al-Quaida. They were protecting us from finding what we wanted, and in essence just as involved in the war as we were.

I don't know how much you know about the Genieva Convention, but those PRISONERS OF WAR are being treated in accordance with the rules and articles governing their imprisonment. As a matter of fact, being an active duty Marine, I can assure you that their treatment is far better than just about any other country in the world would treat them. Having participated in several joint operations with multiple countries, I can tell you that we are more humane in these types of situations that anyone else out there. Take for example the ROK Marines or Thai Marines. Not to mention the way you would be treated if you were captured in the Middle East. If you were in their shoes and came across an American fighting man, there would be instant death. Look at the soldiers that were captured and beaten to death and dragged through the streets. Do you think that would happen to anyone the US captured? No way in hell.

I appreciate and respect the desire to question the things our government does. Please remember and take into account the bloodshed of hundreds and thousands of brave men and women who gave you that abilty to question our government. Don't be as quick to question it when we want everyone to have the same ability as us. And for God's sake, don't act like we are the world's tyrant's when someone comes to our Land and threatens our very way of life. If the Al-Quaida, Taliban, Irag, or any terrorist organization in the world had their way, every single American would be dead and demoracy wouldn't exist. There would be no one to enforce the rights of humans. There would be noone to fight for the lives of the people being slaughtered for no apparent reason. People have to pay the ultimate price for the rights of others. For you're right to sit here and question the way our government is run, I have volunteered to give my life. I will live up to that should the time arise. Please don't make that sacrifice for naught.

punchthebaby - this is NOT meant as a flame, but you asked the following question in your first post:

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Originally posted here by punchthebaby

I ask all of you to consider: Do you think CNN (and CBS, also being accused) is an evil ENOUGH corporate entity to put ratings before the war on terror? Not in this or any other lifetime. These tapes are not enough reason to betray the american people.

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now my answer to you is this. YES I do think they put ratings before national security or the war on terrorism. You are talking about the VERY same organization that got our marines killed in a beach landing in Somalia because they DEMANDED to be there. They were broadcasting live a COVERT operation, and someone in Somalia was smart enough to have the TV tuned to CNN and see it all happening live. They then came and shot up our military because of it. This was all in the name of ratings.

CNN has been accused MANY times of releasing sensitive information when they should have known better. Saddam followed CNN for the duration of the Gulf War because their intelligence was better than his own. Admittedly it didn't help him much, but the fact stands. This is the very reason the State Department has been feeding misinformation to them and other news organizations. They seem to ignore the need for national security in their dogged search for the almighty rating.




El Diablo

First, to my friend the Marine: I salute you, and am glad to know that there are people in our armed forces who are not simply in it for killing. I don't agree with most military action (I am a buddhist and a pacifist, two things I also hold in high esteem) but when times like these roll around, I'm glad you're on the collective side of our nation's freedom.

A reply:

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Don't be as quick to question it when we want everyone to have the same ability as us. And for God's sake, don't act like we are the world's tyrant's when someone comes to our Land and threatens our very way of life.

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It seems to me that going into a country and pushing them around, telling them who can and who can't be their leader is exactly what you just described. American foreign policy of late seems bent on nothing more than total world domination. As disgusting as Saddam Hussein is, as well as what he does to his people, what we do by saying "regime change" and "supporting revolution" is muddling in the paints of the fine picture of the world. What makes this such a wonderous world is diversity, and not just firendly "you don't look like me" diversity: For every person in Afghanistan who we liberate by bringing them democracy, there is at least half a person who feels rather violated because the government he liked and supported is now gone. But that's no problem, because a soldier will just shoot him and say he was a member of the Taliban army.

You can NOT say that this has never happened.

And to El Diablo:

You're very, very right. CNN has done some rather idiotic things before. Somalia is (to a journalist such as myself) one of the dark days in reportin history. What really irks me about the situation was that very little coverage was given to it: TV news networks watch each other's backs when the public is in an outrage. No respected news channel ever reports on "what they're reporting".. they more or less just deny the existence of these other channels altogether (and of course we can expect CNN to come right out an admit to it, eh?)

The point I was trying to make with the whole "evil ENOUGH" thing was that these tapes are now a part of the public domain. CNN purchases footage just like every other network, and happenend to be the first to jump on the boat when these tapes popped up. There is a large deal of controversey over the content, as well, because A) (as stated above) it doesn't seem like there would just be a bnch of tapes surviving a practical TNT holocaust, B) The contents of the tapes seem more designed to shock people than to teach (which was reportedly why the tapes were created, right? unless CNN is doing some of their world famous "creative editing"), and C) Wouldn't tapes like this, containing your entire methodology of Jihad, be one of the most precious assets a terrost had? Wouldn't they want to keep TRACK of them?

I will also give you credit for the entire "gov't feeding them misinformation" bit.. so I'll give you this to chew on, maybe: Perhaps these tapes were discovered LONG ago, and american intelligence sold them to CNN to ge them to shut the hell up, AND to give them a bad name.

You really just never can tell. The money spent, in Afghanistan, is a fortune. No person there would get that much for ANYTHING, as it is equivalent to giving an american citizen several million dollars for 150 hours of tape. That's not the kind of money any intelligent human being would just give out., especially not knowing that the money may well be used to blow up his / her hometown. These are different circumstances, where CNN is not being stubborn, they simply bought these tapes form someone (who is probably not an Al Qaida mamber as they've *cough*Daniel Pearl*cough* not been too fond of them).

I guess that's it.

Maybe CNN is just looking for better ratings, we all know the media is a dog-eat-dog industry. But the fact remains that money was paid for these tapes and in the end that money will be used to sponsor a terrorist movement in some fashion and whether we want to admit it or not, American money was used to make this a distinct possibility. It's sad to say and maybe wrong for it to be said but that's how I see it.

I am currently in the US Army and over in Bagram Afghanistan. CNN has really pissed me off this time. I am here to cut down on their networks in which they get money and these ppl are paying them for tapes. That money will be misappropriated some how.
I also feel that it was a poor decision to make a febel attempt to reclaim the upperhand in ever competitive news market.
I am sure we will learn something from the tapes but was it really worth it?