Gee whiz, a pop quiz…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:41 PM Permalink

…and you would have studied if you had known, right?

The quiz today is to pick out which newspaper article is propaganda and which is most likely to be the truth.

First, from washingronpost.com titled, "Iraq Says It Has Proof Of Iranian Meddling":

The Iraqi government said Sunday that it has "concrete evidence" Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq and that a high-level panel had been formed to document the proof.

The statement came as Iraqi officials find themselves trapped between the United States and Iran, which have each accused the other of wreaking havoc in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in a particularly delicate situation because he is close to American and Iranian officials.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh called reporters late Sunday night to clarify remarks he made at a news conference earlier in the day, when he appeared to say that there was no hard evidence that Iran was allowing weapons to come into Iraq. Dabbagh said his comments had been misinterpreted.

"There is an interference and evidence that they have interfered in Iraqi affairs," Dabbagh said in an interview arranged by a U.S. official. When asked how he would characterize the proof that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq, he said: "It is a concrete evidence."

The U.S. government has long accused Iran of providing the powerful roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators to Shiite militiamen who attack American troops. Iran has denied any such role.

The second article is from McClatchy Washington Bureau, titled, "Iraq backs off allegations that Iran is behind violence" ( both stories dated May 4th):

The Iraqi Government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq.

As the government appeared to back down from its hardening stance against Iran, four marines were killed in Anbar in the deadliest attack in the Sunni province in months.

The government spokesman, Ali al Dabbagh, told reporters Sunday that a committee was formed to find "tangible information" about foreign intervention, specifically Iran's role in Iraq rather than "information based on speculation."

"We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran. What happened before is enough. We paid a lot," Dabbagh said, referring to the eight years war between the two nations in which an estimated 1 million people died.

While the Iraqi government has long said they would not be used for a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran at odds over Iran's nuclear aspirations, the statement came as the Iraqi government had taken tough stances towards Iran in the past week. This included sending a delegation last week to Iran to urge them to stop the flow of weapons and to refrain from funding Shiite militias battling Iraqi Security Forces.

U.S. officials in Baghdad rejected allegations made Saturday by a senior Iranian official who, according to Iranian state media, accused the United States of attacking Iraqi civilians.

These two articles cite the same source: "Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh…" who changed his statements to reporters to make them supportive of bush's Iraqi Oil War.

The quiz? Which article was written by a graduate of the Armstrong School of Propaganda and Hidden Agendas or which article is mote likely than not to be true.

You must use a No. 2 pencil, standard answer sheets, and there will be no talking or unnecessary frivolity allowed. There is a five minute time constraint, beginning now.

Labels: Bush, bush war doctrine, Conservatives, conspiracy, corruption, disinformation, military industrial complex, preemptive war, snark