Published on Monday, November 19, 2007

Iraq editorial ‘insult to intelligence of everyone’

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After reading the “Iraq By the Numbers” article today, I felt cheated. The front of the paper essentially claims it as an objective, unbiased release of facts to inform readers on the situation so they can make up their own minds. Fair enough.

However, it turned out to be one of the most biased articles I’ve ever read. The article features many facts about Iraq – including casualties, the duration of the conflict and the amount of money spent thus far.

However, several facts seem to be missing from this “informative” article. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Half the truth is often a great lie.” What facts did the Northern Star see as “not important?” How many millions of Iraqi’s voted in the elections, showing a desire for democracy? Where are the statistics showing the dramatic decrease in violence in the last two months?

What about some facts about the Anbar province’s radical transformation from a terrorist breeding ground to the safest place in the region? What about polls that show Iraqi opinion turning against extremists? What about some facts about Iraq before we went in? What about some statistics of the thousands of Iraqis murdered by Saddam’s regime? What in the world does Bush’s approval rating have to do with the facts on the ground in Iraq? Does that help readers better understand the conflict?

The Northern Star has every right to publish an article bashing the Iraq war by highlighting its negative facts and ignoring all progress that our military has made. But don’t mask it behind a message on the front page claiming you want the readers to make up their own minds. That’s an insult to the intelligence of everybody. You should be ashamed of blatantly lying to the entire university.


Scott Cerny
Sophomore, communication