They Just Can't Help Themselves

Many of you have heard me refer to CNN as the Communist News Network, or the Clinton News Network among other things. They clearly have a penchant for overshadowing the important stories with their own agenda.

Todays coverage is a good example.

The draft resolution for the Iraqi constitution passed with a voter turnout of 63% but instead of focusing on that and writing it as a story of its own they chose to start it this way:

U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000

Iraqi draft constitution passes, election officials say

Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Posted: 12:17 p.m. EDT (16:17 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The war in Iraq saw two milestones Tuesday that reflect the country's path to democracy and its human toll as officials said the referendum on a draft constitution passed and the U.S. military's death toll reached 2,000.

CNN's count of U.S. fatalities reflects reports from military sources and includes deaths in Iraq, Kuwait and other units assigned to the Iraq campaign.

Among the latest casualties, an American soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb, and a roadside blast killed two Marines in combat Friday near Amariya in the western Anbar province, according to the U.S. military.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, more than 15,000 American service members have been wounded in the conflict, according to the Defense Department.

According to CNN's tally, 2,194 coalition troops have died in the war.

Turnout was 63 percent
Iraqi election officials touted the passage of the draft constitution, voted on October 15 after months of contentious, painstaking negotiations by the 275-member interim National Assembly.

A representative from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said these are "final provisional figures" that need to be certified. (Full story)

Authorities with the commission said 9.85 million people voted in the referendum, about 63 percent of registered voters. More than 78 percent of voters backed the constitution, officials said.

While passage required a simple majority, there was one obstacle the measure faced -- if two-thirds of the voters in at least three of 18 provinces had rejected it, the draft would have failed.

Supporters of the referendum were concerned about the voting in several provinces with significant populations of Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population and largely opposed the measure.

But figures show that the tally received a two-thirds "no" vote in only two provinces.

Anbar overwhelmingly voted against the document, with a "no" vote of 97 percent. In Salaheddin province, 82 percent rejected the charter.

On Monday, election officials said the vote count from the northern province of Nineveh would help determine the outcome. There was a "no" vote in Nineveh, but it was 55 percent.

In Diyala province, which has a slight Sunni Arab majority, 51 percent of voters said "yes."

When questioned about extreme results, including the 99 percent "yes" vote in one Kurdish province, electoral officials said U.N. experts and Iraqi teams verified the results.

Sunni Arab leaders actively boycotted the vote in January electing the National Assembly and found themselves with little voice in the interim government.

Government officials said they were gratified that Sunnis got involved in the political process this time, even though there was significant Sunni opposition to the draft. Shiites and Kurds have largely backed the constitution.

New parliamentary elections are set for December 15.

Other developments

Three explosions near two Baghdad hotels rocked Iraq's capital at sunset Monday, killing 10 people and wounding 22, Baghdad emergency police said. Police said suicide bombers used two car bombs and a cement truck, but journalists in one of the hotels said the first two explosions were rockets, followed by a vehicle bomb. A U.S. military statement said no coalition forces were injured. (Full story)

Coalition forces have killed "several" insurgents in the western Iraqi town of Ushsh, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Six insurgents also were detained, according to a military statement. Ushsh is near Qaim, an Anbar town near the Syrian border.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed Tuesday and one wounded when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora.

Gunmen killed two Iraqi police officers transporting detainees to Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad on Tuesday. Seven officers were wounded in the attack.

Two roadside bombs targeting U.S. military convoys exploded Tuesday in western Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, killing two civilians and wounding five others, police said. No U.S. military personnel were wounded.

What we have here is two distinct stories, and while they occured on the same continent and in the same country they should have been reported seperately, but once again CNN tries to overshadow the importance of this draft resolution by starting the story with the tragedy that is the loss of 2,000 Americans.

Today is yet another giant leap towards a new Iraq and a new landscape in the Middle East.

The Slaughterhouse mourns the loss of our 2,000 American.

I also applaud the Iraqi people for their voter turnout in passing the draft resolution.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at October 25, 2005 09:45 AM | TrackBack