BBC criticised over Iraq bias

[DaSangarTalib]

The Stop the War Coalition will hold demonstrations outside BBC studios and offices protesting the agency’s pro-government stance on Iraq war, UK's The Guardian reported.

The organisation accuses the BBC news agency of failing to provide national coverage to the demonstration in the British capital that were held on March 18, where anti-war protesters demanded Blair’s government bring back British troops from Iraq.

Nationwide demonstrations against the BBC will be held on Tuesday April 4, at sites including Broadcasting House in London and BBC offices in Manchester, Leeds and Bristol protesting the corporation’s "general pro-government bias of much of their reporting on the war".

Protesters will hand BBC employees a copy of a letter sent to the director general, Mark Thompson, in which the coalition complains the agency’s lack of coverage given to the March 18 rally, saying it "represents an abandonment of the BBC's charter obligations to impartiality and fairness on matters of political controversy".

"Defence secretary John Reid was afforded the opportunity to attack the demonstration's purpose on the Today programme on the morning of March 18 - thereby incidentally establishing its news-worthiness - without any representative of the organisers, or any alternative view, being given a chance to comment," according to the letter addressing Mr Thompson.

• Bombs Kills Iraqi women

While The Washington Post claimed Friday that U.S. military deaths in Iraq war are declining, attacks continue unabated with Iraqis increasingly the targets.

On Friday, a mortar shell exploded in a street in northern Baghdad, killing three women in their homes.

Also three car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in a market area of southern Baghdad, killing one person and injuring seven others, according to the Iraqi police.

In western Baghdad's large Sunni Jamaa neighbourhood, soldiers found 6 bullet-riddled bodies of men wearing handcuffs.

Media reports referred to the incident as the latest of sectarian death squads in the conflict-torn country.

Attempting to cover the true extent of casualties the U.S. Army in Iraq, Washington Post claims that March death toll for American military personnel stood at 29, the lowest monthly total since February 2004.

The Washington Post cited count by the website icasualties.org.

Friday blast, which took place at about dawn, claimed the lives of a mother and daughter in one house and another woman in a nearby house in the northeastern neighbourhood of Gaylani.

Three car bombs went off one by one in Dora shopping area, a predominantly Sunni Arab area, and considered by the Iraqi police one of the most dangerous in Baghdad.

The police suggest that the attacks were targeting Iraqi civilians.

About 400 dead bodies had been discovered in Baghdad since the beginning of March this year.

Attempting to downplay losses of the U.S. military in Iraq to help fix the tarnished image of the Bush administration, the Pentagon claimed on Friday that only 2,327 U.S. military personnel had been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war, and only 17,381 troops have been wounded in action.

Asked to explain what officials refered to as noticeable decline in the U.S. fatalities in Iraq, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James Thurman, responsible for security operations in the Baghdad area, claimed that there’s a major improvement in the capabilities of Iraqi security forces, which number around 242,000.

On the other hand, Thurman, commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, told reporters at the Pentagon by teleconference from Baghdad "I just returned today from being out in one of the toughest spots in Baghdad, where we've had numerous drive-by shootings, IEDs (improved explosive devices), kidnappings and intimidation from terrorists,".

"What I saw today was a true Iraqi force in the lead with Iraqi army, Iraqi national police and Iraqi police, with coalition assistance, performing a great job out there," he claimed.

• Attacks target Iraqi police

Two policemen and three Iraqi civilians were injured Saturday in a roadside bomb explosion at a police patrol in eastern Baghdad.

• Rice admits U.S. 'errors' in Iraq


During her visit to UK, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted Friday that Washington has made thousands of mistakes in Iraq war.

"I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them, I'm sure," Rice said at a foreign policy gathering.

However, the Secretary of State argued that history will judge whether the U.S. “larger aims” were correct.

"Saddam Hussein wasn't going anywhere without military intervention," Rice said.

Trying to defend Iraq invasion, Rice insisted that Bush’s decision to go to war against Iraq was the right way to rid the world of a threatening dictator (Saddam Hussein), ignoring the turmoil that has plagued Iraq and neighbouring countries since the invading soldiers set foot in the country.

Rice refused to give a timetable for the withdrawal of the invading forces from Iraq.

Al-Jazeera

[afriend]

Always found the BBC news reports to be biased....

But it's no surprise as Tony down at 10 Downing street calls the shots.

[KAding]

Interestingly, Americans usually find the BBC biased as well, but against US troops. Just look for 'BBC bias' on google and you'll see what I mean. Since both sides think they are biased, perhaps they aren't that bad :P.

[رياح_الشمال]

slm
its alwayz da same subject
like dont they just gt fedup n leave us
i stoped watching da news coz it gt me head ache
bt da news follows me where eva i go