Americans Fed on Bullshit

THE US and the Iraqi governments have overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, "feeding the myth" that they are the backbone of the insurgency.
The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, an American think tank, based in Washington, also reports that foreign militants — mainly from Algeria, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia — account for fewer than 10 per cent of the estimated 30,000 insurgents. The Age (Australia)

The report by the independent public policy research organisation focuses on the Saudi militants in Iraq, but says that the Saudi involvement in the Iraqi insurgency is overestimated. The biggest number of foreign fighters actually come from Algeria (600 or 20 percent of the 3,000), Syria (550), Yemen (500) and Sudan (450). They believe 350 or around 12 percent of the foreign insurgents are Saudi nationals.

The report came as President Bush said a pullout of US forces would embolden America's enemies, allowing the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden "to dominate the Middle East and launch more attacks on America and other free nations".
Guardian Unlimited

Not surprisingly, these early reports all come from media sources outside the USA. I wrote of Bush’s ‘nanny state’, and the failure to fully report key information within the US is just another aspect of the mushroom mentality of the Administration.
So what are the US media feeding their mushrooms today, in place of this analysis?

Syria said aims to thwart Iraq democracy
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press”Syria is refusing to stop insurgents and foreign fighters from entering Iraq because it is frightened of efforts to build a democratic nation in the heart of the Middle East and wants them to fail, Iraq's foreign minister says.”

I would suggest, for Americans who want sources of real news, not the tainted propaganda of ‘a country at war’; they should go to and bookmark the following:

Fairfax Digital with online newspapers;
The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Melbourne Age (note, these are subscription services, but free to sign up to.)
ABC Australia’s national broadcaster
Guardian Unlimited Britain
Times Online Britain
BBC, Britain’s national broadcaster
Globe and Mail Canada
CBC.ca – Canada

No doubt there are many other sources of timely, balanced world news. These are my favourites and they rarely let me down. Without fail, these outlets carry online news reports far more quickly and thoroughly than any US sources.