What you won’t see about Iraq on American TV

US TV 'news' isn't worthy of the name.

I feel less informed for having watched it.

It's all so parochial. Mostly local news, some national almost no international.

Rubbish.

I think it has more to do with American journalist making a mockery of the name by being afraid to put themselves in the slightest bit of danger and all major news reporting of international events in poor at best. Whenever I hear about these guys talking about press freedoms and trumping their own horns about how important their jobs are to American society, I just have to laugh. I assure you if the freedom of the press was cut out of the US constitution, you will only see a slight change in news coverage at best. Don't get me wrong though. I think that foreign news is just as biased as American news. Just look at this article by the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6370671.stm) that I read a few moments ago. I remember watching a CNN International story a few days ago that asked people who were not protesting against the base, and THEY said that the base had popular support among the locals because of the economic impact and one woman said that the young people do not understand that there are not a lot of jobs there. Of course you get no citizens of Vicenza saying that with the bbc article. Too bad we only get CNN international for one day here in the US, because their reporting seems to be the most unbias of them all, if not as in depth as the BBC can get. Either way we are not giving the full facts in America, so who can blame us when we vote for the wrong people or not have a deep understanding of international conflicts because we have to vote for our leaders on pure guesses and who we 'wish' is right. In other words the opinions of the American people are invalid because of this, and since I see no real change then we can only expect things to stay the same for years to come no matter which side wins 2008.

One more thing. Just like the coverage of international news causes the American people's views to be distorted, which in turn causes bad policy overseas, the same can be said of the level of Anti-Americanism in foreign news giving the citizens of our allies and enemies a distorted view of the US and it's citizens. I get tired and angry whenever I hear expats from the US talk about how much we the US disgusts whatever citizens of the country they are staying in, as if they somehow hold the gate to truth and knowledge, and their news (as I have just shown with the BBC and trust me, this is a daily thing with them) is not just as misguided and bias and doesn't influence their opinion.

Hi Robert... just a few hours ago you wrote:

" Here’s the fun thing about living in a democracy: the majority group usually gets heard. "

That relates to this post on many levels.

Here's another thing we don't see on American TV. How about the schools, power grids bein restored. People with more freedoms for purchasing Western things, etc... I wonder how many more satellite tv's are now in Iraq then before the war?
How about Internet access? How is it growing over there? Where there freedoms of Iraqis to surf the net during Sadaam's reign or was there a great firewwall of Iraq that has since been opened?
What other great things are we missing out there because of filter that is being applied by the media

What a great video. It certainly puts the content on your blog into a very diminuitive perspective.

I live in Europe (the Netherlands) and I have always been amazed that lots of Americans do not realize that their coutry, influential as it is, holds less than four percent of the worlds population.
I have visited the States several times and everytime I felt completly disconnected from the other 96% of the world. The US media just does not inform their audience, and the citizens of the US either don't realize this or don't care. Both are equally bad as it breaks the essential feedback-loop for the system of democracy. And therefore breaks the system.
So please, try to make as much noise as possible about this issue. 6 billion people can benefit from it...

Same guy?
http://www.channel4.com/blogs/page/newsroom?ent...
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Avideo.goo...

(I'm leery of anything that says "Everyone must see this" without saying what "this" is.)

Robert, Seriously it's called War for a reason, where have you been? Please don't use this medium to push a left view, that video is renown for having left wing support behind it. Basically they took every bloodshed video shot and spliced it together, you have no sense of time. I could do the same thing for Los Angeles and make you think it was too a war zone. Wasn't this a tech blog at one time?

Watered down. Ha News in the US don't even want to talk about all the good that is happening in Iraq, watch the military channel.

I was saying the same thing the other day. The news has been celebrating Anna's death for more than two weeks. Over 3,000 US casualties have been suffered since entering Iraq and not many have earned more than a mention. What a shame and thanks for bringing it to more people's attention.

The fact that no gruesome footage is shown on US TV is one of the main reasons why the country is so happy to go to war for little or no reason (WMDs? what WMDs?).

I believe now it may be a little clearer why most of the rest of the world believed going to Iraq was not such a good idea - and some countries got a real beating for pointing this out (eg. France) - we don't put an embargo on real life. In war zones, people don't die like in the A-Team series (actually...nobody died through thousands of rounds fired right?), going 'ugh' and slowly falling down to the ground in one piece, but they go away in rather unpleasant ways.

We regularly get a dose of what really happens when a car bomb explodes in the middle of a crowded market, including body parts and blood pools in the 9 o'clock news, right when we are having dinner. Stomach-churning, but also eye-opening about the real face of war.

Good you pointed this out, regards,

Wow...people get injured and die in wars?

I had no idea.

Thank you, Mr. Scoble, for sharing this important information with the world!

There is not ONE US-based news outlet that actually covers the real, actual, bloody news. European news covers most everything.

Whenever I've been in Europe, Mexico, or South America, the news is covered as it happens.

I was in South America when the bombing of the Spanish train system occured. They covered EVERYTHING. They showed blood, bodies, the lot.

CNN covered only the happenings and showed the train after the blast.

I've long thought US news was less than mediocre, actually sub-standard. BBC is by far the best online news outlet on the Internet today.

I have not watched US news on my TV in over 15 years. I have no meed to what with the BBC and online offerings.

The US is so far behind in proper reporting it's not even funny. In actuality, it's sad.

Let's see...

The US is the richest country in the world and we have:

- crappy news coverage
- no socialized medicine
- one of the worst public school systems out there
- a high crime rate and the largest prison population
- the highest per capita personal debt ratios

Nothing to be proud of if you ask me.

Anyone who has spent any time overseas has seen foreign news and knows that the slant it spins on America is as bad as the slants you'll see on Fox. I'm constantly amazed at the shallowness of the coverage of the US, and the acceptance of stereotype over substance that comes from the foreign press. Many of my fellow expats who have no love for George Bush quickly tire of discussing politics and the world with those who also hate Bush, but have been fed a steady diet of simpletonian anti-Americanism.

I watch all sorts of international channels for my news, from Russia Today, Al Jazeera English, Euronews, CCTV-9, France24, BBC World, DW, and CNN International along with a few others and anyone who thinks the US holds a monopoly on shallow journalistic mediocrity does not know what they are talking about.

I read you for your technical blogs, not your political musings. Which is becoming more apparent as time passes where you stand, and in a free country that is your perogative. But come on, don't jump the shark and turn what is a great technical blog into a political rallying spot for yourself. Surely there are a million other places where one can get ones fill of political viewpoints if one so chooses.

I apologize in advance if you don't like what it is I'm about to say. It's just my personal opinion.

I keep hearing all this boo-hooing over 3,000 people. When did Americans lose the stomach for sacrifice? We lost almost half a million people in WWII. Was THAT fight not worth it? Now we're been dragged into the same fight we've been fighting for 5,000 years... doncha think it's kind of important that we try to get this one right?

That's the part that pisses me off, you guys get all pissed about us being self-absorbed, and when we do go out and do something, we're villified. You go crazy about wanting to go into Darfur, but the suffering in Iraq wasn't worth going in and taking care of business.

Robert, come on man... usually you're a tad more balanced than this. While you're showing stuff that isn't aired on American television, how about the extremist propaganda that airs all throught the Arab world? How about how Muslim extremists teach that Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs? How about how Iran's president tells us one thing, and says something completely different in front of his own people. How come you didn't post that stuff too?

And since some people are bringing it up, why are people blaming us for the fact that the intelligence was wrong? We corroborated it with a bunch of other countries. It's not like Bush made it up, we've had the same intelligence for years. How about asking REAL questions, like "Why was Saddam lying to the world?" or "Where did all those weapons go?" or "Why were the French and Germans supplying Iraq with weapons before we went in?"

Peter, quick question: if our healthcare is so crappy, then why do so many Canadians come here to get their healthcare? Making healthcare another entitlement is not going to improve our insurance system. Stopping price gouging across the board, frivolous lawsuits, and giving companies tax breaks for providing full coverage for their workers will improve the healthcare system.

All this energy put into how "blogging is going to change the world" and you guys STILL don't get it! Democracy is about getting off your own butt, being responsible for your own well being, whether it be through what you read, what you eat, your job, your healthcare, or your family. If you're only listening to the things that the media want you to hear, then teh fact that you're not much more than a sheep is your own fault.

I'm tired of American being the scapegoat for everyone else's bullshit. We have a crapload of problems, but so does the rest of the world. And maybe if 4% of the population didn't have to babysit the rest, maybe we all as the Human Race could get somewhere.

@15,

I somehwhat agree with you on the simplton American thing, but not totally. Americans have that "ugly American" image for good reason.

Whenever I'm in Europe, I can always spot the Americans. It's patently obvious. Complainging about European hotels, food, clothes, you name it. Stay home, then, I tell them. Stay in the US and remain uneducated about the world.

Americans are simpletons when it comes to politics. There are only two sides in the US: Republican and Democrat. Europe has several parties per country, and they more or less in the end all get elected at one time or another.

Bush has ruined what little image America once had to most people outside of the US.

I was reading yesterday that in Norway, a hotel owned by Americans would not let a Cuban delegation stay there because of the US trade embargo with Cuba. This was stupid on the part of the hotel. Cuba is about as harmless to the US as Ecuador.

The US and its policies negatively affect a great deal of the world like this in many aspects. I think it sucks, too, and I'm a US citizen, although if I ever won the lottery, that would likely change fairly quickly.

There are places in this world that see the US for just what it is: an imperialistic country that trys to get its way in everything from oil to wars. We have ruined more countries than any other nation, what with the evils of globalization and the so-called free trade agreements, which only really benefit the US companies, and not the local workers much at all. Since Americans love to operate in other countries to save money because of easy pickings, I think they should be forced to pay American wages while in country. Fair is fair.

The US has some great things about it, but also some really ugly ones. I'm sometimes ashamed to be American when I'm overseas because our foreign policy sucks so damn badly. We think we're enlightened in this country. We're not.

You also don't see explicit photos of the acts of terror happening internationally, either, do you? Here's a list from 2000 on:

2000

* Israel Terrorism against Israel in 2000.
* United States The last of the 2000 millennium attack plots fails, as the boat meant to bomb USS The Sullivans sinks.
* Germany German police foil Strasbourg cathedral bombing plot.
* Pakistan May: The Balochistan Liberation Army begins its attacks against government and military targets in Balochistan.
* Greece June 8: Stephen Saunders, a British Defense Attaché, was assassinated by Revolutionary Organization 17 November in Athens.
* Russia August 8: A bomb exploded at an underpass in Pushkin Square in Moscow, killing 11 people and wounding more than 90. [21]
* Latvia August 17: Two bombs exploded in a shopping center in Riga, Latvia, injuring 35 people. [22]
* Yemen October 12: USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors and wounds 40 off the port coast of Aden, Yemen, by al-Qaeda, see FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, the Buffalo Six Lackawanna Cell [13]
* Philippines December 30 Rizal Day Bombings, terrorists blow up LRts in Manila killing 22 and injuring more than 100 people.

2001

* Israel Terrorism against Israel in 2001.
* Russia February 5: A bomb blast in Moscow's Byelorusskaya metro station injures 15 people.
* Kosovo February 18: Podujevo bus bombing, 13 Serbian civilians are killed by a bomb attack on a bus in Northern Kosovo.
* United Kingdom March 4: A car bomb exploded outside the BBC's main news centre in London. One London Underground worker suffered deep cuts to his eye from flying glass and some damage was caused to the front of the building.[14] (See 4 March 2001 BBC bombing)
* Russia March 24: Twenty people die and 93 are injured in three bomb attacks on Russian towns near the border of Chechnya.
* Israel March 26: Israeli infant Shalhevet Pass is fatally shot in the head by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron.
* Israel June 1: 21 civilians, mostly teenagers from the former Soviet Union, are killed by a Hamas suicide bomber in the Dolphinarium massacre in Tel Aviv, Israel
* Sri Lanka July 24 A suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) staged an attack on Sri Lanka's Bandaranaike International Airport and the adjoining air force base at Katunayake. The 14 man-squad destroyed or damaged about 20 aircraft and killed seven Sri Lankan workers and soldiers.
* United Kingdom August 3: The last (at time of writing) IRA bomb on mainland Britain explodes in Ealing, West London, injuring seven people.[15] (See 3 August 2001 Ealing bombing)
* Israel August 9: A suicide bomber in Jerusalem kills seven and wounds 130 in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing; Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.
* United States September 11: Attacks killed 2,997 in a series of hijacked airliner crashes into two U.S. landmarks: the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane, originally intended to hit an unknown, but likely prominent, Washington, D.C. target, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after an apparent revolt against the hijackers by the plane's passengers; by Al-Qaeda.
* France Paris embassy attack plot foiled.
* India October 1: A car bomb explodes near the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly in Srinagar, India killing 35 people and injuring 40 more.
* Israel October 17: Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi is assassinated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
* United States Anthrax attacks on the offices the United States Congress and New York State Government offices, and on employees of television networks and tabloid.
* United States December 12: Jewish Defense League plot by Chairman Irv Rubin and follower Earl Krugel to blow up the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California and the office of Lebanese-American Rep. Darrell Issa, foiled.
* India December 13: Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.
* United States December 22: Richard Reid, attempting to destroy American Airlines Flight 63, is subdued by passengers and flight attendants before he could detonate his shoe bomb.

2002

* Israel Terrorism against Israel in 2002.
* Singapore Singapore embassies attack plot foiled.
* Pakistan January: Kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.
* Israel March 27: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 and injures 140 during Passover festivities in a hotel in Netanya, Israel in the Passover massacre.
* Israel March 31: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 15 and injures over 40 in Haifa, Israel, in the Matza restaurant massacre.
* Tunisia April 11: A natural gas truck fitted with explosives is driven into a synagogue in Tunisia by an al-Qaeda member, killing 21 and wounding more than 30 in the Ghriba Synagogue Attack.
* Pakistan May 8: May 8 Bus Attack in Karachi kills 11 Frenchmen and two Pakistanis.
* Russia May 9: A bomb explosion in Kaspiisk in Dagestan kills at least 42 people and injures 130 or more during Victory Day festivities.
* India May 13: 12 people are killed in the Jaunpur train crash in India, caused when Islamic extremists cut the rails.
* Pakistan June 14: Car bomb at US Consulate in Karachi kills 12.
* Israel June 18: A Hamas suicide bomber detonates himself on a bus in Jerusalem in the Patt junction massacre. The attack kills 19 people and wounds over 74.
* United States July 4: An Egyptian gunman opens fire at an El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport, killing 2 Israelis before being killed himself.
* India September 10: A train derailment in India kills 130 people in the Rafiganj rail disaster. Naxalite terrorism is suspected.
* India September 25: Two terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group raid the Akshardham temple complex in Ahmedabad, India killing 30 people and injuring many more.
* United States October: John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo conduct the Beltway Sniper Attacks, killing 10 people in various locations throughout the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area from October 2 until they are arrested on October 24.
* Yemen October 6: Limburg tanker bombing in Yemen.
* Indonesia October 12: Bali bombing of holidaymakers kills 202 people, mostly Western tourists and local Balinese hospitality staff.
* Philippines October 17: Zamboanga bombings in the Philippines kill six and wounds about 150.
* Philippines October 18: A bus bomb in Manila kills three people and wounds 22.
* Russia October 19: A car bomb explodes outside a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Moscow, killing one person and wounding five.
* Russia October 23: Moscow theater hostage crisis begins; 120 hostages and 40 terrorists killed in rescue three days later.
* Israel November 21: Hamas orchestrates the Jerusalem bus 20 massacre. 11 people were killed and over 50 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated on a crowded bus in central Jerusalem.
* Kenya November 28: Kenyan hotel bombing.
* India December 21: Kurnool train crash, Islamic extremists derail a train and kill 20 people in India.
* Russia December 27: The truck bombing of the Chechen parliament in Grozny kills 83 people.

2003
One of the compounds hit by the Riyadh Compound Bombings.
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One of the compounds hit by the Riyadh Compound Bombings.

* Israel Terrorism against Israel in 2003.
* Iraq Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2003.
* Colombia February 7: Car bomb kills 36 and injures 150 at the El Nogal social club in Bogotá, Colombia; FARC rebels are blamed.
* Philippines March 4: Bomb attack in an airport in Davao kills 21.
* Israel March 5: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 17 people and wounds 53 when he detonates a bomb hidden under his clothing in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
* Iraq March 23: SGT Hasan Akbar, USA, murdered 2 officers and wounded 14 soldiers in a grenade attack at an Army base in Iraq.
* Saudi Arabia May 12: Bombings of United States expatriate housing compounds in Saudi Arabia kill 26 and injure 160 in the Riyadh Compound Bombings. Al-Qaeda blamed.
* Russia May 12: A truck bomb attack on a government building in the Chechen town of Znamenskoye kills 59.
* Russia May 14: As many as 16 die in a suicide bombing at a religious festival in southeastern Chechnya.
* Morocco May 16: Casablanca Attacks by 12 bombers on five "Western and Jewish" targets in Casablanca, Morocco leaves 41 dead and over 100 injured. Attack attributed to a Moroccan al-Qaeda-linked group.
* Russia July 5: 15 people die and 40 are injured in bomb attacks at a rock festival in Moscow.
* Russia August 1: An explosion at the Russian hospital in Mozdok in North Ossetia kills at least 50 people and injures 76.
* Iraq August 19: Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 22 people (including the top UN representative Sergio Vieira de Mello) and wounds over 100.
* Israel August 19: Jerusalem bus 2 massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber detonates himself on a crowded bus carrying mostly Orthodox Jewish Israelis, including many children returning from the Western Wall. 23 people are killed and over 130 wounded.
* India August 25: At least 48 people were killed and 150 injured in two blasts in south Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India at the other at the Zaveri Bazaar.
* Russia September 3: A bomb blast on a passenger train near Kislovodsk in southern Russia kills seven people and injures 90.
* Israel October 4: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 21 and wounds 51 in a Haifa restaurant in the Maxim restaurant massacre.
* Palestinian National Authority October 15: A bomb is detonated by Palestinians against a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip, killing three Americans.
* Turkey November 15 and November 20: Truck bombs go off at two synagogues, the British Consulate, and the HSBC Bank in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 57 and wounding 700 in the 2003 Istanbul Bombings.
* Russia December 5: Suicide bombers kill at least 46 people in an attack on a train in southern Russia
* Russia December 9: A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds at least 11. (See Red Square Bombing)

2004
The scene of one of the Madrid bombings.
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The scene of one of the Madrid bombings.

* Israel Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2004.
* Iraq Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2004.
* Israel January 29: Jerusalem bus 19 massacre: Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades orchestrate a suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem, Israel killing 11 people and wounding more than 50.
* Russia February 6: Bomb on Moscow Metro kills 41.
* Philippines February 27: Superferry 14 is bombed in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf, killing 116.
* Iraq March 2: Ashoura Massacre: Suicide bombings at Shia holy sites in Iraq kill 181 and wound more than 500 during the Ashura.
* Pakistan March 2: Attack on procession of Shia Muslims in Pakistan kills 43 and wounds 160. (See also: Ashoura Massacre in Iraq.)
* Turkey March 9: Attack of Istanbul restaurant in Turkey.
* Spain March 11: Coordinated bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, kills 191 people and injures more than 1,500.
* Israel March 24: Israeli soldiers arrest Hussam Abdo, a 15 year-old Palestinian boy with explosives strapped to his chest at the Hawara Checkpoint. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sent Abdo on a suicide mission to bomb the checkpoint.
* Saudi Arabia April 21: Bombing of a security building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills five.
* Saudi Arabia May 1: 2004 Yanbu attack kills six Westerners and a Saudi in Saudi Arabia.
* Israel May 2: Pregnant Israeli commuter Tali Hatuel and her four young children are gunned down at close range by militants from the Popular Resistance Committees and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
* Saudi Arabia May 29: Al-Khobar massacres, in which Islamic militants kill 22 people at an oil compound in Saudi Arabia.
* Russia August 24: Russian aircraft bombings kill 90.
* Russia August 31: A blast near a subway station entrance in northern Moscow, caused by a suicide bomber, kills 10 people and injures 33.
* Russia September 1 – 3: Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia, Russia, results in 344 dead.
* Indonesia September 9: Jakarta embassy bombing, in which the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed, killing eight people.
* Egypt October 7: Sinai bombings: Three car bombs explode in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 34 and wounding 171, many of them Israeli and other foreign tourists.
* Thailand October 28: 2 people killed, 38 injured by two explosions in southern Thailand. [23]
* Saudi Arabia December 6: Suspected al Qaeda-linked group attacks U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing five local employees.
* Philippines December 12: A bombing at the Christmas market in General Santos, Philippines, kills 15.

2005

* Iraq Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2005.
* Thailand January 7: Explosion at a railroad crossing -no casualties. 1 Buddhist shot dead in southern Thailand. [24]
* Thailand January 16: 1 person dead, over 50 others injured in an explosion in a commercial area in southern Thailand. [25]
* Lebanon February 14: A car bomb kills former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 20 others in Beirut. See also: 2005 Lebanon bombings.
* Thailand February 17: 7 people dead, 40 injured by a car bomb outside a hotel in southern Thailand. [26]
* Israel February 25: A suicide bomber in Tel Aviv kills five Israelis and undermines a weeks-old truce between the two sides.
* Thailand March 6: A Buddhist monk was killed by gunmen in southern Thailand. [27]
* Thailand March 7: 2 policemen and 3 unknown attackers were killed in a shootout with 5 gunmen disguised as veiled Muslim women at a police station in southern Thailand. [28]
* Thailand March 15: 1 policeman was killed, 3 injured by bomb in southern Thailand. [29]
* Qatar March 19: Car bomb attack on theatre in Doha, Qatar, kills one Briton and wounds 12 others.
* Thailand March 19: 15 people, 10 of them policemen, injured in two explosions. One of the bombs was detonated via a cellphone. [30]
* Thailand March 26: 1 Buddhist dead, 2 injured, in two attacks by gunmen in southern Thailand. [31]
* Thailand March 27: Two bombs used to stop an armoured train patrolling in southern Thailand, terrorists then fired on the policemen on the train. Approximately 20 policemen and some other passengers were wounded. [32]
* Thailand April 3: 2005 Songkhla bombings: 2 people killed (possibly 5), 54 injured, by three explosions in Hat Yai -one at the airport, one at a hotel, and another at a department store. [33]
* Egypt April: April 2005 terrorist attacks in Cairo – On April 7 a suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing three foreign tourists and wounding 17 others. In two further attacks on April 30, suspected accomplices detonate a bomb and spray a tourist coach with gunfire.
* Myanmar May 7: Multiple bomb explosions across Myanmar's capital Yangon kill 19 and injures 160.
* Afghanistan June 1: A suicide bomber blows up in a mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing 20 people.
* Iran June 12: Bombs explode in the Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Tehran, leaving 10 dead and 80 wounded days before the Iranian presidential election.
* India July 5: 2005 Terrorist attack on Ayodhya – Six terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba storm the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhomi complex in India. Before the terrorists could reach the main disputed site, they were shot down by Indian security forces. One devotee and two policemen were injured.
* United Kingdom July 7: London bombings – Bombs explode on one double-decker bus and three London Underground trains, killing 56 people and injuring over 700, occurring on the first day of the 31st G8 Conference. The attacks are believed by many to be the first suicide bombings in Western Europe.
* Israel July 12: Islamic Jihad takes responsibility for a suicide bombing in Netanya, Israel, which kills five people at a shopping mall.
* United Kingdom July 21: Attempted London bombings - Small explosions in three London Underground stations and one double-decker bus. This was pronounced as a "major incident" rather than an attack, and only minor injuries were reported. These 4 bombs were designed to cause as much damage as the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but the explosives had deteriorated and failed to detonate.
* Egypt July 23: Sharm el-Sheikh bombings – Car bombs explode at tourist sites in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing at least 88 and wounding more than 100.
* India July 28: Jaunpur train bombing: 13 are killed when militants detonate a bomb on a commuter train in India.
* Israel August 4: Jewish settler in an IDF uniform opens fire on a bus in Shfaram, Israel, killing 4 Israeli Arabs and wounding 5.
* Bangladesh August 17: 17 August 2005 Bangladesh bombings: Around 100 homemade bombs explode in 58 different locations in Bangladesh, killing two and wounding 100.
* Indonesia October 1: A series of explosions occurs in resort areas of Jimabaran Beach and Kuta in Bali, Indonesia.
* Russia October 13: A large group of Chechen rebels launched coordinated attacks on Russian federal buildings, local police stations, and the airport in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. At least 137 people, including 92 rebels, were killed.
* Iran October 15: Two bombs exploded at a shopping mall in Ahvaz, Khuzestan in Iran. Six people died and over 100 were injured.
* Iraq October 24: Multiple car bombs explode outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 11. It is thought that the attacks were targeting journalists inside the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Ishtar. [34]
* Israel October 26: A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a bomb near a falafel stand in Hadera, Israel that kills himself and six others. Twenty-six people were also wounded. [35]
* India October 29: Multiple bomb blasts hit markets in Delhi, India, leaving at least 61 dead and more than 200 injured.
* Jordan November 9: Three explosions at hotels in Amman, Jordan, leave at least 60 dead and 120 wounded.
* Israel December 5: A suicide bomb attack kills at least five people in Netanya in north-western Israel.
* India December 28: Two or more unidentified gunmen open fire at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, killing a retired professor of mathematics and wounding four others.

2006

* Israel 2006: Qassam rockets fired by Hamas into Israel, especially the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, injures many citizens.
* Iraq Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2006.
* Iraq February 22: Al Askari Mosque bombing ignites sectarian strife in Iraq.
* Pakistan March 2: Bombing in Karachi, Pakistan kills four, including a U.S. diplomat. [36]
* United States March 3: Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, an Iranian-born graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, drives an SUV onto a crowded part of campus, injuring nine.
* India March 7: Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India kill 28 and injures more than 100.
* Israel March 30: Palestinian suicide bomber kills himself and four others at Kedumim Junction in the West Bank [37][38]
* Pakistan April 11: A suicide bomber explodes himself in Karachi, Pakistan, and kills 57 Sunni worshippers. [39]
* Israel April 17: Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing eleven people and injuring 70.
* Egypt April 24: Bombings at three locations in Dahab, Egypt kill 20 Egyptians, 3 foreigners, and injure 62 others.
* Pakistan May 11: Six policemen die and 12 are injured when five bombs go off in a police academy in Quetta, Pakistan [40]
* Sri Lanka June 15 : The LTTE detonate two claymore mines targetting a bus carrying 140 civilians in Sri Lanka. 68 civilians, including 10 children and 3 pregnant women, are killed. Approximately 60 civilians are injured.

The 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings
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The 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings

* Israel June 25: Eliyahu Asheri, an Israeli citizen, was kidnapped and murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).
* Iraq July 9: 40 Sunni civilians are massacred by Shia militants in Baghdad, Iraq.
* India July 11: A series of explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai, India, killing 209 and wounding another 714 civilians.
* Pakistan July 14: Suicide bomber in Karachi, Pakistan kills a Shiite Islamic cleric Allama Hasan Turabi and his nephew.
* Iraq July 17: Explosions and gunmen kill 48 people in a market in Mahmoudiya, Iraq. [41]
* Iraq July 18: Car bombing near a Shiite shrine in Kufa, Iraq kills 53 and injures 103. [42]
* Germany July 31: Two suitcase bombs are discovered in trains near the German towns of Dortmund and Koblenz, undetonated due to an assembly error. Video footage from Cologne train station, where the bombs were put on the trains, led to the arrest of two Lebanese students in Germany, Youssef al-Hajdib and Jihad Hamad, and subsequently of three suspected co-conspirators in Lebanon[16] . On 1 September 2006, Jörg Ziercke, head of the Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Police), reports that the suspects saw the Muhammad cartoons as an "assault by the West on Islam" and the "initial spark" for the attack, originally planned to coincide with the 2006 Football World Cup in Germany.[17][18]
* Afghanistan August 4: A suicide car bomber struck a market in Kandahar, Afghanistan killing 21 people.
* United Kingdom United States August 10: A major anti-terrorist operation disrupts an alleged bomb plot targeting multiple airplanes bound for the United States flying through Heathrow Airport, near London, UK.
* Moldova August 13: Two grenades explode on a trolleybus in Tiraspol, Moldova, killing two people and injuring ten. [43]
* India August 16: A bomb exploded in a Hindu temple near Imphal, India, killing three and injuring more than 30. [44]
* Iraq August 20: Gunmen spray bullets on Shiites in Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding more than 300. [45]
* India September 8: At least 2 bomb blasts target a Muslim cemetery in the western town of Malegaon. The blasts kill 37 people and leave 125 others wounded.
* Syria September 12: Four attackers armed with grenades and machine guns attempt to storm the U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria. Three of the gunmen and one Syrian guard are killed during a battle between the attackers and Syrian security forces. One Syrian employee of the embassy and at least 10 bystanders are wounded, among them, 7 Syrian telephone company workers and a senior Chinese diplomat. Police recover a car laden with explosives and other IEDs. Syrian Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha announces that his government suspects a group called Jund al-Sham is responsible. [19]
* Yemen September 15: Four suicide bombers and a security guard are killed in early-morning attacks on the Safer refinery in Marib and the al-Dhabba terminal in Hadramout, Yemen. Although no group has claimed responsibility Islamic extremists are suspected. See the September 15th Yemen attacks page.
* Thailand September 16: 2006 Hat Yai bombings: 4 people killed, 82 injured, by six bombs along the main commercial street of Hat Yai. The devices were placed approximately 500 meters apart, and were remotely set off every five minutes.[46]
* Somalia September 18: 11 people, including the presidents brother and 6 attackers, are killed in an assassination attempt on the Somalian president.[47] See 2006 Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed assassination attempt.
* Afghanistan September 30: A suicide bomber detonates his explosives outside the interior ministry in Kabul. The attack kills 12 and wounds over 40.

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/london-explosions

@14 So, move!

@18 And yet, whenever there is a problem in the word, who does the rest of the world look to to bail their asses out? France? Germany? Italy? Russia? As PJ O'Rourke said: It's our world and will run it as we please!

@18 "I’m a US citizen, although if I ever won the lottery, that would likely change fairly quickly."

The dollar goes pretty far in Mexico and Russia. I don't think it would take the lottery to enable you to make that move.

Ever think about watching PBS occasionally? Frontline, The News Hour With Jim Lehrer, Now, Nova, Charlie Rose... there are others. Canada's "TVO" has some really interesting news programming. Or you could try finding this thing called "The Internet", I hear it has some news worth watching, and some of it must be about American-centric stuff. There's no lack of news organizations out there ready and willing to give you an honest view of what's going on in the world (most of the worlds newspapers have digital versions that you could, like, totally read online). There is, however, a general lack of imagination when it comes to finding those view points. Just because you spend six minutes looking at Fox News or CNN and can't find something non-entertainment based doesn't mean there's some Force filtering the American or World media, it just means you're lazy and operating your TV with a substandard cable package.

Great vid .
Dump the TV news & news papers , The new Media are the bloggers & video bloggers .

thanks for sharing the vid .

Scoble, I urge you to also watch this set of videos, in order to understand the true nature of this war. This is crazy.

This is something that every American should see.

western media in general is the problem -- not simply American media. While it's true that the media has focused much of its attention on the death of Anna Nicole Smith -- the reality is that they do so becuase there is an audience for it.

The only way to truly speak out is to do so with our remote controls and changing the channel or simply turning the T.V. off!

The media shares some responsibility for the Iraq decable. Why weren't the difficult questions asked of policy makers in the run-up to the war? Why did the media so blindly follow Bush and Co. throughout all of their war mongering in 2002 (and '03) ????

@17, by Robert McLaws,

You say:

"It’s not like Bush made it up, we’ve had the same intelligence for years. How about asking REAL questions, like “Why was Saddam lying to the world?” or “Where did all those weapons go?” or “Why were the French and Germans supplying Iraq with weapons before we went in?”"

Now...did I miss something here, or what exactly was Donald Rumsfeld doing shaking hands with Saddam, as we have been show again and again - oh wait, the rest of us in Europe have been shown, most US media probably conveniently 'forgot' about recent history between Iraq, Iran and the US.

Iran for one is the only country other than the US to operate the F-14 Tomcat long-range air-superiority fighter, recently decomissioned by the US Navy. And I bet they weren't stolen from Miramar...

During the Iran-Iraq war, the US supplied weapons and intelligence to *both* sides, and the early chemical and biological agents that were used by Iraq had been supplied in fact by the US.

So, please, cut the we-are-oh-so-good crap, in an armed conflict the weapons industry thrives, and this means that any country with such an industry -will- supply weapons to the conflict. The fact that intelligence was wrong was corroborated with countries that wanted to go to war, but what about the rest of the countries that called the intelligence bullshit? Maybe lessons about arrogance and self-confidence should be learned from all this. I just don't buy that since the first Gulf War the US has been flying over Iraq, they have been bombing it on a regular basis, and have had intelligence about what Saddam was doing, and then, all of a sudden, there is such an urgency to go in and bust him. A WMD program is not developed in two weeks.

Finally, I could list a dozen conflict areas where people are dying daily, opressed by armed militias or dictators, and the US don't seem to have an urgency to take action and remove them for the good of their people. In the end, after we learned that Saddam's WMDs didn't even exist, this was the reason to remove him right?

@21 & 22,

Neither of you have a real clue. You guys are the kinds of people who support the govt no matter what it does.

Neither Mexico or Russia hold any interest for me. Mexico is too violent and Russia is too cold. There are some nice places in Europe I'm conmsidering should the time ever come.

As an add-on...

There is nothing wrong with being an expat. There are millions of them out there who moved for various reasons.

Just peruse the folowing site...

http://www.escapeartist.com/

"All the good that's happening in Iraq" Give me a break. "satellite TVs" disgusting. "Internet access" are you kidding me?

Please give it up, this war is a disaster.

I completely agree that the coverage has been quite lax. A lot of people don't realize how bad it is. 3,000 troops dead sounds bad, but estimates say that around 500,000 iraqi people have died.

Even though it's kind of depressing, there are a lot of ways to help. I'm currently working on a project called www.beyondorders.com and there are a lot of other tech-savvy people doing work to help.

The Iraqi people need Jesus most of all.

Peter wrote: The Iraqi people need Jesus most of all
They have him, in a way...since Bush says he talks to Jesus.

I talk to Jesus too dude. It's called praying. You ought to give it a try sometime.

This thread has just jumped the shark. bringing Jesus into this? Why?

Anyway, this comment caught my eye. >>Whenever I’m in Europe, I can always spot the Americans. It’s patently obvious. Complainging about European hotels, food, clothes, you name it.

Interesting. I just spent a week in Europe and didn't see anything like that. The only thing I complain about is smoking. Which, actually, a lot of Europeans complain about too. One lady lit up in the non-smoking section of a train.

Another guy lit up in the bathroom in our flight from Germany to the US. I've never seen that before.

Thankfully Europe is starting to get smart and ban smoking. I can't wait.

But, back to the point. Many Americans are ignorant. It pisses me off too. But I note that my CERN video got fewer viewings than many of my other, more commercial, videos.

This article is "tag-spammed" to the max - and won't be any surpise to anyone has followedf the evolution of the "New Cold War" - even if they watch it on a 13" television because they don't want to impact their productivity by wasting too much time watching TV ..

Scoble, you should check this out: http://www.miraesoft.com/karel/2007/01/28/be-ca...

If you were getting "Watered down news" it would still be much better compared to what's REALLY going on.

thanks for the link... :)

@35

Robert,

Why do you say so many Americans are ignorant? I think you are loosing the focus of this blog more and more.
Maybe you should become Edwards' next blogger?

Jonathan: because I've traveled to most of the states and most people I've met would rather talk about Britney Spears' new hairdo than what CERN is doing.

But, seriously, just look at who we elected. That's enough of proof that we need.

Are you saying Americans overall are NOT ignorant? Oh, I do want to see your stats on that one.

Regarding Edwards. Political life does not interest me. I'd rather hang out with technologists and not need to beg them for money.

@28, "You guys are the kinds of people who support the govt no matter what it does."

Actually, you have that wrong. I didn't support the govt from '63- '69, '72-'74, '77- 81, '92 - 01. And I'm no fan of Bush, either. But, I neither bitch about a country I'm proud to live in because I can work to change it. Apparently you don't think you can.

"But, back to the point. Many Americans are ignorant. It pisses me off too. But I note that my CERN video got fewer viewings than many of my other, more commercial, videos."

And many Europeans, Asians, Australians, and Africans are ignorant, what's your point? Because people didn't watch one of your poorly produced videos about some technology that is of little interest to the majority you come to the conclusion that many Americans are ignorant?

"Are you saying Americans overall are NOT ignorant? Oh, I do want to see your stats on that one."

What actual "stats" do you have to prove your point. FYI, anecdotes and opinions are not stats.

@27 "Finally, I could list a dozen conflict areas where people are dying daily, opressed by armed militias or dictators, and the US don’t seem to have an urgency to take action and remove them for the good of their people."

I thought the general consensus here was that people no longer want the US to be the world police. Which is it? Are you sure you want to leave these types of things in the hands of the UN? Because I'm sure the US would be happy to no longer get involved. Just tell us.

LayZ: "Because I’m sure the US would be happy to no longer get involved. "

Actually, they wouldn't.

Here's a link to something you should take the time to watch, and then watch again to make sure you didn't miss anything:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-660477...

Hmm,
Americans aren't any dumber than Europeans when it comes to things. Our media are just as biased as the American ones. Try to find a station that says anything good at all about Bush. If you believed the European media Bush is the worst leader on the planet (I don't remember him starting a genocide on his own people), and so most Europeans believe this to be the case. Most Europeans also believe that America must be a bad country, because it chose Bush for president. What they always ignore is that in the US there about as many people that are against Bush and what he stands for, as there are that elected Bush (hence the +/- 50/50 presidential election result and the +/- 50/50 democratic/republican senate you have now).
What makes it all so funny is that while "people" believe the US to be "such a bad country" that wants to "rule the world", they are all too happy to use US technology, eat at McDonald's, drink Coke, wear Nike...
Also the smartest people (in a;lot of departments) we have all want to go study in the US, because that's where the best universities in the world are.
Sorta reminds me of that interview my wife saw on tv once, where this guy in Egypt was ranting against the US and how bad everything about the US was. When the reporter asked him why his kids were drinking Coke (in the background you could see this) then, he said in a defensive way "my kids have to drink too". Nevermind they could have been drinking water.
It never amazes me how hypocritical people can be. They say one thing, but do something else. For instance how many people that are now unhappy about Bush didn't bother to register to vote for the last presidential elections.

PS: The Iraq war was not started about WMD (the WMD issue was brought up by Tony Blair becuase he couldn't sell the war to his people based on the breach of resolution 1441 if I remember correctly), but actually on the breach of resolution 1441 (http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/682/...).
as adopted by the Security Council at its 4644th meeting, on 8 November 2002, and section 13 says :
13. Recalls, in that context, that the Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations;
Everyone knew that the "serious consequences" was other language for "war".
They definitely breached it when Hans Blickx found the al-Samoud II missile that exceeded the limits set by Security Council.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2756987.stm)
This was looked upon as indeed another violation in the face of a "last chance" resolution.
On top of this their "cat and mouse" game with the inspectors continued.
If I remember correctly Bush claimed they started the war to uphold the values of the UN as an organisation (well I don't remember the exact words, but that seemed to be pretty much what he was trying to say). If there was no action, the UN would have become another toothless dragon like the League of Nations before it.
In other words, you can't say to a country "comply or else", and then if they don't comply, nothing happens at all. That would be like telling people "don't rob the bank or else", but then if they do they don't go to jail and they get to keep the money.
If anyone cares to explain to ignorant little me how a system like that would ever work, then maybe I'll look at it another way.

And please Robert, it says "Tech Geek Blogger" at the top. I don't mind (neither you or me) giving a political opinion, but if I want to read a political blog, I visit one, if I want to read a tech blog...
I'm sure you understand.

Dirk: it also has my name at the top of the blog. Therefore things that catch my eye will be posted, even if they aren't technology related. I'm an American, and interested in how the media differs here from other countries. And, two, I'm interested in politics. Three, I'm a taxpayer, so will post things here that show how my tax dollars are being spent from time to time.

Ok, fair enough. I can always learn how to skip em ;)

Dirk,

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-737125...

Enjoy.

Dirk,

The war was started because the world (at least the braindead world) was led to believe that Iraq was on the brink of having nuclear weapons, that it already had vast bio and chemical arsenals, and he was building missiles capable of striking any western country.

Excuse me for shouting: ALL THESE CLAIMS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE FALSE. No nuclear weapons, no massive stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons, and no long-range missiles (they could at most get half-way to Israel, but that was it).

The UN resolution was passed on false evidence presented by Mr. Colin Powell, which claimed to be solid proof of Saddam's lack of compliance with resolutions that forbid him from developing such weapon programs. Even Hicks, who you mention, said he had no solid proof of the claims presented. I'll have to remind you again that for years, it was the US who armed and fed Saddam intelligence, just like it was the CIA that trained and financed Bin Laden to become a monster against the soviets in Afghanistan. The problem is that when the monster's conflict ended, he had to look for something to keep doing abominable things, then 9/11 happened, etc. etc. You cannot play with fire and not expect to get burned.

Back to the UN resolutions - again, they were passed on false evidence. It is also an established fact that the US uses the UN as it sees fit, when it passes resolutions or takes actions against US interest, then suddenly they are the source of all evil - case example, the resolution passed to allow prosecution of war criminals and torturers, to which the US objected and opposed, as it didn't consider that US personnel should be accountable in front of an international war crimes tribunal (can anyone say Abu Grahib, before saying "yes, but we are really good people and never do nasty stuff"?).

I remember a video that pasted all the times Bush said he knew Saddam had nuclear (actually, he says nucular most times) weapons, and it was a LOT. That doesn't seem like an excuse made up in the UK.

Saddam was a cruel and brutal dictator. Did he deserve to be removed? Sure, but so did Pol Pot and he spent years killing millions of people, and nobody rushed to remove him.

The invasion of Iraq was a fiasco, and still is a fiasco. Just today over 60 people have been killed in various bombings, but the guys in the Green Zone insist on telling us that everything is going A-OK.

I meant Hans Blix, not Hicks - apologies.

America's TV may show somehow a real picture of Iraq, and I am not sure that they do not. But, I am sure that they do not show a real picuter of Turkey. What is said and shown on Turkey is very far away from the real situation on the ground.
By looking to the kurdish problem in the middle east, the real policy of western countries and their journalism can be appeared. The words Democracy, Human Rights and Terror are used just to protect the western countries' economic advantages. What kind of democracy is that when a country is supported in which the birth of a Kurdish child is crime, he must be born Turkish.
God has created those people Kurds, why do Turks try to change their nationality? Western countries instead of supporting Turkey as a member of NATO, must presure on Turkey to improve its file of human rights and democracy. Is a group or pary with thousand and thousands of fighters and millions and millions of adherents, a terrorist organization? Are all of those people terrorists? Logically think, which of the followings is terrorist:
- A Kurd that fights and kills Turks in the mountains of Kurdistan and not in the Turkish cities.
- Turks that attack Kurdish villages and destroy more than 4000 villages, kill a large number of them and force the remaining innocent people there to leave their homes and go to the Turkish cities in order to forget their language and becom Turks!!!
Western countries say that Turkey is a democratic country. I challenge, if someone give me even an example that if Turkish government has allowed, simply, a book for kids to be published in Kurdish language, or people to name their childeren as they desire, or a Kurd to speak on a TV program just a few simple words in his/her mother-tongue language!!! How is a country democratic that imprisons people because of writing the letter "W" instead of the letter "V"? Is using the letter "W" istead of "V" the terror that western countries define and claim? So, the Turkish government has the worst file of democracy all over the world and the journalism has to show this fact to the people all over the world. At last, I suggest that writers, researchers, correspondents and politicians must try to find other words for Democracy, Human Rights and Terror, since people do not believe in these words anymore.
Thanks