I can't post it here, but I can link to it (YouTube link here if the CBS link is a problem for your browser).
CBS's Senior Foreign Correspondent in Baghdad, Lara Logan pleaded for them to air this video report from Iraq (may take a while to load so be patient), but they were only willing to place it online at the CBS website. When you watch it you will see why. It doesn't fit the Bush/Cheney narrative to which the cowed (or complicit) corporate media news organizations have acquiesced.
Read Lara Logan's email about CBS' refusal to air her report, and her plea to the online community to promote her story and provide links to it (via media channel and this post by Atrios) here:
(5 Updates below the fold -- please check the lastest one regarding the issue of what CBS did broadcast on 1/24/07)
From: lara logan
Subject: help
The story below only appeared on our CBS website and was not aired on CBS. It is a story that is largely being ignored, even though this istakingplace verysingle day in central Baghdad, two blocks from where our office is located.
Our crew had to be pulled out because we got a call saying they were about to be killed, and on their way out, a civilian man was shot dead in front of them as they ran.
I would be very grateful if any of you have a chance to watch this story and pass the link on to as many people you know as possible. It should be seen. And people should know about this.
If anyone has time to send a comment to CBS – about the story – not about my request, then that would help highlight that people are interested and this is not too gruesome to air, but rather too important to ignore.
Many, many thanks.
Watch the video of her report on the current violence on Haifa street in Baghdad, then pass the link on to all your friends. Especially send it to any who still support the war, and claim that the media censors the "good news" from Iraq. The truth is just the opposite, as Laura Logan's battle to get her report aired demonstrates.
Logan's video depicts violence that the rest of the world sees every day. You hear Iraqi soldiers, US troops, and Iraqi civilians offering their comments on what you see. And what I saw was something CBS should have aired on Ms. Katie Couric's broadcast.
To get an idea of what the rest of the world is seeing on their nightly news, here is another video report from Iraq, from Britain's Channel 4, which can be viewed at YouTube: LINK:
It shows American soldiers watching their Shi'ite Iraqi Army "colleagues" out on patrol in a Sunni section of Baghdad going "Rodney King" (one of the soldier's own words) on unarmed Sunni civilians, and doing nothing, but sitting in their humvee and joking about it. It's a frightening look at just how perverted this war has become, and how it has warped the moral center of some of our troops stationed there. I suspect this may not be an infrequent occurrence, but because it was caught on video and broadcast in the UK, the soldiers involved are said to have been disciplined as a result.
You wonder what we are doing there when you witness something like this. Patrolling with Iraqi Army members by day (and likely Shi'ite militia members at night) and allowing them to brutalize any Sunnis they come across? Aren't we just enabling the sectarian violence when this is allowed to occur? Aren't we becoming a participant in a civil war?
There is much more if you are willing to look for it. But you won't see them on American television. Even with support for this war dropping like a stone in a pond. And that is not a healthy situation for our "freedoms."
Update [2007-1-26 8:31:18 by Steven D]: Here's the link to Lara's bio at CBS' website: LINK. And here is an exceprt from Media Channel regarding how Ms. Logan's superiors reacted when questioned about their decision to no broadcast this video
Ms. Logan, who is embedded with US forces in Iraq, was unavailable for comment. But CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius told us that the segment in question was not broadcast but only run on the web because "the Executive Producer of the Evening News thought some of the images in it were a bit strong plus on that day the program was already packed with other Iraq news."
Regarding Logan’s unusual email plea for "help" from friends and colleagues, Genelius said she and other CBS executives were unaware of its existence until contacted by MediaChannel. About Logan’s contention that the segment is "not too gruesome to air, but rather too important to ignore," Genelius said "There are discussions and even disagreements everyday about what goes on air," and noted that "One of the characteristics that makes Lara so special is her passion for her job. Of course she wants her pieces to be broadcast!"
In conclusion, Genelius added that "CBS News has aired countless hours of coverage about Iraq. It is the single most important part of our news coverage, and I hope that people will look at the sum total of what we have put on the air."
Too gruesome for television, but not for the online community? Kids as young as 5 and 6 surf the web for god's sake! You don't think some of them are going to see this online? What a load of crap. This has nothing to do with the images being too "gruesome" since CBS aired the Rodney King beating continuously back when it occurred, and I've seeen worse video regarding gang shootings in LA. This is a political/censorship decision.
Contact info for The CBS Evening News is here Let them know what you think about their decision not to air Lara Logan's report.
Second Update [2007-1-26 9:6:25 by Steven D]: Jennifer Clare in the comments suggests we send the video links to our Members of Congress. I agree. Here are some links to email databases for Congressional members (I can't vouch for any of them personally, but hopefully some of them will have the most recent email adresses for staffers and Congresspersons):
Congressional Email Directory
US Senate Directory
House of Representatives Contact Page
Email Addresses for 110th Congress (as of 1/9/07)
Please flood their in boxes people. And thank you in advance to those who do.
Third Update [2007-1-26 9:59:37 by Steven D]: Some have claimed that CBS aired this video on the CBS Evening News on 1/24. Media Channel contacted CBS directly about this claim and was told the following:
that is not correct. this particular piece has not run on the cbs evening news. but there have been many pieces by lara on haifa street (and other areas of baghdad and iraq, of course), so it’s possible someone could be confused.
So if CBS is denying that this particular video segment by Lara Logan was shown, I'll take their word for it.
Fourth Update [2007-1-26 10:18:54 by Steven D]: Scarce has a good comment which provides more YouTube links to Lara Logan's original 1/17/07 report and follow-up reports by her:
Follow up report by Lara Logan re: Haifa Street, broadcast on CBS Early Show the day after Bush's speech announcing the surge.
Pentagon Channel Haifa Street Report broadcast on 1/17/07. You will note it's very short (58 seconds) and provides no interviews unlike Ms. Logan's 1/17 report.
Fifth Update [2007-1-26 16:40:59 by Steven D]: Since several of the comments say that CBS aired Lara Logan's 1/17/07 video report on 1/24/07, I went looking for what the CBS Evening News did broadcast this past Wednesday from Ms. Logan. This link is what I found (here's the YouTube link to the same report, courtesy of Scarce).
It's a report about the ongoing battle of Haifa Street that appears to include some of the images from the 1/17/07 video segment she produced, but what aired last Wednesday is clearly not identical to the 1/17 video segment from Ms. Logan which was not aired by CBS, but only posted to their website. Watch the original 1/17 report Lara Logan produced (YouTube link and then compare it to what was shown on 1/24 and you will see what I mean.
The 1/24 report does not include the video of dead bodies shown by local Sunni residents in the area who they claimed had been executed by Shi'ite members of the Iraqi Army. The 1/24 video segment also excluded the footage from the 1/17 video of (1) the bodies of dead Iraqi soldiers, (2) the interview with the rescued doctor from Haifa Street (who reported witnessing Iraqi Army troops executing unarmed local residents in cold blood by shooting them in head), and (3) the concluding interview from the 1/17 segment in which a man hiding his face states this complaint about the US occupation of Iraq:
"They told us they would bring democracy, they promised life would be better than it was under Saddam ..."
"But they brought us nothing but death and killing. They brought mass destruction to Baghdad."
I should also add that a significant portion of the 1/24 report that CBS did air was about US troops disarming IED's, something the 1/17/07 did not report upon. Indeed, the narration by Ms. Logan in the 1/24 report is quite different from the narration by Ms. Logan in her 1/17 report.
I hope this clears up the mystery of whether CBS actually aired the 1/17/07 report by Lara Logan which it posted on its website. Clearly, while the 1/24/07 report CBS did air includes a few of the same images, most of the images and the editorial emphasis are vastly different.