‘Baghdad Bob’ had nothing on CNN and the far-left media of today

Alas, time marches on. I am old enough to remember the laugh-out-loud fairy tales spun by “Baghdad Bob” during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. 

For those of you who are not regular students of American military history, “Baghdad Bob” — real name Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf — was the spokesman and information minister for Saddam Hussein and his murderous regime. Also known as “Comical Ali,” al-Sahhaf became famous for openly denying the obvious in ever more fanciful ways as Hussein’s regime rapidly lost its war for survival. He kept up his on-camera insistence that American forces were being soundly defeated on the battlefield, almost to the exact moment U.S. tanks rolled up on his location.

I was reminded of good old Bob’s many fantastical lies when I read a since-deleted post from CNN about the two ISIS-inspired domestic terrorists accused of throwing homemade bombs at protesters near Gracie Mansion in New York City. Bob also comes to mind when I read the various headlines from left-leaning news outlets regarding our military actions against Iran. If I didn’t know better, I would say the outlets almost seem to be siding with Iran against the U.S.

With regard to the self-radicalized extremists in New York, CNN posted this: “Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.”   

Gee, maybe Pollyanna is alive and well, employed at CNN. 

After massive outcry, the adult leadership at CNN deleted the post, offering this explanation: “A post regarding the two individuals arrested for throwing homemade bombs outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted.” 

But then CNN decided to double down, giving our old friend “Baghdad Bob” a run for his money. Later on the same day, after the egregious comment had been deleted, CNN’s Abby Phillip falsely stated that the attack had been against New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, not against those protesting him. I am guessing Phillip missed the admonishment not to push provably false nonsense. The adults at CNN then had to have her correct the record and apologize.  

Next, a tweet by famed Democratic strategist Mark Penn drew my attention to the headlines put out by many left-of-center news websites “essentially featuring Iranian propaganda as the news.”

“‘Iran Regime doing well, in control;’ ‘Trump under pressure to end war;’ ‘[Khamenei] son just as tough as Father’ … The press is a drumbeat of negativity favoring the Iran regime,” Penn wrote.  

Look, human nature is human nature, and all in the media are human. But it has become pretty clear that most of those in the mainstream media have a strong dislike or even hatred for our president, and most of them are letting those emotions cloud their judgment.

As Democratic strategist Melissa DeRosa put it on Fox News this week, “It’s almost as if the media covering this entire thing has devolved into parody.”

But parody in this case is not just irresponsible, it could prove very dangerous.  

Members of the mainstream media have every right to disagree with President Trump regarding Iran or any other subject. But they have a responsibility not to join the “resistance” against him by feeding false information to the American public in a time of war.

“Baghdad Bob” was rightfully ridiculed in 2003, even though he was actually being paid to lie for the enemy. Unfortunately, 23 years later, in the age of hyper-partisanship and social media, we have “Baghdad Bob” on steroids across the mainstream American media spectrum. 

Hate on Trump all you want, but don’t spin or outright lie in the process. Humanity needs honest reporting now more than ever.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5781443-propaganda-media-outlets/