Off The Mountain: Matt Sanchez’ Birds Eye View
October 11, 2007
Do you believe you have the whole picture when it comes to Afghanistan? Do you think you know what’s going on Iraq? Well, chances are you don’t- and we’re going to fix that.
Last night, Fausta hosted Matt Sanchez and ourselves in a terrific BlogTalk Radio podcast. Notwithstanding that Sanchez had some technical difficulties and called in late, the podcast was extended and turned out to be noting less than a terrific and eye opening examination of the realities in Iraq- realities that the MSM are not reporting.
Sanchez is one of only 33 reporters in all of Iraq- a nation that is geographically the size of Utah with a population that is equal to the states of New York and New Jersey combined. To put that another way and in perspective, there are more network news staff in Billings, Montana than there are in all of Iraq. Further, the majority of the reporters in Iraq are huddled in Baghdad hotel rooms, with no first hand experience in the field.
Not so Matt Sanchez. Unlike most of his journalist ‘colleagues,’ Sanchez is embedded with fighting troops and reports from the battlefront. He is as comfortable in remote regions along the Syriam border as he is walking down the streets in Baghdad or Basra. He has been in Afghanistan and has seen remote villages where the Taliban are welcomed and others, we they are scorned.
Sanchez puts the pictures broadcast from Iraq into the proper focus. His is a wide angle and panoramic view, unlike the deliberately cropped, and edited images and ideas that are the mainstay of the MSM menu.
We discussed how Iraqis regard the Americans and the little mentioned real cooperation between the Iraqi Army and our own troops. We talked about the missing WMD’s- a subject most Iraqis want to avoid and we talked about Al Qaeda in Iraq.
We also discussed the Shia/Sunni rift and Iran. Matt’s take on that will upend everything you think you know about Iraq.
Fausta’s BlogTalk Radio podcast with Matt Sanchez and ourselves is one of the best we’ve ever done.
October 11, 2007 at 10:40 AM
Your are right: it was a fantastic interview. It is so great to hear from someone who has been around and talked to all sorts of average people. Much of MSM reporting seems to rely on limited contact. They get three soundbites that that may or may not be representative, but they give no context. Sanchez seems to make a real effort to understand the Iraqis–their silences as well as their soundbites.
October 11, 2007 at 10:52 AM
“…understand the Iraqis–their silences as well as their soundbites.”
Beautiful.