By Stan Goodenough
Jan 30, 2007
Millions of Shi’ite Muslim men, boys and even babies “celebrated” the last day of their “Ashura” festival Monday in an orgy of bloodletting, slashing their heads and chests, brandishing silver swords and daggers as they marched through the streets and to sacred shrines across the Middle East.
Reuters reported that the Hizb’allah terrorist organization in Lebanon marked the holiday in commemoration of one of their great leaders by chanting “death to the US, death to Israel.”
But for CNN newscaster Michael Holmes, who was eye-witness to one of the events in Iraq, the occasion was “peaceful” and provided some “extraordinary sights.”
“It has to be said,” Holmes repeatedly emphasized as his studio anchors looked on with smiles and nods of approval, that the people he was watching “appear to be embracing the festival in great joy and celebration.”
CNN viewers have noticed in recent years the global television network’s growing love affair with the Arab world. The station increasingly screens pro-Arab and pro-Islam advertising and programming, while advocacy journalism presented as objective reporting pushes and makes fact of the fiction of “moderate Islam.”
Instead of reporting the horrific nature of the Muslim bloodlust, Holmes sought to package it as a joyful event.
According to him, and to CNN, “it has to be said” that this is a positive and noteworthy event.