SNIPER NETWORK NEWS
Much has been written about CNN’s decision last week to run portions of a video provided to the news network via a group identified by CNN as “the Islamic Army of Iraq.”

This video, shot by the insurgent groups as propaganda for the Muslim world as well as a recruiting tool for a number of Islamo-fascist websites, showed terrorist snipers attacking American soldiers in Iraq.

According to CNN, the video was provided after a producer for CNN sent the group an email asking about its activities.

“I think the American public would be interested in exactly what the email contained, at least from the CNN side of things,” says a producer for a rival news network, who was made aware of the video’s existence before it aired. “My understanding is that email sent by CNN could not be construed any other way than as supportive of the Islamic militants’ position in Iraq. There are people inside CNN who are disgusted by their colleagues’ activities in Iraq and here in the United States in covering the war.”

Attempts to get a copy of the email were unsuccessful. But one CNN source familiar with the techniques employed by network producers to get the Islamic extremist perspective says that it’s common for producers to use Iraqi or Muslim contract employees to get information and access to the terrorists, and they do so by claiming sympathy or support for what the terrorists are doing.

“Anti-Americanism pays off for us over there, no doubt about it,” says the CNN employee. “Questions were raised about this video and the way we got it. Once it was confirmed that it was real, the next question was how did we get it. And the answer was, we promised to give the terrorists a fair shake. I know that we are saying there was soul-searching here about running the tape. But I didn’t see much of that. There were somber people here, but there was also a segment of people on staff, once the tape had run and created a firestorm, that celebrated. They thought they were so courageous.”

A former CNN news employee says that at that network there is a decidedly anti-war approach to what they do. “It might not be so clear from some of our anchors, but there are people here who direct the news operation who are very comfortable giving aide and comfort to the enemy. They wouldn’t call it that, but I would.”

DEMOCRATS’ ITERA BROWNOUT
For all the talk inside Washington about lobbying activities of Rep. Curt Weldon‘s daughter, lost amid the MSM coverage is a Democrat who may be far deeper into the ugliness than any Republican. Congresswoman Corrine Brown, who represents Jacksonville, Florida, and has been even more visible in her support of a Russian energy company, Itera, than Weldon.

Like Weldon’s daughter, Brown’s daughter has served as a lobbyist for Itera, and along with Sen. Tom Harkin was instrumental in giving the Russian business interests access to Democrats on Capitol Hill and the Clinton Administration. But funny how Brown’s activities and possible role in any Russian energy scandal gets almost no coverage during an election cycle.

MAGAZINE DEMOCRATS
More evidence about where the mainstream media is getting its marching orders, and where its allegiances lie, is on full display out in Phoenix this week, where the American Magazine conference is being held. Beyond the booze and swapping of hotel room keys among editors and their “editorial assistants” at the Biltmore Resort & Spa, the crowd listened rapturously to a Q&A session between New Yorker editor David Remnick and Sen. Barack Obama (“I inhaled…that was the point”) and a scathing criticism of the media by Robert Kennedy Jr. Both presentations were received with wild applause.