Is The Media a WMD?
News — Lisa @ 9:04 am - Print This Post - EMail This Post- Share this : Digg , Del.icio.us, reddit, Newsvine,
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I am becoming increasingly troubled by the one-sided news stories that are portraying Iran as a menace much the same way Iraq was portrayed in 2002-2003. We need to remember how we were deceived in the past — by lies and propaganda that was spread through the media. Let’s smarten up and demand real information this time. If we rely on information distributed by the administration, half truths and blurry images we are in real trouble.
Here’s an excellent piece that ran today on AntiWar.com:
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In covering the story of Iran’s role in Iraq, far too many reporters have passed on blatant propaganda without the slightest effort to point out its inconsistency with documented facts, much less to try to uncover the truth. But a story by Pamela Hess of Associated Press distributed Aug. 15 sets a new standard for abetting official disinformation. In the story, she acts as an enthusiastic megaphone for a patently phony story from an anonymous “senior intelligence officer.” Hess’ hit-squad training story should be assigned to journalism classes for the next generation to open a discussion about what went wrong with American journalism before and during America’s overtly imperial war in the Middle East. And Hess should be seen as a stunningly clear illustration of what happens when a reporter gives up any pretense of independence from the national-security state. Hess’ lede announces what appears to be a significant development in the otherwise waning U.S.-Iran conflict over Iraq. “Iraqi Shi’ite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran’s elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah,” she writes, “and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq.” But a careful reader quickly learns from perusing the next several paragraphs that this official assertion is actually based on nothing more than speculation. It is just another propaganda blast in the guise of an intelligence briefing. Hess, writing from Washington, describes her source as “senior U.S. military intelligence officer in Baghdad” who “spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.” That is the first misleading statement in the piece. The story later reveals that the anonymous officer told her quite explicitly that the story was being released for the U.S. command’s own political objectives. The source apparently remains anonymous for another reason entirely: the U.S. command is not willing to have any individual be held accountable for the new narrative it is attempting to create with the Hess story. The story then says the anonymous officer had “provided Iraq’s national security adviser with several lists of the assassination teams’ expected targets” and that the officer “said the targets include many judges but would not otherwise identify them.” But wait a minute. Just what are these “lists of the assassination teams’ expected targets”? If they are me merely lists of “expected targets,” then the U.S. intelligence has not intercepted communications or otherwise tapped into what some Shi’ites now in Iran are planning to do. They are simply inventions of unidentified U.S. officials whose understanding of Shi’ite intentions may have little or nothing to do with reality. Hess passes on the claim that “Iraq’s intelligence service is preparing operations to determine where and when the special group fighters will enter the country and is to provide an assessment to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.” That tells us that neither Iraqi nor U.S. intelligence services have any sources that know anything directly about any plans by any Shi’ite group in Iran to return to the country. Like virtually every other reporter covering Iraq, Hess uses the term “special groups” as though this is the self-designation of some set of Shi’ite militia groups rather than a term created by the U.S. military to suggest that there were Mahdi Army fighters who might agree to accept the U.S. occupation. Although she provides no context for the term, what Hess and the U.S. military call “special group fighters” are in fact simply any Shi’ites who are suspected of involvement in resistance to the U.S. occupation. Inexplicably, Hess writes that what the U.S. now calls the “special group criminals” had their origins in Sadr’s unilateral cease-fire of August 2007, and that they “are not thought to be under his control now.”Since Hess has been covering Iraq for years, she certainly knows that the U.S. line about “special groups” first surfaced in early 2007 – not after the August cease-fire. The anonymous military official admits that the command has explicit political objectives in disseminating the story: putting pressure on Iran and even more on the Iraqi government. The official told Hess that the United States wants Iran to suspend training of Shi’ites in Iran and to “prevent the militia fighters from returning to Iraq.” The U.S. command also wants the Maliki regime to “confront Iran with the information in diplomatic channels,” Hess reports. What Hess fails to tell the reader, however, is that Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker have been trying to pressure Maliki to do that for months, and he has refused. In fact senior officials of the al-Maliki regime have very good reason to believe that Iran has been restraining the Sadrists rather than supporting military activities by those forces against the government. Hess writes that Shi’ite fighters, who fled to Iran after nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gave up his political-military positions in Basra, Sadr City, and Amarah last spring, “are expected to return to Iraq between now and October.” This “information” is said to have come from “militia fighters captured in Iraq and other sources in the country that the officer would not describe.” This is the giveaway for the entire Hess piece. Militia fighters captured in Iraq would not have direct knowledge of either training in Iran or the intentions of any Shi’ites who fled to Iran. Allegations about relationships between Shi’ite militiamen and Iran have been rife in Baghdad and southern Iran since early 2007, but they are based on rumor rather than personal knowledge. As for the mysterious “other sources” that cannot even be described, the refusal to provide any information about the nature of these sources suggests the involvement of the familiar, self-interested, anti-Iran group the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), on which the military has relied heavily for “intelligence” on Iran’s role in Iraq and its nuclear program – most of it wildly inaccurate. The MEK has a history of carrying out terrorist attacks against Iranian civilian targets in the past and remains on the U.S. State Department’s terrorist list. No doubt MEK officials are the unmentionable sources to which Hess refers. When Hess writes that the Shi’ites are being provided training in a long list of military subjects, including “assassination techniques,” she does not suggest what evidence the anonymous official has to back up the claim. But it is evident that the sources are the same captured militiamen and interested Iranian resistance sources who lack any firsthand basis for such a charge. Another giveaway that the U.S. military has no real intelligence on which to base the assassination training narrative is the claim that the training also includes the use of “rocket-propelled grenades, including the RPG-29.” The idea that Iran has been supplying RPG-29s to Shi’ite militiamen in Iraq has been a staple of U.S. military propaganda since late 2006. But in fact, as I reported two months ago, the U.S. command spokesman, Col. Scott Maw, admitted to me that “very few” RPG-29s have ever actually been found in Iraq. Indeed, not a single RPG-29 has ever been displayed to the media, nor was one even pictured in the Feb. 10, 2007, slide show for reporters. So the command is now claiming that Shi’ites are being trained in Iran to use a weapon that the Shi’ites do not have in their arsenal. Having claimed inside information about the movement of “special groups” into Iran to be trained, the anonymous briefer then reveals, unintentionally, that the U.S. command is operating essentially on surmise. Hess reports that one of the reasons the U.S. command “believes” Shi’ite militiamen moved into Iran is “the sharp decline in the number of deadly roadside bombs bearing Iran’s signature explosive design” in recent months. By choosing to make that argument, the officer is admitting that this new narrative about Shi’ites being trained for assassination in Iran is based on a combination of rumor and inference. It is no accident that Pamela Hess is the author of this classic piece of journalistic promotion of military disinformation. She has been the favorite journalist covering Iraq among right-wing bloggers, because of her willingness to state her support for the war with such clarity. She is a true believer in America’s wars who views U.S. troops in Iraq as rescuing children from the path of a bus, as she explained in an interview with Brian Lamb. Equally important, Hess long ago decided quite consciously to become part of the military system of information to advance her career, giving up her freedom to pursue the truth in order to keep her military sources in the military. Here is Hess explaining to an interviewer how she puts access to her sources over independent reporting. “And every once in a while a government official will call you and say, ‘We’d like you not to be working on that story and here’s why.’ And sometimes you agree with it – you agree to their demands, because sometimes they offer you a better deal, ‘Well, when we’re ready for this to come out, I’ll give you the exclusive on it’ or ‘Here’s why we don’t want this.’ I remember one, there was one story many years ago that I worked on that I had had – I got from three different sources that were in a closed-door meeting in the tank in the Pentagon, and one general in there had said – I think this was almost a direct quote, but something along the lines of ‘America’s going to have to get over its fear of casualties.’ … So this is, of course, a very important story. A general that outranked that general, who I actually had a very good relationship with, who I could talk to off-the-record or on background frequently, called me and asked me not to report that story, and I didn’t. And the reason that I didn’t was twofold. Number one, I needed this second general more than I needed that story. And number two, I thought he made a great point, which is, ‘If they can’t speak their minds in these closed-door meetings, then we’re really robbing the Pentagon of its ability to do its job.’” Hess is certainly not the only reporter to make such deals with the military to keep their sources. But her personal account of the unsubtle corruption of journalism by the military is stunningly free of any embarrassment. Her stenographic account of the Petraeus command’s latest invention on Iranian training of assassination squads can be best understood in the context of that corruption. |
What Iraqi Democracy Looks Like
News — Lisa @ 8:54 am - Print This Post - EMail This Post- Share this : Digg , Del.icio.us, reddit, Newsvine, Stumble it!
Viewpoint: Living with Iraq’s violence
An Iraqi member of staff at the BBC Baghdad bureau reflects on the daily toll the violence is taking on the people of his country. For security reasons, the author’s name is not being published.
Violent death in Iraq is an everyday event. In Baghdad people put up signs on the street to announce deaths. I am always surprised to read one which says that someone died of natural causes.
Because it is so common, you get used to the number of violent deaths. The problem is you just bury it deep inside you. It becomes like a time bomb, you never know when it is going to explode.
All these feelings of fear, sadness and frustration burst out of me one morning last week when I lost Marwan, a relative of mine.
Marwan’s day began as usual. He got into his car and started the engine. But rather than driving off, his car blew up when the engine warmed up. He died instantly.
Marwan was a police officer. I suppose that it is why he was targeted.
The tragedy didn’t end there. A few minutes later, his wife Wafa shot herself when she realised her husband was dead. The couple left behind a baby boy Ahmad who is only 11 months old.
This wasn’t the only tragedy in Wafa’s life. Two years ago, a Shia militia, the Mehdi Army, assassinated her brother-in-law Waheed.
Four years ago, a rocket which was fired by Sunni insurgents from devastated her family when it hit Wafa’s aunt’s house.
Wafa’s 12-year-old cousin Mustafa was killed. Her mother, who was visiting the house, was paralysed and Wafa’s six-year-old brother Saad lost one eye.
Tragedies like the one Wafa experienced have become part of the life of most Iraqis. It is very unusual not to have a tragedy in the family.
Mourning events have replaced birthdays and wedding parties. You are always surrounded by death. The unwanted guest will visit you at any moment.
You will see it on TV, you will hear it on the radio, and you’ll read about it in the newspapers. Even when you think that it is hundreds of miles away from you, it will touch you in some way.
WHY ARE YOU CALLING?
As a journalist I have to gather information about bombings across Iraq. Last week there was a large bomb near Mosul, one of Iraq’s main cities.
I have a book full of telephone numbers, which I was given by a former colleague who left the office. Other numbers I collected myself.
There was this number for a doctor in Mosul that I tried to call. I wanted to get information about the latest casualties. A young woman answered the phone. She was very curious as to why I was calling.
“Why are you calling,” she asked. “Where did you get this number from? How do you know this doctor?”
Her reaction was very unusual. It took me a while to realise that this woman was the doctor’s daughter.
She started crying and said: “My father was assassinated two years ago in his clinic”.
I could hear in her voice the unspoken question: Why he had been assassinated? I could feel that she’d been asking the same question for two years. I apologised and expressed my sympathy.
After I hung up I realised what I could have said to the doctor’s daughter.
“My poor young woman, your father died in vain just like Marwan, Mustafa, Wafa and thousands and thousands of Iraqis,” I could have said.
“We have become the firewood in a war which has no logic and victims of warriors who lack honour and nobility. Warriors we read about in history books at least had honour.”
I think it is time to seriously consider going to that remote island I have always dreamed of.
MY IRAQ
Just before I finished writing these comments a police source called me to say that a man had got a court order to evict a bad tenant from an apartment he owns.
The tenant did not want to give the apartment back to the owner in a good condition, so instead he blew it up injuring two civilians.
This is my Iraq.
SpongeBob in NY torture sideshow
News — Lisa @ 2:06 pm - Print This Post - EMail This Post- Share this : Digg , Del.icio.us, reddit, Newsvine, Stumble it!
I love this! People need to see for themselves what waterboarding is so they can decide whether it is torture or not. I believe it is torture. It is a crime against humanity and the US government should be forced to stop.
Children’s cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is being used as part of an art installation to protest against water-boarding as a form of torture.
The Water-boarding Thrill Ride by artist Steve Powers has been installed at Coney Island theme park in New York.
A sign on the outside shows SpongeBob saying “It don’t Gitmo better!” - a reference to Guantanamo Bay - as another character pours water over him.
The US has admitted using the simulated drowning method on terrorism suspects.
For one dollar, visitors get to look through a barred window at a Guantanamo-like interrogation, enacted by animated robots.
A hooded figure leans over a man in an orange jumpsuit, whose face is covered with a towel and his body tethered to a tilted plane.
‘Crazy’
Lights then come on and water pours into the man’s nose and mouth, producing convulsions for 15 seconds.
Powers says his aim is to provoke people into thinking about the interrogation technique, which simulates the feeling of drowning and is denounced by human rights groups as a form of torture.
“Robot water-boarding became a way of exploring the issue without doing any harm,” he told The New York Times.
“It’s putting a unique experience on the table. And it doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to look in there and say: ‘That’s really what’s going on? That’s crazy.’”
Marion Tracey, 57, from New Jersey, said she found the installation disturbing and made her think of her father who had nightmares after returning from World War II.
“In all wars, horrible things happen - I’d rather not see it,” she said.
Alex Soto, 23, said he thought it was a good thing for people to learn about water-boarding, but added: “It is pretty twisted.”
Powers says he plans to subject himself to water-boarding by a professional trained in interrogation techniques later this month.
The installation will then be moved to Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armoury.
Bush chides Beijing over rights
News — Lisa @ 6:26 am - Print This Post - EMail This Post- Share this : Digg , Del.icio.us, reddit, Newsvine, Stumble it!
This is a joke — the man who leads an administration that has practiced widespread torture and “extraordinary renditions;” has unlawfully imprisoned Americans and immigrants has denied the writ of habeas corpus and has at least two illegal detention centers — believes that he can comment on China’s human rights record? The world must be chuckling.
George Bush urges China to improve its human rights records
US President George W Bush has expressed “deep concerns” over China’s human rights record in a speech on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.
“The US believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings,” he said in the Thai capital Bangkok.
He praised China’s economy but said only respect for human rights would let it realise its full potential.
Mr Bush has been criticised by some campaigners for going to the Games.
He was due to fly to Beijing following the speech in Bangkok, a stop on his final trip to Asia before he leaves office in January.
The wide-ranging address was more nuanced than Mr Bush’s past speeches on China, the BBC’s Jonathan Head reports from Bangkok.
It is unlikely to cause much offense in China, our correspondent says, and many people will see it more as a valedictory speech for Mr Bush’s record in Asia rather than an outline of future US policy.
‘Firm opposition’
President Bush said he was optimistic about China’s future and said change in China would arrive “on its own terms”.
But his criticisms of China’s human rights record were clear.
“America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists,” he said.
“We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly and labour rights not to antagonise China’s leaders but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential.
“And we press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs.”
Beijing police dragged away three US Christians who tried to demonstrate on Tiananmen Square on Thursday in support of religious freedom.
A plainclothes policeman was amongst the security officials who stepped in and led Reverend Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defence Coalition in Washington, away from the centre of the square.
Four pro-Tibet activists from Britain and the US were arrested and held briefly in Beijing on Wednesday after a protest close to the Olympic stadium.
China’s terms
The US, Mr Bush said, recognised that the growth sparked by China’s free market reforms was “good for the Chinese people” and the country’s’ purchasing power was “good for the world”.
On foreign policy, he commended China’s “critical leadership role” in the negotiations to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, and the “constructive relationship” between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan.
But without going into detail, he added that China as a “global economic leader” had the duty to “act responsibly on matters from energy to the environment to development in Africa”.
“Ultimately,” said Mr Bush, “only China can decide what course it will follow.”
“Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions.”
While “optimistic about China’s future”, he added:
“Young people who grow up with the freedom to trade goods will ultimately demand the freedom to trade ideas, especially on an unrestricted internet.”
This was an apparent reference to Chinese restrictions on certain news and human rights websites.
Beijing recently appeared to ease its curbs after foreign journalists covering the Olympic Games in China complained about being denied access.
Burma refugees
Mr Bush’s address also called for an end to what he described as tyranny in Thailand’s neighbour, Burma.
Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony coincides with the 20th anniversary of a democracy uprising in Burma, which was crushed by the military.
“Together, we seek an end to tyranny in Burma,” he said. “The noble cause has many devoted champions, and I happen to be married to one of them.”
First lady Laura Bush flew to the Thai-Burmese border to spend the day at the Mae La refugee camp where about 35,000 refugees live, having fled their homes.
An interesting rebuttal to a rumored secret nuke plant in Iran
News — Lisa @ 6:17 am - Print This Post - EMail This Post- Share this : Digg , Del.icio.us, reddit, Newsvine, Stumble it!
An interesting blog piece dispelling the recent rumors about an alleged nuclear bomb facility being built in the Khuzestan Province in Iran.
Since I was born in that town, the news got my attention.
Briefly, the report said that Tehran has started building a secret nuclear plant for manufacturing atomic bombs in Al-Zarqan Area near Al-Ahwaz City in southwest Iran and its border with Iraq and that a lot of people have been relocated by force. The report said the plant was ordered not to employ Arab speaking people or any other locals. I had not heard of the city of Al-Zarqan before, but then I realized that the Arabs do not have the letter G in their language and they replace it with ‘q’ or ‘qh’. So the name in Farsi is Zargan.
…First of all, the plant (according to some official broadcasts from IRI) is undergoing a major upgrade/re-construction as well as they are adding several additions to its original power stations (link in Farsi). This upgrade was announced and many Iranian and foreign companies were bidding for the job (see also here), so again, this showed that the project was nothing secret.
Another important fact about the power plant was that it was privatized in 2004 and it is no longer in the hands of the Iranian Tavanir (state owned company that controls all nationalized power stations in Iran).
Full disclosure, it is my husband’s blog.