Throughout their book and with ample documentation, the authors eloquently and persuasively make their case. They conclusively prove without a doubt that "the role of the media is merely to channel the view of power (to allow it) to do as it pleases (so) the public will (only) be told what the powerful believe right, wrong, good and bad....all other views are ignored as irrelevant...." That's what passes for mainstream journalism in the West without even a hiccup of contradiction or hint of remorse. Doing otherwise is viewed as "crusading journalism....no matter how corrupt the interests and goals driving war." Noam Chomsky put it this way: "The basic principle, rarely violated, is what conflicts with the requirements of power and privilege does not exist."
In the case of Iraq, the media fell right in line leading up to the conflict and once it began. It didn't matter they were being used or that they were callously indifferent to "the immorality of the US-UK attack and the (appalling) suffering" it caused. The little touched on above can only hint at the human toll and plain fact that the "cradle of civilization" was erased by design and reinvented as a free market paradise for profit with the grand prize being Iraq's immense, mostly undeveloped oil reserves.
Then, there's the body count with estimates from 1990 to March, 2003 ranging up to 1.5 million or more deaths, two-thirds being children under age five. Post-US/UK invasion, it's even more staggering from the highly respected Lancet, UK ORB polling firm, UNICEF and other sources - up to two million deaths with UNICEF data estimating 800,000 children under age five.
Slaughter on this scale is incontrovertible genocide under the provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It "means any (acts of this type mass-killing) committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the national, ethnical, racial or religious group (by) killing (its) members; causing (them) serious bodily or mental harm; (or) deliberately inflicting (on them) conditions (that may destroy them in whole or in part)." By this standard alone, three US administrations and two in Britain are criminally liable. Additionally, there's what the Nuremberg Tribunal called "the supreme international crime" against peace, and the level of culpability overwhelms.
Throughout it all, the media was unperturbed and continues to back the most appalling crimes of war and against humanity like they never happened. Consider this audacious comment from BBC political editor, Andrew Marr, from his 2004 book on British journalism: Those in the trade "are employed to be studiously neutral, expressing little emotion and certainly no opinion; millions of people would say that news is the conveying of fact, and nothing more." The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
It continued as the media uniformly extolled the transfer of "sovereignty" in June, 2004 without mentioning that no legitimate government can exist under occupation and certainly not one turned to rubble. The authors quoted noted British journalist Robert Fisk saying "Alice in Wonderland could not have improved on this. The looking glass reflects all the way from Baghdad to Washington" with a stopover in London. Since it was formed, the "Iraqi government" is impotent. All power is in Washington, liberation is an illusion, and so is the notion of a free and democratic Iraq that was never part of the plan. Democracies are messy and the reason they're not tolerated.
Afghanistan - Let Them East Grass
The authors quote media expert Edward Herman on how the major media and other experts "normalize the unthinkable" by ignoring the most appalling state-sponsored crimes, doubting their severity and believing ends justify means. Bottom line - poor people of color in developing nations don't count, and the "art of successful mainstream journalism is to (convey this) without the public noticing."
For the media on Afghanistan, the war largely ended when Kabul fell on November 13, 2001, a scant five weeks after it began on October 7. The bombing continued, but "the war was suddenly yesterday's news," and only Taliban crimes mattered. Ignored was what John Pilger wrote in his newest book "Freedom Next Time" - that "Through all the humanitarian crises in living memory, no country has been abused and suffered more, and none helped less than Afghanistan." He then described what was more like a moonscape than a functioning nation. Little has changed since, but the major media are uniformly silent. All that matters is the "war on terrorism" that justifies occupation, continued conflict, mass suffering and death.
The authors cited a surreal example - "In the land of the blind, (a) one-eyed lion is news." Against the backdrop of mass human suffering and deaths, ITN journalists reported on the plight of "Marjan" in Kabul's zoo, and that a team of vets flew in to help. The network later mentioned that "Marjan" died as it callously ignored conditions on the ground for Afghanistan's human population who remain unnamed and matter less than a lion. Conditions for them are appalling with humanitarian agencies reporting they saw "people (without food) still eating grass" in January 2002.
This contrasts with state-sponsored propaganda that Afghanistan is now free from "fear, uncertainty and chaos," and the US and UK "act(ed) benignly, and (the)humanitarian military assault is beneficial." Again, reality can't deny the official message so blamed for continuing conflict are the "meddlesome Afghans (who) are undermining our good work." Out of sight and mind are the real motives behind the 9/11 attack and the price Afghans (and Iraqis) pay for it.
Also ignored is why we occupy their country. It has nothing to do with terrorism, humanitarian intervention or democracy. It has everything to do with imperial gain. The result is an unimaginable level of suffering that continues today under a puppet government, a brutal occupation, and no end to either in sight. Try getting that type report in the mainstream.
Kosovo - Real Bombs, Fictional Genocide
No recent conflict in memory evoked more popular support on the right and left than the 1990s Balkan wars. They culminated in 1999 with a 78 day NATO air assault on Serbia whose leader, Slobadon Milosevic, was unfairly cast as the villain. The conflict lasted from March 24 to June 10 on the pretext of protecting Kosovo's Albanian population. It was all a ruse. Kosovo is a Serbian province. It still is, but it's under NATO occupation with plans to make it independent and complete the "Balkanization" of Yugoslavia.
In the run-up to war, the propaganda was familiar. Tony Blair called it "a battle between good and evil; between civilization and barbarity; between democracy and dictatorship." British defence secretary, George Robertson, was even worse saying intervention was needed to stop "a regime which is bent on genocide," and Bill Clinton also raised the specter of "genocide." Each case was the equivalent of elevating Bunker Hill to Mt. Everest or maybe the heavens.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
Thank you for pointing the way to a UK site I had not heard about.
For some time I have written articles about the American situation and in the back of my mind was feeling guilty at not doing much on the UK situation, except for looking at George Galloway and the like.
Thanks for giving me a new 'renewal' for taking on, with others, the global corporations stranglehold on the the media, the breathtaking hypocracy of government, government lackeys et al.
P.S. I have read your work for some time and you are one of the ones I 'follow' whenever I see your name on an article. This one is long, comprehensive, informative and devestating. More power to your elbow!
by
ibrahim turner (25 articles, 31 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 177 comments)
on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 1:11:42 PM
All your articles are in my "don't miss" category, but I suspect you know that!!
This issue of getting media complicity on the WAR CRIMES agenda is a tough one to crack. I found this year, I couldn't put the Robert Parry video on my blog, which was the finest statement about the media I could find . it just took too long to load and I had to take it off, sigh.
I live in this kind of mind boggling world ... we sometimes see the war photos up here on the news in Canada (and at least we do see the Afghan war casualties, MOSTLY, we do) while the US is so smothered in patriotic claptrap on a regular basis.
As the war bs (I don't know what else to call it) grinds on from -- give them sanctions, to Gulf War I, to get Al Qaeda, to get Saddam, to create democracy, to the "surge" is working and the media just continues to whitewash and sanitize real human suffering .. it's simply amazing how much the corporate media gets away with, with hardly a peep coming from those who digest huge amounts of the "plug in drug" ..
Contrasting that with the amount you hear or see about impeachment which is virtually nil during the whole bloody fiasco.
As V. Lenin would say "what is to be done ..??"
Fox News interfering in the elections debate is the just the latest outrage. They're not even a US-owned entity and Kucinich is RIGHT.
I've TRIED to "work" with The Real News TV people and I don't see much help from them really either. It's basically a one man with control operation.
The mediums themselves create a lot the problem as the equipment to be "on the airwaves" is very expensive, not something that can be created very quickly.
I think your timing of this review, in light of what is happening, is impeccable.
So many thanks!!
ps - did you notice that ICH is FINALLY running the Michael Hudson podcast this week? about time .. I've left them links about it since August. Maybe Mike is finally "catching" on??
by
ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments)
on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 1:56:38 PM
2 comments
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