If there is a less irritating pundit than Danny Schechter, I cannot think of him or her. Mr. Schechter's latest is for Press TV went up at ZNet on Sunday, "When You Hear About Massacres, Reach For Your Truth Detector." No link because he never links to anyone.
Guess what? Mr. Schechter has just discovered that the media is lying about Syria.
Guess what? He's several months too late.
And as usual with sexist pigs, what he has 'discovered' was already discovered by women.
For example, you can see Rebecca's "media whore kelly mcevers" and Elaine's "Syria" from last week. Also you can see C.I.'s "Blair gets called a War Criminal, BBC gets caught ..." from last week.
'Big deal,' you say, 'they wrote about it early last week and Danny Schechter wrote about it at the start of this week.'
No.
Ava and C.I. were calling the media lies on Syria out as far back as February 12th at Third:
There's a reporter who has so enlisted in the administration's goals that she's become a joke to even the Pentagon. She's the new Judy Miller and her name is Kelly McEvers.
McEvers was supposed to be NPR's Iraq correspondent. Originally, she had problems getting to Iraq (and finding a place to live), but she got settled in and did some reporting that both she and NPR could be proud of. But actual reporting seems of less and less interest to NPR so the Iraq correspondent began being pulled for every surrounding country in the region.
It's her reporting on Syria that's destroyed her reputation, as each day seems to find her filing yet another breathless report of the violence being witnessed in Syria, the outageous violence, the deaths, the destruction . . . All of which she observes from Beirut. (That's in Lebanaon for those not familiar with the MidEast and, no, Lebanaon is not in Syria, it is its own country which, like Iraq, shares a border with Syria.)
Sometimes, after dispensing 'facts' on bombings and deaths and shootings, 'reporter' Kelly will add something like "the activists and witnesses and citizen journalists who we talk to on a regular basis" tell her this is what is taking place. Such a statement -- not always included -- will usually pass quickly. And no one will question whether her sources are one-sided (they certainly sound one-sided). Last week, when she was 'reporting' on rockets destroying a neighborhood and a hospital (unverifiable claims on her part) this
INSKEEP: Now, Kelly, we should be clear: Few, if any, journalists are inside Homs, or in any of the contested areas in Syria. We're getting information from activists here. How confident are you of the picture that's emerging, of what's happening in Syria right now?
MCEVERS: It is so difficult to verify the numbers. And over the weekend, we saw that there were discrepancies about how many, exactly, had died in some of these government offensives. You had one activist group saying it was over 300. Another activist group saying no, it was only 60. And without being able to go there ourselves and verify it and see it with our own eyes, it's very difficult.
It's very difficult? We'd say it's impossible. And when the administration is pounding the war drums on Syria, we'd say the last thing the US needs is 'reporters' 'reporting' on something they can't verify with their own eyes. Speaking to people with vested interests and basing your report on that? Not only is that not objective journalism, it doesn't even rise to the level of news reporting. At best, it's a feature article -- a lighter category.
But nearly every day, there's Kelly on Morning Edition (or All Things Considered), breathless and insisting that violence is taking place all around her . . . Well, she watches some streams online from her echo chamber inner circle -- apparantly while preparing meals based upon what she declared on Morning Edition last week. Is she doubling as a Sous-Chef at Chez Sami?
Interestingly Mr. Schechter does credit someone in his bad column . . . a man.
Interestingly -- and this builds on Bob Somerby's criticism of cowards -- Mr. Schechter cannot call out American media by name. The 'media' is doing this, he huffs. It takes real backbone to call out NPR. Fortunately, women like Ava, C.I, Rebecca, and Elaine have plenty of what Danny Schechter lacks.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
Monday, June 4, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, Baghdad is slammed
with a bombing, the political crisis continues, Moqtada al-Sadr makes a
statement, and more.
If someone had never heard of Michael Rubin and you told them about him,
they'd probably laugh and assume you were attempting to be amusing.
Michael Rubin does actually exist and, sadly, he's 100% serious. At Commentary, Rubin yet again plays his the-sky-is-falling card.
He's played it so many times that you have to wonder if maybe there
aren't actually pigeons in the trees around his home. Most
dramatically, he played the sky is falling card when he screamed for war
on that 'great threat' to the US, Iraq. Now days, he's convinced
there's a Kurdish threat to the United States, specifically, the Kurds
who are part of the Kurdistan Regional Government. This leads to his
psychotic visions of the KRG as "Iran's Trojan Horse."
And he constructs a case that would be very convincing if you didn't pay attention.
Rubin wants you to know that a recent interviw had a figure which
surprised him "70 percent of Iran's Iraq trade is with Kurdistan." He
then tosses out an excerpt, then he's back, "While jouranlists have
reported on Kurdistan Regional Government oil smuggling to Iran, the
proportion cited by Hosseini surprised me, so I check the figured
[sic] with the Iraqi embassy in Washington; they confirmed the 70
percent."
He can't seriously be that dumb. He can be dumb enough to try to fool
you, right? But not dumb enough to really think that the 70% figure is
smuggled oil?
Or that the US embassy has a solid number for any alleged smuggled oil?
The whole point of a smuggled good is that it's not officially
tracked. Rubin does get that, right?
I'm not sure. His link on the 70% goes to this Fars News Agency report -- usually seen as Iranian state press (controlled press) -- and, no, there article on "trade ties" is not about smuggled oil.
Rubin is currently humping the bed at night in his sleep while dreaming
of war on Syria and Iran. Sometimes people will wonder if the US liars
and fools who pimped the Iraq War learned a damn thing? Michael Rubin
is proof positive that, while they continue to have sticky sheets, the
boys didn't learn a damn thing.
I do agree with him that the US government and the Kurdistan Regional Government are as far apart currently as they have ever been. I disagree that this is because most US service members were pulled out of Iraq last December. The reason that the KRG and the US have problems currently is because the US put together the Erbil Agreement and vouched for it and when Nouri al-Maliki trashed it after it allowed him a second term, the US government refused to stand by the agreement. That's why there are problems between the two and those problems were in place before November of 2011. So there's no need to pretend that the December drawdown created it. And Rubin's generally smarter than he lets on, so he may be aware of that and may be trying to get the US to mend fences by spreading rumors that Tehran and Erbil are locked in an embrace? It certainly wouldn't be the first time that Rubin 'spun' reality in an attempt to force the US government to do what he desired.
Rubin can take comfort in the fact that he's not the biggest idiot pundit today. That's Carl Davidson explaining to Matthew Rothschild (Progressive Radio) how the US Communist Party split over Gorbachev and his group ended up being the Committee of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism ("It started as a split off the Communist Party. They rebelled over the, you know, Gorbachev question [. . .].")
Even funnier than that is Carl bragging about how he and tired Marilyn Katz set up Barack's speech -- yes, America, Communists Carl and Marilyn set it up -- in 2002, that weak-ass "I'm against Dumb Wars." Carl's delusion that setting up the speech or that pro-war speech was anything to be proud of is right up there on the absurdity chart with Drew Westen helping compose Barack's 2008 faux race speech and then Drew rushed around online to praise the speech forgetting to note his own input. Only the careful listeners will note how Carl's still attempted to get back for every real and imagined slight over the last forty or so years. I thought Eric Alterman's recent media appearences had set the standard for radio bitchy -- where Alterman was insisting that Communists betrayed the left during the McCarthy period because liberals were telling the truth but, Alterman insisted, Communists were lying. Enter Carl.
Carl's voting for Barack again, he rushes to explain. Even when Matthew
notes the assassination of US citizens, the attack on the Constitution
and so much more. So Barack can again count on the the bourgeoisie
Communist support (there are real Communists with real ethics in the US
-- Carl doesn't associated with any of those people). Carl does the
turkey trot down memory lane on Barack, "Me and 8 Acorn ladies
interviewed him for The New Party." The New Party was a Chicago
Communist Party front 'fusion' party and you can find criticism of it
and its lackey ways -- Carl's always been a lackey -- in this Green Party piece from 1996 written by Hank Chapot. "And then Marilyn Katz and I sat him up to give that first anti-war speech," he brags.
Barack Obama is a corporatist and we've said that all along. He's an
imperialist as well. I thought Carl Davidson was the one who spread the
rumor that Barack was a Socialist (again, that is a false rumor). Carl
swears it wasn't him. Elaine and I remember Carl doing that.
Clearly, the US government has cloned Carl Davidson and that may be the
scariest news of the day, dozens of Carls running through the US -- well
lumbering. Dozens of Carls insisting on action . . . after Barack gets
four more years. Dozens of Carls whoring as only he can do. Truly
scary.
With a different take than Carl's 'Barack's so dreamy and groovy, I think he was eyeing me in chem lab and I really, really hope he calls me tonight!!!!" there's the take David Swanson offers in Joanne Boyer's article for Wisdom Voices:
"If you can't object to giving someone arbitrary power to kill, if you can't object to that because you can imagine someone else coming up will be even worse, then we've really tied both hands behind our back."
You have choices and you make decisions. And don't whine about how
Congress won't stand up for this or that treasured policy/belief you
hold dear if you're not willing to stand up against shredding the
Constitution, or endless wars, or assassinating American citizens or any
of the rest. Don't whine that Congress vote to extend the PATRIOT Act
if you're going to turn around and vote for the person (Barack) who said
the extension was needed. Congress will never vote their convictions
if the electorate refuses to vote their own. Instead, you send a message
that you will tolerate every sell out because you'd rather live in fear
all your life.
Today Baghdad was again slammed by a bombing. And though it happened
this morning in Baghdad (shortly before noon, their time) and though
people in America woke up to the already reported news, the US State
Dept's Mark Toner made it through an afternoon press conference without
ever conveying that the US government extends its sympathies to the
survivors of the attack. The White House also had nothing to say on the
issue. At the United Nations, spokesperson Eduardo del Buey (link is text and audio) noted
the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy Martin Kobler condemned the
bombings, "He said that these atrocious crimes against the Iraqi people
need to stop and the perpetrators should be brought to justice and he
once more called for all Iraqi's to remain steadfast in the face of
violence." Again, not a word on the tragedy from the Barack Obama
administration.
Kareem Raheem (Reuters) quotes
police officer Ahmed Hassan stating, "It was a powerful explosion, dust
and smoke covered the area. At first, I couldn't see anything, but
then I heard screaming women and children. We rushed with other people
to help . . . the wounded were scattered all around, and there were body
parts on the main street."
Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports the morning attack was a suicide bomber who attacked "the offices of Shiite religious affairs." Yang Lina (Xinhua) explains, "The Shiite endowment office is an independent body affiliated to the government and is responsible for running the Shiite mosques and their religious properties." Radio Netherlands Worldwide adds, "The attack comes amid a dispute between Iraq's Shiite and Sunni endowments, which manage the country's religious landmarks, over a shrine north of Baghdad, and a protracted political standoff that has raised sectarian tensions in a country racked by brutal communal bloodshed from 2006 to 2008." AGI quotes the deputy director of the endowmen, Sami al-Massudi, stating, "We are not accusing anyone but we are appealing to the Iraqi people and especially to the children of our religion to move swiftly to bury the discord." AFP notes that the Sunni Endowment headquarters were attacked shortly after by at least one bombing or mortar attack (the Ministry of the Interior states it was a roadside bombing) and the Sunnin Endowment spokesperson, Faris al-Mahdawi, is quoted stating, "We reject and condemn this criminal, cowardly, fanatical attack. These attacks aim to create divisions between the Iraqi people. There are dirty hands that are playing sectarianism, and trying to bring the country back to the years of violence."
An unnamed hospital source told Alsumaria early on that 16 corpses were received and 83 injured. The death toll continued to increase throughout the day. By the end of the day, Reuters noted 26 deaths and one-hundred-and-ninety people injured. ITV carries two photos by Hadi Mizban (AP) showing the destruction from the bomb.
AP reports that the injured include Baghdad Health Department's Adel Ahmed who was at work when the nearby bombing attack took palce and that the ceiling in the Health Department came loose and hit him in the head. AP offers an slide show presenation on violence since 2003 here. AFP offers a timeline of some of the major violence in the last months.
Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports the morning attack was a suicide bomber who attacked "the offices of Shiite religious affairs." Yang Lina (Xinhua) explains, "The Shiite endowment office is an independent body affiliated to the government and is responsible for running the Shiite mosques and their religious properties." Radio Netherlands Worldwide adds, "The attack comes amid a dispute between Iraq's Shiite and Sunni endowments, which manage the country's religious landmarks, over a shrine north of Baghdad, and a protracted political standoff that has raised sectarian tensions in a country racked by brutal communal bloodshed from 2006 to 2008." AGI quotes the deputy director of the endowmen, Sami al-Massudi, stating, "We are not accusing anyone but we are appealing to the Iraqi people and especially to the children of our religion to move swiftly to bury the discord." AFP notes that the Sunni Endowment headquarters were attacked shortly after by at least one bombing or mortar attack (the Ministry of the Interior states it was a roadside bombing) and the Sunnin Endowment spokesperson, Faris al-Mahdawi, is quoted stating, "We reject and condemn this criminal, cowardly, fanatical attack. These attacks aim to create divisions between the Iraqi people. There are dirty hands that are playing sectarianism, and trying to bring the country back to the years of violence."
An unnamed hospital source told Alsumaria early on that 16 corpses were received and 83 injured. The death toll continued to increase throughout the day. By the end of the day, Reuters noted 26 deaths and one-hundred-and-ninety people injured. ITV carries two photos by Hadi Mizban (AP) showing the destruction from the bomb.
AP reports that the injured include Baghdad Health Department's Adel Ahmed who was at work when the nearby bombing attack took palce and that the ceiling in the Health Department came loose and hit him in the head. AP offers an slide show presenation on violence since 2003 here. AFP offers a timeline of some of the major violence in the last months.
AFP quotes a restraunt owner whose first name is Mohammed declaring that, "Maliki and Allawi are fighting over the government, and we are the victims." Yes, the political crisis continues. The Journal of Turkish Weekly quotes Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi stating that the reforms have not come to Iraq, "From my point of view, there are two phases for a country's transformation. The first one is to erase the dictatorial regime, and the second one is to make reforms. But Iraq now seems to be a police state."
Tareq al-Hashemi was speaking at a conference in Turkey. He is being tried in absentia in Baghdad. Nouri al-Maliki issued an arrest warrante in December, charging al-Hashemi with terrorism. al-Hashemi has stated he cannot receive a fair trial in Baghdad. His fears were demonstrated to be accurate in February when the judges held a press conference -- months before the trial ever started -- to declare al-Hashemi was guilty. One of the judges even declared that Tareq al-Hashemi had tried to kill him. And that accusation didn't bother anyone. That a judge who believed (or said he did) that al-Hashemi tried to have him killed was sitting in on the case was seen as 'fair.' Only in Nouri's Iraq.
Tareq al-Hashemi is a member of Iraqiya. Iraqiya came in first in the March 2010 parliamentary elections. Nouri's State of Law came in second. Nouri began targeting Iraqiya (yet again) in the fall of 2011. In December, he began targeting Iraqiya members al-Hashemi and Saleh al-Mutlaq. al-Multaq is a Deputy Prime Minister. For telling CNN that Nouri was becoming a dictator, Nouri began months of trying to have al-Mutlaq ousted from his position. That move proved fuitlie. But the crisis continues. This weekend Mohamad Ali Harissi (AFP) offered:
"The political crisis has reached its highest level since its beginning, but it is still running within the framework of the democratic game," Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said.
"The country is paralyzed on all levels; there is a clear political
paralysis paralleled by governmental negligence and a failure of the
legislative authority, while the people are disappointed and afraid of
the security consequences," Shammari said.
But Nouri has had and still has another option: implement the Erbil Agreement.
