Letters to the Editor
Northwestwoods
Published Letters: 577 Editor's Choice: 1
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LWM
[Read the article: Media's refusal to address the NYT's "military analyst" story continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-I'm not familiar with that source. I'm sure there are credible and reputable sources in Canada.
I'll take the FAS as a credible source on the matter.-
Here is some more coverage of the story:
"
WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq
TV documentary: US lied about Gulf War missile “hits”
By Henry Michaels
7 February 2003
On Wednesday evening, the same day that US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the UN Security Council, a Canadian television program provided a timely reminder of the lengths to which the US government, assisted by a servile media, went to deceive American and world public opinion during the 1991 Gulf War.
In a report entitled “The Best Defence,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s documentary program, The Fifth Estate traced one set of lies told by the previous Bush administration and the Pentagon during the 1991 conflict. It replayed footage of both President George Bush the elder and Desert Storm commander General H. Norman Schwarzkopf declaring that the US military’s Patriot missiles had achieved a 100 percent success rate in destroying Iraqi Scud missiles headed for Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The claims were a crucial part of Washington’s propaganda effort to create the impression of high-technology precision weaponry that would ensure a rapid victory with few US casualties, while causing limited Iraqi civilian deaths. Billions of dollars were at stake for Raytheon, the company that manufactured the Patriots, and, by extension, the entire military industry upon which the US economy depends heavily.
In briefings that were featured by every American TV network and most media outlets around the globe, Schwarzkopf and other Gulf War commanders displayed video footage and aerial photographs boasting not only that every Scud had been intercepted, but that mobile Scud launchers had been blown to pieces with unerring accuracy by guided missiles.
Accompanied by the media corps, the first President Bush traveled to where the Patriot missiles were manufactured, the Raytheon plant in Lexington, Massachusetts, to publicly congratulate the assembled employees. “It is thanks to the patriots here that the Patriot has achieved such success,” he stated.
It is now clear from The Fifth Estate program that when he made that boast, Bush knew it to be a lie. Just before his appearance at the Raytheon factory, he received an urgent visit from Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens, who warned him that Israel was about to enter the war against Iraq because the Patriot missiles had proven completely ineffective."
This, I think, is pretty germaine to the current discussion and indicates an established pattern by republicans in power to snow the public with orchestrated lies by official-looking, 'trustworthy statesmen' and generals to sell war and death as a way of life.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/cbc-f07.shtml
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@ Abbybwood
[Read the article: Media's refusal to address the NYT's "military analyst" story continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-If what I read about in The New York Times this past Sunday isn't a clear use of military propaganda then I don't know what is. In my opinion there has obviously already been a violation of the law!-
While I am anything but an expert, one can only reasonably view this kind of intentional and concerted propaganda activity as a form of warfare perpetrated against a perceived domestic foe, the public.
Is that legal? It's certainly immoral.
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Riders on the Storm
[Read the article: Media's refusal to address the NYT's "military analyst" story continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Aych: I believe the line is 'Sweet memories will die'
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road
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@ Gorewell
[Read the article: Skepticism toward Bush claims about Syria and North Korea]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-It's a speech by a Swedish professor of recent Chinese history about a (forged) transcript from a Chinese dictator - worth reading in my opinion!-
Uh....I see what you mean. Thanks for posting that.
BTW: 'Gorewell'. Amusing handle =/
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@ Aych
[Read the article: Skepticism toward Bush claims about Syria and North Korea]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-As an atheist I find the whole Christian/Muslim/Jew conflict stupid beyond measure. You theists squabbling amongst yourselves about whose invisible sky daddy is the biggest and baddest are about to take the rest of us down with you.-
Amen.
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Glenn asked....
[Read the article: John McCain's serious foreign policy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-How do you know that McCain doesn't really believe this? Everything I've heard from McCain with regard to foreign policy suggests that he does think this way in every realm.-
Personally, I believe that McCain has no beliefs whatsover, aside from his belief that there is personal redemption in seizing power.
The guy almost jumped ship and joined the Democratic Party. George Bush and Karl Rove trashed him in 2000 and he turns arouind and literally embraces them. As an allegedly tortured POW, he has come down on the side of torture. It's dizzying trying to imagine where the hell his convictions, if any, may 'lie'.
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@ Joshua Nossiter
[Read the article: John McCain's serious foreign policy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-For friendly nations like Canada, the message will be more nuanced. Forget that socialized medical system of yours and turn the business over to fine US companies like Blue Cross and HealthSouth. Forget your tree hugging forestry preservation policies and turn your lumber over to International Paper. Start spending more, a lot more, on defense. Buy your weaponry from fine US companies like Grumman and Lockheed. Bar anyone whose name includes Abu or El from emigrating to your shores. Tell those Quebecois to stop speaking frog. Because if you don’t the OSS will stage an anschluss.-
Where have you been? Those programs have already been implemented or soon will be.
Except for the Quebecois thing...
You know that now-famous photo of McBomb hugging Junior? You can exchange his face with that of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, though Harper would more likely be on his knees with Dubya's Diminutive Dick in his mouth.
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@ Cocktailhag
[Read the article: John McCain's serious foreign policy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-I'm cooking dinner, for crying out loud.-
Sorry, Ma'am. Didn't mean to upset your culinary sensibilities.
Please allow me to buy you dessert.
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@ Cocktailhag
[Read the article: John McCain's serious foreign policy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]-My mother taught me that. Even if the woman in question is old enough to be your grandmother, "Miss" will always go over better. Try it. You'll see.
Please make a note of it.-
So noted, and I would even submit 'Ms.' might even be more approriate, though maybe too Gloria Steinhem for a lady of your station. It's your call, er, Miss....