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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
larry, dfh
Published Letters: 104
As the Cold War was prolonged by the CIA/MIC for their own profit, the foreign policy pundits existed to justify the party line of the evil Soviet intentions. Many of the pundits were funded by the CIA/MIC. Now that the Cold War is officially over, these folks are still harping the party line, one that involves lots of expensive hardware and can be potentially profitable to their benefactors.
With the major media either owned directly by GE or beholing to it through advertising (including NPR). That is why Chomsky will never be heard from, because he is dogmatically opposed to solutions involving more fighter jets, the engines of which are made by GE.
Who does fund the AEI, or Hudson, or Manhattan, or Brookings? At a time when the NYT is cutting news jobs to save money, who pays for Tommy Friedman to fly first class all over the world? He's given a venue like no other. Who thinks what he writes is of so much value?
These points have probably been mentioned, but ABC News produced "The Path to 9/11" which was so fictitious that even the money-grubber Tom Keane had to publicly distance himself from the program. Jack Welch is famous for insisting that NBC News be a profit center; the corporatists at ABC being fearful and unimaginative would surely insist on the same. Thus, ABC News broadcasts what its advertisers want to be broadcast. Just ask Georgie Mitchell. Facts are irrelevant in the Magic Kingdom. Additionally, how do we know that these teriffically ethical journalists are not in the pay of the CIA?
Malaki was not originally elected PM of Iraq. He was more or less installed by the US after a less agreeable man had been 'duely' elected. But Malaki has been playing rope-a-dope with the law giving the oil rights to foreigners. He won't push it through, and all this stuff about going on vacation was just stalling. Alawi has always been cool with the oil expropriation law. The case may be that the regime change chant is being pushed by the Repubs, and Alawi is the front man.
I have always thought that the incessant whining about how the Dems were going to get a drumming in 2006 was because the fix was in. I distinctly heard Andrew Cohut (Pew research) mention on NPR about the "well known Democratic bias in the polls". I think the media blitz was to soften us up for another stolen election. Of course for the fix to work, election results would have to match exit polls, and the fix of the "well known Democratic bias to the [exit] polls" would take care of that. As to your comments about the corporate censorship, Glenn, Jack Welch very explicitly stated how news would be run at NBC, and Tom Brokaw verified that on the air. You don't need some snivelling journalist to come running to you with an office memo stating what is supposed to be said over the air, to believe in an actual meddling with the news. Tom Brokaw said it all: "Jack Welch is the smartest person I know, and he signs my paychecks". Sarah Shayes pretty much said there was management interference at NPR, she resigned because she had issues with them over slant of content.
As to the Clintons, the powerful Repubs have always hated Bill because he was "trailer trash". But they hate Hillary even more because she is a class traitor.
Hans B.: There is absolutely NO discussion about the Iraq Oil Law in the US press. Everyone in Iraq knows about it, I am sure. Malaki's avoidance of the law is why he is being villified here. Getting the Iraq Parliament to pass the law was embedded in the recent Military Comissions Act passed in the US, but you won't read about it in the US press.
And as to the term "Conspiracy Theorist", I dismiss it with "Coincidence Theorist", as in: it is a coincidence that one bullet could have done so much harm to JFK and then hit Johmn Conolley....
Not to worry about finding airmen to bomb Iran with nuclear weapons. It is no coincidence that the Air Force is run through and through with Xtian fundies, people who feel that they are responsible to no earthly laws or conventions. These 'pre-forgivens' are unconcerned about the suffering brought on by their actions, and are in place from the top down in the Air Force. Between them and and the mercenaries, it could be attempted at any time. But on the other hand, gasoline hasn't been near $3/gal for some time, and Bush may be just trying to do more for his 'constituents' by making the world oil markets jittery. That has always seemed like a real possibility to me. What nobody knows is what weaponry the Iranians have, with all those sitting ducks in the Persian Gulf, hostilities could be real disasterous for the U.S. Navy. I believe the Isreali raid on Syria recently was a dry run to check out the air defenses of an Iranian ally.
And as far as geo-politics goes, on the other side of Iran from Iraq is Afghanistan. So we basically have Iran surrounded on three sides by hostile and threatening military. But I don't think Iran is the ultimate goal; that would be the Caspian Sea, where even MORE oil can be found. But Russia will not allow that.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
