Letters to the Editor
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Mike Sulzer
I think the biggest difference between the former triple C-P and the USA today is that Soviet citizens were smart and educated enough to know they were being lied to.
Some Americans are starting to realize the lies, but nowhere near enough.
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NaR
Five and a half days!
You really read all of this? At one page a minute, 8000 pages is five and a half days of reading with no breaks.
-- NaR
This was a huge document dump. As any lawyer will tell you, with productions like this, 80% is irrelevant, duplicative nonsense. Through experience, you develop the skill of being able to go through it and find what matters, skipping and ignoring what isn't.
Reviewing 8,000 pages of documents isn't comparable to, say, reading an 8,000-page book. Can I say that I read every word of every document? Of course not. But I reviewed the document production in order to identify and use what's relevant. I have no doubt I missed some things -- the NYT's Barstow, with all the time in the world, did, too. Everyone would.
But I've reviewed it enough to be comfortable writing about it.
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News
Certainly, not every American gets their news from the MSM.
You're right, some get it from AM radio, some read their local papers that just reprint AP stories, etc.
Yes, there are people that are willing to look past the MSM, but it's a small minority, and half of them are looking at sites like Michelle Malkin's or Redstate so they won't be forced to see a "liberal" bias, no matter how laughable that seems to us.
We can laugh (or cry) at the MSM coverage, but that is the main way a a large portion of Americans get their news, and they should be called on it when they are pushing blatant propoganda.
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They are so pooh pooch. Gag. Gads. These pro-war folk need Botoz shots to swell the mumbling tongue. Vipers.
I've been buying the Wa/Po and underlining the rancid pooh the GOP espouse. It's whipped sour cream in the skull? It's a scream if so many were not dying under their despotic tripe. They are as diplomatic as Mr. Stiff Rigor Mortise.
They need to QUIT and become salesmen?
Maybe these thugs can sell girl scout cookies.
But, they'd probably kick down the doors and snort.
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One more thing
I'm curious as to who authorized the document dump, and decided what should be in it.
There is some stuff in there that destroys reputations, "Hello, Don Sheppard!", who I thought was a cheerleader (didn't want to see bad because he believed the best of his former organization, did what he was told, etc.) but had no idea that he was an orchestrator, had ideas of his own on how to push lies.
These guys that took part in this are damaged, tarnished, maybe not today, but it will happen, it's public now, even if it's suppressed.
This feels like push back from some people currently in the Pentagon and/or DOD.
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The next wave of propaganda is coming
Glenn,
Thanks for the massive amount of work you did in slogging through the document dump. The gall of the Pentagon in continuing their propaganda is breathtaking, and I just found evidence of what I think could be their next strategy in defending themselves. This morning I just found this press release on the website of my Congressman:
WASHINGTON, May 8, 2008 – Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Sixth) will tour Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, arriving May 8th and departing on May 9th. “Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was established in 1898 and now maintains custody of detained enemy combatants to prevent their participation in terrorist activities,” said Stearns. “In addition to collecting intelligence, our military personnel conduct Combatant Status Review Tribunals to provide detainees an opportunity to contest their designation as an enemy combatant. I look forward to touring the facilities, evaluating the procedures, and getting a better picture of the role of Guantanamo in the War on Terror.”
According to the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, treatment of detainees complies with international law and the International Red Cross makes regular visits. In addition, more than half of the enemy combatants held at Guantanamo have been repatriated. However, at least 29 released detainees have been confirmed or are suspected of returning to the battlefield. Added Stearns, “The Pentagon recently confirmed that a detainee released from Guantanamo participated in a suicide bombing in Iraq last month. This underscores the seriousness of the Joint Task Force’s mission.”Link: (despite claiming an award, Stearn's website is so clunky that every page comes up with the URL of his homepage, so you have to go to the homepage and click on "News/Media" to get to the May 8 press release: http://www.house.gov/stearns/
I wonder how many other lockstep Republican Congressmembers were on this trip. We need to keep an eye out for the next wave of propaganda that will be coming from them. Now that the retired officers have been exposed, it looks like Republican operatives are all that is left to defend the crimes against humanity that this administration is carrying out.
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Totalitarian states
I wasn't making the comparison to the USSR in a political sense; in many ways, a comparison to NAZI Germany can be equally apt.
My point is that the Pentagon's tactics are more akin to the practices of a One-Party, Totalitarian gov't, than we like to think. They are not the what you'd expect in a Democracy that values it's "freedom of the press."
I can only hope that the dwindling ratings received by MSM TV news are evidence that the people are starting to wake up. I think the burdgeoning assault on the "blogosphere" is further evidence of this. They are beginning to sense that their magic spell isn't working anymore.
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"U.S. Army rigged interrogations, author says"
Glenn, this story from 2005 may be of some interest to you:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/03/news/gitmo.php
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a request for Glenn
you really do such important watchdog work, Glenn. You must be incredibly busy, but I think it would be great if you took a look at the noncoverage of Plan Merida (the new military package to Mexico, ostensibly against the drug war). Laura Carlson over at counterpunch just posted an in-depth analysis -- it's absolutely insane.