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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
But why PAY for propaganda. Why subscribe to or purchase these rags?
At a certain point, it is reasonable to assume that everything is a lie and just filter all of the MSM our of one's mind and lives.
But please stop supporting propaganda financially.
I stopped reading The New York Rag waaaay back when they were the cheerleaders-in-chief for the Iraq Misadventure.
Actually, none of this comes as much of a surprise given that The New York Rag has an infamous history - going right back to its founding - of being a cheerleader of American imperialism and hagiographer of American war criminals.
It gives new meaning to the phrase "house organ".
I read the article and was coming online to make a comment.
Every practice mentioned below is perfectly legal in the United States. Why is anyone complaining?
"In 2001, Ali Afshari was arrested for his work as a student leader. He said he was held in solitary confinement for 335 days and resisted confessing for the first two months. But after two mock executions and a five-day stretch where his interrogators would not let him sleep, he said he eventually caved in.
“They tortured me, some beatings, sleep deprivation, insults, psychological torture, standing me for several hours in front of a wall, keeping me in solitary confinement for one year,” Mr. Afshari said in an interview from his home in Washington. “They eventually broke my resistance.”
The problem, he said, was that he was not sure what he was supposed to confess to. So over the next several months, he said, he and his interrogators “negotiated” what he would say — and, more ominously, whom he would implicate. Once his confession was complete, he said, he practiced it for 7 to 10 days, and then it ran on state-run television.
Three years later, Mr. Memarian, the journalist and blogger, was arrested in another security sweep. He said that his interrogator at first sought to humiliate him by forcing him to discuss details of his sex life, and that when he hesitated, the interrogator would grab his hair and smash his head against the wall. He said the interrogator asked him about prominent politicians he had interviewed, asked if they ever had affairs, and asked if he had ever slept with their wives.
“I was crying, I begged him, please do not ask me this,” said Mr. Memarian, who is in exile now in the United States. “They said if you don’t talk now you will talk in a month, in two months, in a year. If you don’t talk now, you will talk. You will just stay here.”
The pressure was agonizing, he said, as he was forced to live in a small cell for 35 days with a light burning all the time and only three trips to the bathroom allowed every 24 hours. He was forced to shower in front of a camera, he said. At one point the interrogators threatened to break his fingers.
“They came up with names, and topics,” he said. “They gave me a three-page analysis and said read this and include it in your confession. My interrogator once said, ‘You have written seven years for the reformists; it’s O.K. to write for us for two months.’ ” "
Subsription "rates"? If they are anything like our local right-wing,...er, I mean liberal media, their "rates" are rising whilst the volume and quality erodes apace.
Dear Editors,
I'm really puzzled - the practices mentioned in your story about Iran:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/world/middleeast/04confess.html
are all perfectly legal in the United States. No government official will ever be investigated for these practices. We have been told this by President Obama himself. Why is it wrong for the Iranian government to use these methods? Maybe US-Iran detente can be promoted by sharing knowledge about these techniques?
{excerpt of article detailing torture followed, not reproduced here.}
Sincerely
The official U.S. broadcaster of news and information to foreign audiences is the Voice Of America, part of the U.S. government's International Broadcasting Bureau. It is prohibited by law from broadcasting its signal to domestic U.S. listeners as this would be considered government-sponsored propaganda operations.*
The VOA Charter, which became the basis for all BBG broadcasters, requires that broadcasts:
* Be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.* Represent all segments of American society and present a balanced and comprehensive view of significant American thought and institutions.
* Clearly present the policies of the United States.
http://www.ibb.gov/broadcasters/voa.html
When the VOA broadcasts news stories regarding allegations of U.S. torture, the VOA uses the term "torture".
Example 1:
Battle Lines in Torture Debate Harden
By Jim Malone | Washington | 12 May 2009
Former Vice President Dick Cheney and several religious leaders are the latest to add their voices to the national debate over harsh interrogation techniques used on some terrorism suspects during the Bush administration.
The political battle lines in the torture debate seem to be hardening.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-12-voa48.cfm
Example 2:
Spain to Consider Prosecuting Bush Officials Over Torture Allegations
By VOA News | 29 March 2009
A Spanish court has agreed to consider charging six former U.S. officials with providing legal justification for alleged torture at Guantanamo Bay.
Human rights lawyers brought the case before leading anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon, who agreed to send it on to prosecutors to decide whether it had merit.
Under Spanish law, courts can prosecute offenses such as torture or war crimes even if they occurred in other countries.
The former officials, who include ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and former defense official Douglas Feith, could face arrest if Spain charges them.
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-03/2009-03-29-voa3.cfm
Now, they are careful to use the term "allegations" or "alleged" since they may be talking about criminal and legal issues. Nevertheless, they apparently aren't frightened away from using the most relevant and direct term for torture, i.e., "torture".
One would hope that presumably independent and private / non-profit institutions such as the New York Times and NPR might have the sort of journalistic integrity shown toward the fair application of the term "torture" to both foreign government-alleged and U.S.-alleged torture as the U.S. government's own broadcaster itself.
If the New York Times and NPR cannot manage to be as gutsy and independent as the official U.S.-government broadcaster, perhaps they could hire the U.S. government broadcasting agency, the IBB, to teach them about the basics of journalism again.
(*Yes, many jokes could be made here about how it's illegal when it's overt and direct and pretty thoroughly encouraged when it's covert and/or indirect.)
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.
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
