Sunday, November 27, 2005

Bush V Al-Jazeera: Fact or Fancy?

"The internet is abuzz over a leaked memo quoted yesterday by the London Mirror alleging that President Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he "planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar," according to a transcript of an April 16, 2004 conversation between the two at the White House. The Mirror reported that Bush was "talked out of it" by Blair. "

A very good read on this topic, especially the Timelines, cheers Asylum.

Also of note is John Pilger's article regarding the media and the recent WP allegations and other stories on Fallujah.

"The Indian writer Vandana Shiva has called for an "insurrection of subjugated knowledge". The insurrection is well under way. In trying to make sense of a dangerous world, millions of people are turning away from the traditional sources of news and information and to the world wide web, convinced that mainstream journalism is the voice of rampant power. The great scandal of Iraq has accelerated this. In the United States, several senior broadcasters have confessed that had they challenged and exposed the lies told about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, instead of amplifying and justifying them, the invasion might not have happened. "

as ever, get the peas out,

2 comments:

mikevotes said...

I don't think the "it was a joke" defense is holding up, do you?

So we've tried the first three stages, deny it, minimize it as a joke, attempt to lock down the information with gag orders.

So, what's next? Attack the source? Impeach the Mirror's love of country? Maybe accuse them of damaging state secrets?

Oh, right, they did that by invoking the Official Secrets act.

This isn't going away.

michael the tubthumper said...

there is an old joke....

"the official secrets act is not to protect secrets. it is to protect officials"

this fits with this case well