Waiting on retraction
No more vacations. I'm badly needed in the on-line echo chamber.A month ago, White House spokesman Scott McClelland and the Bush administration attacked and intimidated Newsweek magazine for an "errant" report about American guards in Guantanamo Bay desecrating the Koran in the presence of Muslim detainees. The report was blamed for rioting causing 17 deaths in Afghanistan, despite the protests of Bush's own chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president of Afghanistan.
Well surprise, surprise. Two weeks later, on May 27th, a Pentagon report certified that desecrations of the Koran had indeed taken place. The Pentagon cleverly released the report at 7:15 on the Friday night beginning Memorial Day weekend. The story missed the evening newscasts and got buried in the Holiday newspapers.
I found the story in a column by Frank Rich in the New York Times, so the major media hit the story, but where was the follow-up on television and radio and the tenacity to match the original Newsweek attention. Collectively, the media failed the public on this story. Why? Because if I asked 100 people on the street today whether these desecrations had been verified, no fewer than 80 would say they hadn't.
Meanwhile, the bait and switch offensive continues as a Republican Congressman sows the seeds of American resentment and intolerance. California Rep. Duncan Hunter received extensive coverage for a photo op on Monday in which he claimed Guantanamo inmates have never been treated better. Holding up examples of food at the prison, Hunter claimed that prisoners there were eating better than some American soldiers. (Quick quiz: What was factually wrong with the previous sentence? Answer: Muslim detainees are classified as "enemy combatants," not "prisoners." This is because the U.S. government doesn't want them to be protected by the Geneva Accords on human rights.)
Of course, Hunter's assertions could be easily checked if the media were allowed access to the prison facility and its inhabitants. But then that would certainly degenerate into a chronicling of the prisoners' stories, and after finding out one or two of them are innocent, they'd all want their day in court. And how would that gel with American ideals?
In other wacky imperialism news, the American casualty total has now surpassed 1,700, and insurgent uprisings in Iraq have gotten so bad that U.S. and Iraqi officials have begun weighing the option of amnesty for Iraqi militants, perhaps even for those who have killed Americans. On the homefront, 59% of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq. But try telling that to the oblivious Democrats, who continue to fall in line behind the President, including the most visible leaders like Howard Dean, Joe Biden, and the party's likely 2008 Presidential Nominee, Hillary Clinton.
posted by CM @ 9:07 PM
5 Comments:
Help me understand why desecrating the Koran is a problem. If it was the Christian or Jewish bible it would have been considered art. TA
Fair question, I acknowledge. And of course, this abuse absolutely pales in comparison to the other crimes and accusations in Gitmo Bay and Iraq. In fact, I really shouldn't be surprised that the American media doesn't care when they've already seen the dog leashes and the electric wires.
However, our President claims that this war is not a war against Islam, and even more importantly, has had a rather difficult time maintaining allies in the war and (some say) establishing a peace in Iraq.
I think you should put your question in a letter to Scott McClelland and see what he says.
And of course, the other large issue here is our President's attempted intimidation of the American press.
I hate to defend politicians, but IMO they should be allowed to fight back against the press sometimes. I think Bush gave as good as he got. The press puts out a constant stream of negative stories against the politicians, too often with anonymous sources who turn out to be wrong. Dan Rather's memo on the eve of the election and the latest book about the Clintons both come to mind.
I'm happy to call Bush's response intimidation, but what is a good name for what the press does? When perception is reality, how should politicians respond? Politicians who are not intimidated by the power of the press need to have their heads examined. Maybe intimidation should run both ways.
This is off topic, but is there any news on Moeller Television IV? TA
"Moeller TV Fest IV: Smackdown" has been loosely scheduled for an early weekend in November. The first two were deemed successful, though Aaron and I felt the frivolity suffered from the beautiful June weather outside. Last year's November gathering in Cedar Rapids broke all attendance records (10 people? I think)and safely landed between baseball's annual "Cardinal-heavy" post-season schedule and the holidays.
I now yield to Aaron on this matter, and invite anyone who wishes to attend a fun weekend of TV viewing and lively conversation to offer up potential weekends in which to hold the event-- keeping in mind that it takes a couple months to schedule and secure the TV programs, book the caterer, and work out the choreography of the dance number.
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