PASS THE POPCORN

WAR AS A “BRAIN FART”

HURRICANE KOBE

“Pass the popcorn, this could be really fun,” was justone comment I parsed, as the blogosphere exploded last night with commentaryon the first juicy Bush scandal to gain media traction, with many a Democratsalivating over the prospects of some political fatalities in the WhiteHouse.

I refer, of course, not to the larger crimes and the lies that ledto war in Iraq, not to the massive violations of civil liberties, not to thedeclining economy nor to the rise in the number of Americans without healthcare. No, not to any of that. The outing of a CIA agent and the possibleviolation of law by a Bush aide to be named and a possible violation byright-wing journalist Robert Novak, he of the permanent scowl andself-righteous disposition, have raised the temperature of those who wantsome road kill on the highway of politics. It seems to be payback time forthe persecution of Bill Clinton on lesser charges.

Yum.

THE WILSONAFFAIR

Joseph Wilson, the former Ambassador, is cooling his own rhetoricas the drama he helped ignite moves into the high gear. He has challengedthe White House three times - and drawn blood on each occasion. Hechallenged the President’s phony reference to African uranium sent to Iraq,the infamous 16 words attributed to British Intelligence (sic) in his Stateof the Union. Bush & Co. backed down. He challenged the Vice President’srole in the affair. They admitted he was right. And now he is reveling inthe growing storm over reports that high-level White House aides leaked theidentity of his wife to at least six journalists. One of them, Novak thecrusty, went for the smarmy disclosure and “reported” it, over theobjections of CIA Director Tenet.

Novak, incidentally, has lived off alifetime of leaks and carried water for many a government agency and agenda.When I was just getting started in this game, I remember being infuriated bya column by Novak and his late partner Roland Evans, a far less stridentideologue, red-baiting the student civil rights movement with false leaksfrom the FBI. These were malicious and false. I wrote to them to complain,and somewhere have their snide response that questions my patriotism. Thereis a certain delicious irony to seeing the mighty Novak being targeted, butin our culture, alas, it will only lead to a chance for him to grandstand,to generate more TV interviews and, ultimately, a juicier bookcontract.

THE NOVAK CHANNEL

Novak is no longer a journalist but apredictable PR partisan and always has been. He is loud, obnoxious, andoverly visible. Why is that? He is a hired gun who has become a WashingtonMonument in his own right and just as ossified in stone. It is all afunction of central casting. He is good at playing the angry conservative.He is on the Capital Gang, on Crossfire, the Novak Zone and was with theMcLaughlin Group. His column is everywhere, as are his books and interviews.It is time to zone in on him on his own channel. Novak TV will be one of thelowest rated - but clearly that doesn’t matter. He has friends in highplaces.

Some bloggers are digging up old denunciations by the Presidenton the necessity of plugging leaks, as in “this can’t stand. We can’t haveleaks of classified information. It’s not in our nation’s interest.” Someactivists want Novak’s scalp. They are calling him a “domestic terrorist”,under the terms of The Patriot Act. Despite the fact they usually oppose thelegislation in other circumstances, they want criminal charges filed againsthim anyway.

That is not going to happen.

WHERE WAS THE PRESS CORPS?

What should happen is a demand for more accountability by the wholeWashington press corps. The corps has been largely silent on this tempest ina cracked teapot. The Howler made this point with the headline: “By Theirsilence Ye Shall Know Them.”

But don’t miss the remarkable back-storyhere - the amazing silence of the Washington press corps over the past threemonths. This story broke in Robert Novak’s July 14column, inwhich Novak said that “two senior administration officials” had called himto out Wilson’s wife. Because this startling report came from Novak, itplainly wasn’t a case of the heinous “Bush-hating” that has Americans sodeeply troubled. And it was obvious that these “senior officials” may havecommitted a serious crime. But over the course of the past three months,have you seen a word-have you seen one word-from Washington’s pundits aboutthis story? Of course not! Instead, pundits did what they do best-they hidbeneath their mahogany desks, pretending not to have heard this report. Didany pundit ask for a probe? Did any major Washington pundit try to keep thisstory alive? Your pundit corps was quite expert at gimmicking up Clinton-erapseudo-scandals. But when this highly credible report appeared, bearingNovak’s imprimatur, all of Washington’s brave, brave scribes knew theyshould head for the hills.

BOB THE PURE

Playing victim, Novak claimedlast night on CROSSFIRE that he was not leaked on. He said: “Nobody in theBush administration called me to leak this. In July, I was interviewing asenior administration official on Ambassador Wilson’s report when he told methe trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of massdestruction. Another senior official told me the same thing.

“As aprofessional journalist with 46 years experience in Washington, I do notreveal confidential sources. When I called the CIA in July, they confirmedMrs. Wilson’s involvement in a mission for her husband on a secondarybasis . who is . he is a former Clinton administration official. They askedme not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybodyelse.

“According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was ananalyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercoveroperatives.” So what is the fuss about, pure Bush-bashing?

WHY SOLONG?

His friendly adversary on the “show”, Paul Bengala, disagreed,noting “people should know, the law explicitly protects reporters, but thesame law makes it a felony for a government official to reveal the name ofsomebody who is undercover for the CIA. Now, I’m wondering, 10 weeks ago .your column ran July 14. It’s been 10 weeks. And The Post today says thatthe Justice Department, under John Ashcroft, hasn’t done a thing and thatBush hasn’t even asked people. Why?”

Wilson is charitable towards Novak,even though he clearly detested his column, saying on CSPAN he believes infreedom of the press and in his own freedom of speech. His focus hascorrectly been on the White House and on those he clearly believesresponsible and not on their publicists, like Novak. He has said in thepast: “At the end of the day, it’s of keen interest to me to see whether ornot we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words.”

A”BRAINFART”

This soap opera continues. Wilson has been impressive. Even moreimpressive was the Vietnam veteran, who called in on CSPAN last night and,in moving personal terms, described how that war messed up his life, puttingthe larger meaning of this conflict into perspective. It is not about Roveor Wilson’s wife or even the hapless Novak. It is about war and thefabricated intelligence and distorted policies that led to it. Wilson is notfighting for his wife’s honor but for the honor of our country.

In thisconnection, I was amused to learn that General Zinni, who the Rumsfeldianspushed to the side, called George W. Bush’s war in Iraqa “brain fart” on Nightline last Thursday night. I was also impressed EricMargolis reminded readers in the Toronto Star that “lying about sex is animpeachable offence; lying the nation into war apparently is not.”

FAIR TONETS: GET IT RIGHT

And speaking of Iraq, a day after I wrote about Colinand Condi on the Sunday shows and how they are allowed to get away withblatant mistruths, FAIR is out with a new action alert, offering chapter andverse. They write on fair.org:

“As the Bushadministration’s false statements about Iraq have become apublic controversy, it is reasonable to expect journalists to point outcontinuing misinformation on Iraq by senior Bush administration officials.If New York Times editors were interested in correcting the record. Allthey would have to do is re-print a correction they ran over three yearsago (2/2/00): ‘A front-page article yesterday … on Iraq misstated thecircumstances under which international weapons inspectors left thatcountry before American and British air strikes in December 1998. WhileIraq had ceased cooperating with the inspectors, it did not expel them.The United Nations withdrew them before the air strikes began.’ ”

IRAQ AND911

At least the Washington Post is taking on the Administration.Yesterday, a report noted that Vice-President Cheney is still trying to tie911 to Iraq, even after President Bush distanced himself from the innuendo.Dana Priest and Glenn Kessler wrote: “In making the case for war againstIraq, Vice-President Cheney has continuedto suggest that an Iraqi intelligence agent met with a Sept. 11, 2001,hijacker five months before the attacks, even as the story was fallingapart, under scrutiny by the FBI, CIA and the foreign government that firstmade the allegation.

“The alleged meeting in Prague between hijackerMohamed Atta and Iraqi Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani was the singlethread the Administration has pointed to that might tie Iraq to the attacks.But as the Czech government distanced itself from its initial assertion andAmerican investigators determined Atta was probably in the United States atthe time of the meeting, other administration officials dropped the incidentfrom their public statements about Iraq . ”

911 CONSPIRACY BOOM

AsCheney’s 911 conspiracy theories are discredited, all over Europe, otherconspiracy theories are in vogue. The Wall Street Journal’s PulitzerPrize-winning Berlin correspondent Ian Johnson wrote yesterday: “But overthe past two years,improbable theories about the Sept. 11 attacks have attracted seriousattention in some Western countries, often in direct proportion to thesinking credibility given to the U.S. and its motives in internationalaffairs. In Britain, former cabinet minister Michael Meacher, who resignedfrom office this month, published a blistering attack in the Guardiannewspaper,implying that Washington was involved in the attacks to justify amore interventionist foreign policy. In France, Italy and Spain, authorshave hit the bestseller charts over the past year by claiming that the U.S.is hiding the truth about 9/11.In most European countries, conspiracytheories have remained the domain of a fringe minority. Evenbestsellers vanish from the public forum after a brief flash in thelimelight. In Germany, however, the theories have had legs, and over thepast few months, wave after wave of improbable and outrageous assertionshave received serious hearings …”

NEWS FROM CATHY

Sometimes it is hardto remember what daily life under US occupation is like. A woman in”liberated” Baghdad writes a regular email called News From Cathy. It ismore direct than many professional news reports. This is from a recentreport - a form of people’s journalism. “Nothing is simple here, nothing iseasy. Getting from one place toanother is time-consuming and difficult, due to traffic jams. Thereare still no traffic lights working and major streets are blocked off bycoalition forces. The lack of electricity continues to be a verysore spot. No lights at night, dark streets and ill-lit housesaggravate the security issue. Everyone is afraid. More and morepeople are believing that it must be intentional.

“After so manymonths, they cannot believe, nor I for that matter, that a country aspowerful and wealthy as the U.S. can’t get their electricity up andrunning. Especially when expensive military machinery is paradingoverhead and through their streets. Unable to telephone people meansyou must go to that person, or have no contact at all. Imagine thatyou couldn’t call a hospital or the police in the case of anemergency? The only thing that is easy nowadays is the heartinessand warmth of the people. And the relationship quality of theculture makes one forget that danger is a real element to be heeded.”

HOWTO READ THE NEWS

TomDispatch.comsays you can find items likethis in the press if you know how to read the newspapers: “But just for anexperiment one day when you’re in a hurry, you might try reading the Timesin the opposite direction, inside out and bottom to top. Start each piece,not with the first paragraphs but with the last ones, because the way theTimes actually works, if the news everyone can agree on is in the lead andthe middle paragraphs of the day’s major stories tend to fill in on or offeracceptable background material for the lead paragraphs, it’s only at the endthat can a reporter can slip in the embarrassing quote, the fact thatdoesn’t fit, the interpretation that really matters. Squirreled away in thethrowaway third of the story, are sometimes the most fascinating bits andpieces of the day, meant only for news junkies, the relatively small numberof people who read the paper beginning to end.”

One of the columnists I doread from top to Bottom is economist Paul Krugman. His topic today is whathe calls crony capitalism in Iraq.Cronycapitalism is a phrase you often read in connection with Indonesia. Hisfocus - who is getting the contracts to rebuild Iraq.

KRUGMAN ONCRONIES

This is an administration of, by and for crony capitalists; tomatch this White House’s blithe lack of concern about conflicts of interest,you have to go back to the Harding administration. That giant, no-bidcontract given to Halliburton, the company that made Dick Cheney rich, wasjust what you’d expect.

“And even as the situation in Iraq slidesdownhill, and the Iraqi Governing Council demands more autonomy and control,American officials continue to block local initiatives, and are still tryingto keep the big contracts in the hands of you-know-who …

“There’s amoral here: optimists who expect the administration to get its Iraq policyon track are kidding themselves. Think about it: the cost of the occupationis exploding, and military experts warn that our army is dangerously overcommitted. Yet officials are still allowing Iraqi reconstruction tolanguish, and the disaffection of the Iraqi public to grow, while they steerchoice contracts to their friends. What makes you think they will everchange their ways? ”

THE NEXT MEDIA STORM

On the media front, Coloradansbrace for Hurricane Kobe, as a new media frenzy builds strength, JasonSalzman of Rocky Mountain Media Watch warns. “Media forecasters predict thatthe trial of the basketball star promises toeclipse Denver’s old records for size and intensity of media frenzy.

“Andwe’ve certainly been hit with more than our share of national news tempests:Think of JonBenet Ramsey, Columbine High School, Timothy McVeigh. (And thisdoesn’t count local sensations like Klondike and Snow, John Elway’sretirement saga and many others.) And now, here comes Kobe.

“Sports andHollywood are staples of the news. Add titillation, crime and mega-wealthand you’ve pretty much covered the mainstays of the modern infotainmentindustry. The Bryant story has it all . ” He fears that an overdose of Kobenews is likely. And he is probably right.

YOUR LETTERS

Journalist DaveDix writes from the Twin Cities, picking up on the charge I relayed from theblogger ‘River’ in Baghdad, who suggested that Chalabi’s gang may beinvolved in terrorism in Iraq. “You mentioned the Chalabi connection toterrorist attacks in today’s web log. It’s amazing to me that no mediaoutlet has looked at thatpossibility, not even mentioned it. I wrote it about in my web log(http://www.daviedarkos.blogspot.com/) right after the Al-Hashimimurder.

My belief is Chalabi and his Neo-con/Pentagon buddies AND Sharonwerethe direct beneficiaries of the attacks on the Jordanian Embassy, UNHeadquarters and the Al-Hashimi assassination (I think the mosque itselfwas the secondary target). They were the ONLY people to benefit, IMHO .”Glad to see you’re doing well. Mediachannel is aging well, becomingbetter with time and your emails are one reason I’m always at computerin the morning!”

UNESCO HAS IT BACKWARDS

Pia writes back from the landof the Danish Kings: “I have long since become more or less addicted to yourblog. So whenever I have the time, I cannot help myself weaving it daily. Ican use your information in my daily work. For instance on Thursday, when Ihad been invited to a meeting with the Danish Ministry of Culture and theDanish UNESCO representative upon the current debate at UNESCO’s generalassembly in Paris from today and weeks on, about a possible UN convention on”Cultural Diversity”, I asked them to please include Media-politics in thedebate. I am sure, that without a demand for media’s (at least PublicService media’s) active cooperation to promote national and global culturaldiversity, there is no way blind market forces will not prevail in thefuture. I could tell them about the American decisions about allowing ahigher media-market ownership share, about the protests and the postponing,and the promised veto from the Bush administration.

“I asked them to tryand communicate not only with the Bush Regime, but also try to establishcontact to ‘The other America’. The head of the cultural department wasquite choked about this proposal. He said: ‘We could never establish acontact with non-governmental USA!’ A very brainy man, who is the chairmanof the Danish Writers Guild and a good friend, responded that in actualfact, UNESCO was initiated for exactly that purpose: to establish contactand dialogue between the peoples, the NGO’s,to counter official governmental view points. That had of course beenchanged in the statutes some years ago, but the thought was not sooutrageous after all.”

WEEPING FOR SAID

There was a moving memorial forPalestinian writer Edward Said in New Yesterday, the first of more to come.I was moved by comments by his daughter Najla: “. in his last days my fatherwept openly for Palestine and his loss of articulacy and energy to write andwrite and write. He encouraged me, from his bed, to continue the struggle,continue … get over your petty personal differences with your colleaguesand write and perform and continue unceasingly. It’s in your hands.’ Thiswas meant for our entire generation and it is important for me to conveythis to you because I certainly can’t shoulder the burden myself.”

HAPPYBIRTHDAY

Today, September 30 marks the entry into this world of tworelated Schechters I want to honor. My dad’s brother, my late Uncle George,was born on this day and went on to a brilliant career in co-op housing.Oddly, my brother Bill, an inspiring high school history teacher in theBoston area, also marks his birthday on this last day of the month. I saluteyou both. Thanks also to those who responded to yesterday’s request for avolunteer editor. We had several inquiries/offers including one from areader in Italy. It led me to thinking - are there any other skilled readerswith time on their hands who can help us in other areas like marketing, PR,and fundraising, a perennial need. If so, write to me as you do every day toadd your thoughts to this increasingly interactive free media space on theweb. Write: dissector@mediachannel.org.