PADILLA TRIED IN THE PRESS

WHAT DRIVES IRAQ POLICY?

RIGHTWARD TILT AT CPB

Here we are in the midst of a political campaign, with prices rising and the economy on hold and yet most of the main news in America is not about America per se. Forgive me if I don’t dwell on the Laci Peterson case, an overdone story that has done very well without my interventions. But it’s true what is happening here in the Homeland is a scandal too. It’s like we are all on hold as our media focuses on chatter-threats of terror attacks and Iraq’s devolution.

There was a small break today when that home grown terror suspect Jose "Dirty Bomb" Padilla found himself tried in the court of public opinion by a government which has finally broken its silence on its case against a man it has decided it has a right to hold indefinitely. Yesterday, as CNN reported, the charges were uncaged even if he was not:

The USG says he admitted to training at al Qaeda camps and to having dealings with al Qaeda members, according to documents declassified by the U.S. government Tuesday. Additionally, the federal summary of Padilla’s activities allege that Padilla sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to planning an attack with a “dirty bomb” radiological device, the government said Tuesday …

Donna Newman, Padilla’s defense attorney, called the information “a one-sided expos? of their version of the events without Mr. Padilla having the right to put forth his version of the events. As they concede, he denies all this,” she said, referring to a footnote on page six of the seven-page document.

er now? I don’t think so.

MULL THIS

US pressure on the Brahimi and the Iraqi Council was widely reported. The Guardian had this quote (as featured in Tom Barton’s excellent GI SPECIAL2#93: "’The behaviour of Mr. Bremer and Mr. Brahimi has been shameful,’ Dr Mahmoud Othman, a leading council member told the Guardian. ‘It’s like being in a dictatorship again. Adnan follows the Americans around like a puppy. If the Americans told Adnan that yoghurt was black, he would go along with it.’” Now that the US got most of what it wanted, BBC reports "mulling" underway:

UN mulls revised Iraq resolution

The US and Britain are presenting a new resolution to the UN Security Council endorsing the transition of power to the Iraqi interim government. The draft includes major concessions, such as giving Iraq the right to decide when foreign troops will leave. China, France and Russia objected to the first draft because it did not give Iraqis control over military affairs. The new resolution does not change the wording on this but it does set a time frame for the force to withdraw.

ONS

As Brahimi urges Iraqis today to "give the new government a chance," questions are being raised by, among others, Chalmers Johnson (via TomDispatch.com) on what power it will really have. He asks President Bush, who was out in the Rose Garden spinning the new regime as the second coming yesterday, a series of questions:

1. Please tell us more about your notion of “full sovereignty” for Iraq. Will this be like our returning Okinawan sovereignty to Japan in 1972, when we retained exclusive control over the 38 military bases on the island and the deployment and behavior of American forces on them?

2. Please tell us: If we plan to return Iraq to the Iraqis, why is the U.S. currently building fourteen permanent bases?

THE VIEW FROM BAGHDAD

Get it. Total sovereignty will be anything but. Dependency and external control are the name of the game. Dahr Jamail, Baghdad correspondent for The New Standard, asks:

How is life possibly going to get better in Iraq? Kids are being raised to fight against the most powerful military the Earth has ever known. Every U.S. soldier who comes here knows they will be in-country for at least one full year. More troops are on the way. More soldiers have been killed near Ramadi and Fallujah recently. The truce in Najaf and Kufa came and went. A man has been selected by the IGC as the prime minister whom every single Iraqi I know thinks is an absolute bastard.

One man I know, when asked what he thought about Alawi, said frankly, “He will be killed, insh’allah.” Another Iraqi friend said, “If he lasts a month, he’ll be very lucky.”

So as the Bush and Blair camps race about trying to paint a picture of stability and structure in Iraq, with June 30 now just a month away–this place is coming apart at the seams. For each step forward the coalition makes, two disasters occur … whether they take the form of deadly attacks on the occupying forces, more mortars blasting into the CPA, sabotage of a pipeline or power plant, a murder, another SUV of secret service or security mercenaries taken out by an RPG, or something less obvious …

RAQ

Iraq is not only at war it is also a crime scene, says The Age in Australia:

As the US spends billions to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, there is increasing evidence that sensitive military equipment, apparently new components for oil rigs and water plants and even entire buildings are being plundered from the country. In what some experts call a massive looting operation, at least 100 semi-trailers loaded with what is billed as scrap metal are streaming each day into Jordan, one of six countries that share a border with Iraq …

“There is a gigantic salvage operation, stripping anything of perceived value out of the country,” said John Hamre, president and chief executive of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, which sent a team to Iraq and issued a report on reconstruction efforts at the request of the Pentagon last July. “This is systematically plundering the country,” Mr Hamre said.

IT’S ALL POLITICAL

What is the real Bush Administration Iraq strategy? Ivan Eland Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty writes: "The plan is merely a short-term way to stanch the president’s hemorrhaging in polls at home and maximize his dimming chances for reelection. But then this invasion was always less about making life better for the Iraqis than doing so for the neo-conservatives who hijacked the U.S. government for their own pet overseas social engineering project."

CHALABI: THEY BUILT HIM UP; NOW, TEAR HIM DOWN

The NY Times reports today: "Chalabi Reportedly Told Iran That U.S. Had Code: Ahmad Chalabi told an Iranian official that the U.S. had broken the communications code of Iran’s intelligence service.”

It has now been revealed that American contractors’ role played a role in the Chalabi raid revealed reports The Age in Australia: "Eight armed American contractors paid by a US State Department program went on the raid, directing and encouraging the Iraqi policemen who, witnesses say, ripped out computers, turned over furniture and smashed photographs." The Guardian, meanwhile, asserts that Chalabi was manipulated by the Iranians: “‘It’s pretty clear that Iranians had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner,’ according to a ubiquitous ‘intelligence source’ in Washington."

GENEVA CONVENTION?

USA Today reported yesterday (via News Insider):

US troops shot, strangled or beat over 30% of dead Iraqi, Afghan prisoners

More than a third of the prisoners who died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were shot, strangled or beaten by US personnel before they died, according to death certificates and a high-ranking US military official. The military official, who has direct knowledge of ongoing Pentagon investigations of the deaths, said that 15 of 37 prisoners who have died since December 2002 appear to have been killed or put in grave danger by US troops or interrogators.

BAGHDAD IN BERKELEY

The Berkeley Daily Planet reports:

On one of the walls of the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in downtown Oakland, there is a drawing of the Tigris River running red, a crude picture of a young girl next to a map of Iraq with the word "why" as the heading, and a colorful picture of a helicopter gunship and tank shooting at a field of flowers, with the misspelled statement, "We are not gilty."

The "we" is clearly not meant to refer to the soldiers operating the helicopter gunship and the tank.

The drawings don’t create the same kind of initial shock as the graphic images of American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, but in their quiet, stark way, the children’s art is equally powerful.

The images were drawn by Iraqi school children at Al-Assail Primary School outside Baghdad, one month after the U.S invasion last year. Filled with battle scenes, flying flags, and death, the drawings are the depiction of the war as seen through the eyes of children living in a city that was hit with over 32,000 bombs during the initial American-led invasion.

Seventy-six in total, the drawings were commissioned by Carl Rosenstein, who runs New York’s Puffin Room gallery, and have been turned into a gallery show called "Shocked and Awed." Rosenstein, whose gallery is well-known for promoting art with a progressive edge, originally commissioned the show to Patrick Dillon, a documentary filmmaker, just before Dillon returned to Iraq last year. Dillon was working on a documentary called Raining Planes about the invasion last year and subsequent occupation.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING UNDER SCRUTINY

In our media news, NPR has responded to a FAIR study and critique of its coverage with the media monitoring group responding to the response. See Fair.org for the charges, counter charges and counter-counter charges. And while we are on public broadcasting, FAIR is not alone in being upset with the rightward tilt at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as Common Cause reports:

CPB Playing Politics with Public Broadcasting

The New Yorker Magazine released an article yesterday entitled, “Big Bird Flies Right,” which exposes several recent incidents that demonstrate the way ideologues within the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) are seeking to shape public TV and public radio.

The CPB provides federal funds to public broadcasting and its primary mission has always been to serve as a “heat shield,” protecting programming from government interference. But instead of serving as a “heat shield,” CPB now is an agent of partisan interference.

Referring to the recent events at CPB, Bill Moyers told The New Yorker author Ken Auletta: “This is the first time in my 32 years of public broadcasting that CPB has ordered up programs for ideological instead of journalistic reasons.”

We cannot let partisan warriors drive an ideological stake in the heart of public broadcasting. At a time when media ownership is increasingly consolidated into fewer corporate hands, we must ensure that the editorial independence of public broadcasting is held sacred.

Call CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson at 1(800) 272-2190

POLITICAL ADS INACCURATE

The Washington Post reports:

Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented — both in speeches and in advertising.

Three-quarters of the ads aired by Bush’s campaign have been attacks on Kerry. Bush so far has aired 49,050 negative ads in the top 100 markets, or 75 percent of his advertising. Kerry has run 13,336 negative ads — or 27 percent of his total. The figures were compiled by The Washington Post using data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group of the top 100 U.S. markets. Both campaigns said the figures are accurate …

“There is more attack now on the Bush side against Kerry than you’ve historically had in the general-election period against either candidate,” said University of Pennsylvania professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an authority on political communication. “This is a very high level of attack, particularly for an incumbent.”

CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION REPORTS

The FCC held its Midwest Hearing at the Surbeck Center in Rapid City. FCC chair Michael Powell was in Rapid City, but left town on the morning of the hearing, ostensibly because he was called to Washington to attend a White House meeting. Nevertheless, activists count the hearing as a victory for popular involvement in media policy. A transcript of the hearing is forthcoming, but the entire audio feed of the hearing — all six-plus hours of it — has been archived online and is available for download here.

ON THE ENEMY’S LIST: MIKE AND AMY

When conspiracy theories start to fly, no one is exempt. I remember being attacked as a CIA agent once on the grounds that I knew too much about the Agency not to be working for them. Hmm. Now I get this screed in the mail yesterday:

The Michael Moore met & filmed Nick Berg coincidence is preposterous: It seems obvious that because enough people figured out the Nick Berg video execution was a hoax that the Bush Regime sought out Moore to lend credibility to it. (Moore is confirming Berg’s identity.) However, how far will they use Moore? How far will Moore sink?

Moore’s new film, “Farenheit 911″ promotes the idea that there were 19 hijackers on 9/11, and that 15 were Saudi. Meanwhile, there is no evidence there were any hijackers. If Moore’s film is distributed in the US anytime soon it could be employed for propaganda purposes; i.e., to promote a new war, this time in Saudi Arabia.

The dark suspicion is that Michael Moore and Amy Goodman are both working for the bad people and betraying their anti-Bush, anti-war audiences in the process. Both are providing what is commonly called a “limited hangout”. Yes, they resist the Bush Regime. However, they both do so in a manner which ensures the perpetuation of this Regime.

FYI, The Wall Street Journal also carries an attack on Moore on his charge that the Bin Laden family was allowed to leave the US story. They charge that there is no substance to it, and charging it has been discredited.

YOUR LETTERS

MaryAnn writes from Wisconsin: "Whatever happened to the six speeches before the hand-over in Iraq? By my count, that should have been one per week. Where is this week’s speech? Or is this another course change by the weather vane readers in the White House? Maybe they put a finger to the winds blowing against them? Or was the fall off the bicycle the omen? Keep up the nagging!"

Jack Schulz writes from Canada: "I must tell you that I was disappointed that you chose not to include this in your blog this past Friday. There is a law in the US that requires judges to recuse themselves in cases in which they may be perceived to have a conflict of interest. The law was broken and as a result, the Presidency of US was usurped. As a result, thousands of lives have been lost. The NY Times have finally written an editorial denouncing judicial conflict of interest in the Supreme court, but this case has been universally ignored. The law is very clear: TITLE 28 - JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE 28 USC Chapter 21 Sec. 455 Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate 01/05/99 (a) Any justice, judge, or magistrate of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

Kathryn B writes: "Especially liked the ‘Weekend of Fear’ portion … these (un)alerts are truly getting to be a ‘deja vu all over again’ experience. Manipulation definitely their game."

Steve Withers writes: "I love your e-mail newsletter. Keep up the great work. As for the high gas prices, it was fairly obvious a while back that they would come … There really isn’t enough oil to go around … and the more we pump, the sooner the BIG crunch is going to come when there just isn’t any more of the stuff in the quantities to which we have become accustomed. To cut to the chase … the high gas prices right now shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone. If you have been following the path of US debt, jobs being expoerted to China en masse … and the natural result of a costly war paid for by thin air … then there really was only one result … and we are seeing it. Oil prices are also political. How likely is Venezuela’s Cezar Chavez going to agree to an oil production increase to save the bacon of the US President who has twice tried to depose him? Countering that, the Saudis - who wanted higher oil prices only 3 months ago - changed their tune abruptly when their buddy in the White House started to tank in the polls. I have a feeling their ’support’ for Bush may be cosmetic. Who really mounted the recent attack on the oil soft target in Saudi? Maybe it was the Saudi Royal family’s way of undercutting their own ’support’ for Bush."

NOTE: The Saudis and the UAE are going to start pumping more to undercut this crisis but even Saudis say that the market sets the prices, not just OPEC.

TIENANMAN COMMEMORATION IN LA

Live in LA? Concerned about human rights in China? There will be a a Candlelight Vigil in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre Friday, June 4, 2004 at 8:00 pm in front of the Consulate of the Peoples Republic of China 443 Shatto Place, Los Angeles, CA 90020.

MADIBA: "DON’T CALL ME, I’ll CALL YOU"

Our best to Nelson Mandela who announced at age 86 that he will be scaling back his public activities. AFP reports:

South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon and revered statesman, Nelson Mandela, has announced he will be scaling back his public schedule to enjoy “a much quieter life."

Mandela, who turns 86 next month, said he wanted to spend time with his family and friends, write memoirs about his tenure as South Africa’s first black president, enjoy reading and engage in “quiet reflection."

“Henceforth I want to be in the position of calling you to ask whether I would be welcome rather than being called upon to do things and participate in events. The appeal therefore is ‘Don’t call me, I’ll call you,’” he said.

ANNIVERSARY

Today marks the first anniversary of the FCC decision allowing more media concentration. I have written an assessment that appears on the Mediachannel.org home page. Check it out and pass it on. It’s called: “Big Media More Willing To Cover Up Than Change.”

Oops. Here’s the correct URL for the Bill Bowles story I cited yesterday on Britain’s muslim cleric accused of terrorism: http://www.williambowles.info/ini/ini-0243.html

Help us expose media cover-ups. Share your thoughts on how to build and promote Mediachannel. Feedback welcome. Write: dissector@medichannel.org