COL SAM GARDINER ON ZARQAWI

I asked retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner for his take on Zarqawi. He is an expert on information warfare and appears in my film, WMD:

“1. The US made more of him than he was. We made more of his connection to Osama bin Laden than there was. We will make more of his killing than there is.

“2. Last week, I was a guest on Alhurra TV, the Washington-based television network sponsored by the USG to counter Aljazerra. The anchor asked my why the US bombed the house rather than attempting to capture the individuals there. I could not answer his question. I could only say I wish we had not done it the way we did. I’m very uneasy by the growing parallels between the US response and the Israeli response, standoff assassination.”

Eugene Duran writes:

“By elevating Zarqawi to such a high spot by all the publicity ha has received are we not creating ten others willing to die as a martyr as he did? Perhaps by naming him as the leader then we can ignore the reality that there are actually many Zarqawis leading the resistance. Any death to rally the troops and create the illusion of progress. Such desperation.

Larry Houghteling responds to one of yesterday’s letters:

”I see that somebody who is allegedly Master Sergeant Daniel Cassady has written to blow off some steam and call you names. What a sad, cynical POV! ”You own the Conspiracy Theory DVD don’t you? Tell me the liberal democrat bastards never put their own spin on things. Politics sucks from both the right and the left. No one is better than the other. You my friend are part of the problem as well as I and everyone else.”

His attempts to bait you are pathetic and ridiculous. He may be a master sergeant, but he is no master baiter.”

FYI—I had an interesting exchange with Cassady, not be confused with the other Dan Cassidy who writes often, and I welcome his input, however critical.

Emil Zysk is very positive about my work, and I appreciate it. But I am also wary because I think someone wrote an overly enthusiastic but phony letter praising the blog in hopes of later discrediting it. This, I don’t think is one of those letters.

”I think society owes a debt of gratitude to Danny, for his relentless pursuit in exposing the fictitious mass media agenda. This kind of courageous ‘de-programming’ is an essential first step in creating the conditions for an aroused, enlightened citizenry to take back their own country. Keep up the GOOD WORK Danny.

Robert Polhemus writes on the Hale Boggs connection suggested yesterday:

It is no surprise to anyone that Dubya may have taken part in the Murder of Hale Boggs. The Man is a Tyrant and it is long past due that a Number of people call him by this real name “George The Tyrant”. These words were uttered in a Capital Building in Colonial Williamsburg by a very brave man who asked a vote be taken to join the Revolution against the tyranny of King George of England back in the 1770’s.

“I sincerely believe that the followers and the ignorant of this tyrant the current George Bush should go back and read a little history. There is not a single Person, In my mind, who presently supports George Bush and his tyrannical crowd who can claim to stand on any Principle what-so-ever!

“Second-Ann Coulter? Some say she may have gone too far. I say let her spew. I am all that she accuses and all the more proud of it. It sure does say something about our culture that a vindictive hate spewing ugly old woman like this who pretends she is young and sexy gets so much coverage as she does. Trust that yourself and all of us who TRY TO STAND UP and be counted are alive and well.”

MY STILL UNPUBLISHED LETTER TO THE NY TIMES

Since I publish everyone else’s letters, I decided to write one of my own yesterday to the NY Times on a column about charges that the Zarqawi killing was a “stunt” were somehow anti-American. So far, no surprise, I have had no response from the Times

WAS IT STUNT?

Paul Krugman seems to imply that some folks skeptical about how the Zargawi “elimination” was staged and played (including by the NY Tines whose initial Page l overkill coverage won plaudits from the National Review) may be part of some “hate America” crowd. While he exempts patriotic Democrats from the charge of considering it a “stunt,” he implies others may be guilty of the charge, however much he rightly detests the smear.

“What’s missing in his column, and your coverage which only raised questions about the official story three days afterwards, is reporting about the admitted military propaganda campaign to “magnify the role” of Zarqawi in Iraq.” Pentagon documents listed the ‘U.S. Home Audience’ as one of its targets. One 2004 military briefing, cited by another newspaper, spoke of seeking a “Villainize Zarqawi/leverage xenophobia response.” The document listed three methods: “Media operations,” “Special Ops (626)” (referring to Task Force 626, an elite US military unit) and “PSYOP”, the military term for propaganda work Later Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, called “The Zarqawi PSYOP program … the most successful information campaign to date.”

When is a stunt not a stunt? And if the Times’ later report on Zarqawi’s global threats are true, why wasn’t he captured to be questioned ala Al Qaeda’s Sheikh Mohammad rather than bombed into martyrdom?”

THE TAKE BACK AMERICA CONFERENCE IN DC

Mark Crispin Miller is correctly concerned that voter integrity issues are not being raised:

”The Agenda includes a (seemingly) comprehensive list of luminary speakers and relevant work sessions on subjects ranging from health care to energy to media problems.

Yet there is a significant topic not addressed once in the 3-day agenda: the crisis in the American electoral process. Not one Plenary speech, not one work session, not even one of the book signing intermissions addresses this crisis.

http://home.ourfuture.org/tba06/agenda.html

SPEAKING OF VOTING ISSUES

Common Dreams reports on a groundbreaking and timely new book, STEALING DEMOCRACY: The New Politics of Voter Suppression (W.W. Norton), by Spencer Overton, George Washington Law School Professor who served on the Jimmy Carter / James Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform, and is a Board Member of Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, a national public policy group focusing on democracy reform.

In STEALING DEMOCRACY, Overton uses real-life stories and field research to illuminate how systemic problems with our election systems, and partisan efforts to influence the electorate and fix political outcomes, have eroded American democracy.”

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WRITER GUNTER GRASS: QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Armed force is used by this superpower to defeat the terrorism it is itself responsible for. The war [on Iraq], deliberately started in blatant disdain of the laws of civilized societies, produces still more terror.”

From his talk to the International PEN Conference
http://agrnews.org/?section=news&news_section=6&#Nobel%20Laureate%20flays%20Bush

I WANT TO THANK THE ACADEMY

Funniest award nomination from DXM of the Geeze

”See Danny The News Dissector Schechter, who for his today’s edition we nominate him for a Bloglitzer!”

SPORTS: A socialist’s guide to the World Cup

Whether you’re cheering on the boys from Brazil or avoiding the television at all costs, keep an eye on the political dynamics of this year’s World Cup.”

http://www.rabble.ca/politics.shtml?sh_itm=7cf609af05474a8e0a5d2177a28e8e17&rXn=1&

TODAY

I will be attending a panel on the India Movie Industry today in the lunch hour at the Asia society and then will watch Greg Palast hold forth tonight at a forum with Amy Goodman and others at the Ethical Culture Society.

Thanks for all your comments and support. Become a member of Mediachannel.org why don’t you?—see home page—and share your thoughts with your news dissector.

Write: Dissector@mediachannel