THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Mortgage Industry And Bankers Fight New Regulations To Stop Abuses
NY Times reports on a “Buzz saw” of criticism from industry that profited from subprime loans.

REV WRIGHT FIGHTS BACK: Says He Is Not Running for Office, Challenges Corporate News Media. Says He Is “Descriptive, not divisive”

60 MINUTES OFFERS PROPAGANDA AS NEWS
PENTAGON SUSPENDS CONTROVERSIAL MEDIA BRIEFINGS
HAS THE OLYMPICS OUTLIVED ITS USEFULNESS?

We have just passed the l00th anniversary of the birth of Edward R Murrow who younger people may remember because he was fictionalized in the George Clooney produced movie Good Night and Good Luck. Murrow was a hero of mine back in the days when I believed journalism would change the world. It was Murrow who stood up to Joe McCarthy and investigated shameful migrant labor practices among so many other stories.

It was Murrow who defined CBS News in its glory days.

Were he alive today, he would troubled, if not shocked, by what’s become of CBS News and its signature “investigative” program 60 Minutes. In fact, the buzz is that CBS is about to get out of the news biz and contract news gathering to CNN. Not sure if that’s true but it probably couldn’t hurt.

I tune in, more out of habit than anything else for the occasional good story–can’t take Lara Logan’s pro-war segments— but last night it looked like The Israeli Lobby got there first by arranging super-access for Bob Simon to glamorize the Israeli Air Force in the same week that its fighter pilots killed a young girl in Gaza. The piece was largely uncritical and seemed to be chearleading for an military attack on Iran and was filled with strident and unexamined propaganda,

Here’s the CBS “news” story about the segment:

(CBS) The commander of the Israeli air force takes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel extremely seriously. Israelis must be ready for anything and ultimately trust only themselves, he believes, and for good reason: his family survived the Holocaust.

Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy speaks to 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon in a story about the Israeli air force this Sunday, April 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

“I think it is a very serious threat to the state of Israel, but more than this, to the whole world,” Shkedy says of the Iranian leader’s public animosity toward Israel. “They are talking about what they think about the state of Israel. They are talking about destroying and wiping us from the earth,” he tells Simon. It reminds him of the Holocaust. “We should remember. We cannot forget. We should trust only ourselves.”

The general likens ignoring Ahmadinejad today to the atmosphere that enabled the Holocaust yesterday. “In those days, people didn’t believe that Hitler was serious about what he said. I suggest not to repeat this way of thinking, and to prepare ourselves for what they are planning,” says Shkedy. “We should be prepared for everything.”

Iran publicly professes to be building a nuclear reactor for energy but many speculate a bomb cannot be far off once nuclear fuel is produced there. In 1981, Saddam Hussein built a nuclear reactor in Iraq and Israel responded militarily with its air force, wiping out the facility. “

. .

This was the thrust of the go Israeli Air Force go story. As to its premise: Is it true that Iran wants to wipe Israel off the face of the map? How many times have we heard that?

I was fascinated to hear as speaker at the Eurasian Media Forum in Khazakhstan from which I have just returned, say it never happened, and that this statement it belongs in the same category of engineered propaganda as the statements attributed to Saddam Hussein allegedly threatening to use nuclear weapons.

Did Iran’s President make the threat Not according to an analysis dissecting this alleged statement on Information Clearing House.

I don’t claim to be an expert but like so many had assumed that the this was real if only because of how many times I heard it repeated by TV pundits and even the President of the United States:

“But now that I’m on Iran, the threat to Iran, of course — (applause) — the threat from Iran is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel. That’s a threat, a serious threat. It’s a threat to world peace; it’s a threat, in essence, to a strong alliance. I made it clear, I’ll make it clear again, that we will use military might to protect our ally, Israel, and — (applause.)” George W. Bush, US-President, 2006-03-20 in Cleveland (Ohio) in an off-the-cuff speech (source: www.whitehouse.gov)

How many time have we all heard this threat? It’s offered as the reason that so many supporters of Israel equate Iran with the Nazis. It is no doubt one of the reasons that Hillary Clinton recently promised that the US would annihilate Iran if that country attacks Israel. Is there another view? Of course. Do you ever hear it? Of course not!

Anneliese Fikentscher and Andreas Neumann ask: Does Iran’s President wants Israel wiped off the map?

To raze Israel to the ground, to batter down, to destroy, to annihilate, to liquidate, to erase Israel, to wipe it off the map - this is what Iran’s President demanded - at least this is what we read about or heard of at the end of October 2005. Spreading the news was very effective. This is a declaration of war they said. Obviously government and media were at one with their indignation. It goes around the world.

But let’s take a closer look at what Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. It is a merit of the ‘New York Times’ that they placed the complete speech at our disposal. Here’s an excerpt from the publication dated 2005-10-30:

“They say it is not possible to have a world without the United States and Zionism. But you know that this is a possible goal and slogan. Let’s take a step back. [[[We had a hostile regime in this country which was undemocratic, armed to the teeth and, with SAVAK, its security apparatus of SAVAK [the intelligence bureau of the Shah of Iran’s government] watched everyone. An environment of terror existed.]]] When our dear Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Iranian revolution] said that the regime must be removed, many of those who claimed to be politically well-informed said it was not possible. All the corrupt governments were in support of the regime when Imam Khomeini started his movement. [[[All the Western and Eastern countries supported the regime even after the massacre of September 7 [1978] ]]] and said the removal of the regime was not possible. But our people resisted and it is 27 years now that we have survived without a regime dependent on the United States.

The tyranny of the East and the West over the world should have to end, but weak people who can see only what lies in front of them cannot believe this. Who would believe that one day we could witness the collapse of the Eastern Empire? But we could watch its fall in our lifetime. And it collapsed in a way that we have to refer to libraries because no trace of it is left. Imam [Khomeini] said Saddam must go and he said he would grow weaker than anyone could imagine. Now you see the man who spoke with such arrogance ten years ago that one would have thought he was immortal, is being tried in his own country in handcuffs and shackles [[[by those who he believed supported him and with whose backing he committed his crimes]]]. Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime [Israel] has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world.”
(source: www.nytimes.com)

It’s becoming clear. The statements of the Iranian President have been reflected by the media in a manipulated way. Iran’s President betokens the removal of the regimes, that are in power in Israel and in the USA, to be possible aim for the future. This is correct. But he never demands the elimination or annihilation of Israel.

And what about the Israel Air Force’s track record? Are they the heroes depicted by 60 Minutes? An editor of the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz recently published a book arguing that the Israeli Air Force is the most right-wing of the military branches in Israel, dominated by extremist settlers. 60 Minutes did not tell us about the role played by the IAF during the 2006 war on Lebanon, and its dropping, for example of Three million cluster bombs after a cease fire had been declared.

None of this was raised by Bob Simon and his colleagues. There is no reference either to a US Air Force commissioned study that also criticized the Israeli Air Force’s track record. It was reported on by the New York Times.

JERUSALEM, Oct. 13 — A study of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war commissioned by the United States Air Force and to be published this month concludes that Israel’s use of air power was of diminishing value as the fight dragged on because it was used without enough discrimination…

By bombing too many targets of questionable importance for its aims, and not explaining why it bombed what it did, Israel lost the war for public opinion, according to the author of the study, William M. Arkin, an expert in assessing bomb damage. “Israel bombed too much and bombed the wrong targets, falling back upon cookie-cutter conventional targeting in attacking traditional military objects,” Mr. Arkin wrote. “Individual elements of each target group might have been justified, but Israel also undertook an intentionally punishing and destructive air campaign against the people and government of Lebanon.”

I am raising this not because I want to criticize Israel or defend Iran. Not at all. This is just one more instance of the failure of TV programs we should be trusting to do more original and balanced research and not echo fear creating propaganda claims that seek to win public support for new wars.

A week ago, we all read about how the Pentagon cultivated former military experts to do the Administration’s bidding. Now we see, its not just the Pentagon or the former military officers who are complicit and irresponsible but TV journalists themselves who turn their own programs into propaganda.

What say you Bob Simon?

There’s more on the media-war connection:

Jeff Schogo Stars and Stripes Halts Feeding of Information to Retired Officers While Issue is Reviewed

Arlington, Virginia - The Defense Department has temporarily stopped feeding information to retired military officers pending a review of the issue, said Robert Hastings, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs.

The New York Times first reported on Sunday that the Defense Department was giving information to retired officers serving as pundits for various media organizations in order to garner favorable media coverage.

Some of these retired officers saw their access to key decision-makers as possible business opportunities for the defense contractors they represent, according to the newspaper. The story also alleged that the officers who did not repeat the Bush administration’s official line were denied further access to information.

Hastings said he is concerned about allegations that the Defense Department’s relationship with the retired military analysts was improper.

PROJECT CENSORED’S EXPERIENCE

LISTEN TO A RECENT FORUM ON THE MEDIA AND THE WAR

Tom Englehardt: PETRAEUS CULTIVATED MEDIA: “Selling the President’s General, The Petraeus Story”

Last week, we learned two things: David Barstow of the New York Times revealed an extensive five year-old Pentagon propaganda operation to embed retired military officers spouting DoD “talking points” in the mainstream media and, at about the same time, the President’s favorite general, David Petraeus, was given another promotion by being nominated as the head of U.S. Central Command in the Middle East.

There was a single sentence in the Barstow piece that was telling on Petraeus, but has so far been ignored: “When David H. Petraeus was appointed the commanding general in Iraq in January 2007, one of his early acts was to meet with the [Pentagon’s retired military] analysts.” In other words, Petraeus began his surge campaign by helping to promote a media propaganda surge at home focused on his future moves in Iraq. This tells us much about a general who has been remarkably promotional (as well as self-promotional) as befits an administration which, since the President climbed atop a pile of rubble in New York City with a bullhorn on September 14, 2001, has always worked hardest on its selling war, on the American “home front.”

UPDATE: Barack Obama has endorsed Petraeus’ promotion.