- Corporate media manipulators love a big story they can
hype, distort and falsify to attract large audiences, unaware they're getting
managed news, not truth.
-
- Moreover, the bigger the event, the worse the reporting,
and no matter how often they're fooled, madding crowds rely on proved unreliable
sources like US cable and broadcast TV, as well as corporate broadsheets
and popular magazines publishing rubbish not fit to print.
-
- After Obama's May day announcement, round-the-clock coverage
now features "story one" ad nauseam, cheerleading the death of
a dead man with no one allowed on to refute it.
-
- A previous article did, accessed through the following
link:
-
- http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/05/lies-damn-lies-and-bin-ladens-death.html
-
- Separating fact from fiction, it explained:
-
- (1) Significant facts from David Ray Griffin's important
book titled, "Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive?" In it, he provided
objective and testimonial evidence of his December 2001 death, likely from
kidney failure, not a special forces hit squad getting their man then or
now.
-
- (2) Forensic evidence that post-9/11 videos and audios
were fake.
-
- (3) Bin Laden's role as a CIA asset, as well as called
"Enemy Number One," using him advantageously both ways.
-
- (4) Also, reports of his 2001 hospitalizations in Pakistan
and Dubai where (in July) the emirate's CIA station chief visited him in
his hospital room. Why not if he was a valued asset, his likely status
until his natural, not violent, death.
-
- Nonetheless, Western politicians and media, notably America's,
never miss a chance to report fiction, not fact, especially on headline
news like bin Laden's death, a decade after it happened.
-
- Examples of Media Misreporting
-
- Several May 2 New York Times articles provide painful
reading, including Mark Mazzetti, Helene Cooper and Peter Baker's headlined,
"Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden," saying:
-
- "For years, the agonizing search for (him) kept
coming up empty. Then last July, Pakistanis working for the (CIA) drove
up behind a white Suzuki navigating the bustling streets near Peshawar,
Pakistan," and discovered, after checking its license, that it belonged
to his "most trusted courier...."
-
- Claiming he lead them to bin Laden's location, it said:
-
- "79 American commandos in four helicopters descended
on (it). Shots rang out....Of the five dead, one was a tall, bearded man
with a bloodied face and a bullet in his head."
-
- Bin Laden's manhunt ended, said the writers, when he
was identified, then quickly buried at sea to hide the evidence, though
under English common law most often, no body means no killing or crime.
In other words, without proof, prosecutorial allegations are baseless.
-
- Nonetheless, Mazzetti, Cooper and Baker recounted a decade-long
fantasy, including detainee interrogations in secret Eastern Europe prisons,
widespread surveillance, wiretaps, satellite images and more before tracking
bin Laden to a Abbottabad, Pakistan compound and killing him.
-
- No matter that none of it was true and much more. International
and constitutional law prohibit sending uninvited military forces to another
country for any reason.
-
- Moreover, no one suspected of any crime may be summarily
executed with no arrest, no due process, no no judicial fairness, and no
trial. Just a bullet, bomb or slit throat, Washington's version of summary
judgment besides torture and imperial wars as official policies.
-
- These topics were ignored in major media reports, focused
solely on killing a decade earlier dead man.
-
- On May 2, Times writers Scott Shane and Robert Worth
headlined, "Even Before Al Qaeda Lost Its Founder, It May Have Lost
Some of Its Allure," saying:
-
- Bin Laden had "long been removed from managing terrorist
operations and whose popularity with Muslims worldwide has plummeted in
recent years," calling him a "violent extremis(t) without saying
he was replaced after his 2001 death so, of course, his influenced waned.
Out of sight, out of mind, especially when dead.
-
- A May 2 Times editorial headlined, "The Long-Awaited
News," saying:
-
- "The news that (he'd) been tracked and killed by
American forces filled us, and all Americans, with a great sense of relief....(but
we must) remember that the fight against extremists is far from over."
-
- Noting years of painstaking "vigilance and persistence,"
it praised Obama for "show(ing) that he is a strong and measured leader.
His declaration on Sunday night that 'justice has been done' was devoid
of triumphalism."
-
- In fact, he affirmed continuity of America's war on terror
- state terror, including four imperial wars and numerous proxy ones, expending
enormous sums while popular needs go begging.
-
- Ignoring truth, he repeated lies endorsed shamelessly
by America's media, notably by Times correspondents, op-ed contributors,
and editorial writers with comments like:
-
- "Bin Laden's death is an extraordinary moment for
Americans and all who have lost loved ones in horrifying, pointless acts
of terrorism."
-
- Unmentioned was decades of US and Israeli-sponsored state
terrorism responsible for millions of deaths, destruction and human suffering.
Earlier, noted scholar/activist Eqbal Ahmad (1934 - 1999) called it:
-
- "illegal violence, (including) torture, (attacking
and bombing) villages, destruction of entire peoples, (and) genocide,"
adding, "Who will define the parameters of terrorism, or decide where
terrorists lurk? Why, none other than the United States, (its leading practitioner)
which can from the rooftops of the world set out its claim to be the sheriff,
judge and hangman, all at one and the same time."
-
- So while rhetorically supporting equal justice and democratic
values, Washington spurns international and constitutional law, using brute
force to assert might over right, all the while proclaiming just cause
reasons for its actions.
-
- No wonder Ahmad called America "a troubled country,"
sowing "poisonous seeds" globally, saying "(s)ome have ripened
and others are ripening (with no) examination of (what they've) sown,"
adding that "(m)issiles won't solve the problem." In other words,
violence assures more of it, but don't expect America's media to explain.
-
- On May 2, Washington Post writers Greg Miller and Joby
Warrick headlined, "Bin Laden discovered 'hiding in plain sight,'
" recounting the same fantasy as Times writers, saying:
-
- "The commandos swept methodically through (his)
compound's main building, clearing one room and then another" until
they got their man. Sounding more like bad fiction, they said the operation
was secretly planned for months, culminating with Sunday's assault, adding
bin Laden wasn't hiding in a cave after all.
-
- A WP editorial headlined, "Possible consequences
of the bin Laden coup," saying:
-
- "There are multiple reasons to celebrate" his
death, including loss of Al Qaeda's leader, the prowess of US intelligence
and military, and that the "prime (9/11) author (finally was) brought
to justice."
-
- It brought "a rare moment of common celebration
and relief in a divided America. But (it's) not clear to what degree al-Qaeda's
operations will be affected by the loss of its leader." It may, in
fact, strengthen its resolve. History shows dead militants often inspire
followers.
-
- Ignoring illegal operations on foreign soil, it worried
most about ending or curtailing them prematurely, no matter the toll in
human life and neglect for popular domestic needs. For now, celebratory
joy takes precedence, even for false reasons.
-
- A Wall Street Journal editorial headlined "Victory
in Abbottabad," saying:
-
- Killing bin Laden "doesn't end the war against Islamic
terror (note the racism), but it is a crucial and just victory that is
rightfully cause for celebration."
-
- Ignoring daily US war crimes, including killer drones
murdering civilians, it railed against "combatants who hide in the
world's dark corners, who rarely fight in the open and who attack innocents
far from any conventional battlefield."
-
- Praising Obama, it called it "a moment to salute
George W. Bush....a vindication of (his war on terror, intelligence, and)
interrogation policies," torturing innocent victims to extract false
confessions and information about things they know nothing about, including
bin Laden's alleged whereabouts.
-
- His death, said the writer, "is a measure of justice
for the thousands he killed (and) a warning to others who would kill Americans
that they will meet the same fate, no matter how long it takes or where
they try to hide."
-
- This and other accounts like it, sadly, is what passes
for corporate opinion in America, endorsing state terror and vilifying
those against it.
-
- Huffington Post contributor Michael Calderone headlined
"Network Anchors Head to Ground Zero for Bin Laden Coverage,"
saying:
-
- They never miss a chance to misreport major news, including
the three broadcast anchors: NBC's Brian Williams, ABC's Diane Sawyer,
and CBS' Katie Couric (an entertainer impersonating a newsperson) "host(ing)
an expanded, one-hour May 2 edition of their nightly broadcasts from"
Ground Zero.
-
- Several cable channels joined them, including CNN and
Fox, reporting fiction about a decade earlier dead man.
-
- Time magazine's cover story featured bin Laden's full-page
image with a pronounced red X crossing him out, highlighting what didn't
happen to the detriment of readers believing inaccurate reporting.
-
- Al Jazeera was just as bad with stories like one headlined,
"Obama says world safer without Bin Laden," saying:
-
- He "claimed responsibility for planning the September
11 attacks on New York and Washington," providing no corroborating
evidence. In fact, in David Ray Griffin's writings, he said:
-
- "(T)here is no good evidence that bin Laden had
planned or even specifically authorized the 9/11 attacks." Those believing
it cite his misinterpreted September 2001 Al Jazeera interview, rejoicing
in the attacks but denying knowledge or responsibility.
-
- Griffin said one of his aides confirmed that he had "no
information or knowledge about the attack(s)" but he "thanked
Almighty Allah and bowed before him when he heard this news." Days
later he told Al Jazeera:
-
- "I stress that I have not carried out this act,
which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation."
-
- During two subsequent October 2001 interviews, he praised
the "vanguards of Islam (who) destroyed America," but again admitted
no knowledge or responsibility.
-
- Al Jazeera now claiming it is a lie.
-
- BBC aired the same misinformation as did America's National
Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting (PBS), calling his death a blow
to Al Qaeda. So did Democracy Now, ignoring bin Laden's decade earlier
natural, not violent, death.
-
- Nation magazine editor Katrina vanden Heuvel also swallowed
the big lie, headlining her article, "With Osama bin Laden Dead, It's
Time to End the 'War on Terror,' " that was entirely bogus from inception,
saying:
-
- "Today, President Obama and his team have a chance
to reset our fight against terrorism," vanden Heuvel not condemning
its lawlessness, America's imperial wars, a president with no credibility,
a falsely reported 9/11 event, and that the only relevant terror is what
Washington unleashes globally against nonbelligerent nations.
-
- Instead, she praised Obama's "humane and sober"
position, calling it "a relief to hear in his words reminders of"
a brief post-9/11 period before America went to war in Afghanistan, then
Iraq, undertakings Nation magazine supported at the time and still stops
short of rejecting.
-
- A Final Comment
-
- On May 2, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting's Peter
Hart headlined, "Bush's Palpable Persistence in Pursuit of bin Laden,"
suggesting he stopped looking, knowing he died, quoting him saying in March
2002:
-
- "Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not. We
haven't heard from him in a long time....I don't know where he is. I really
just don't spend that much time on him, to be honest with you."
-
- Washington Monthly's Steve Benen offered more evidence
of no interest in pursuing him, saying:
-
- "In July 2006, we learned that the Bush administration
closed its unit that had been hunting bin Laden," reported also by
New York Times writer Mark Mazzetti on July 4, saying the CIA ceased all
efforts last year pursuing him.
-
- Along with David Ray Griffin's important work, it's more
proof of bin Laden's 2001 death, putting a lie to Obama's announcement
and shameless journalists repeating it.
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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