Opinion Editorials, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Rumsfeld Slams Arab Media; Will Bombs Follow?
by Mike Whitney
Al-Jazeerah, 11/29/03
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s ruminations on the
bias of Arab media
would be risible if it wasn’t so tragic. We should recall that Rumsfeld’s
commitment to free speech was on clear display during both the War in
Afghanistan and the War in Iraq when he ordered the bombing of Al jazeera’s
facilities in both countries. This is how the grandfatherly Rummy chooses to
enlighten the savages of the third world about the wondrous nature of the
free press.
Actually, Rumsfeld might be considered an expert on
the topic of bias. He
was the architect of the enormously unpopular Dept of Strategic Influence,
an office entirely devoted to putting American operatives in the foreign
news services to spread the “good news” about US foreign policy. We can only
assume that the reason he did not suggest a similar program domestically, is
that it already exists, and effectively quashes any dissenting viewpoint.
We may also recall that it was Rumsfeld’s Office of Special Plans at the
Pentagon that manufactured every bit of fabricated intelligence leading up
to the war with Iraq. This phony information was later adroitly blamed on
the CIA, the convenient fall guy for the slippery Rummy.
Then there was the marvelous coup that the Dept of
Defense devised with
the aid of the mainstream media, to embed journalists in the war so they
could photograph the fireworks of modern technology but never film the
consequences. Apparently, Rummy doesn’t like the idea of dead soldiers or
dead civilians appearing on network TV, it tends to undermine the requisite
support for the war machine.
Rumsfeld’s grip is so far reaching, that he has even
forbidden the filming
of flag-draped caskets returning to Dover Air Force Base, an edict that
dramatizes the feckless nature of the press corps as well as the extent of
Rumsfeld’s control.
So, how should we regard Rumsfeld’s disparaging
remarks of “bias in the
Arab media”? Could they be the rationale for another attack on Al jazeera?
Who knows? After all, we’re not dealing with someone who is constrained
by any conventional sense of morality. Rumsfeld has proved time and again
that he will stop at nothing to control the narrative of American
adventurism, and Arab media poses the last real obstacle to his information
monopoly.
I’m sure there are a few “sweaty palms” in Doha tonight.
 |
| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
 |
| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
 |
| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
 |