|  There
are glaring examples of journalists' abuse of their power.
Most striking is the total exclusion of the fact that
Bush's war violates
International Law and U.S. Law. The media's assumption
that lawlessness does not even merit a mention is sickening.
They constantly allow the Bush Administration to sell
this war with talk of Saddam's crimes without pointing
out the role of the U.S. in helping him carry out these
crimes. That Saddam most likely would not even be in power
today had it not been for the U.S.'s own violations of
International Law is never mentioned. U.S. policy makers
helped Saddam stay in power even
after the Gulf War. Reporters never question these
polices or why American soldiers must now lay down their
lives when the U.S. was supporting Saddam during his worst
atrocities.U.S.
involvement in Saddam's gassing is yet another story
the media refuses to cover. (see also:
Today's outrage was yesterday's no big deal )
Bush
hypocritically lists Iraq's war on Iran as an example
of Saddam's evil. If Saddam's war was evil, what does
that make us who aided and abetted him? Never pointed
out is that after the Iran-Iraq war (when Saddam actually
used WMD) the U.S. did not push for inspections yet after
the Gulf war (when Saddam didn't use WMD) the U.S. hypocritically
insisted on weapons inspections. In fact the chemicals
that were released were the result of U.S. bombing.
Constantly the media repeats official lies about why
the inspectors left in 1998 and they are reluctant
to tell the public about America's
role in undermining the inspection process. (see also:
Common
Myths in Iraq Coverage) The media plays along with
the "no fly zones" by giving the public the
impression that they are authorized by the UN. They
are not. The media has not done a good job telling
the public that CIA
opinion says an attack on Iraq makes us less safe.
(Also both the CIA and FBI dispute
terror-link claims made by the Bush Administration)
Saddam has only used WMD when he had U.S. support and
the historical record shows he is unwilling to use them
when we make it clear we would retaliate. This is the
policy that got us safely out of the Cold War with the
Soviet Union.
Also
omitted from TV reporting is that fact that Saddam offered
to withdraw from Kuwait and that the Gulf War need not
have been fought in the first place. Forgotten is that
the UN resolution in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
called for a negotiated resolution to the Kuwait conflict.
Bush Sr. wanted his war and the media then as now served
the war agenda. TV networks ignore the legal obligations
of the US.
These
are all ugly violations of the public's rights to know.
If 100,000 protesters went door to door to distribute
information with 100 flyers each, we would give 10 million
Americans the chance to learn facts they would not have
the opportunity to know if they rely on the mainstream
media for news. We must remember that the war agenda's
power is in what they can keep from the American public.
Join
the fight to get these facts into the hands of the American
public. Print up and distribute this flyer. Read footnotes
at www.RepresentativePress.org
and help fight the ignorance that threatens our liberties.
"A nation that expects to be ignorant and free expects
what never was and never will be.'' -Thomas Jefferson
The national media ignored
the fact that our government was caught lying!
St. Petersburg Times editors approached the Associated
Press twice about running the story on the wire, but to
no avail. Likewise, the Scripps-Howard news service, of
which-the St. Petersburg Times is a member, chose not
to distribute the story.
Agencies
dispute terror-link claims
February 3 2003
By James Risen, David Johnston
Washington
The Bush Administration's efforts to build a case for
war against Iraq using intelligence to link Iraq to al-Qaeda
and the development of prohibited weapons has created
friction within US intelligence agencies, Government officials
said yesterday.
Some CIA analysts have complained that senior
Administration officials have exaggerated the significance
of some intelligence reports about Iraq - particularly
about its possible links to terrorism - to strengthen
their political argument for war, Government
officials said.
At the FBI, some investigators said they were baffled
by the Bush Administration's insistence on a solid link
between Iraq and Osama bin Laden's network.
"We've been looking at this hard for more than a
year and you know what, we just don't think it's there,"
a Government official said.
The tension within the intelligence agencies comes as
Secretary of State Colin Powell is poised to go before
the UN Security Council on Wednesday to present evidence
of Iraq's links to terrorism and its continuing efforts
to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and
long-range missiles. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/02/1044122260727.html
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