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Thursday, February 6, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"The military as an instrument of mass killing is a waste institution - humans, energy, oil, metals, scientific and technical skills, money - it consumes all and restores nothing to the resources of the planet. Any faithful or sane scrutiny would conclude that it must be dismantled. It kills, threatens and wastes - it is the BIG LIE institutionalized. Its veneer and untouchability gives new meaning to the demonic."
- - Phillp Berrigan
(Anti-war activist who spent 11 years of his 79 years in prison for non-violent resistance to America's "bosses and warriors", as he put it. He died of cancer on December 6, 2002.)
RHINO HERE:
So was there any beef in General Powell's show & tell yesterday? You be the judge. Following are links to the text of his speech, to his slide show & to the Post's coverage:
"A Policy of Evasion and Deception'"
The full text of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the U.N. on Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/transcripts/powelltext_020503.html
Powell's Slide Show
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2003/02/06/1044318706164.html
"Powell Accuses Iraq of Undermining Inspectors
At U.N., Secretary of State Says Iraqis Dispersing Rockets" - Washington Post, 5/5/03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29034-2003Feb5.html
Rhino say, "Where's The Beef?" Meaning, "Where's the imminent threat?"
One thing's for sure - The U.S. media was playing cheerleader for Powell, et al.
As soon as he finished his 90 minute presentation, every major TV news outlet went to their pundits who were all thumbs up for the secretary. Never mind the show was supposed to be about making the case to the U.N. Never mind what the reps for China, Syria, France, Germany or anyone else had to say after Powell was done.
Given the media's handling of it, I'd say the entire dog & pony show wasn't meant for the U.N., but was to convince the American people to get with the program. Oops! That's what the Iraqi rep said. Watch your mouth Rhino.
China's rep was right after Powell . Short & sweet he said, China hopes the U.S. Government will provide any hard evidence they have to the inspectors. China also hopes the inspectors work will be respected and allowed to continue.
The Syrian Ambassador echoed that and asked how the Council justify an invasion for supposed WOMD's & breeches of UN resolutions when Israel too has WOMD's & has been in violation of UN resolutions for decades. He urged a focus on getting rid of all WOMD's in the region. Of course I had to hear these guys on our beloved Pacifica Radio since all the 3 letter propagandists (CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC) had turned their cameras off in the chamber.
An interesting side note was the U.N.Cover-Up: A huge blue cloth hung across the wall just outside the Security Council chambers, hiding the UN's treasured tapestry of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica". Did someone (maybe Ashcroft with his shame hiding tarp again?) think it not appropriate to have General Powell exit the war making pep rally into a camera lens filled foyer backdroped by Picasso's anti-war masterpiece. "Guernica" commemorates a Basque village in northern Spain where on April 27, 1937, a German bombing raid killed or wounded 1,600 civilians & left the village in flames.
FOR MORE ON GUERNICA, SEE "Picasso and The German Occupation"
http://web.org.uk/picasso/occupation.html
TO SEE "Guernica" CLICK THE LINK, THEN CLICK ON "Zoom In"
Guernica
Now comes Molly Ivins calling our attention toward the F.C.C., "the guardians of the people's airwaves" who's latest chainsawing of the American democratic experiment will be to remove the final barriers against the concentration of media ownership. Meaning 1 company will be able to own all the radio stations, television stations, newspapers & cable systems in any given area.
"FCC and Right-Wing Radio Helping U.S. Press Freedom Slip Away"
by MOLLY IVINS, Creators Syndicate, 2/3/03
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Feb/02032003/commenta/25802.asp
What this? A beam of sunlight bursting through the dark clouds?
Kucinich Pondering A Run For White House
http://truthout.org/docs_02/020603G.htm
And THE BOTTOM LINE is a sad shuck & a jive. Rupert Murdoch's Fox News is currently shelling out thousands of dollars a day to the Iraqi Government for the privilege of using Iraqi facilities. That's way more than the networks pay the American people for the privilege of using our airwaves.
9:12:15 AM 
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by Jeremy Scahil, IraqJournal.org, 1/1/03
BAGHDAD - The sat phones are lined up. The tents are in place. Dozens of languages fill the smoke filled atrium. Every kind of technical equipment imaginable is scattered about. The scene almost resembles an eerie version of the quick set up for a heavy metal concert. Welcome to the Press Center on the ground floor of the Iraqi Ministry of Information.
Over the last several weeks, low-paid Iraqi construction workers have rubbed elbows with journalists from CNN, BBC, The New York Times and a slew of other media outlets. The workers are halfway through a sizable construction project to expand the Press Center to accommodate the influx of the proverbial herds waiting for the war. Inside the building, tiny 6' x 6' cubicles are now the hottest real estate on the Baghdad market. Officially, the space will cost you $500 a month. But space is limited and cash is flowing from the pockets of the major networks to Iraqi officials and the government to ensure access once the bombs start flying. But it is not just the cubicles. Under the government guidelines, journalists cough up a handsome sum of money to the government and individual officials. Here are the bare minimums for journalists operating in Baghdad:
--$100/ day fee per journalist, cameraperson, technical staff etc.
--$150/ day fee for permission to use a satellite telephone (which the journalists have to provide themselves)
--$50-100/ day for a mandatory government escort
--$50-100/ day for a car and driver (some networks have a fleet of vehicles)
--$75/ day for a room at the Al Rashid Hotel
That's already $500 and that doesn't include the thousands of dollars daily for each direct live satellite feed for TV networks. Nor does it include the bribes and "tips" shelled out left and right. Nor does it include the money handed over at border crossings and the airport. The networks don't like to talk about how much they actually spend, but one veteran of the media scene here estimated the cost for a major TV network at about $100 000 a month. Others say that is a low estimate. Almost all of this cash (except a few "tips" here and there) goes directly to the Iraqi government. Once you add up the bill for the TV networks alone, we're talking perhaps millions of dollars in revenue a month for the government.
There is a joke here that the major media outlets are now competing with oil smuggling as the number one money-maker for the Iraqi government. It is particularly ironic that while Rupert Murdoch's "troops" from FOX News Network rally for the war, dismissing antiwar activists as dupes of the Iraqi regime, the "network America trusts" is paying "Saddam" (as they refer to Iraq) hand over fist tens of thousands of dollars every month. But stroll down the halls of the press center and you'll see that Rupert's troops have multiple battalions. He also owns Sky News (the British version of FOX), as well as the Times of London. A bit of research would probably find that Murdoch owns other publications operating here as well.
FOX News reporters (and others as well) like to say "for the benefit of the viewers" that their broadcasts are being monitored by the Iraqi government. Fair enough. But perhaps the Murdoch Empire should begin each of its reports or dispatches from Baghdad by disclosing how much money they paid "Saddam" today.
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Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist, who reports for the nationally syndicated Radio and TV show Democracy Now! He is currently based in Baghdad, Iraq, where he and filmmaker Jacquie Soohen are coordinating Iraqjournal.org, the only website providing regular independent reporting from the ground in Baghdad.
http://www.iraqjournal.org/journals/030131.html
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8:55:14 AM
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