NBC Sees Scandal in 'Abusive' Interrogations; MSNBC: 'More Lies'

 Courtesy of Media Research Center

NBC Sees Scandal in 'Abusive' Interrogations; MSNBC: 'More Lies'

Presuming Bush administration dissembling and illegality, NBC anchor Brian Williams considered it "big" news Thursday night that the administration "secretly authorized abusive interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects, including torture, despite denial from everyone from President Bush on down. And the policy remains even though the Supreme Court ruled against it." Picking up on the front page New York Times disclosure of the classified documents, which neither ABC nor CBS considered newsworthy, NBC ran a slanted story that, other than one short soundbite from White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about how "they were safe, necessary and lawful, these techniques, and have helped save American lives," aired only condemnatory comments as Andrea Mitchell assumed the methods are torture. She reminded viewers that "after a political firestorm, devastating pictures from Abu Ghraib and a Supreme Court ruling," last year the President promised the U.S. "does not torture" and yet the Justice Dept. under Alberto Gonzales issued memos "authorizing much harsher techniques, including head-slapping, waterboarding, frigid temperatures..." With "More Lies?" displayed on screen under a photo of Bush, MSNBC's Live with Dan Abrams began by re-playing Mitchell's report.

For the rest of the story, link here: NBC Sees Scandal in 'Abusive' Interrogations; MSNBC: 'More Lies'

Technorati tags: political pundits, media matters, media research center, nbc, msnbc, Bush administration, Brian Williams, abusive interrogation techniques, terrorism suspects, torture, President Bush, Supreme Court, New York Times, classified documents, slanted news, Abu Ghraib, Justice Department, waterboarding

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News on the Documentary: Islam vs. Islamists

There has been much writing and many phone calls, yet CPB and PBS still refuse to release the documentary, "Islam vs. Islamists." If you go to this site, you may sign a petition for the release of this documentary. You may also leave your e-mail so that when we have finally won this battle, you may buy your own DVD of the documentary. I highly recommend you do. Thank you.

"Operation Imposing the Law" according to Iraqis

There has been much talk about this new operation, depending on which side of the discussion you find yourself. We all know what we think, so I thought it would be good if we just stepped back and out of the way for a moment to listen to what the Iraqis who live right there have to say.

Obviously I am going to bring you their personal beliefs from their blogs. Sometimes it was the only news I could get from this war. I feel confident in the sincerity of these people whom I am going to quote. Shall we?

First I would like to share with the opening of operations as seen through the eyes of Omar at Iraq the Model. This was written on Feb. 15, 2007 and is named, "Operation Baghdad Update":

Despite the traffic jams and though this is the largest deployment for troops in the capital, daily life and civilian activity-contrary to what was expected-still continues at a rather normal level, unlike previous crackdowns where life came to near paralysis. Read more.

He also goes into detail about Maliki and his observations as to this man's actions in the recent days.

His brother, Mohammed, has written an article titled, "Attacks in Baghdad down by 80%" on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007:

Since the multiple bombings in Shroja market district on the 12th, Baghdad hasn’t seen any major attacks and there’s a tangible decrease in all kinds of attacks.

Not only official statements say so (Defense ministry officials said today that attacks are down by 80% in Baghdad). It’s a reality I live in nowadays, at least in my neighborhood and its surroundings. It is also what I hear from friends and relatives in other parts of the city.We are hearing fewer explosions and less gunfire now than two weeks ago and that, in Baghdad, qualifies as quiet. Read more.

This is an awesome post. I never would have guessed any of this just by reading our own newspapers. Do we have journalists over there?

The latest post from the ITM brothers (Mohammed) is titled, "Bombs strike again but hope remains" and was written Monday, Feb. 19, 2007:

Although soldiers and policemen are filling the streets, the terrorists are too coward to face the troops and choose to massacre unarmed civilians instead. What are they trying to prove with these cowardly acts? They can’t defeat the troops, so they attack civilians to discredit the security plan. But I don’t think such attacks can change the course of events on the long term; the Baghdad plan is a strategic effort that will go on for months, and time doesn’t seem to be on the terrorists’ side right now.
...
Although attacks happen here and there, the general feeling is still closer to hope and appreciation of the plan than pessimism. More families are returning to the homes they were once forced to leave, and we’re talking about some of the most dangerous districts such as Ghazaliya and Haifa Street.

Al-Sabah reports that yesterday alone 327 families returned home and that the scene of vans loaded with furniture of refugees leaving Baghdad is no more. There were times when the average was around 20 a day. The 327 figure brought the total to more than 500 families across Baghdad. Read more.

They seem to be able to find the confidence within themselves that our politicians are sorely lacking. Alas, let us keep the pols out of this.

Here is another person who has written about the recent events. IraqiPundit has this to say in this post written Mon, 2/19/2007. The title is, "A Baghdad Homecoming":

Here’s a quick snapshot of the Baghdad security crackdown, from my own family’s point of view. My story involves only a single household, but – so far – it has a happy ending. I don’t pretend that this one household’s story is a counterweight to all the misery and murder that the crackdown is intended to address, but it’s my profound hope that this story is – or soon will be --representative of many other such individual tales that will be told by many other Iraqi families. Read more.

IraqPundit has a very keen sense of what is happening in and around Iraq. Very nice and moving article.

All of these posts are insightful and informative. They have much more news than you will find in our dinosaur media. You may also wish to read Pajamas Media. This is a collection of several citizen journalists who dedicate their time going after the news that is really out there but we never see. Have a great day.

NRSC Pledgers--->Victory Caucus

There was a pledge going around which over 30,000 people signed. The pledge involved money that usually goes go to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the voting habits of some of the weakest Republicans in the Senate have made this reprehensible.

Many times the people who elect Republicans will overlook their flawed voting records, but not on this non-binding resolution vote. This vote was to let the Military know that the people who had sent them had no confidence in them. They wanted to allow our enemies a victory.

This was not their intent, but this would have been the result. So what do the pledgers do now? Where do they go?

After their great result in having the whole Senate hear them, there is a board of directors that has put together The Victory Caucus. Everyone who chooses victory over defeat in this war against World Wide Fascism is welcome. Are you a Democrat? Republican? Independent? Liberal? Conservative? You are more than welcome to join and have your voice heard.

This site was started Monday, February 12, 2007. Already they have over 1000 members. Consider this as the media tries to choose your candidate for you before you even get to make up your mind. Do not allow this to happen.

Turn off the TV. They know less than activists do about these candidates, and most of them are not mainstream in the press. You are the owner of your vote. Do your duty! Learn each candidate's background and voting record. Hopefully, they will even have a vision. If not, skip it. We are at a time in our country's history when vision is key. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Arkin

One minute I feel as though I am going to scream and the next moment I feel he is not worth my wrath. But is this true? Actually, he is only openly saying what we know the others are really thinking. Who are the others? Those who are so stupid, they don't even know we are in a freakin' war for our survival.

I really don't have the wisdom or the words to say anymore without crossing my own lines, so I will let you listen to AllahPundit's HotAir entitled: Video: Blackfive rips William Arkin on “The Big Story”; Update: John Gibson interviews Arkin. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Update: In the far off chance you do not know who this Arkin character is, this is what he wrote: The Troops Also Need to Support the American People. Read it and decide.