Image: Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, PBS Now
Hard Rain Journal 2-22-07: Corporatist News Media Still Shields Bush-Cheney from the Savage Truth on Plame, Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda and Walter Reed
By Richard Power
While the US mainstream news media distracts the populace with the Clinton-Obama hissy-fit and Anna Nicole Smith's decomposing corpse, vital aspects of several important stories are going under-reported:
Although the closing of the Libby trial was discussed at length on MSNBC's Hardball, e.g., scintillating remarks made by US DoJ special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in his final argument went unquoted and unexplored.
Fitz starts off yelling "Madness," referring to the defense closing arguments. Without Tim Russert ever coming to court to testify, they could convict on the Tim Russert charges. If he got hit by a bus last month and died, and went to the great newsroom in the sky before trial, they could still convict by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Jeralyn Merritt, Fitz' Final Closing, Huffington Post, 2-20-07
During closing arguments Tuesday in the obstruction of justice and perjury trial of former vice presidential staffer, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald told jurors that "there is a cloud over the vice president. ... a cloud over the White House over what happened," according to a copy of the transcript of Fitzgerald's statements.
"We didn't put that cloud there," Fitzgerald said. "That cloud's there because the defendant obstructed justice. That cloud is something you just can't pretend isn't there." Jason Leopold, Fitzgerald: "There Is a Cloud Over the Vice President", Truthout, 2-21-07
Although CNN's Situation Room reported VICE _resident Cheney's disgraceful accusations that the Democratic Party is aiding and abetting Al Qaeda, it did not cite Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's fierce and immediate rebuke.
Vice President Cheney today on Iraq redeployment: “I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we’ll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy.” Pelosi responds: “Vice President Cheney continues to question the patriotism of those of us in Congress who challenge the Bush Administration’s misguided policies in Iraq, but his latest attack is beneath the office of the Vice President, especially at a time of war.”
UPDATE: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday phoned President Bush to air her complaints over Vice President Dick Cheney’s comments. … ‘You cannot say as the president of the United States, “I welcome disagreement in a time of war,” and then have the vice president of the United States go out of the country and mischaracterize a position of the speaker of the House and in a manner that says that person in that position of authority is acting against the national security of our country,’ the speaker said.”
Pelosi beats back Cheney smear, Think Progress, 2-21-07
Although the US mainstream news media reported the Washington Post's Walter Reed expose, none of its propapunditgandists asked why the "Commander-in-Chief" had no comment:
Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses. Dana Priest and Anne Hull, "Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility," Washington Post, 2-18-07
Although the US mainstream news media as a whole carries the Bush-Cheney regime's filthy water on Iran (just as it did on Iraq before the invasion), Gen. Wesley Clark's launch of StopIranWar.com in collaboration with VoteVets.org went unreported.
All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq. Yet President Bush’s saber rattling gives the US little additional leverage to engage and dissuade Iran, and, more than likely, simply accelerates a dangerous slide into war. The United States can do better than this.
Cannot the world’s most powerful nation deign speak to the resentful and scheming regional power that is Iran? Can we not speak of the interests of others, work to establish a sustained dialogue, and seek to benefit the people of Iran and the region? Could not such a dialogue, properly conducted, begin a process that could, over time, help realign hardened attitudes and polarizing views within the region? And isn’t it easier to undertake such a dialogue now, before more die, and more martyrs are created to feed extremist passions?
Please join the Iraq War veterans at VoteVets.org and me and sign the petition to President Bush today. Military force against Iran is not the solution now, and if we adopt the right strategy, perhaps it need never be. Urge him to work with our allies and use every diplomatic, political, and economic option at our disposal to deal with Iran. War is not the answer. Gen. Wesley Clark, www.stopiranwar.com
The bottom line?
Bush and Cheney have violated the nation's sacred trust with its military and intelligence personnel, and yet, the corporatist news media still shields them from the savage truth and its terrible consequences.
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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net
Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Anna Nicole Smith,Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, DoJ, Patrick Fitzgerald, Nancy Pelosi, Bush, Cheney, Wesley Clark, VoteVets.org, Walter Reed, Richard Power, Words of Power
