Re: Neocon Hijacked Bush regime was after Al Jazeera - Bamford on this Monday:

In article <1cnif.4319$aA2.2764@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
MARKT38@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Test) wrote:

> So what if they were? They are actively supporting an enemy
> of ours.....

It's the old "free speech" thing. If your belief in it is to have
credibility, you need to believe in it when it isn't going your way. The
effective answer to propaganda is truth, not bombs. If you bomb Al-Jazera
because they're reporting things you don't like, you're saying, clearer
than saying it out loud "The things they are reporting are true. We want
it kept quiet. They didn't keep quiet, so we killed them." That is not the
action of a moral leader. It's a lot more like that of a gangster.

Incidentally, had Al-Jazera HQ been bombed, the government of Qatar would
have been in a difficult position. The USA would just have attacked their
soil and killed some of their citizens. Kind of hard for them to stay
friendly to you under such circumstances. They'd probably have had a day,
maybe a day and a half, to get US forces to leave the country before their
own people removed them from power. And since the regional HQ is there,
that would have been damned awkward for the USA.

I'm amazed that the idea got as far as being run past an ally. I was also
amazed that the UK Government invoked the Official Secrets Act, which is
essentially conforming it as being true. However, a friend I was talking
to this evening proposed a reason for using the OSA. It's deliberately
signalling that the story is true, and that Tony Blair has, on occasion,
stood up to George Bush and won a point. It makes Blair look better to the
UK population, and less of a poodle. Which has been a major image problem
for him.

---
John Dallman, jgd@xxxxxxxxx, HTML mail is treated as probable spam.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Security rankings
    ... I was speaking of the "popular" ePress. ... > country do you see substantially increased quality of reporting. ... > advertisement you must be able to back the data. ... I am disputing saying this. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: "Klaatu, barada, leftwing enviro-propaganda"
    ... Because you resent the environmentalist message, ... And here's the cover of Time, also reporting on it: ... Here's a hint Knebel: the world isn't all about you. ... saying, "Look what they were saying thirty years ago." ...
    (rec.arts.movies.current-films)
  • Re: Bothas action reported
    ... However I do get tired of Botha and CSA (not saying you are doing this ... The reporting umpires and referee stated that in the second innings of the match the action he was using to bowl the doosra had changed from the first innings, and it was only this new action which was dubious. ...
    (rec.sport.cricket)
  • Re: They are in a fight that is long overdue
    ... widely reported that a large portion of ... that any polls reported did indeed show a majority opinion that Saddam ... At the time of the invasion the liberal media were saying ... if they were at the same time reporting that the administration ...
    (rec.arts.movies.current-films)
  • Re: How to daven
    ... making it a public act. ... I meant "mumble" in the sense of saying quietly in a non-whisper, ... quiet as if you just talked really really low. ... do you recall if they are quiet for the "silent" Amidah? ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
Loading