FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Time magazine’s new issue (no link to the text is available) includes this weird explanation of how torture helped track down Osama bin Laden: Interrogators grilled 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed for details about the courier. When he pleaded ignorance, they knew they were on to something promising. Al-Libbi, the senior Al-Qaeda figure captured in […]
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin050611 Matthew Alexander and Tyson Slocum @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin050611.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The killing of Osama bin Laden has delivered plenty of media themes: Can the U.S. trust Pakistan? What does this mean for Al Qaeda? And, predictably enough, did Bush-era torture help find the al Qaeda leader? Torture advocates’ insistence that this […]
OK, this isn’t Sean Hannity‘s byline in the Post today, but it might as well be. The headline should stop you: In bin Laden Victory, Echoes of the Bush Years The piece–actually written by Scott Wilson and Anne Kornblut–lays out the argument: As President Obama celebrates the signature national-security success of his tenure, he has […]
To hear some tell it, the intelligence clues that ultimately led to Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan were generated by the use of torture. But the evidence available so far does not bear this out. Torture advocates on the right are claiming vindication. On Fox News Channel‘s O’Reilly Factor (5/2/11), Rep. Peter King (R.-N.Y.) […]
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin Andy Worthington Lucinda Marshall @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin042911.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: If you’ve heard much at all about WikiLeaks new disclosures about Guantánamo, you’ve probably noticed that US media tend to emphasize information justifying and rationalizing the U.S. actions regarding its offshore prison camp. But what should listeners really know about the new […]
The Washington Post yesterday (2/13/11): Mubarak Resignation Throws Into Question U.S./Egyptian Counterterrorism Work By Mary Beth Sheridan and Joby Warrick Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, February 13, 2011; A01 For decades, Egypt’s government has been a critical partner for U.S. intelligence agencies, sharing information on extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and working hand in glove […]
The White House position on Egypt would seem to back the transfer of some level of official power to Omar Suleiman, who Hosni Mubarak recently named vice president. Suleiman’s former role as intelligence chief made him a key player in Egypt’s use of torture, against Egyptian citizens and in connection with CIA-backed rendition. That part […]
Right-leaning pundits play a key role in a growing fad of self-styled “constitutional conservatives” who say Barack Obama is subverting the U.S. Constitution—and brandish pocket-sized copies of the document to prove it. The pundits cite a potpourri of purportedly unconstitutional policies, including healthcare legislation, corporate bailouts and perhaps even a cover-up over where Obama was […]
The political context of the current Egyptian uprising is clear: The United States has steadfastly supported dictator Hosni Mubarak, whose rule has been marked by sham elections and the jailing and torture of dissidents, propping up his regime since 1981 with some $60 billion in aid, most of it military. But since U.S. corporate media […]
The civilian trial of terrorism suspect Ahmed Ghailani, who was linked to the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, was unsatisfying to those who believe that accused terroristsshould not be tried in civilian courts. To them, the scoreboard tells the story: Ghailani was convicted on one count, and acquitted onover 280 other charges. The […]
Back in June, a study by Harvard students (echoing earlier work in Extra!—5-6/08) found that media outlets like the New York Times consistently called things like waterboarding torture when they reported on them–that is, until the Bush administration’s torture came to light. The study sparkeda lot of discussion, with the Times responding that it didn’t […]
A study (4/10) by Harvard students discovered that waterboarding was commonly called torture by major newspapers–right until the United States was found to be practicing it. The study looked at coverage in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal. As Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald put it, “We don’t need a […]
Under the headline “President Bush Is No Nazi Torturer,” Washington Post editorial writer Eva Rodriguez uses a blog post (6/9/10) to “take exception” to another Post blog item (6/9/10) written by Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel. The point of contention: vanden Heuvel, responding to a report that the U.S. government has been conducting research on […]
This Washington Post headline (2/13/10) caught my eye: 2008 Habeas Ruling May Pose Snag as U.S. Weighs Indefinite Guantanamo Detentions You have to read the piece somewhat closely to understand what they’re taking about. Theterrorism case against one Guantanamo detainee was “ironclad”until afederal judge deemed it “too weak”–because some of thestatements against the defendant had […]
New York Times on the pending trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed ( 11/15/09–emphasis added): Mr. Mohammed’s initial defiance toward his captors set off an interrogation plan that would turn him into the central figure in the roiling debate over the C.I.A’s interrogation methods. He was subjected 183 times to the near-drowning technique called waterboarding, treatment […]
The release of a 2004 CIA inspector general’s report on the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques, along with two other previously classified memos, has thrown a harsh spotlight on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s oft-repeated pro-torture arguments. But corporate media seem intent on deflecting much of that glare. Earlier this year, Cheney spent weeks on the […]
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: A few months ago it seemed like Dick Cheney wouldn’t get off your television screen, insisting that secret CIA documents would prove that Bush torture policies saved the United States from further terrorist attacks. Well those documents have surfaced, along with a 2004 CIA inspector general’s report. So what’s […]
Seeing all the press attention given to pitbull-fighter and NFL star Michael Vick‘s return to football, David Swanson (AfterDowningStreet.org, 8/19/09) can’t help but think that Vick should have tortured humans instead of dogs. Then we would have been told to overlook it for the sake of moving forward. Better yet, he should have killed humans […]
Having recently “published a report on 1,200 photos of U.S. torture that I have examined but the public at large has not seen,” activist David Swanson (AfterDowningStreet.org, 7/21/09) now relates how he talked about the photos on a few progressive radio shows. I received calls from some advocacy groups that have been trying for years […]
Asking his readers to “remember” that, on NBC, Chuck Todd “is billed as a reporter covering the White House, not a pundit expressing opinions,” Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald (7/15/09, ad-viewing required) examines a Todd appearance on the MSNBC show Morning Joe “discussing reports that [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder is likely to appoint a prosecutor to […]
