| contents | No. 317, Feb. 10 - 16, 2005 | |||||||||||||
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WINNER OF NINE PROJECT CENSORED AWARDSENVIRONMENTclick here for environment briefsA campaign of fabrications and gross distortions
By Ward Churchill Feb. 3 -- In the last few days there has been widespread and grossly inaccurate media coverage concerning my analysis of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, coverage that has resulted in defamation of my character and threats against my life. What I actually said has been lost, indeed turned into the opposite of itself, and I hope the following facts will be reported at least to the same extent that the fabrications have been. The piece circulating on the internet was developed into a book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens. Most of the book is a detailed chronology of US military interventions since 1776 and US violations of international law since World War II. My point is that we cannot allow the US government, acting in our name, to engage in massive violations of international law and fundamental human rights and not expect to reap the consequences. Spin can’t hide Iraqis’ hostility to US occupationBy Sami Ramadani Feb. 1 -- On Sept. 4, 1967, the New York Times published an upbeat story on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regime at the height of the Vietnam war. Under the heading “US encouraged by Vietnam vote: Officials cite 83 percent turnout despite Vietcong terror,” the paper reported that the Americans had been “surprised and heartened” by the size of the turnout “despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.” A successful election, it went on, “has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson’s policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam.” The echoes of this weekend’s propaganda about Iraq’s elections are so close as to be uncanny. With the past few days’ avalanche of spin, you could be forgiven for thinking that on January 30 2005 the US-led occupation of Iraq ended and the people won their freedom and democratic rights. This has been a multi-layered campaign, reminiscent of the pre-war WMD frenzy and fantasies about the flowers Iraqis were collecting to throw at the invasion forces. How you could square the words democracy, free and fair with the brutal reality of occupation, martial law, a US-appointed election commission and secret candidates has rarely been allowed to get in the way of the hype. |
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