NOTE to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta): Those who urge you to define yourself before the Bush cabal defines you are WRONG. You must define the _resident before he defines you. You must define him as a failure on all three counts: (NATIONAL SECURITY, ECONOMIC SECURITY and ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY), you must define the _resident is utterly without CREDIBILITY and woefully lacking in the COMPETENCE and CHARACTER to lead this nation...Do not spend your TV $$$ defining yourself, spend it defining Bush -- because articulating the case against Bush will define you -- as a warrior, a man of personal courage, a man of vital intellect and as a man of real compassion.
Five more US soldiers died in Iraq over night. For what? Certainly not to crush terrorism, this disasterous occupation is only increasing the threat to Western interests and swelling the ranks of the terrorists. Of course, the "US mainstream news media" disgraced itself in its coverage of Fraudida, California's phoney "Energy crisis" and of the Bush cabal itself, but the disgrace turned blood-red when you get to the _resident's incompetence prior to 9/11, his "stonewalling" post-911, and the lies he told to justify his foolish military adventure in Iraq...Here is a powerful statement. Consider how much impact it would have if it was delivered on the air by Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Wolf Blister and the rest of these complicit, timid people...How do they sleep at night? Rick Mercier's name will be scrawled on the John O'Neill Wall of Heroes. Yes, it's the Media, Stupid.
Editors & Publishers: "Sorry we let unsubstantiated claims drive our coverage. Sorry we were dismissive of experts who disputed White House charges against Iraq. Sorry we let a band of self-serving Iraqi defectors make fools of us. Sorry we fell for Colin Powell's performance at the United Nations. Sorry we couldn't bring ourselves to hold the administration's feet to the fire before the war, when it really mattered.
"Maybe we'll do a better job next war."
Mercier admitted that it was "absurd to receive this apology from a person so low in the media hierarchy. You really ought to be getting it from the editors and reporters at the agenda-setting publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post."
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies, Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/033104D.shtml
Reporter Apologizes for Iraq Coverage
By Editor & Publisher Staff
Sunday 29 March 2004
NEW YORK In the wake of Richard Clarke's dramatic personal apology to the families of 9/11 victims last week -- on behalf of himself and his government -- for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks, one might expect at least a few mea culpas related to the release of false information on the Iraq threat before and after the war.
While the major media, from The New York Times on down, has largely remained silent about their own failings in this area, a young columnist for a small paper in Fredericksburg, Va., has stepped forward.
"The media are finished with their big blowouts on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and there is one thing they forgot to say: We're sorry," Rick Mercier wrote, in a column published Sunday in The Free Lance-Star.
"Sorry we let unsubstantiated claims drive our coverage. Sorry we were dismissive of experts who disputed White House charges against Iraq. Sorry we let a band of self-serving Iraqi defectors make fools of us. Sorry we fell for Colin Powell's performance at the United Nations. Sorry we couldn't bring ourselves to hold the administration's feet to the fire before the war, when it really mattered.
"Maybe we'll do a better job next war."
Mercier admitted that it was "absurd to receive this apology from a person so low in the media hierarchy. You really ought to be getting it from the editors and reporters at the agenda-setting publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post."
Mercier, an editor and writer at the newspaper who writes a column two or three times a month, told E&P that the column was sparked by what he saw as "a need for accountability and reflection" given the seriousness of the current conflict in Iraq and the failure to find WMDs there or a strong Saddam link to al Qaeda. He saw little of that soul-searching in the one-year anniversary coverage. "By neglecting to fully employ their critical-thinking faculties, the media not only failed their readers and viewers, they failed our democracy," Mercier said.
Concluding his column, Mercier declared, "there's no excusing that failure. The only thing that can be said is, Sorry."
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Posted by richard at March 31, 2004 12:15 PM