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Related: About this forumHistory lesson on American relations w/ Iran:War is Imminent + CNN's Erin Burnett:Worst of the Worst
Watch this film (via Juan Cole http://www.juancole.com/2012/02/history-lesson-on-us-iran-relations.html ) on the role of France and Britain in the 1953 overthrow of Iranian democracy and the installation of the puppet Shah that tortured, murdered and suppressed for a quarter of a century on behalf of the French, British and Americans. It is a history and context that Erin Burnett neglects to provide for her audience at CNN:
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/17/erin_burnett_worst_of_the_worst/singleton/
Erin Burnett: Worst of the worst
Im finishing up a long investigative article that will be posted later this morning, but I just could not let go unnoted this commentary on The Iranian Threat by CNNs Erin Burnett (frightening, she observed). I barely know what to say about it the critiques of media fear-mongering http://www.salon.com/2012/02/15/diane_sawyer_and_brian_ross_belong_in_a_fear_mongering_museum/singleton/ I wrote the last two days http://www.salon.com/2012/02/14/us_media_takes_the_lead_on_iran/singleton/ apply in spades to this but it really just mocks itself. Its the sort of thing you would produce if you set out to create a mean-spirited parody of mindless, war-hungry, fear-mongering media stars, but you wouldnt dare go this far because youd want the parody to have a feel of realism to it, and this would be way too extreme to be believable. She really hauled it all out: WMDs! Terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. controlled by Tehran! Irans long-range nuclear missiles reaching our homeland!!!! She almost made the anti-Muslim war-mongering fanatic she brought on to interview, Rep. Peter King, appear sober and reasonable by comparison.
Ill just note that she begins her remarks by announcing that no one buys Irans claim that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and to prove her point, she immediately introduces footage of yesterdays Congressional testimony by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper which, she said, drove that message home. Except the clip then showed Clapper saying this: Irans technical advances . . . strengthen our assessment that Iran is more than capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon if its political leaders, specifically the Supreme Leader himself, choose to do so. Is there really not a single brain in the entire CNN apparatus that stirs in the presence of a contradiction this glaring that it virtually screams its demand to be recognized? And thats to say nothing of the fact that Leon Panetta just yesterday said the intelligence does not show that theyve made the decision to proceed with developing a nuclear weapon, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/panetta-says-iran-enriching-uranium-but-not-decision-yet-on-proceeding-with-a-nuclear-weapon/2012/02/16/gIQATK8zHR_story.html a fact that Burnett did not manage to mention, even though the same fact was also expressed last month by Israeli officials (The Israeli view is that while Iran continues to improve its nuclear capabilities, it has not yet decided whether to translate these capabilities into a nuclear weapon). http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-israel-very-far-off-from-decision-on-iran-attack-1.407953
But truly: that huge lapse at the start was the peak of journalistic quality for Burnetts commentary. It all went straight downhill from there, to depths so lowly you have to witness it to appreciate. When you behold things like this, the mystery isnt that such a huge portion of the American population ultimately embraced the falsehoods that led to the attack on Iraq or ended up believing lies like this http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-09-06-poll-iraq_x.htm its that so many managed to resist them:
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UPDATE: Michael Calderone, The Huffington Posts media reporter, has a good article today entitled Iran Nuclear Coverage Echoes Iraq War Media Frenzy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/iran-nuclear-iraq-media-coverage_n_1280772.html?1329485401
UPDATE II: After numerous people vocied their criticisms to Burnett on Twitter, I had a brief exchange with her yesterday, which The Huffington Post wrote about here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/glenn-greenwald-erin-burnett-iran-coverage_n_1285008.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003 And Rolling Stones Matt Taibbi weighs on all of these issues here. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/another-march-to-war-20120217
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)handed to her by OWS and became a sort of joke as far as 'news' reporting goes.
I am very glad to see that people are exposing and questioning her on Twitter.
I haven't read all of your links yet, but thank you for the OP. Someone has to stop the war madness in this country. I only hope it can be done this time. Before yet another slaughter of innocents takes place.
riverwalker
(8,694 posts)leading up to the Iraq war, interviewing Scott Ritter. Disbelieving and mocking him when he tried to inform her that Iraq had no WMD's. "Reeeeaaalllly, Scott, you must be drinking Saddam's kool-aid" with that arrogant sneer of hers.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)I fully expect some sort of manufactured attack to occur to sway public opinion towards war even more than the media is doing now
soryang
(3,299 posts)Iran presses ahead with dollar attack
Last week, the Tehran Times noted that the Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in currencies other than the dollar from March 20. This long-planned move is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads vision of economic war with the west.
polly7
(20,582 posts)Ring of Iranian Bases Threatens US
By Juan Cole
Source: Juancole.comSunday, February 19, 2012
http://zcommunications.org/ring-of-iranian-bases-threatens-us-by-juan-cole
"I had grabbed an earlier version of this graphic off a Democratic Underground bulletin board from 2005. It made the point that the United States, which professes itself menaced by Iran, rather has Iran encircled by military bases. I have tried to update the map a bit, though this area is a moving target and the map no doubt isnt perfect. It is expressive enough, however, of the reality. Iraq and Uzbekistan no longer have American bases, but the US military now has a refueling station in Turkmenistan."...