In May of 2004. He was all worked up over "Abu Ghraib" at the time.
"...In fact, William Lindh, who directs the Center for Cultural Conservatism at the Free Congress Foundation writes in a column this week that the apparent breakdown in discipline from the MPs at Abu Grab may relate to the presence of women and especially to the fact that the commander was a woman. The climate of political correctness or to give it its true name, 'Cultural Marxism..."
(Laughing). Well, okay. (Laughing.) "...Cultural Marxism that has infested and overwhelmed the American armed forces makes it almost impossible to discipline a woman, and risky for a man to attempt to do so. Whatever the reason, one theme is clear: Abu Grab was a disaster waiting to happen. Rules on uniforms were not enforced, soldiers wrote poems and other sayings on their helmets..." Oh, really? Are you telling me that these brutes, these brutes who did all these horrible, insulting things to these people, wrote poetry? Come on, how does that happen? Poets are gentle little flowers wilting in the breeze. Well, it might have been limericks, but anyway, so they wrote poems and other sayings on their helmets, saluting of "orificers" was not forced..."
William Lind (correct spelling) whom Limbaugh was quoting did not use the term "orificers", that was all Rush.
Limbaugh was so worked up over Abu Grab that on May 13, 2004 he said, regarding the prisoner abuse photos, that Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) could have Representatives "Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi act them out for him". On May 27, Limbaugh responded to a report that women have been recently appointed as police chiefs in four major U.S. cities by stating, "I guess we can watch out for some naked pyramids among prisoners in these new jailhouses ... because we had a woman running (Abu Ghraib)". There is more like this, gathered by "Media Matters" at
http://mediamatters.org/items/200406030005OK, this is old news, why talk about it now? For one thing because of the peculiar arguments given by the Defense Department for why it is appropriate for Armed Forces Radio to air Rush Limbaugh, but not Howard Stern.
From the June 2,2004 edition of Wolf Blitzer Reports:
"VOICEOVER: There is no direct liberal talk show counterpart to Limbaugh, but, they
point out, no liberal broadcaster has built such a huge audience at home.
BARBER: It's not about conservative or liberal, it's about the full selection of radio programming which is based on popularity here in the states.
VOICEOVER: Still, Howard Stern has millions of fans, and his show is not sent to the troops.
BARBER: Well, his issue is one of content that's not appropriate."
That's Allison Barber by the way, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.
National Public Radio did some excellent in depth coverage of this back on June4th of 2004, where Allison Barber defended Armed Forces Radio broadcasting the above and other remarks by Limbaugh.
"ALLISON BARBER: The challenge for us is that part of our policy is also that we are prohibited to manipulate or censor, so not only is that something that is aired, because we're not allowed to manipulate to censor programming, we also air news and information where people are sometimes critical of our troops. But the bottom line is the men and women in the military are smart people. They hear that as just somebody's opinion. They don't have to listen to it. They have options. They can turn off or turn on whoever they want to.
BOB GARFIELD: Well, not whoever they want to. They can't turn on, for example, Howard Stern, the second most highly rated radio program in America and one that has taken a decided anti-Bush administration turn the last six months. If they can turn on Rush Limbaugh to hear him rant about feminazis, why can't they hear Howard Stern?
ALLISON BARBER: To be honest with you, our troops haven't asked for Howard Stern. We have some issues with some of the sexual content of Howard Stern, just like most Americans do."
Earlier on the same broadcast Garfield interviewed Salon.com senior writer Eric Boehlert:
"BOB GARFIELD: In your piece, you spoke to the director of American Forces Radio, and he says "Why, we do have balance to Rush Limbaugh. We have--?"
ERIC BOEHLERT: NPR.
BOB GARFIELD: Okay, and that, and that counterbalances Rush Limbaugh and his assertion that the Abu Ghraib abuses and torture and possibly murders were nothing more than fraternity pranks. That counterbalances that how?
ERIC BOEHLERT: You know, that's the question. I mean you have NPR, Morning Edition is broadcast; Talk of the Nation is broadcast. If you listen to those shows, you don't hear one person behind a microphone for 60 minutes talking about how women activists are equivalent to Nazis. So the idea that you can have Rush Limbaugh degrade Democrats for 60 minutes a day and then flip on Weekend Edition where you're going to interview poets and do some news updates -- that's not a balance. That's not even close."
By all means read the full transcript here:http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_060404_grunts.html
Well Howard Stern still isn't broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, but after the above controversy over a year ago, moderate liberal Ed Shultz was finally scheduled to be added to the AFR lineup until the very same Allison Barber called his producer hours before the first show was set to air to say it wasn't going to happen, supposedly because Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita was out of the country and couldn't’t approve it. Barber also said she was going out of the country soon for a week-and-a-half. When Shultz producer Holm asked Barber if the show would begin when DiRita and Barber returned, Barber said she couldn't’t guarantee that. Click here to read a transcript of Ed Shultz on Keith Oberman's show talking about it: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9750784/
Allison Barber is the woman who got caught on film rehearsing the questions troops would be asking George Bush in his "unscripted" video call to Iraq a short while back. But who is Larry DiRita? A long time top aid to Donald Rumsfeld it turns out, who seems to have some problems with a free press, according to this washingtonian.com report:
"Pentagon to Washington Post Reporter Ricks: Get Lost.
When George Bush’s Pentagon doesn't’t like what a reporter writes, it attempts a preemptive strike.
In the case of Tom Ricks, military reporter for the Washington Post, the Pentagon took the attack right to the heart of the enemy. Defense Department spokesman Larry DiRita first sent a letter of complaint to the Post; then he met with the paper’s top editors to press his points.
Ricks is one of the most senior defense reporters in the country. He covered military affairs for the Wall Street Journal for 17 years and has been doing the same for the Post since 1999. He’s written two books about the military, one about the Marines and a novel about the US intervention in Afghanistan, published four months before the United States sent in troops."
http://www.washingtonian.com/inwashington/buzz/tomricks.html
Or read about DiRita's attacks on Seymour Hersh, well researched and presented here: http://archives.his.com/intelforum/2005-January/msg00045.html
Or what about DiRita's reaction to the discovery that a purported Defense Intelligence Agency cable that "proved" a noted media critic of the U.S. in Iraq was an Iraq spy was in fact forged?:
Fake Cable Labeled Writer a Spy for Iraq
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 18, 2005; Page C01
"Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to produce a document accusing journalist and activist William Arkin of serving as a spy for Saddam Hussein...
...In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Arkin said: "I am extremely concerned that someone familiar with Defense Department classified reporting has forged this document and given it to the press in the hope that it would be reported as genuine. Such an action raises deeply troubling questions about the integrity of the department's processes and raises the possibility of an organized effort to intimidate me as a journalist."
DiRita said an investigation is "not likely. It is probably not possible to determine the source of such a matter, and I am unaware of any involvement in it by someone inside the department that would warrant a further look."
There is more but this is more than enough. We need to slam these people on this now. Support Wes Clark's call for action. Demand that Congress act. Now. No more Right Wing media monopoly.
http://ga4.org/campaign/edschultz
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