A story about a YELLOW ARM-BAND LAW FOR JEWS is false, yet more outrage

[Harper_is_Bush]

over the TO thing. Why?

Is it because the National Post is a known rightwing newspaper, and thus this is expected?

Do we hold TO to a higher standard than the National Post?

Do your research, The National Post is the flagship paper of a large media conglomerate. It's big, and this falsehood immedietely generated reports in other international media outlets and Iran-bashing comment from world leaders (Canadas and Austrailias PM's for two) and Iran-bashing by the US state department.

It's a disgusting breach of trust with an impact far beyond what TO has done even if it proves that Rove wasn't indicted on May 12th.

I hope everyone writes letters to the National Post and their own local influential papers high-lighting the incredible irresponsibility of this story.


As well, can people please comment on this item I read at anti-war:

This affair is similar to the attribution to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the statement that "Israel must be wiped off the map." No such idiom exists in Persian, and Ahmadinejad actually just quoted an old speech of Khomeini in which he said "The occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Of course Ahamdinejad does wish Israel would disappear, but he is not commander of the armed forces and could not attack it even if he wanted to, which he denies.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1824373.php
The oft-repeated claim that the Iranian Prez said Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth is not true? Anyone know the definitive truth of this?


EDIT: here's the front page of the National Post "story", complete with picture of Jews in Nazi Germany.

[Harper_is_Bush]

1. kickin' a better title. n/t

[Harper_is_Bush]

2. Well, I guess this demonstrates just how honest all the previous outrage

actually was.

Get my hopes of over an indictment for some meaningless rightwing strategist, I'M OUTRAGED!!!!

Stir up a war-mongering pot of hatred against Iraq over a false story that invoked images of Nazi Germany, meh. Who cares.

Where are the priorities on DU?

This little episode should be raising a loud response. It's actually got some relevance as far as how the world reacts to Iran and how the push for war is being waged.

[dogday]

4. I have been trying to spread this

message but keep getting flamed everywhere I go.. This is something to get outraged over. Thanks, I thought I was by myself......

[Maddy McCall]

5. "meaningless rightwing strategist?"

Rove is hardly meaningless...he's partially to blame for us being in Iraq, and for the drive to militantly take on Iran.

Having said that, YES, it is terrible that any news source would play on the history of the Holocaust to inflame tempers over Iran.

It is possible to be outraged about both situations, though.

Did the author of that article about the yellow armbands post at DU and then trample and insult the people who were skeptical about his story? The editor? I'd be glad to give him an earful if he posts here.

[Harper_is_Bush]

6. "It is possible to be outraged about both situations, though."

On a scale of 1-10, the outrage over the TO story was 10. The outrage over The National Post story was a 5..maybe.

But, you seem to be saying the involvement of personalities explains the amount of outrage over the TO story. If that's the case, then the outrage is of the soap-opera variety.

And YES, Rove is MEANINGLESS!! He is not of any import now, other than for revenge and satisfaction.

He's working on the next elections, and frankly he's got to be so distracted and off his game that suits me fine.

A false story about Iran requiring Jews to wear yellow arm bands is about as far from meaningless as you can get given the current climate. The outrage should be reaching a crescendo right about now.

This false story has Canadas PM, Austrailias PM, the US state department....all Iran bashing and invoking images of Nazi Germany. The front page had a picture of Jews during Hitlers reign:


For krissake, this is a MAJOR media outlet and they should not be allowed to piffle this away with the help of other media as we're seeing today...casting it as only a detail of still important story about an Iranian dress code law.

[dogday]

10. Even though we don't always agree

I support you on this....

[Harper_is_Bush]

11. glad you're on board.

it might be as lonely as it is for TO supporters these days!

[dogday]

13. I am going to lend this to you

I have been using mine today to post to people how insignificant the TO story is in relation to what is happening in "real life".. Needless to say, I am sitting on an ice block cause my ass got flamed :rofl:

[Harper_is_Bush]

14. Thanks. Hey, it fits!

:)

[Maddy McCall]

15. You've posted more than a few posts in "those" threads...

don't you think it's a little hypocritical of you to tell people who still have an interest in the Leopold/Rove story to quit responding to it?

Humans are complex beings. They can be outraged by two things (or more) at once. Equally, or more or less so. That's up to the individual, and not up to you or me to bash them over the head for whatever they choose to do. :shrug:

[Harper_is_Bush]

18. It would be, if that's what I was telling people.

But since I'm not...it's not.

[dogday]

3. I am so outrage and I totally agree!!!!

They will spread whatever vicious rumors they have to start a war.. My son is already in Iraq and I think he is in the middle of a hornet's nest stirred by this administration...

Don't believe a word that comes from our Liar, Leaker and Thief.....

[adriennui]

7. iran differs from most islamic countries in that a jew is a member of the

i think the tide is turning and with the exception of the bluster and saber rattling its citizens will demand moderation.

[Harper_is_Bush]

21. A member of the parliament, yes.

Perhaps the National Post should have contacted that MP for confirmation...might have been a good idea, huh?

[Harper_is_Bush]

8. Look at the picture in the OP.

That is on the verge of inciting hatred against Iran.

And the story was false. It boggles the mind.

[Spazito]

9. I agree with you, it is interesting to see the difference

One works toward further fanning the flames for war against Iran and whose lies have spread worldwide, the other merely fans flames with speculation.

It is sad to be sure.

I will be writing letters to the editor, sending e-mails to Harper to retract his statements on this.

Edited to add: You and I have butted heads re our perspectives on a few issues but certainly not on this one!

[laundry_queen]

12. I agree with you here.

I am SO outraged over this today I can hardly see straight.
K&r'ed.

[Harper_is_Bush]

16. The new story everywhere: "Iranian Law Would Encourage Islamic Dress"

Rather than "False story about Iranian Law spread fast" or
"Story about yellow arm-bands for Jews in Iran was wrong" or....

No, they just drop the part about the yellow arm bands for Jews like it was no big deal...just a detail that didn't pan out. Just ignore the fact that it was repeated accross the world and is STILL being repeated. Ignore the fact that several world leaders and the US state department condemned Iran over this false story with images of Nazi Germany.

Everyone just plop that down the memory hole, thanks very much. Time for the two-minute hate, don't be late!!!

[blm]

17. It sounds like a Michael LeDeen planted story - he's been pulling this

crap for decades - planting stories meant to elicit outrage and support the need for military action against the targeted country..

Think - babies being thrown out of their incubators.

[Harper_is_Bush]

19. Interesting. Michael LeDeen:

http://www.alternet.org/story/15860/

[Emit]

34. So true. The original author of the story is Amir Taheri

His article is here: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=398274b5-9210-43e4-ba59-fa24f4c66ad4&k=28534

Taheri is represented by Benador Associates and his articles are often posted at their website and on other rightwing sites. Michael Ledeen is also associated with Benador Associates, both listed as members: http://www.benadorassociates.com/members.php

Just like the incubator story that Hill & Knowlton staged to promote the Gulf War in 1990, Benador gets paid to promote the current Iraq War and potential war with Iran.

Representing the Right
Topics: Iraq | public relations | right wing
Source: Alternet, October 14, 2002
What do former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former CIA director James Woolsey, White House advisor Richard Perle, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen, and dissident Iraqi nuclear scientist Dr. Khidir Hamza have in common? For one thing, they all have the PR expertise of Eleana Benador behind them. According to WorkingForChange columnist Bill Berkowitz, Benador, who "runs a high-powered media relations and international Speakers bureau called Benador Associates," gets her clients "maximum exposure on cable's talking-head television programs, and in placing their op-ed pieces in a number of the nation's major newspapers." But it's not as simple as sharing the same publicist, suggests Berkowitz. Benador and her clients have assumed a prominent role in shaping the public debate over U.S. Middle East policy.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Y_ojKRIfe_oJ:www.prwatch.org/taxonomy/term/86/9%3Ffrom%3D490++Hill+%26+Knowlton+Benador+Associates&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

[blm]

44. Thanks for the back up - I can smell who's involved just by the approach

taken.

It's good that new activists get a window into EXACTLY how these operatives work.

[otherlander]

20. "We have found the weapons of mass destruction"...

More of the same bullshit. And then, of course, they'll stop saying it, but won't loudly announce that it wasn't true the way they loudly announced that it was. And that'll leave a lot of politically unaware Americans still believing it, and the paranoia-meter will inch up a bit. And then finally, they'll be looking at Iran with fear and hatred, more than ready to rally behind the first-offered plan of reaction. And off to war we go again...
:nuke:

[Harper_is_Bush]

22. CAN ANYONE answer this question:

From anti-war:

This affair is similar to the attribution to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the statement that "Israel must be wiped off the map." No such idiom exists in Persian, and Ahmadinejad actually just quoted an old speech of Khomeini in which he said "The occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Of course Ahamdinejad does wish Israel would disappear, but he is not commander of the armed forces and could not attack it even if he wanted to, which he denies.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1824373.php

What is the truth of this? I've often wondered how much of the meaning of the Iranian Prez comments was being lost in translation.

[Harper_is_Bush]

32. Anyone? No?

[ronnie624]

45. Perhaps you will find this of interest.

<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12790.htm>

[Emit]

35. Juan Cole addressed this issue.

Here's a statement Cole makes in response to some back and forth he got into with Christopher Hitchens:

...The precise reason for Hitchens' theft and publication of my private mail is that I object to the characterization of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as having "threatened to wipe Israel off the map." I object to this translation of what he said on two grounds. First, it gives the impression that he wants to play Hitler to Israel's Poland, mobilizing an armored corps to move in and kill people.

But the actual quote, which comes from an old speech of Khomeini, does not imply military action, or killing anyone at all. The second reason is that it is just an inexact translation. The phrase is almost metaphysical. He quoted Khomeini that "the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time." It is in fact probably a reference to some phrase in a medieval Persian poem. It is not about tanks...

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:uF8SehsMT7IJ:www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and-hitchens.html+Juan+Cole+Iranian+President+Mahmoud+Ahmadinejad+of+the+statement+that+%22Israel+must+be+wiped+off+the+map&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2


But I had read a piece, maybe Cole's original or something a while back where he said pretty much the same thing and it does confirm what you have posted here. It was discussed and posted on some threads a while back here at DU.

[Harper_is_Bush]

37. Thanks! n/t

[dogday]

23. K&R

[paparush]

24. I think ROVE is sending this guy ideas in the mail....

[alittlelark]

25. The MSM can BLATANTLY LIE, the internet news groups must be 1000%

ACCURATE.


Yeah, that's the picture.

PS - The J. Leopold story reeks of Rovian PLANT - they got Dan Rather....

[Tom Joad]

26. I think Leopold is responsible for J. Leopold.

[alittlelark]

29. Rather was responsible for Rather.

'nuf said.

[Kostafarian]

39. Rather was responsible

Cokey Mc Cokespoon was awol, but the document WAS a fake.

Rather's fault. Period.

Leopold screwed the pooch, whether on purpose or not is the ONLY remaining question IMO. (And I'm sorry but the 2000 different ways Fitz could be holding on to an indictment dated May 12 re bogus.)

Rove is not doing any deals. Why would he when he had the ultimate get out of jail free card, a pardon.

If libby didn't deal Rove won't.



Note to Harper is bush:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/19052006/2/national-harper-says-iran-capable-introducing-nazi-clothing-labels.html

To paraphrase Harper...

"I know the story isn't accurate but it could be and that is the REAL problem!!!"

What an a$$hole.

[alittlelark]

47. Sigh.... get a star, a profile, and a few posts under your belt.

[hopeisaplace]

30. good point, good comparison

[Harper_is_Bush]

27. Thanks for the recommends for this important issue ya'll. Still waiting..

for any answers out there to this part of the OP:

As well, can people please comment on this item I read at anti-war:
This affair is similar to the attribution to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the statement that "Israel must be wiped off the map." No such idiom exists in Persian, and Ahmadinejad actually just quoted an old speech of Khomeini in which he said "The occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Of course Ahamdinejad does wish Israel would disappear, but he is not commander of the armed forces and could not attack it even if he wanted to, which he denies.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1824373.php

Anybody know anything more on this?

The claim that the Iranian Prez is calling for the destruction of Israel is made over and over again, I given the precarious position he's in I find it unbelievable. Maybe I find it unbelievable because it's not true, just like the National Post BS.

[shance]

28. Sitting back and observing all the media induced race/culture baiting.

It seems there is an all out effort to ignite manufactured division between citizens by many in power.

[Harper_is_Bush]

31. This is being swept under the rug.

The story now is that people are "worried" about the law that did pass in Iran. It's a law designed to promote conservative dress and it has no teeth.
It's a non-story, but it's supposed to cover up the embarrassing false story that they all picked up.

grrrr.

[Catherine Vincent]

33. I've never heard of the National Post.

Did the editor write any kind of an apology for the false report?

[Emit]

36. Founded by Conrad Black

The Post was founded in 1998 by Conrad Black to combat what he saw as an 'over-liberalizing' of editorial policy in Canadian newspapers. Black built the new paper around the existing Financial Post, an established business-oriented newspaper in Toronto which he purchased from Sun Media in 1997. (Financial Post was retained as the name of the new paper's business section.)

From the beginning the Post has had a strongly conservative editorial stance, and has an editorial page featuring the writings of many prominent neo-conservatives and libertarians from the United States and Canada, including Diane Francis, Andrew Coyne, Mark Steyn and David Frum. This stance is typically mocked by those who refer to the paper as the "Fascist Post" or the "Zionist Post". A number of newspaper stands in Toronto holding the National Post for sale have been vandalized with these statements.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:ePA7IdoQQTgJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Post+national+post&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6

[Harper_is_Bush]

38. "The Zionist Post". I like my new term: "The National Disgrace"

They're being referred to in international media as "Canada's newspaper".

It sickens me.

They even have canada.com as their website (part of a wider conglomerate of newspapers in the country), so it appears even more as if they're representative of Canada.

Full address http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/index.html

There's little that's Canadian about this disgusting rag. It's an agenda-driven arm of it's ownership.

[Kostafarian]

40. Israel Asper

Or Izzy as he was affectionately known to most of Canada bought the National Disgrace to augment his media holdings which included Canwest Global.

A wicked man we are better for having seen the last of in 2003. His heirs retain control however.

[Emit]

43. BTW, isn't Conrad Black also on Fitzgerald's radar?

Besides handling the leak investigation, Fitzgerald, as the U.S. attorney in Chicago, earlier this year brought fraud charges against Conrad Black, accusing the former publishing executive at Hollinger International and three of its other executives of illegally diverting almost $84 million from the sale of the company's newspapers and other publications. Fitzgerald announced four new charges against Black last week: racketeering, obstruction of justice, money laundering and wire fraud.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1134727510888

Apparently the trial will come up next year:

The former media mogul's fraud trial has been set to begin on March 5, 2007.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051216/black_conrad_charges_051216/20051216?hub=CTVNewsAt11

[Harper_is_Bush]

46. Yes he is! He's a past owner of the NP, but his ideology remains n/t

[Harper_is_Bush]

41. No, no apology. NP is the flagship paper for CanWest Global. See list...

They are an international media conglomerate with rightwing tendencies.
list of what else they own:

Publishing

* National Post
* Southam Publications
* St. John's Telegram
* Montreal Gazette
* Ottawa Citizen
* Windsor Star
* St. Catharines Standard
* Regina Leader Post
* Saskatoon Star Phoenix
* Calgary Herald
* Edmonton Journal
* Vancouver Sun
* Vancouver Province
* Victoria Times-Colonist

Other Publications

* Alberni Valley Times
* Nanaimo Daily News
* Westerly News (Port Alberni)
* Pennyworth Shopper (Port Alberni)
* Burnaby Now
* New Westminster Record
* The Now Community (Surrey)
* Langley Advance
* Abbotsford Times
* Chilliwack Times
* Maple Ridge Times
* Coquitlam Now
* Richmond News
* Delta Optimist
* Vancouver Courier Eastside
* Vancouver Courier Downtown
* Vancouver Courier Westside
* North Shore News
* Campbell River Courier Islander
* Comox Valley Echo
* Cowichan Valley Citizen
* Oceanside Star
* Harbour City Star
* Shop Windsor
* Bargain Bundle
* Saskatoon Sun
* Metro (Vancouver)
* Dose (33% - Vancouver)

Television
Canada

* Global Television Network
* CH Hamilton
* CH Vancouver Island
* CH in Montreal
* CHBC - Kelowna, British Columbia
* CKRD - Red Deer, Alberta
* Prime TV
* Men TV
* Mystery
* DejaView
* Lonestar
* Fox Sportsworld Canada
* Xtreme Sports

Australia

* Network TEN

New Zealand

* TV3
* TV4

Ireland

* TV3

Northern Ireland

* Ulster TV

Radio

* New Zealand
* MORE FM
* Channel Z
* RadioWorks (72%)

Production and Distribution

* CanWest Entertainment
* Fireworks Entertainment
* Fireworks International
* Fireworks Pictures
* Fireworks Television

Interactive Media

* canada.com
* faceoff.com
* Internet Broadcasting Systems (partial)
* LifeServ Corporation (partial)
* Medbroadcast Corporation (partial)
* All Sport Ventures (controlling interest)

[Harper_is_Bush]

42. my LTTE on the matter:

On May 19th The National Post ran a front page exclusive of stunning news - Iran had passed a law requiring Jews to wear yellow arm bands. The story sparked outrage around the world by both those who were offended by the anti-Semitic law and those who were offended by what they said was a false story. It turns out the story was false, but the damage had been done. Even our PM had bashed Iran by saying they were “capable” of passing such a law and likened them to Nazis. As of May 21st The National Post has not published an apology or a retraction. A Reuters story on the matter refers to “Canada’s National Post” and the “Canadian report” when describing the false story and the international furor over it. The National Post uses an internet domain name of Canada.com, making it appear even more like this embarrassment is somehow associated with Canada. I would like to see The National Post print not only a retraction and apology, but also a disclaimer clarifying that they
are in no way associated with the Nation of Canada.