Will Ted Koppel take NPR further right?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/30896/

The Establishment Journalist
By Norman Solomon

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But "the heart of the story" about U.S. foreign policy has often involved deceptions from Washington. And since Koppel became a prominent journalist, he has been a fervent booster of one of the most prodigious and murderous deceivers in U.S. history.

"Henry Kissinger is, plain and simply, the best secretary of state we have had in 20, maybe 30 years -- certainly one of the two or three great secretaries of state of our century," Koppel said in an interview (quoted in Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1989). Koppel added: "I'm proud to be a friend of Henry Kissinger. He is an extraordinary man. This country has lost a lot by not having him in a position of influence and authority."

Koppel was heaping praise on someone who served as a key architect of foreign policy throughout the Nixon presidency. Kissinger -- whose record as an inveterate liar was thoroughly documented in Seymour Hersh's 1983 book "The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House" -- orchestrated bloody foreign-policy deceptions from Southeast Asia to Chile to East Timor.

Kissinger was the smart guy behind the horrendous bombing strategy that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as he held the diplomatic stage. Kissinger was the smart guy who colluded with Gen. Augusto Pinochet for the September 1973 coup and subsequent years of torture and murder in Chile. And Kissinger was the smart guy who, in his continuing role as secretary of state after Gerald Ford became president, gave Washington's blessing for Indonesian troops to invade and occupy East Timor -- with mass-murderous results.

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[helderheid]

1. in a word, yes.

[CottonBear]

2. Ted Koppel recently said that Kerry would've invaded Iraq post-9-11.

Tom Brokaw agreed with him.

I only listen to Market Place, BBC World Report, Car Talk, the environmental show (Life on Earth?) and Prarie Home Companion. I gave up on the NPR newscasts months ago. I sometimes tune in to check out how far to the partisan right they've swerved.

[Zomby Woof]

3. Yes

Most definitely.