Russert hysteria: How many of you even noticed when Philip Agee died? Or knew who he was?

[JackRiddler]

Agee died in January, and the reaction or lack of it makes for an illuminating contrast to the ongoing deification of Tim Russert. There is a connection thanks to the Plame saga, since the law against exposing CIA agents was passed in 1982 under Bush Sr. in reaction to what Agee had done.

Agee was a man of conscience who ended his career, risked his life and lost his home to bring truth and justice to the world. Russert was a court scribe on the corporate payroll play-biting at the emperor's feet. Agee would have never kept "to-the-grave" secrets about a president's plans for atrocity or the need for a "multifront war."

When Agee saw criminals in power, he exposed them; Russert and his ilk care only for maintaining their access, and will never feel a moment when they must choose something higher than themselves. Agee was driven into exile, called a traitor, and his demise was barely noted, he is persona non-grata. Russert's being turned into a plastic demigod, a cut below Reagan, a step above Anna Nicole.

A society gets the tombstones it deserves.

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly in Latin America at a time when leftist movements were gaining prominence and sympathizers. His 1975 book ''Inside the Company: CIA Diary,'' cited alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in the region and included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

I encountered the Agee story up close when I was working last year on a biographical afterword about outted former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. Plame had served her first foreign tour in Greece, several years after the killing of the Athens CIA station chief Richad Welch by a Greek terrorist group, N17. While it turned out that contrary to initial belief, it was not Agee's writings but local Greek press revelations of Welch's identity and address that exposed him to his assassins, Welch's murder and Agee's acts prompted Congress to pass the law, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, that was mulled again after the outting of Plame, as my colleague David Corn first reported.

But Agee argued that the outting of Plame by her government was nothing like what he had done.

According to the AP obituary,
Agee's actions in the 1970s inspired a law criminalizing the exposure of covert U.S. operatives. But in 2003, drew a distinction between what he did and the exposure of CIA officer Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a prominent critic of President Bush's Iraq policy.
''This is entirely different than what I was doing in the 1970s,'' Agee said. ''This is purely dirty politics in my opinion.''
Agee said that in his case, he disclosed the identities of his former CIA colleagues to ''weaken the instrument for carrying out the policy of supporting military dictatorships'' in Greece, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
Those regimes ''were supported by the CIA and the human cost was immense: torture, executions, death squads,'' he said. ...

LINK FOR MORE
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/01/6813_counterspy_rogu.html

[On the Road]

1. It's Because He Was the Head of the Washington Office

for a major network. To the executives, he was one of their top men. To the reporters, he was their boss. This is not a criticism of Russert, but the applause was disproportionate because of his position.

[dkf]

2. Why can't we just agree that Philip Agee deserved better?

That is no reason to diminish Tim Russert.

[Benhurst]

3. How does one diminsh a shill for General Electric and the

military industrial complex?

[JackRiddler]

4. The contrast tells all... no one is being diminished.

If Russert was not what I describe above, please let us know otherwise.

[Bob Dobbs]

5. Puzzling.

The complete lack of perspective, even Americans on this supposedly progressive site, have is perplexing, but explains a lot of how we have been able to get to this place at the precipice of fascism.

[Benhurst]

6. You are right. It does.

[hfojvt]

7. Neither Kurt Vonnegut nor John Kenneth Galbraith were mourned here

the way Russert has been. They just wrote books, Russert was on our TV, one of our imaginary friends once a week or more.

[JackRiddler]

8. Very true observation...

It's pretty much Democratic, but in the last few years it's lacked for Underground. Not that Galbraith was exactly underground, but he was a titan who meant more to the world than any TV personality. And Vonnegut - I know he touched my life with his stories and way of seeing, I wonder why Russert should touch anyone's life more so?

Desert culture.

[Zorro]

9. Philip Agee was a traitor to his country

Who fled to Cuba and ended up dying there.

There is a difference between him and Russert.

[Rageneau]

10. But he was not a traitor to the truth -- as Russert was.

Agee told the truth. The US secret government, busy killing peasants and propping up dictators, did not want the truth told, therefore it calls Agee a traitor.

No chance of that happening to Russert -- who always said exactly what the secret right-wing government told him to say.

[JackRiddler]

11. Philip Agee was a patriot to justice, refusing to be blinded...

by how some people defined "his country" for him and for the world.

Do you care to defend the actions of the CIA in Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s? What that "our country" committing atrocities in covert warfare? Is someone who doesn't follow orders but exposes atrocity and government crime a "traitor to his country"?

Someone who helps topple elected, sovereign governments, or to arm and organize death squads - in secret - on behalf of secret policies contrary to the stated aims of the United States - to serve private interests - and keeps quiet about it, "to-the-grave" - is that what makes a patriot?

[malaise]

15. I went to a lecture Agee delivered in Jamaica

People's priorities are screwed - celebrities with no substance are deified and real heroes are vilified by said media celebrities.

[MedleyMisty]

12. His death wasn't constantly reported on TV

I think that's what it comes down to, really. People take cues on what to think and how to feel from the TV.

[Echo In Light]

13. Exactly - the great, all encompassing Indoctrinator

[Psyop Samurai]

17. But it's only those *other* people who are indoctrinated...

...you know -- the stupid ones.

We're smarter than that, so there's no reason to suppose our perception would be molded in any way.

:sarcasm:

[Echo In Light]

24. One must be cognizant of the problem in order to address it

Brainwashed people don't realize their own affliction ... that's the entire point of it. Without knowledge of it, or acknowledgment of the problem, then for such persons, it's a matter of What problem? - which is precisely what one would expect as the result of the process of {corporate} culture indoctrination. It serves to shape the public mind without individuals being wary of the process.

[L. Coyote]

14. Gary Webb (August 31, 1955 – December 10, 2004) was a prize-winning investigative journalist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had allegedly smuggled cocaine into the U.S. which was then distributed as crack cocaine into Los Angeles and funneled profits to the Contras. Webb also alleged that this influx of Nicaraguan supplied cocaine sparked and significantly fueled the widespread crack epidemic .... In 2004, Webb was found dead from two self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head, adjudged a suicide.

Awards

Reporting

* 1980 — Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award, small newspaper division.
* 1980 — Laurel, Columbia Journalism Review.
* 1980 — Gerald M. White Memorial Prize for Investigative Reporting, Cincinnati SDX.
* 1980 — Investigative Reporters and Editors Award(IRE), for co-authoring a 17-part series at the Kentucky Post in Covington, KY with Tom Scheffey on organized crime in the American coal industry. <6>
* 1981 — First place, investigative reporting, Kentucky Press Assn.
* 1981 — Second place, deadline news reporting, Cincinnati SDX.
* 1981 — Third place, investigative reporting, Cincinnati SDX.
* 1982 — Third place, investigative reporting, Kentucky Press Assn.
* 1983 — First place, municipal reporting, Kentucky Municipal League.
* 1983 — Reporter of the Month, Scripps Howard Newspapers.
* 1984 — Second place, series, Ohio Associated Press Assn.
* 1984 — Third place, series, Ohio Associated Press Assn.
* 1985 — Laurel, Columbia Journalism Review.
* 1985 — First place, investigative reporting, Northeast Ohio SDX.
* 1986 — Honorable mention, enterprise reporting, Ohio Associated Press Assn.
* 1986 — Honorable mention, series, Ohio Associated Press Assn.
* 1986 — First place, investigative reporting, Northeast Ohio SDX.
* 1986 — Gold Medal, health reporting, American Chiropractic Assn.
* 1987 — First place, legal reporting, Ohio Bar Assn.
* 1987 — Second place, spot news, Central Ohio SDX.
* 1987 — Third place, projects, Central Ohio SDX.
* 1987 — Honorable mention, features, Central Ohio SDX.
* 1987 — Freedom of Information Award, Central Ohio SDX.
* 1987 — First place, investigative reporting, Ohio Associated Press Assn.
* 1988 — First place, investigative reporting, Ohio Associated Press Assn.
* 1989 — Honorable mention, features, Central Ohio SDX.
* 1989 — First place, series, Central Ohio SDX.
* 1990 — Pulitzer Prize, in General News Reporting, awarded to the Staff of the San Jose Mercury News for its detailed coverage of the October 17, 1989, Bay Area earthquake and its aftermath. <7>
* 1993 — Second place, series, Peninsula Press Club.
* 1994 — H.L. Mencken Award, by The Free Press Association for the series in the San Jose Mercury News on abuses in the state of California's drug asset forfeiture program. 1995 -- California Journalism Award, Center for California Studies, CSU.
* 1995 — Honorable mention, Gerald Loeb Award, UCLA School of Business.
* 1995 — First Place, local news reporting, Peninsula Press Club.
* 1996 — Freedom Fighter Award, California NAACP.
* 1996 — Journalist of the Year, Bay Area Society of Professional Journalists.
* 1997 — Media Hero Award, from the 2nd Annual Media & Democracy Congress.

[L. Coyote]

16. MEDIA: Journalist Deaths Still Climbing Every Year

By Haider Rizvi - http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40524

NEW YORK, Dec 18 (IPS) - For journalists across the world, this year has been the deadliest in more than a decade, according to a report released by a major media watchdog Tuesday.

In its year-end analysis of press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said as many as 64 journalists were killed this year while performing their jobs. These numbers are up from 56 deaths recorded last year.

CPJ researchers who are still investigating another 22 deaths to determine whether they were work-related called this year's death-count as "unusually high".

According to the New York-based media rights group, 1994 was the worst year, when as many as 66 journalists were killed. Most of those who died that year were working in conflict zones such as in Algeria, Bosnia and Rwanda.

The report describes Iraq as the "deadliest country in the world for the press". For the fifth straight year, Iraq remains the most dangerous place for media workers. Its 31 victims account for nearly half of the 2007 toll. .....

[Leopolds Ghost]

23. Now THAT is a journalist and someone worth remembering who actually proved something.

Too bad he would never get the same coverage of his death. I bet the
media blacked it out and treated him as a discredited figure. Anyone
seen to be too far to the left is automatically extreme and discredited
in the eyes of the media. Anyone to the left of Sharpton -- or merely
populist -- is treated like David Duke. Whereas right wing commentators,
includinfg indicted ex-administration officials, are considered colorful
and fun by the media.

[ulysses]

18. it's a matter of exposure. see: Phillips, Utah

[Psyop Samurai]

19. Knowing what we know, it's unfathomable to me...

...how people could still be watching TV.

Two things seem certain:
1) people WILL NOT abandon TV, and...
2) there's no hope as long as they don't.

It puts me in mind of the question posed in the recent editorial in the Arizona Republic regarding Blair Gadsby's hunger strike:

For what cause or belief would you go hungry, risk your livelihood, your health, your reputation?

I hate to say it, but experience has shown that most people won't risk worthless shit that's killing them, let alone something truly valuable. This is a profound psycho-spiritual dilemma, and I don't see us moving any closer to resolve.

It isn't that "the revolution won't be televised"..., it's that until we give up television, there WON'T BE ANY REVOLUTION.

[ladjf]

21. The only way people will give up watching TV is due to boredom.

And fortunately, TV news is moving in the direction of being totally, mind numbingly boring. Their demise might be in sight.

[ladjf]

20. The overblown media coverage of Russert's death is a distortion

of reality.

[Leopolds Ghost]

22. What the f-- does this have to do with Tim Russert?

Agee did what he did because he was a doctrinaire leftist who wanted to
expose what the CIA was doing to his fellow leftists. Why else flee to
Cuba? How cliched.

Everyone knew the CIA was massacring people. Guys like Agee only go out
on a limb when they massacre the "wrong" people. Hardcore leftists --
anyone who flees to Cuba, which engages in the same practices the CIA
does -- are a mite hypocritical. And none of this has shit to do with
a journalist named Tim Russert. Hell, you are justifying one case of
CIA outing to oppose another. That is stupid.

And oh yeah, I know people who went to Central America and worked with
the churches there. Their experiences were harrowing. What did Agee
prove by outing the names of the CIA spies who killed all those people?
Nothing. He didn't prove a thing. Outing people's names for no reason
(whether they are a journalistic source or a spy) is stupid.

[JackRiddler]

25. ?

"What did Agee prove by outing the names of the CIA spies who killed all those people?"

Is that supposed to be ironic? Prove?!

I sought out a recent death of someone of substance to compare to the disproportionate "millions mourn" orgy over Russert.

[JackRiddler]

26. kickie

[JackRiddler]

27. last kick