"From the People Who Brought Us Judith Miller & George Bush" - A NYT Invective

[autorank]

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0806/S00332.htm

The NYT "Covers" the Susan Lindauer Hearing

Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 2:17 pm
Column: Michael Collins

From the People Who Brought Us Judith Miller & George Bush

Former New York New York Times reporter, Judith Miller,
who wrongly claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
(WMD) and her president. (Images)


"Scoop" Independent News

The New York Times disgraced itself and betrayed the citizens of the United States when it repeatedly headlined misleading stories by reporter Judith Miller that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The paper issued a meandering apology well after the 2003 prompted by the inaccurate reporting of Miller, the self-styled "Miss Run Amok" reporter, and others. But it was too little and too late to correct the damage. And it seems the Times is still running amok at the expense of what's in the public interest.

One has to wonder if the New York Times and the White House coordinated efforts on the WMD matter. They certainly worked very well together, propping up in tandem the fear-based prophecy of a menacing Saddam who would deliver his nuclear filled hate to our shores. This was total nonsense, to put it kindly.

We know that the Bush administration and the New York Times editor, William Keller, communicated about a very sensitive matter before the 2004 election. SNIP

Was this a coincidence? Not at all. Bush requested the story be killed for "national security" reasons. Forgetting the paper's shining moment when it released the Pentagon Papers, Keller willingly complied. SNIP

How low will they sink?

Even on a smaller scale, their depths are without limits, it would seem.

The most recent example is the New York Times' coverage of the competency hearing on June 17, 2008 in the Susan Lindauer versus the United States in the Federal District Court, Southern District of New York, in lower Manhattan. Antiwar Activist Returns to Court for Iraq Spy Case, Alan Feuer, New York Times, June 18, 2008. SNIP

They continued that tradition in the article on the Lindauer competency hearing by inflammatory claims that would lead uninformed readers to a significant bias against the defendant and factual errors about the history of the case that are less than helpful. SNIP

Stories like this are not only unbalanced and biased. They promote injustice to citizens who deserve an opportunity to achieve justice through a fair trial.

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0806/S00332.htm

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R

[autorank]

2. Thanks, fan of Kurt!

[truedelphi]

3. K & R'ed. The White House leaked info to Judfith Miller who reported it

As the truth.

Then the White House would state via Ari Fleisher that even the NYT had reported that Saddam Hussein had WMD.

And thus the American public was brought the Iraqi War.

The establishe M$M is nothing more than lapdogs for the Administration and the Corporations.

And if the WH needs to keep Lindauer labelled as a spy for the other side, or as a loonie bin, the NYT will help them out in any way they are required to.

The TRUTH be damned.

[autorank]

4. Contempt for the truth, mockery of the process

That's about as good a history lesson as anyone needs on the situation.

One detail, the government was paying Chalabi while he was telling The Times his tall tales about WMD.

It's the "Circle of Death"

:hi:

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. "Contempt for the truth" hardly covers it, imo, Mike. They are vicious double-dyed

liars, out to murder her character and perhaps her career.

"....How long, O Lord, shall the wicked
how long shall the wicked triumph?
They bluster with arrogant speech;
the evil-doers boast to each other.

They crush your people, Lord,
they afflict the ones you have chosen.
They kill the widow and the stranger
and murder the fatherless child ...."


"... Can judges who do evil be your friends?
They do injustice under cover of law;
they attack the life of the just
and condemn innocent blood.

"... He will repay them for their wickedness,
destroy them for their evil deeds
The Lord our God will destroy them...."

- extracts from Psalm 118(119)


And Susan Lindauer dared to expose that perjurious rabble!

[autorank]

12. Thankyou! Bookmarked!

No words.

[Joe Chi Minh]

13. Wasn't bearing false witness Judas' s definitive sin? Are there any of the Ten Commandments

they respect, though? That's what I find myself wondering.

[autorank]

15. 11th and 12th Commandments

11. "They" (the citizens) are nothing, just dots on the screen.
12. If you're in a position of some power, you can increase that power exponentially if you break every single rule every time you have the opportunity.
12.1 It will take them years to actually absorb the fact that you are a fastidious proponent of Commandment 12.

[Supersedeas]

5. history repeating?

[autorank]

6. They never sleep, spreading "truth" and their way across the globe;)

[formercia]

7. Discrediting Lindauer

The letter the Administration doesn't want you to see.

From what I remember, when Lindauer returned from Iraq, she carried a letter from the Iraqi government which pleaded with the Bush Administration not to invade. The Administration, as part of their propaganda campaign in the run-up to the War, claimed that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction, had thrown out the weapons inspectors and was generally hostile to any attempt in resolving the issues. The result was that the Administration claimed that they had no choice but to attack.
If this letter had become public, it would have thrown serious doubt into the claims of the Administration and might have convinced Congress not to grant Bush the authority to go to War. You would think that, now, with all that has been revealed, the Administration would not be interested in discrediting Lindauer but the letter provides evidence that the Administration was intent on going to War, regardless of the facts, thus showing that it was illegal an prosecutable under international law.

[Me.]

8. K & R

[msedano]

9. Feuer reports fewer details in the Lindauer story.

This Times story Collins highlights contains scant detail. "Two witnesses" testified. No names, no credentials, no details to constitute balance against the weight of the derision that fuels Feuer's slant. Odd, and highly unrepresentative of the usual care found in Feuer's string book.

Not that Feuer is incapable of recognizing the importance of such details. For example, the NYT helpfully lists other stories bylined by Feuer, including one where Feuer carefully reports details of a woman's vagina being sealed with a thorn--I'm suprised Feuer doesn't give the scientific name of the thorn--until her husband wants sex, the vagina being fastened shut thereafter. In another article, Feuer reports every possible name in a Spitzer-spinoff article about a money laundering conviction, as well as the age of the criminal. In yet another Spitzer-related article--on gun control--Feuer performs the yeoman's role dutifully recording every single personal name and corporate entity.

But perhaps we're being too harsh on the hapless reporter. Evidently Feuer is a mistake-prone writer. At the bottom of the mutilation article, a correction discloses Feuer cites the wrong judge in one of the article's central points. In fact, do a search on "Feuer Correction Appended" to review the 447-and-counting Feuer boners.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/nyregion/12mutilation.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/nyregion/04madam.html

Clearly, the Lindauer article represents the reporter's personal bias and wanted a firm hand from a responsible editor. Or has the latter become an oxymoron at the NYTimes?

[autorank]

10. Oxymoron accomplished

Thanks for this! I just looked at him from his behavior at the trial and his hit piece. But
information like this emerged (in my mail box;) afterwards. Hadn't seen the anatomical stuff.
Good grief!

Passive aggressive response/aka tantrum behavior, it seems.

The McClatchy and the small town papers are about it for the mainstream media. It's a new world.

[formercia]

14. There's a lot more to this story than meets the eye.

The Administration wants this buried because any serious inquiry into the the events would begin to expose the international conspiracy that led up to the illegal War of aggression on Iraq. It's not just the Bush Administration involved in this conspiracy. It is a network of countries, sovereign entities, right-wing terrorist organizations, corporations, individuals,criminal and religious organizations that engaged in a massive international conspiracy to attack Iraq, seize the oil fields, depopulate the nation by force or terror and loot it of anything of value, much as Rome attacked Carthage, salted the land, looted anything of value and threw the survivors in chains and led them off to a life of slavery.

This is what happens when you double-cross the boys.