A blogger's criticism of Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk is one of the greatest reporters of all time. He has written some of the most insightful, biting criticisms about U.S./Israeli/British foreign policy and provided readers, in vivid detail, a vision of of the plight of people living in war torn areas of the Middle East. I have nothing but sincere gratitude to him for putting his life on the line to give us these excellent stories. But, having said this, I think he is doing a disservice to his readers by claiming his contempt for the Internet and also by his refusal to look critically into the events of 9/11.

As far as Fisk's distain for the Internet, here is what he had to say about it in his latest article published in The Independent:

Robert Fisk: No wonder the bloggers are winning:

I despise the Internet. It's irresponsible and, often, a net of hate. And I don't have time for Blogopops. But here's a tale of two gutless newspapers which explains why more and more people are Googling rather than turning pages.

news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2788619.ece

With such a broad, sweeping dismissal of the vast expanse of scientific research, political articles, commentaries, and important videos that one would never see on prime time news, calling the Internet "irresponsible" is the epitome of irresponsibility itself.

Most of us who use the Internet have found invaluable information about covert operations and alternative history that one could never find in our school's history books or newspapers. Maybe, if we tried hard enough, we might be able to find a book at the library that would reveal the layers of hidden history, but we would have to try really hard as publishers are reluctant to publish those books. True, on the Net we have to separate out the bad information from the good, but, at least it's there for us to sort out instead of the censors at the Ministry of Truth.

And, as far as his comment that the Internet is a "net of hate". Yes, we know that the Internet will connect people to hate-spewing Nazi propaganda web sites, as well as Zionist ones, but the internet doesn't even come close to being a organ for hate -- with its captive audience to millions -- as traditional media.

For example, Fisk should spend some time watching Glenn Beck as he gives his nightly "two minute hate" speeches on CNN. For those who don't know Beck, his job is to tell Americans how much Muslims hate us and are itching to drop a nuclear bomb on one of our cities. This vile speech often runs simultaneously with a visual of a nuclear bomb going off in the background.

Sometimes the scenarios on Beck's program don't always culminate in a mushroom cloud but are more mundane, though horrifying just the same. For instance, just the previous night Beck had on his program fiction writer and DHS terrorist-scenario creator, Brad Thor, telling American parents that their kids are in jeopardy from a Beslan-like school hostage crisis from depraved, fanatical Muslims. (So much for the notion of corporate responsibility -- this raving lunatic is given a soapbox to voice his hate courtesy of the Time Warner company who are owners of CNN).

And, if you don't get your hate from that bastion of liberalism, CNN, you could always go to Fox New's Bill O'Reilly who hates everything liberal, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough who ran one of the most vicious campaigns to get Rosie O'Donnell fired from The View -- right at a time that she was educating people about 9/11.

Broadcast news and radio oozes hate and fear to millions daily, but, just because it is corporate-sponsored, does that make it any less reprehensible than what one can read on the Internet?

Granted, these organs are not Fisk's beloved print media but the print media was just as instrumental in selling the Iraq war to the American people as broadcast media. After all, who can forget Judith Miller's role in marketing the Iraq War to the American people under the aegis of the New York Times.

And, Miller's case was not an isolated one as biased, pro-government stories like the ones she filed were a constant in the months leading up to the war and after. Newspapers from around the country, almost unfailingly, goose-stepped along with the administration's versions of reality word-for-word, neglecting to do their perceived jobs as acting as watchdogs for the citizenry of this country by holding public officials accountable; and, that is the main point, print media is perceived to be unbiased, but it is not. It is highly controlled and manipulated by corporate and political interests.

All Americans should know about Operation Mockingbird. Here's a description of the program as reveal through details of the Church Committee of 1976:

"The CIA currently maintains a network of several hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct access to a large number of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

One can only imagine the control the CIA has over the media today when our administration has overtly given them carte blanche to disseminate propaganda favorable to the war effort. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Relations gives us some idea of how persuasive these programs are today (see:
http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?ID=150

Let's face it, people are leaving print and cable news for the Internet because they are tired of being lied to -- incessantly. They have been lied to on such issues as food safety and election fraud to the rationales for the Iraq War and 9/11.

And, speaking of 9/11, this brings me to my second criticism about Fisk. I spoke with him after a event last year in which he was discussing his latest book, "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East." I asked him if he would look critically and skeptically into the events of 9/11. I felt that this was important to bring up as Fisk's central thesis in his talks and books is that 9/11 was blowback in response to the aggression by imperialistic forces in the Middle East. (He mentioned in his speech twice that there were 19 hijackers that carried out 9/11, when way back in 2001 both the BBC and FBI had said that many hijackers were still alive. See news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm). I suggested to him that if he was going to make such assertions then it is incumbent for him to find out if this was indeed true as there is a body of evidence that indicates that 9/11 was an inside job.

Fisk told me that he does not have time to look into it as he is too busy reporting on events on the ground in the Middle East. I found this explanation odd to say the least. If the central theme of Fisk's beliefs might be based on a lie, and he is promoting that lie to millions, then isn't it his responsibility to look into the veracity of that claim? After all, a lot of people are dying based on this claim that we were attacked on 9/11 by 19 Muslim hijackers. If this is not true then the whole rationale for the war is a lie.

Fisk is quoted as saying that journalism must "challenge authority — all authority — especially so when governments and politicians take us to war" -- Miles, Oliver (2005-11-19). The big picture. Guardian Unlimited.

If Fisk is going to challenge authority, he must also challenge authorities' claims. After all, the administration uses 9/11 as the rationale for all their crimes -- preemptive war, torture, destroying the Bill of Rights. Since Fisk truly cares about the people of the Middle East, it's incumbent that he spend some time on the issue.

For further reading, see: "A Free Press or a Ministry of Truth?" by Paul Craig Roberts, www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18021.htm, and Saddam's Infamous "Human Shredding Machines" www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/3052

"al Qaeda Terrordome" -- the ride that will last a lifetime!

Oh, geeez, here we go again!

Get ready America, hold on to that safety bar and strap yourself in really tight because our intelligence agencies have come up with a new scary ride that they want to take us on -- and, it is a zinger too. Just try not to throw up that hot dog as you go through the loopy logic and convoluted thinking on the new "al-Qaeda Terrordome" -- reconstituted, and coming to a city near you.

Of course I am referring to a series of recent AP articles and National Intelligence Council (NIC) reports that have come out in the last couple of weeks, including today's latest from the Associated Press: "Terror threat against U.S. said serious" (see: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070717/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_terror_threat); Michael Chertoff's 'Gut Feeling' that we are going to be attacked this summer (see: abcnews.go.com/WN/LegalCenter/story?id=3367404&page=1); and the July 11 National Intelligence Estimate release that says that al Qaeda has fully reconstituted itself to pre-9/11 operational strength. Here's a quote from that one:

"...the new NIE’s conclusions about Al Qaeda activities in Pakistan, along with the increasing signs of jihadi militants flowing out of Iraq, suggest that the U.S. counterterrorism community may now be facing the worst of both worlds: a reconstituted al Qaeda leadership coupled with a growing and dispersed worldwide army of angry jihadis inflamed by the U.S. presence in Iraq."

What! You mean to tell me that the strategy of "We are fighting them over there so that we don't have to fight them here," isn't working?

The article continues:

"The officials, who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters, said the still-classified document reflects growing jitters among U.S. counterterrorism officials, even while those officials stressed there is “no credible, specific” intelligence on any imminent threat to the homeland."

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19717961/site/newsweek/

"Growing jitters" and "gut feelings" -- yes, I too am getting butterflies just thinking the implications of this ride. Obviously, these guys have been testing out "al Qaeda Terrordome" a few too many times and have LOST THEIR FRICKEN MINDS -- probably from aneurysms due the incredible "G" forces and whiplash that they have experience coming up with this creation.

These new fabricated reassessments and revisions by our intelligence agencies and their attendant think tanks have gotten me really concerned. These reports go against all the conventional wisdom we have been hearing over the last few years by those sages William Krystal and Frank Gaffney on the merits of the "War on Terror". How could al Queda have constituted themselves to fully operational strength, afterall, haven't we killed over 700,000 terrorists in Iraq by now. Do they just keep breeding like flies?

Recently, I looked up the word "schizophrenia" on websters.com because I am concerned that our "intelligence" agencies and think tanks are losing it. Here's is the American Heritage Dictionary's definition of the word:

schiz·o·phre·ni·a (skĭt'sə-frē'nē-ə, -frěn'ē-ə)
n.
1. Any of a group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances. Schizophrenia is associated with dopamine imbalances in the brain and may have an underlying genetic cause.

2. A situation or condition that results from the coexistence of disparate or antagonistic qualities, identities, or activities: the national schizophrenia that results from carrying out an unpopular war.

Oh, my God! That's it! We have discovered the problem. The people that have come out with these reports are clinically insane as they are suffering from all of these symptoms listed above.

As caring citizens it is up to you to write to your representative and tell them to close down these agencies for their own good -- and ours -- as untreated schizophrenia is a serious ailment and could be threatening to all life on this planet. According to mentalhealth.com (http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-ps01.html), problems in the psychotic phase -- which I am confident we are in now -- include:

• Poor Money Management
• Physical Violence
• Obsessive Thinking or Compulsive Rituals
• Risk of Harming Self
• Poor Grooming and Hygiene
• Need for Institutional Care

Haven't you seen those pictures of Paul Wolfiwitz licking his comb and his holy socks? Proof I say.



Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.



Also see: http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/07/19/bush_iraq/

Reclaiming the Truth and Your Freedom

My apologies for not leaving a note before I left for South America (in case any of you were wondering why my blog has seen no postings in the last four weeks). I had decided to drop out from the blogisphere to escape the constant assaults upon my psyche by the powers that be who, like mosquitos, were drawing too much blood while injecting me with their poisonous lies. I had had enough and decided to flee to higher altitudes where they did not swarm. I would highly recommend it.

I spent the last few weeks in some of the most beautiful parts of the world listening to beautiful music, hiking with friends, and getting lost in the Andes. Towards the end of my trip I had the good fortune to meet a man who invited me to a "moon" ceremony held by some local shamans. I didn't know what the ceremony would entail, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience something truly different.

The ceremonial house was located in the mountainous heights that surround Cusco in Peru, the navel of the world according to the Incas, and was nothing so much as a shed with various musical instruments and art hung up on the walls. We sat under blankets for the cold and drank ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew from the vine Banisteriopsis. Later we turned off the lights and the shamans started singing to Inti, the sun god, and Pachamama, the earth mother. Their chants made the air vibrate and shook my body and soul. I imagined myself as a mountain and felt truly connected to the world.

Many years ago I read a book called "The Cosmic Serpent," by Jeremy Narby, that describes the use of ayahausca by shamans in Amazon. The book mentions how shamans use the brew to see visions, heal, and divine the future. Narby claimed that shamans on this drug can "talk" with plants by reading their genetic "language". He also spoke of how they saw the unity of all living things, from trees and the plants to human beings.

Now, I know that many of you are wondering why I am bringing up this metaphysical stuff, especially since this is a political blog. What do these ideas have to do with anything related to our present day world and experiences?

I can explain...I think.

Somewhere down the line most of us in the west have been indoctrinated to the idea of separateness, which was probably a creation by those Machiavellians on the pulpit and rostrum who have sought to control man and society by creating convenient delusions and divisions that keep us forever focused on distractions -- us against them, good versus evil, white versus black, Islam versus Christianity, Democrats versus Republicans, etc.

Such concepts of separation were probably born out a false religious doctrine that says that mankind is not of the world but are uniquely created in the image and temperament of a bearded, vengeful God who went about smiting other unfavored actors of his creation and sanctioning man to used the environment as his personal toilet. Yes, it makes absolute sense because, by golly, the pope says it's so, and as God's ordained mouthpiece for humanity we had better go along... or else.

And, we are not off the hook in this thinking just because we are not religious; even if we are part of that 17 percent of the population who does not buy the idea of a personal savior, many of us still fall under the spell of the religion of the state, where the doctrine and dogma can be just as ridiculous and pernicious.

Is it real or is it Al Queda?

One of those things that travelers cannot help but notice is that airplanes, like time machines, not only transport one to different locations but to very different realities as well. Coming from the diametrically-opposed worlds of Cusco to LAX airport was like coming from a beautifully magical Federico Fellini film, to a gritty, sad Quentin Tarantino one: corralled off in one corner of the airport, fresh-faced Marine recruits still in their street clothes were getting the lowdown by Marines in dress blue, telling them that their lives are now to be forfeit for the next world crusade against Islam -- but, conveniently, not the whims of state capitalism. I shook my head at the new recruits mouthing the words "don't go" as a disembodied woman's voice admonished passengers to be vigilant of their bags or get them confiscated by TSA personnel.

In this new reality your shoes are now suspect and need to be to examined in case they're wired to blow. My reality was transformed over night to one of bliss and peace to anxiety and fear.

Welcome to Orwell's Oceania.

So, why would the new Marine recruit feel a need to leave the wonderful world of America, with all its materialistic bonbon delights and relative safety to go off and fight in some American-God-forsaken land, in the blazing summer heat, perhaps killing someone he has never met?

Could it be that our recruit has bought and internalized the idea of separateness and specialness taught to him in school, his church, his home? Has the "We're #1" and "God bless America" mantra emblazoned on American cars from sea to shining sea, effectively lobotomizing the critical thinking area in his brain? Could sound bites from Fox News and vinyl stickers do that?

Yes. I should know as many of my family members have voluntarily submitted to having such an operation, as well as dedicating their lives to the perpetuation of the state with its attendant benefits of a healthy, regular paycheck and a shiny new car every couple of years.

But, even though the crusaders for the state mindlessly go on carrying out their duties, there is always the possibility that a chink in the armor will develop and the wearer will get wounded by the spear of truth. This is not an impossibility as I have seen it happen to some ex-Republicans who were catatonic with despair and then energized by anger when they discovered the awful reality of their state gone amuck. There is the possibility that too much is just too much, even for an arch Republican.

Millions today are beginning to question the official story of 9/11 and for good reason; the evidence indicates that it is an inside job (see 911truth.org and cooperativeresearch.ca). If the official story of 9/11 is a lie than that means everything else is too -- including Al Queda, the "War on Terror", as well as the need for permanent war.

Like in Orwell's book "1984" the rulers of state are asking you to buy a falsehood, one that any truly free and brave people would reject immediately if they were truly such. Will we be condemned to forever be trapped by this need to be special and different, even if the reprecussions of such conceit mean that one could swallow the idea that it is okay destroy people by truck bombs, white phosphorus, and the genocidal use of depleted uranium?

Here's my wish for humanity: please wake up and see how the lies that your leaders tell you are justifying acts that go against all moral and ethical boundaries as well as destroying the bonds that connects us to all life on this planet. The shamans in the mountains who take ayahuasca supposedly can see the relationship of all living things. Why can't we? And, if we don't try, we will be forever capable of more heinous acts against life on this planet -- after all, those deformed and bloodied fetuses created by exposure to U.S. bombs filled with depleted uranium are part of you; that is your genetic code that you are allowing the Stangeloving masters to fuck with. You can deny this by saying that you are not responsible for what crazed leadership is doing in your name, but if you continue to fork over tax dollars to them, you are complicit.

Don't be complicit. Let's stop supporting the system that is creating an unlivable world for humanity through the use of fear and division. All of us need to take action, not only by writing blogs, but also by getting out in the streets and educating others (go to 911sharethetruth.com and buy some 9/11 cards or make your own and hand them out) and participate in the eleventh of the month Truth events that are happening all over the country (go to truthaction.org for more information). And, if you can, stop paying taxes as it just encourages them.

(Above art: "The Encuentro", by the Ecuadorian artist Jaime Zapata depicting the world views of the Indiginious native and the conquistador. For a larger image see www.centrocultural-quito.com/ccmq.php?c=1091