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Ref. : Civic Events
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11.16 Scotland was first Industrialized Country to Run wholly on Wind in October
11.16 How pesticide bans can prevent tens of thousands of suicides a year [how many thousands more die early from eating pesticide-laced food?]
11.15 The long read: The plastic backlash: what's behind our sudden rage – and will it make a difference? [the world wants to throw-up...]
11.15 Claws out: crab fishermen sue 30 oil firms over climate change [workers are waking-up...]
11.15 Trump administration to cut air pollution from heavy-duty trucks
11.13 What would a smog-free city look like?
11.13 Global report highlights Australia’s renewables potential amid mixed signals for coal
11.13 Interior department whistleblower: Ryan Zinke hollowed out the agency
11.12 This Land is Your Land: The Zinke effect: how the US interior department became a tool of industry [behaving ignorantly again...]
11.12 Planned Parenthood's new president warns of 'state of emergency' for women's health
11.11 Trump responds to worst fires in California’s history by threatening to withhold federal aid [behaving ignorantly again...]
11.11 Interior department sued for ‘secretive process’ in at-risk species assessment [behaving ignorantly again...]
11.11 Keystone XL pipeline: judge rules government 'jumped the gun' and orders halt [behaving ignorantly again...]
Daily: FAIR Blog
The Daily Howler
11.16 As 'Green New Deal' Demand Grows, Democrats Have Choice: Confront and Defeat Fossil Fuel Industry or Take Credit for 'Doomed' Planet [Two choices: Save life-on-Earth or help Republicans let it die?]
11.16 Trump’s latest interview shows a president who’s in way over his head
11.16 Why the political fight in Georgia is far from over
11.16 Florida judge sides with Democrats, giving thousands a second chance to fix their ballots
11.15 Democrats Won Big. Can They Go Bold, Too? [it's about suppressing the influence and leadership by Republican-like Democrats who counsel 'íncremental' (no) change, such as Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Shumer and Joe Biden]
11.15 Pentagon Officials Forced to Make Fewer Public Appearances to Avoid Provoking Trump [...by revealing Trump's huuuge ignorance]
11.15 REPUBLICANS USED A BILL ABOUT WOLVES TO AVOID A VOTE ON YEMEN WAR [if there are 'defense industry' profits to be made—including congress-critter insider-trading—and political 'donations' to be had, we mustn't stop killing innocent civilians!]
11.15 Big Oil v the planet is the fight of our lives. Democrats must choose a side
11.14 The Real Florida Recount Fraud
11.14 Telling NRA #ThisIsOurLane, Doctors' Photos Show Blood-Soaked Reality of America's Gun Madness
11.14 The Guardian view on Yemen’s misery: the west is complicit [WAR CRIMES]
11.16 Amazon’s HQ2 Will Get a Tax Break Designed to Help the Poor [a Republican program that directly helps participating wealthy companies—but only helps workers if and when 'trickle-down' occurs.]
11.16 Trump doesn’t want to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi. His new sanctions prove it. [George W. Bush made a similar immoral decision for the same oily reasons after 9-11, protecting Saudi defense contracts while facilitating the slaughter of poorer Arab "terrorists" in the region.]
11.15 The Earth is in a death spiral. It will take radical action to save us [fossil fuel burning, un-recyclable plastic production/use and methane gas release must cease ASAP.]
11.14 Brexit: May tells her cabinet, this is the deal – now back me
11.15 Cuba to pull doctors out of Brazil after President-elect Bolsonaro comments [terms must be negotiated for fairness to Cuba's health professionals without disruption of healthcare for Brazil's poor]
11.14 'Appalling' Khashoggi audio shocked Saudi intelligence – Erdogan [Exposing a psychopath?]
11.14 Israel and Hamas launch hundreds of attacks in Gaza clash
11.14 Mueller seeking more details on Nigel Farage, key Russia inquiry target says
11.13 Austin's Fix for Homelessness: Tiny Houses, and Lots of Neighbors
11.13 Portugal Dared to Cast Aside Austerity. It’s Having a Major Revival.
11.13 Caravan marks one month on the road: ‘We keep on going, laughing or crying’
11.13 Letter Shows Einstein’s Prescient Concerns About ‘Dark Times’ in Germany
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ACCORDING TO MAINSTREAM MEDIA, OTHER COUNTRIES' HUMAN BEINGS DON'T MATTER:
The Bad PR of Dead Civilians
Afghan airstrikes and the corporate media
Scanning the headlines gave a sense of the media's view of the tragedy: "Civilian Deaths Imperil Support for Afghan War" (New York Times, 5/7/09), "Claim of Afghan Civilian Deaths Clouds U.S. Talks" (Wall Street Journal, 5/7/09), "Afghan Civilian Deaths Present U.S. With Strategic Problem" (Washington Post, 5/8/09).
As is frequently the case with such incidents (Extra! Update, 8/07), the primary fallout would seem to be the damage done to U.S. goals. The New York Times reported that civilian deaths "have been a decisive factor in souring many Afghans on the war." As CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric put it (5/6/09), "Reports of these civilian casualties could not have come at a worse time, as the Obama administration launches its new strategy to eradicate the Taliban and convince the Afghan people to support those efforts." Other outlets used very similar language to explain why the timing was "particularly sensitive" (Washington Post, 5/7/09) or "awkward" (Associated Press, 5/7/09) for the Obama administration.
While it is important to be cautious about early reports of such atrocities, many accounts played up U.S. denials. Some anonymous U.S. military officials vigorously denied that they were responsible, instead blaming the deaths on Taliban grenades and use of "human shields."
The New York Times reported (5/7/09):
Defense Department officials said late Wednesday that investigators were looking into witnesses’ reports that the Afghan civilians were killed by grenades hurled by Taliban militants, and that the militants then drove the bodies around the village claiming the dead were victims of an American airstrike.
The initial examination of the site and of some of the bodies suggested the use of armaments more like grenades than the much larger bombs used by attack planes, said the military official, who requested anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
It is troubling to see an anonymous source given so much space to make such an elaborate case, seemingly based on little evidence. By the next day's edition of the Times (5/8/09), military sources appeared to be backtracking: "Initial American military reports that some of the casualties might have been caused by Taliban grenades, not American airstrikes, were 'thinly sourced,' a Pentagon official in Washington said Thursday, indicating that he was uncertain of their accuracy." That "thin" sourcing was good enough for most of the press, though, and similar instances continued.
On CNN's American Morning (5/8/09), anchor Kiran Chetry announced, "CNN is learning that the Taliban may have been using women, children and men as human shields during U.S. air strikes earlier this week." That would stretch the meaning of "learning" quite a bit, since CNN's reporter from Afghanistan, Stan Grant, had little to report beyond vague official assertions ("We're still waiting for a formal statement, a formal report to come down from the U.S. military here in Kabul"). CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr had already (5/6/09) floated the "much grimmer scenario" coming from U.S. officials--that the Taliban had killed civilians and then paraded them around the area.
On May 8, the Washington Post was stressing the notion that, whatever the truth, Afghans are going to believe what they want: "The truth of what happened in Farah may be less important than what the Afghan people believe took place in the remote western region. [Defense Secretary Robert] Gates said that a cornerstone of the Taliban campaign is to blame civilian deaths on U.S. troops."
CBS's Couric (5/6/09) likewise posited to U.S. Army General David McKiernan: "Whatever the outcome, rumors alone that many civilians were killed by U.S. airstrikes--that is very problematic, particularly at this moment in time." Couric closed her report by paraphrasing McKiernan's assessment: "The general added, because it takes time to uncover the truth, the U.S. is at a distinct disadvantage in the propaganda war with the Taliban, who often blame the United States for any civilian deaths."
It is difficult to see the corporate media's credulous, cursory coverage of these killings as evidence of a U.S. public relations "disadvantage."
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This story was published on May 12, 2009.
