The Umpteenth Time

Haven't we heard this before?

Look how much disinformation NPR packs into its top-of-the-hour news bulletin on Morning Edition today. Nora Raum tells us, "Gates says Iranian paramilitaries are supplying Shiite insurgents in Iraq with weapons, including advanced roadside bombs. But the secretary couldn’t say whether the Iranian government was directly complicit. "

Then Guy Raz fleshes it out, "Gates acknowledged that the American public has shown skepticism over the latest batch of allegations linking Iran to terror groups in Iraq, but he also insisted the evidence is strong." After a brief quote from Gates, Raz continues, "Military intelligence officials accuse the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps of providing weapons to anti-US militias in Iraq. Asked whether the accusation is a sign of things to come, an exhausted Gates said, [voice of Gates] 'For the umpteenth time, we are not looking for an excuse to go to war with Iran. We are not planning a war with Iran.' "

Raz then ends the report without mentioning that what Gates said is a well documented lie. Various reports (this for example) have established that the US has been planning a war with Iran. Even the sickening, oft-stated "all options are on the table" is an admission that planning is occurring.

The story here is the justifiable skepticism of "the American public" [though not of National Public Radio] and the misinformation being spread by the Pentagon and the Bush administration. Sadly, for the umpteenth time, NPR simply serves as a rebroadcaster of these unsubstantiated claims. NPR would do well to take a cue from KSFR of Santa Fe which is refusing to serve as a disseminator of information based on "unnamed US officials."

(BTW, the graphic is a shot from the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray)