This morning (Friday) during the news summary Giles Snyder reads this from his script:
"In eastern Afghanistan US led forces have killed more than ten militants. The military says in a statement that the militants were killed during fighting that targeted the network of a veteran Taliban commander northeast of the capital of Kabul. Separately coalition troops detained two militants in a raid."You have to love that forceful (should we say Northful?) opening sentence - not a shred of doubt there. Which is odd, given that the source of the "facts" has a long and proven track record of lies and cover-ups when it comes to killing "militants" who turn out to be women, children and wedding parties.
Given the very recent little horror of slaughter that the US committed and tried to hide, this blurb from NPR comes off as their giving the finger to listeners. I've written NPR over and over again complaining about their unquestioning repetition of Pentagon claims regarding "militants" being killed, but they obviously feel no compunction to maintain even the barest standards of journalism when it comes to repeating the claims of the US military - how Foxy of them...
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It's always difficult to comment on Afghanistan, because that country has been so USED by exterior forces of all kinds on so many levels as a convenient ground on which to do battle, that one of the few places to focus on is innocent people getting blown up. Which is only fitting, because if that is the net result of everyone systematically raping that country with their own interests, the failure is complete, and everyone can always blame Afghanistan itself as one of those places where peace is just impossible.
It is noteworthy that, pre-al Qaeda, nobody was truly interested in helping Afghanistan, and now that we have all 'helped', things are more messed up than ever. There's only one thing to do: complicate things more by bringing Pakistan into the theatre of war...
I think it was journalist Normon Solomon who recently wrote about what he called "National Pentagon Radio" pandering to the Pentagon.
National Propaganda Radio would probably be just as apt.
NPR has become so corrupted by money that it has lost pretty much all value as a "news" outlet -- particularly as a news outlet that is anywhere close to impartial.
NPR may not be as bad as FOX (yet), but in one major regard, it is much worse:
FOX is using its own money to pass off propaganda as news, which, although reprehensible, is perfectly legal.
NPR is using PUBLIC money to do the same thing. That is illegal. Criminal, actually.
Congress has strictly forbidden th use of public funds for propaganda purposes.
Technically, if it had the will, Congress could hold the management of NPR (its President Kevin Klose, for example) accountable for breaking the law.
Practically speaking, it would be almost impossible to hold any individuals at NPR legally accountable for the use of public funds for propaganda because they could always claim "we did not know it was propaganda."
But what Congress does have the power to do is defund them or at least drag Klose and others before a committee and present them with the damning and overwhelming evidence.
Embarrassment is often the best way to get people to change their ways.
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