Gjelten: "Egyptian democracy activists, nevertheless, complained the Obama Administration moved too slowly. If so, that could be because pushing too hard in Egypt on one goal could set back progress somewhere else. Promoting Internet freedom, for example, might have been seen as competing with the goal of fighting terrorism. And that's an area where the U.S. relies on Egypt, according to Richard Clarke, a counterterrorism adviser to Presidents Clinton and Bush.Clarke: "The Egyptian role in counterterrorism has been essential to us for the last 15 to 20 years. They've been one of the best allies we've had in the fight against al-Qaida and other radical groups.
On its face this all sounds rather bureaucratic, bland, and acceptable. Gjelten uses positive terms like "progress" "fighting terrorism" and "relies on Egypt," and former US official Clarke speaks in likewise euphemistic and glowing terms: "role in counterterrorism" "essential to us" and "one of the best allies..." But consider for a moment what these empty words and phrases actually refer to.
Among the Egyptian security services techniques that have been so "essential" to "progress" are documented cases of severe beatings, electroshocks to all parts of the body, suspensions resulting in dislocations, whippings, sexual assaults, rape, threats of rape, torture of children, torture of victims in front of family members, drownings, and of course murder and disappearance. What Tom Gjelten (and NPR) are praising is Egypt's role as an "international centre for interrogation and torture on behalf of other states as part of the 'war on terror'."
Back in the summer of 2009, when Alicia Shepard was pushing her defense of NPR's refusal to call torture torture, she wrote on her blog, "To me, it makes more sense to describe the techniques and skip the characterization." Putting aside the fact that Shepard was well aware that NPR never did or would describe in detail what the US was doing to its detainees, can you imagine how different Gjelten's (and ALL NPR's slanted Egypt coverage) would be if the actual practices and their effects on real human beings were described and the US foreign policy "characterizations"/euphemisms were dropped? Imagine if Gjelten said,
"Having an Egyptian state where detainees know they will be sodomized with sticks, raped, cut with razors, beaten and hung from hooks so that their bones are broken and joints dislocated really helps the US fight terrorism and keep its Middle East agenda in place. It is essential that Egyptians are so terrified of being held by state security forces in Egypt that they dare not organize against US wars on Muslim countries or US/Egyptian support for Israel no matter how unpopular these policies are."That would be eye-opening! Obviously, such honesty would require a universal standard of decency and morality - instead of one that assumes US government/military goals carry the greatest moral weight with everything else being secondary [not to mention the inherent anti-Arab racism that assumes Arab people deserve nothing but poverty, torture, corruption and dictatorship as long as such conditions support US foreign policy goals.]
Finally, Gjelten's stance is not even internally consistent within the limits of its own sick reasoning. Looked at in a detached and cold-blooded light, one can easily demonstrate that instead of aiding counterterrorism, the US support for torture states (and its own torture practices) serve to swell the ranks of extremists and potential terrorists. In 2005 Naomi Klein wrote how torture is an essential ingredient in the radicalization of extremists. Chris Zambelis brings the issue up to date in 2008 and Glenn Greenwald makes a similar case in 2009. A detached observer might also note that torture produces radically false information, such as the torture confessions in Egypt of al-Libi used to buttress the launch of the Iraq War. Any rational person would have to at least consider that one of the main reasons for supporting torture regimes is to produce more violence and terrorism, thereby sustaining the endless "war on terror" and justifying the grotesque injustices (and spending) involved in this cynical enterprise.
Gjelten concludes his homage to the Iron Fist with this gem:
"The Obama administration may learn whether a new government there, one that more vigorously supports Internet freedom and other democratic values, could be as strong a counterterrorism ally as the Mubarak regime has been."
Gjelten is one scary character...
17 comments:
Heard Horsley neighing about how the Commerce Chamber (the one next to the Iron Maiden) after reading this about Gjelton and I just am flabbergasted at how many utter cruds NPR employs.
He lives in Washington with his dog, Diego.
I'll bet. And at those Chamber powwows he is a cuddly pooch to the powerful.
Together, Gjelten and Horsley anagrammize to "Hogs enter jelly", or "Jolly egret hens." That's about as deep as they dare wade off script.
I meant to say "how the Commerce Chamber" has just about completely manipulated Obama...just waiting for the final kill on all governmental regulatory powers. From Horsley's Obama Reaches Out To Business
"Clinton Urges Support For Egypt's Reform Process
"The secretary of state threw her weight behind the effort led by Vice President Omar Suleiman." -- title of a Morning edition piece
Clinton (and NPR) must be talking about Suleiman's efforts to "reform" people's bodies (with electric shocks, beatings, waterboarding and the rest). A true "reformer" is Suleiman.
See "The Torture Career of Egypt's New Vice President: Omar Suleiman and the Rendition to Torture Program"
and Who is Omar Suleiman?
There is a real irony in NPR's repetition of the official Obama "Suleiman as Reformer" myth.
Suleiman has blamed the uprising on foreign journalists and Mubarak thugs have recently been attacking said journalists (including NPR's own Garcia-Navarro!)
Hillary and NPR might be fooling Americans, but they sure as hell ain't fooling the Egyptians:
"In response to the appointment of Omar Suleiman as the new Vice President of Egypt, ElBaradei stated that it was a "hopeless, desperate attempt by Mubarak to stay in power, I think it is loud and clear...that Mubarak has to leave today"." -- from wikipedia
NPR's attacks on wikileaks were bad enough, but it's just too weird that an organization like NPR that claims to be made up of "journalists" would actually be toeing the official Obama "Suleiman as Reformer" line:
From the NY TIMES"Detained Reporters Saw Police’s Methods"
"CAIRO — We had been detained by Egyptian authorities, handed over to the country’s dreaded Mukhabarat, the secret police, [which has been headed for years by none other than Suleiman] and interrogated. They left us all night in a cold room, on hard orange plastic stools, under fluorescent lights.
"But our discomfort paled in comparison to the dull whacks and the screams of pain by Egyptian people that broke the stillness of the night. In one instance, between the cries of suffering, an officer said in Arabic, “You are talking to journalists? You are talking badly about your country?"
From "Clinton Sticks To U.S. Principles On Egyptian Reform" by "NPR Staff" (what? too embarrassed to list their names?):
"some Egyptian protesters are unsatisfied with Suleiman, claiming he is simply an extension of Mubarak's rule and intends to keep old structures in place."
"Some Egyptian protesters"?
How about their main spokesperson? Nobel Peace Prize winner and head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed El Baradei
"In response to the appointment of Omar Suleiman as the new Vice President of Egypt, ElBaradei stated that it was a "hopeless, desperate attempt by Mubarak to stay in power, I think it is loud and clear...that Mubarak has to leave today"." -- from wikipedia
More vacuousness from "NPR staff":
"Clinton said she is receiving assurances from Suleiman himself that things will be done differently."
Oh, my (or is it "O mar?") I guess that proves it, doesn't it?
What utter garbage.
No wonder no one at NPR will put their name to that article.
It bears no semblance to journalism whatsoever.
Pure unadulterated crap.
But seems to be patterned after the "NPR template". repeat what the Obama (bush) administration says without challenge and use the tried and true source "Some".
hard to believe, but NPR is actually getting WORSE by the day (hour?)
"National Pathetic Radio"
Liane as much as pronounced the Egyptian uprising over, with, "people are tired of protesting and so are just going back to work and will henceforth capitulate to the demands of the authorities and they regret having protested - both for and against the government." Or words to that effect. This punctuated by celebrations of Newt Gingrich and the masthead of the weekly standard. Oh, and don't forget the hour-long lovefest with the David Cassidy fan club. Pathetic is the word.
The juxtaposition of the "move along, nothing to see here folks" piece on Egypt from Lieanne with the arrogant weirdness of the David Cassidy piece was classic NPR surrealism. Almost hard to say which was the most offensive, though I'll still pick Egypt for the win.
The anti-Wikileaks piece this morning on ME was another bit of not bothering to hide an agenda. They were careful to point out that the professor who was going to use Wikileaks cables in his classes was a personal friend of Assange's and took pains to contrast him with the other "professor" who said he would not use "stolen" material thus guaranteeing he won't be cut off from whatever passes for rewards at his institution. Disgusting.
A long time ago, before the paywall went up, The Wayne Madsen Report had a huge list of mainstream reporters and their insider/conflict of interest connections. I wonder if Tom Gjelten really is employed in some way by the Pentagon "on the side" as it were.
Oops! Accidentally posted in the wrong thread. Will delete those momentarily. Found the Wayne Madsen list I referred to. Needs serious updating unless he has another one behind his paywall. Whatever one thinks of his reporting, he does accurately see how corrupt the MSM has been.
http://re-configure.org/Wayne_Madsen_Political_Media_Incest.pdf
At Dina's Temple of Doom, the buzz is that when you get down to it, Al Qaeda's an EGYPTIAN thingie, and that, hint-hint, if we dump Mubarak, they'll BE BACK. Uh, no mention of Saudi Arabia at all. A Gjeltenian conclusion if there ever was one.
"Diplomatic Reality: As In Egypt, U.S. Often Relies On 'Useful Autocrats' "
The problem with this?
"these guys don't last forever, and often when they face major challenges to their influence the people on the streets remember who's been supporting these governments and providing them with weapons for years and years." -- Joshua Keating, Associate Editor Foreign Policy Magazine
Got that? The problem is NOT that these "guys" (dictators) murder and torture people. It's that their own countrymen remember that they did!!!
And Robert Siegel simply accepts that answer as the wisdom of the Oracle.
What a stupid clown Siegel is.
With a little luck, maybe the Republicans will do what the Democrats would never do: completely defund NPR and all its member stations. Cut off the funding for the member stations and you cut off their ability to pay for NPR programming, which will shrivel NPR up into a shell of its former self -- and hopefully put people like Siegel out of a job.
"Diplomatic Reality: As In Egypt, U.S. Often Relies On 'Useful Autocrats' "
The problem with this?
"these guys don't last forever, and often when they face major challenges to their influence the people on the streets remember who's been supporting these governments and providing them with weapons for years and years." -- Joshua Keating, Associate Editor Foreign Policy Magazine
Got that? The problem is NOT that these "guys" (dictators) murder and torture people. It's that their own countrymen remember that they did!!!
And Robert Siegel simply accepts that answer as the wisdom of the Oracle.
What a stupid clown Siegel is.
With a little luck, maybe the Republicans will do what the Democrats would never do: completely defund NPR and all its member stations. Cut off the funding for the member stations and you cut off their ability to pay for NPR programming, which will shrivel NPR up into a shell of its former self -- and hopefully put people like Siegel out of a job.
From Democracy Now! ( Photojournalist Shot by Egyptian Police Recounts Experience)
"Wally Nell is a Cairo-based photojournalist who works with ZUMA Press. On January 25, Nell was shot by the Egyptian police while photographing protests on the October 6 Bridge. "We were very deliberately targeted... The guy drove up, saw us, and then fired," he says."
But hey, what NPR calls "useful autocrats" REALLY need to be allowed to do their thing (shooting journalists, torturing and murdering folks, etc) from time to time. Otherwise, they might stop helping the US government keep the riff-raff (ordinary folks bent on democracy) at bay, right?
Incidentally, NPR has not even MENTIONED the fact that Nell was shot.
If the clowns at NPR won't even cover the targeting of their own colleagues by Mubarak/Suleiman thugs, how can one ever expect them to cover the targeting of ordinary Egyptian protesters by the same thugs?
What gets me about DTRashton is how obviously special she feels at the privilege of repeating what her handlers hand her.
In Egypt Pretests May Not Be Help to Al Quaida As Porter notes, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan all figure prominently in the story, as does OBL, but no mention of Saudi Arabia.
[DHS director, Rick "Ozzie"] Nelson says that while some people are criticizing the Obama administration for not seeing these demonstrations coming, he doesn't think al-Qaida was prepared for them either.
"Either," as in, "how could we have known? Not even Al Quaida knew."
Yup, and Blob Siegel seemed far more interested in 'considering' euphemisms for excrement than anything else today. Very telling.
He was at his double-dipping, unsavory best, posing as the bemused professorial type, daintily curlicu-ing his icky curiosity around his guest's (scholarly?) book on euphemisms, poking about in a sticky box of dainty words with naughty meanings, as if he were salivating over second hand lingerie or something.
Of course, wasn't it all very amusing and droll, and all that rot. Another fine NPR smugfest, with the host as the winner in every respect.
Oh, and he prefaced this encounter by giving us an almost Simonized sermonette about how he learned that the term 'retarded' really wasn't very acceptable, (apparently that process took many years!) despite poring over his dad's books that gave proper definitions for 'moron' and other feeble-minded conditions.
I tell ya, it's getting harder and harder to lampoon NPR, mainly because they're doing most of the lampoonable work themselves. I long ago overcame the Blobert Siegel Projectile Vomiting Reflex, but I imagine I'm in constant danger of it returning full force. All this is is BAD BROACASTING, BAD BROACASTING, BAD BROACASTING.
Oh, and Missy M'lissa Blockhead was especially squirty-cute today. She got positively juicy and squishy with all her scrumptious inflections and nuances, and yes, it's enough to make you puke stomach lining chunks.
I know, it's because everybody's 'fed up' (a la Hosni) of yucky old Egypt, with all their screaming Muzlumanians, bitching, bitching, bitching, spitting on stability and expecting big gub'munt to bail their sorry asses out. And everybody’s always YELLING, just like all those other Islamidextrous places – you know? They’re always yelling and pushing and busting up stuff. Because I heard it all on NPR!
I mean, don't they know they've got a perfectly Reaganesque leader to take care of them?
NPR sets an example to live by. All we need do is listen and obey.
Oh Melmoth, how I feel your pain. If only as a dreadful flashback of drab return commutes to home base, just dropping another slab of cold granite upon the yoke of drudgery bearing heavy on the shoulders.
Thank God for the me-pod!
Melmoth,
You said it so much better than I. There is nothing I can add to that perfect summation of the Blob and the Blockhead. I can't listen to them at all anymore so I don't.
With regards to self-parody, The Splendid Table is so close to the Saturday Night Live skit, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before Alec Baldwin is a guest with his schwety balls.
As I've said before, I am one of those guilty of having the style of their propaganda get in the way of what their propaganda is. The NPR "personality" that actually makes me the craziest is that rather twee person Frank Tavare(sp?) who says, "Support for NPR is by..." When I hear who the sponsors are and know what they do in the real world this guy's voice makes me tense up. He makes some of the most evil corporations sound soooo benevolent and caring. He's especially fond of words that end in "ities". A shame he doesn't think of saying inanities because that would be just too perfect.
^ Ha, Pat - that reminds me of when "they" were crowing about the 1-millionth GM seed being planted. Like it was such a guffin' good thing.
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