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Dear compadres in dissent, Early on in Mr. Bush's crusade to save Western civilization for the new Age of Dogmatism, some (many?) American and Canadian dissidents have become leery of the corporate media - considered mere mouth organs of Washington. This was around October 2001. Still, it is impossible for anyone to keep up with this huge machinery of deception that not even Orwell could have imagined. I remember disagreeing with my Lebanese neighbour about the authenticity of one of the last video tapes by Osama bin Laden, miraculously discovered in some hide-out in Afghanistan. My neighbour had watched the tape and speaks Arabic, of course. He thought the voice was authentic - he clearly recognized the Yemini accent. But what about digital doctoring - voice and face? Admittedly, I was biased... Still, releasing that tape had a purpose - and the timing was perfect: it was a booster shot to the sagging public fear and fresh 'proof' that bombing Afghanistan had not been in vain. What's more, the 'war on terrorism', according to Bush, was given new legitimacy in the eyes of the US public. Publishing all these incriminating news items about the former Iraq government also has a purpose, I think. And the timing too seems perfect: stories about 'baby parades', 'misused OFF money', 'mass graves', and the one published by the San Francisco Chronicle: "Gory revelations stun Iraqis", June 1. Both the "mass graves" and the "Gory revelations" may have undeniable validity to varying degrees. But the conclusion - implicit or stated - that these 'revelations' justify the illegal war, the illegal occupation, or the 13-year-long sanctions regime is clearly invalid, both legally and morally. And if the media-somatized public can be made to believe that these two wrongs do make a right, then we no longer need a fully functional cerebrum, it seems. We'll get along fine on reflex. (Killing someone in cold blood is first-degree murder, even if the victim was himself a criminal.) But what concerns me is that now new harm is being inflicted on the Iraqi people: the _guilt trip_. And it is being laid on, I think, by the occupying authorities as part of the goal to make Iraqis amenable to the foreign occupation. In that "Gory" article by the SFC, Peter Bouckaert of HRW is quoted as saying: "It's easy to deny the past. To build false local histories of what happened." He also said: "There has to be accurate documentation so that our grandchildren, Iraqi grandchildren, can read about what happened." Absolutely, Mr. Bouckaert. But the operative word is "accurate". And what we are getting now is the 'accuracy' of the victor. And as an aside, how many of "our grandchildren" (ie, US/Can children) can read what _really_ happened to the Native Indian peoples: the physical and cultural genocide, the displacements, the abuse of children in residential schools - the complete destruction of once flourishing societies. I remember a Cree Indian father telling me how his young daughter had come home from school in tears. The teacher had told the child that her ancestors were 'bad savages', and so on. The father complained to the school, but still the damage was done. To say nothing about the hypocrisy. Now the point - Sorry about being so long-winded: With this child's experience in mind, I wrote to the author of the "Gory" article, Anna Badkhen, at the email address provided - no harm in asking questions. There was little to say about the second part of the article - the mass graves. Although, as Anna points out herself, the allegedly documented execution of 8 million Iraqis seems an "incredible number". But I had questions about the first part: the 'bootlegged' CDs that had surfaced - documenting torture and killings. Where had that footage come from? Who had released it? Who were Anna's sources? - And is it conceivable that something like that would have been recorded by the perpetrators for history? >From Anna Badkhen's reply it appears that her only _sources_ were the viewers of the video she cites: Chedha al Awsi, office manager, and her friend, Thanaa al Taee - plus some other Iraqi civilians. Anna has no idea where that CD sprang from - it just appeared on the streets of Baghdad. She thinks some Iraqi may have "stumbled onto those videos in one of the looted mukhabarat buildings". And the story rests, of course, on that CD alone. She also mentions "Iraqi television" and "newspapers that have sprung up" as the disseminators about the mass grave reports, and so on. But one has to keep in mind that the Iraqi media is now controlled by the occupying powers - instead of being controlled by SH. Television is "Iraqi" only in name: Ahmad Rikabi, an exile who has never lived in Iraq, was flown in as the network anchor. And even he seems to have little control over what he calls "another dictatorship". The controlling powers were/are U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Margaret Tutwiler and a White House aide, Dan Senor. Tutwiler, a proven Washington image-maker, was flown in to "polish and package the U.S. occupation". Tutwiler, dubbed a "'one-woman psychological operations team'", has now left and Senor controls the broadcasts, in consultation with occupying authorities. Assisting Tutwiler and Senor was/is Hero Talabani, wife of Jalal Talabani - leader of the PUK. Mrs. Talabani's was to preview all broadcasts - just a "quick check to see whether the tone was right". "It's not censorship; it's advice", said a US official. For example, a series of man-in-the-street interviews was apparently not deemed advisable as it seemed "overly critical of the U.S. occupiers". These interviews were held "pending on-air replies from the reconstruction team". (This is from an article in the Wash Post, which I'll post separately.) So here's to a grain of salt! --Elga P.S. I am attaching my email to Anna Badkhen of the SFC, and her response in case anyone is interested. And I like to emphasize that I am not doubting the sincerity of Anna Badkhen or the SF Chronicle. -------------Fwd------------- Subject: "Gory revelations stun Iraqis" Dear Anna Badkhen, Thank you for an interesting article. I would like to follow this up and would appreciate if you could tell me your sources for this. For example: 1.-- Q: Where did the information for this article come from? Do you have a contact? 2-- "On a computer screen before her, poorly recorded footage shows half a dozen laughing soldiers..." Q: How and where was this footage discovered? Who is your source? And how did this get on the computer screen of Chedha al Awsi? 3-- "In a sign of the changing times, street vendors sell for $3 apiece bootleg CD-ROMs featuring video recordings of Hussein's executions of his political opponents and relatives fallen from grace." Q: These CD-ROMs are new? Who made them? Why 'bootleg'? Did the occupation authorities release the footage? And to whom? I am looking forward to your response. Thank you, Elga Sutter ------------------------------------------------------ >From ABadkhen@sfchronicle.com Tue Jun 3 15:08:33 2003 Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 04:26:05 -0700 From: Anna Badkhen <ABadkhen@sfchronicle.com> To: 'H Sutter ' <citext@chebucto.ns.ca> Subject: RE: "Gory revelations stun Iraqis" dear Elga, thank you for your message i don't know who makes the cds. they are being sold all over baghdad, though, but street vendors who sell them on pretty much every major intersection don't seem to know who makes them. they are obviously bootleg: they have no credits and the quality is poor. the occupation authorities did not release them. most likely, it was some iraqi who had stumbled onto those videos in one of the looted mukhabarat buildings ms al awsi borrowed the cd from a friend to watch i reported this story in baghdad. all my reporting is, i believe, evident in my story. sincerely, anna _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. 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