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Today's Topics:
1. Media lies (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
2. Bring back the water (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
--__--__--
Message: 1
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 05:57:41 EST
Subject: Media lies
To: arabmediawatch@yahoogroups.com, al-awda-media@yahoogroups.com,
efreepalestine@yahoogroups.com, al-awda-universalist@umich.edu,
sharif_n@hotmail.com, newsclippings@casi.org.uk
[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
_http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/12768/_
(http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/12768/)
Proof of Massive Anglo-American Media Lying Over Iraq
by Gideon Polya
(Friday 21 January 2005)
____________________________________
"The massive media lying demonstrated here demands public action and expert
psychological and social-scientific analysis."
____________________________________
Proof has been obtained of massive UK and US mainstream media lying over
Iraq.
The startling NEW evidence has not come per se from the research of brillia=
nt
humanist writers such as John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, George Monbiot,
Arundhati Roy and Tariq Ali =E2=80=93 although these great writers have lo=
ng exposed the
dishonesty of mainstream media.
This appalling secret has not been revealed by a latter-day Deep Throat
connected with the top management of Anglo-American mainstream global mass =
media.
No - the source of this new evidence of massive media fraud has come from
readily Web-accessible archives - with a bit of unwitting help from the
extremely dangerous but talkative US Administration handmaiden, prospective=
US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The =E2=80=9Csmoking gun=E2=80=9D revealing this gross abuse of journalisti=
c ethics and of
billions of news consumers throughout the world has come from the
publicly-accessible archives of major iconic Anglo newspapers and the searc=
h robots of
Google.
Lying typically occurs in two ways, namely lying by commission and lying by
omission. A simple search of newspaper archives and Google has rapidly
revealed proof of massive Anglo-American media lying by both means =E2=80=
=93 by sustained
reporting of a huge, war-promoting LIE (the existence of Weapons of Mass
Destruction in Iraq) and almost comprehensive failure to report a huge TRUT=
H about
the biggest avoidable disaster in human history (the 0.9 billion post-1950
global under-five infant mortality).
The Big Lie of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq
Two years ago millions of decent, thoughtful people around the world were
properly sceptical about the Anglo-American allegations of the existence of=
WMDs
in Iraq. The only major lines of evidence readily available to help sensib=
le
and humane people to this judgement were as follows: outright denials from
the expert Iraq weapons inspector Scott Ritter; rather less enthusiastic a=
nd
confused evidence against the existence of WMDs from weapons inspection bos=
ses
Hans Blix and Richard Butler; the absence of hard, incontrovertible physic=
al
evidence; the long record of entrenched mendacity by the major
Anglo-American Administrations and Establishments; and, most telling of al=
l, the failure
of the Israeli airforce to unilaterally destroy any such conceivable threa=
ts
to the existence or safety of Israel (as they had in 1981 with the bombing=
of
the French-supplied Iraqi Osiraq nuclear reactor near Baghdad).
Nevertheless the hard-nosed journalists, editors and bosses of mainstream
Anglo-American media concluded otherwise, reported otherwise in the face of=
this
compelling evidence =E2=80=93 and the immense UK-US military juggernaut th=
at was
being prepared for the invasion of Iraq inevitably continued on its course=
with
the resultant, otherwise-avoidable deaths (so far) of 388,000 Iraqis (as
estimated from data published by the UN and in the top British medical jou=
rnal
The Lancet (October 2004) =E2=80=93 for detailed accounts search major alt=
ernative
media sources for articles by Gideon Polya linked on my website.[1]
There was an immense, obvious and resolutely IGNORED philosophic flaw in th=
e
Anglo-American Administration, Establishment and Media position over the
alleged but not confirmed WMDs, namely that in science =E2=80=9Cyou cannot=
prove a
negative=E2=80=9D (thus you cannot prove that Bush and Blair are NOT emiss=
aries of Satan or
that Condoleezza Rice does NOT intend to overthrow the US Constitution). I=
n
the absence of concrete evidence, the existence of WMDs remains unproven. =
The
proposition that Iraqi WMDs did NOT exist was unprovable by ordinary World
citizens =E2=80=93 and indeed could only be resolved to reasonable satisfac=
tion.by
minute inspection within Iraq, a process deliberately terminated by the US
before the invasion of that sorry country.
After nearly 2 years of intensive investigation, US experts have now produc=
ed
an interim report on the existence of WMDs in Iraq that confesses that NON=
E
have been found. Prospective US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has no=
w
officially confirmed the non-existence of Saddam Hussein=E2=80=99s alleged =
WMDs in
answering questions on the first day of her confirmation hearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee: =E2=80=9CYes, we thought he had stockpi=
les, which he
did not have. We had problems with the intelligence=E2=80=9D (The Age, Melb=
ourne, 20
January, 2005) [2].
As we all know, this BIG LIE - that has so far killed about 0.4 million
Iraqis - was massively reported and subscribed to by UK-US mass media. Howe=
ver
before attempting to quantitate how World English-speaking sources, and the
Anglo-American mass media in particular, reported this BIG LIE, we should f=
irst
consider a HUGE TRUTH that Anglo-dominated global media have OVERWELMINGLY
refused to report =E2=80=93 the largely avoidable, 0.9 billion post-1950 gl=
obal under-5
infant mortality.
The Horrendous Truth of 0.9 Billion Post-1950 Global Under-5 Infant Deaths
Using publicly-available data from the United Nations (UN) and the United
Nations Children=E2=80=99s Fund (UNICEF), I have calculated the post-1950 u=
nder-five
infant mortality for every country and region in the world. The calculation=
s are
straightforward: once you know, for a given year and country, the
population, the birth rate and the under-5 infant mortality as a percentag=
e of live
births, you can simply calculate the under-5 infant deaths for any post-19=
50
year for that country. You can then simply add up the data to obtain the t=
otal
under-5 infant mortality for every country and region in the World since 1=
950.
The results are horrendous. Thus since 1950 the total under-5 infant
mortality has been 0.9 billion for the World, 0.84 billion for the non-Euro=
pean
World and about 0.4 billion for the Muslim World. About 90% of this appalli=
ng
under-5 infant mortality in Third World countries has been AVOIDABLE.
This horrendous mortality correlates closely with a completely separate
estimate of total avoidable mortality (technically, excess mortality) throu=
ghout
the World since 1950. Excess mortality (avoidable mortality) is the differe=
nce
between the ACTUAL mortality in a country and the deaths EXPECTED for the
same period in a country with the same demographics. I have exhaustively
calculated excess (avoidable) mortality for every country in the world sin=
ce 1950.
The total post-1950 excess mortality has been 1.3 billion for the whole
World, 1 billion for the Third World and 0.5 billion for the Muslim World =
- for
detailed accounts of this data see links on my website.[1]
Appalled by this horrendous avoidable mortality estimates, over the last ye=
ar
I have attempted to inform the World Media of this carnage but with mixed
results in the English-speaking World. Thus the news outlet News Central As=
ia
has ethically reported this matter of avoidable infant mortality and total
avoidable mortality, as have Media Monitors, Countercurrents, Sulekha and a
range of Alternative Media in Africa, Asia, South America, Australia, US, C=
anada
and the UK. However with mainstream global media the results have been very
poor. Thus while avoidable global mass mortality has been reported by some
major World newspapers (e.g. the Irish Examiner, the Bangkok Post and the
Pakistan newspaper Dawn), as far as I can assess it has been OVERWHELMINGL=
Y IGNORED
by the Anglo-American-dominated mainstream global media as described below=
.
Lying by commission and omission by Anglo-American Mainstream Media
How can we quantitate the extent to which Anglo-American mainstream media
have simultaneously massively and slavishly REPORTED the BIG LIE of Weapons=
of
Mass Destruction and yet IGNORED the HORRENDOUS REALITY of the 0.9 billion
post-1950 under-5 infant mortality?
One approach to this question is to address global English-language reporta=
ge
via Google. Doing an Advanced Search on Google for the phrase =E2=80=9Cwea=
pons of
mass destruction=E2=80=9D coupled with the world =E2=80=9CIraq=E2=80=9D pr=
oduced 3,150,000 results;
the same search for just =E2=80=9Cweapons of mass destruction=E2=80=9D pro=
duced 4,090,000
results; and =E2=80=9CWMD=E2=80=9D produced 3,070,000 results (Google Sear=
ch, 20 January 2005).
In contrast, searches for the terms =E2=80=9Cunder-5 infant mortality=E2=
=80=9D and =E2=80=9C
under-five infant mortality=E2=80=9D yielded results of 397 and 124, respe=
ctively - a total
of 521, of which 298 resulted from my efforts to tell the truth to the Wor=
ld.
These very disappointing results for the global differential reporting of
LIES and TRUTH have to be compared with some kind of relatively innocent,
mortality-neutral reportage that (in the parlance of Molecular Biology
experimentation on Differential Gene Expression) can be called =E2=80=9Chou=
se-keeping=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9C
control=E2=80=9D results. Thus Advanced Google Searches for the Anglo-Austr=
alian
entertainer =E2=80=9CKylie Minogue=E2=80=9D and the American entertainers =
=E2=80=9CBritney Spears=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9C
Barbra Streisand=E2=80=9D yielded results of 2,280,000, 8,740,000 and 853,0=
00,
respectively.
Top American reportage was assessed by searching the Article Archives of th=
e
New York Times (=E2=80=9Call the news that=E2=80=99s fit to print=E2=80=9D)=
that cover the period
from 1 January 1996 to the present. The searches for =E2=80=9CWMD=E2=80=9D=
and =E2=80=9Cweapons of
mass destruction=E2=80=9D yielded 12 and 192,731 results, respectively (in=
dicating a
worthy NYT preference for words as opposed to acronyms); the returns for =
=E2=80=9C
under-5 infant mortality=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Cunder-five infant mortality=
=E2=80=9D were 6,424 and 5,653,
respectively; and the =E2=80=9Chouse-keeping=E2=80=9D results for =E2=80=9C=
Kylie Minogue=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9CBritney
Spears=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9CBarbra Streisand=E2=80=9D were 101, 1,610 and=
29,436, respectively
(perhaps telling us something about the NYT readership). The reportage on =
=E2=80=9C
under-five infant mortality=E2=80=9D REALITY (including domestic and inter=
national
concerns) is only several percent of the reportage of the BIG LIE.
Examining some major UK newspapers we see a somewhat different picture.
Archive Search of the ostensibly =E2=80=9Cliberal=E2=80=9D Guardian and Obs=
erver newspapers for
the period 1 September 1998 onwards yielded the following results: =E2=80=
=9CWMD=E2=80=9D
(1,459), =E2=80=9Cweapons of mass destruction=E2=80=9D (4,434) and =E2=80=
=9CKylie Minogue=E2=80=9D (651) =E2=80=93 but
ZERO for under-5 or under-five infant mortality. Similarly, analysis of the
available archived material of the London Times and Sunday Times (from 1
January 1985 to the present) yielded the following results: =E2=80=9CWMD=
=E2=80=9D (5), =E2=80=9Cweapons
of mass destruction=E2=80=9D (13), =E2=80=9CKylie Minogue=E2=80=9D (11) =
=E2=80=93 and, as with the Guardian
and Observer, ZERO for =E2=80=9Cunder-5 infant mortality=E2=80=9D and =E2=
=80=9Cunder-five infant
mortality=E2=80=9D.
Finally, one can examine the Australian press, specifically the Fairfax
Empire that encompasses a variety of media. including the highly-regarded b=
ut
nevertheless very conservative newspapers the Melbourne Age and the Sydney
Morning Herald. Searching the entire Fairfax Archive from 1990 onwards yiel=
ded the
following results: =E2=80=9CWMD=E2=80=9D (>200), =E2=80=9Cweapons of mass d=
estruction=E2=80=9D (>200), =E2=80=9C
Kylie Minogue=E2=80=9D (>200), =E2=80=9Cunder-5 infant mortality=E2=80=9D (=
ZERO) and under-five infant
mortality=E2=80=9D (2, of which one was a letter from the Author, Gideon Po=
lya).
The Reader can investigate his/her favourite major mainstream Anglo-America=
n
media that are kind enough to provide searchable archives and hence =E2=80=
=9Csmoking
guns=E2=80=9D of journalistic excesses =E2=80=93 such searches will almost =
certainly reveal
massive journalistic reportage of genocidal Lies of Commission about WMDs a=
nd
massive Lies of Omission in relation to horrendous global under-5 infant
mortality and excess (avoidable) mortality.
Why the Massive Anglo-American Media Lying over Iraq?
The White, European First World had a major 5 century involvement in milita=
ry
aggression, colonial enslavement, genocide and horrendous human mortality
throughout the non-European World (e.g. see 3-7). This colonial barbarism
variously continued into the post-1950 era. However even in the post-coloni=
al era
for many former subject countries, the First World STILL continued to impos=
e
negatively through processes variously involving neo-colonialism, malignant
interference, militarism, debt, international war, civil war, economic
exclusion and economic constraint. In order of decreasing imposition we co=
uld rank
the main post-1950 perpetrators thus: the US, UK. France, Portugal, Russia=
and
Spain. In this sense the First World powers, and particularly the US and U=
K,
have a major COMPLICITY in the horrendous post-1950 Third World avoidable
mortality.
The massive media lying demonstrated here demands public action and expert
psychological and social-scientific analysis. Thus a program of Anglo-Ameri=
can
=E2=80=9Cdemocratic imperialism=E2=80=9D (that I would describe as actually=
=E2=80=9Cdemocratic
Nazism=E2=80=9D) is slowly being unveiled and unleashed. This program is i=
ntrinsically
racist, imbued with notions of cultural superiority and demands (and
substantially receives) =E2=80=9Ceither with me or against me=E2=80=9D com=
pliance from an intimidated
World. It is a Nation State form of what at the individual level is descri=
bed
as Pathological Narcissism, a very common psychopathy that is prevalent in
top political, business and academic management - the Narcissist afflicts
others with his self-love, demand for love and admiration, intense insecur=
ity and
morbid obsession with punishing those who do not comply.
In the US the prevalence of related attitudes in the dominant culture (albe=
it
generally understated and typically =E2=80=9Cpolitically correct=E2=80=9D =
when articulated)
has given rise to the academic analysis in many American universities of
Whiteness =E2=80=93 the dominant social culture that is characterized by a=
n implicit
sense of cultural superiority, massive pressure against critical, dissiden=
t
comment and general complicity from both White and non-White people comfor=
tably
esconced within the System (8). In Nazi Germany such attitudes were explic=
itly
enunciated as Master Race declarations but other Western societies have be=
en
rather more subtle. Thus the English Imperialists never really felt the ne=
ed
to explicitly articulate their deeply-felt superiority manifested in 5
centuries of brutal global domination (hence the so English joke that =E2=
=80=9CGod is an
Englishman=E2=80=9D).
Sven Linqvist has provided a profound description of the development of
European intellectual (including social-Darwinist) justifications of the
barbarity of colonial aggression and genocide that led inevitably to the Na=
zi
atrocities within Europe itself (3). Chalk and Jonassohn have described the
extraordinary failure of academic scholars to deal with European genocide =
throughout
the world (4). The famous Indian writer and humanist Arundhati Roy in The
Chequebook and the Cruise Missile has succinctly described the problem: =E2=
=80=9Cthe
ultimate privilege of the elite is not just their deluxe lifestyles, but de=
luxe
lifestyles with a clear conscience=E2=80=9D (9).
It is quite natural in a tribal sense for the political, media and business
leaders of societies to put the best constructions on the actions of their
people. However such bias in public reportage should not extend to non-repo=
rtage
of genocide or other avoidable mass mortality (e.g. the extraordinary
non-reportage of horrendous famines in British India up to the =E2=80=9Cfor=
gotten=E2=80=9D World
War 2 Bengal Famine that killed some 4 million) (5, 6). Indeed Holocaust
Denial is illegal in a number of countries including France and Germany.
Yet holocaust denial is exactly what is being practised unashamedly by
Western media today. The neo-con =E2=80=9Cdemocratic imperialist=E2=80=9D a=
genda is already being
applied to Iraq and Afghanistan and there are increasing noises that Syria
(an oasis of Islamic-Christian religious tolerance in the Middle East) [10]=
and
populous, increasingly democratic Iran will be =E2=80=9Cnext=E2=80=9D. Ind=
eed Condoleezza
Rice in her recent interrogation by the US Foreign Relations Committee has
menacingly specified Cuba, Burma, North Korea, Iran, Belarus and Zimbabwe =
for US
attention (2).
According to the latest UNICEF report (UNICEF, 2005) [11], the total under-=
5
infant mortality in 2003 was 110,000 in Coalition-occupied Iraq, 292,000 in
Coalition-conquered Afghanistan and 1,000 in the invader and occupier
Coalition country, White Australia. This largely-avoidable infant mortalit=
y in these
war-ravaged, Coalition-violated nations thus totals over 0.4 million PER YE=
AR
=E2=80=93 vastly in excess of the horrendous circa 0.2 million death toll =
from the
recent Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy.
Insistent EXPOSURE of the horrendous human consequences of UK-US =E2=80=9Cd=
emocratic
imperialism=E2=80=9D (democratic Nazism) is crucially required to halt this=
carnage
and prevent its further extension. Peace is the only way. Exposure, sancti=
ons,
bans and boycotts against Anglo-American democratic imperialism (democrati=
c
Nazism) is the only way forward for decent humanity. To that end it is vit=
al
that everyone recognizes the pervasive, holocaust-denying lying by commiss=
ion
and omission of the Anglo-American-dominated mainstream global media.
References:
[1]. For detailed accounts of global avoidable mass mortality search major
alternative media sources for articles by Gideon Polya listed on Media Moni=
tors
and on my website: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html
[2]. =E2=80=9CCondoleezza Rice: Iraq war was right=E2=80=9D, The Age, Melbo=
urne, 20 January,
2005)
[3]. Sven Lindqvist, Exterminate All the Brutes (Granta, London, 1997)
[4]. Frank Chalk & Kurt Jonassohn, The History and Sociology of Genocide.
Analysis and Case Studies (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1990)
[5]. Gideon Polya, Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History.
Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in global sustainability=
(Polya,
Melbourne, 1998; out of print but available in some major libraries)
[6]. Colin Mason, A Short History of Asia, From the Stone Age to 2000AD
(Macmillan, London, 2000)
[7]. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel (Jonathan Cape, London, 1997)
[8]. Rajiv Malhotra, Dialog on Whiteness Studies, Sulekha,
http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=3D305959
[9]. Arundhati Roy (with David Barsamian), The Chequebook and the Cruise
Missile (Harper Perennial, London, 2004).
[10]. William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain (Flamingo, London, 1998)
[11]. UNICEF Website (January 2005).
--__--__--
Message: 2
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:48:42 EST
Subject: Bring back the water
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk
[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
Bleak Eid...
Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog from Iraq...
Saturday, January 22, 2005 - It's the third day of Eid. Eid is the Islamic
holiday and usually it=E2=80=99s a time for families to get together, eat,=
drink and
celebrate. Not this Eid. This Eid is unbearable. We managed a feeble gathe=
ring
on the first day and no one was in a celebratory mood. There have been
several explosions- some far and some near but even those aren't as worris=
ome as
the tension that seems to be growing on a daily basis.
There hasn=E2=80=99t been a drop of water in the faucets for six days. Six=
days.
Even at the beginning of the occupation, when the water would disappear in=
the
summer, there was always a trickle that would come from one of the pipes i=
n
the garden. Now, even that is gone. We=E2=80=99ve been purchasing bottles o=
f water
(the price has gone up) to use for cooking and drinking. Forget about clea=
ning.
It=E2=80=99s really frustrating because everyone cleans house during Eid. =
It=E2=80=99s like
a part of the tradition. The days leading up to Eid are a frenzy of mops,
brooms, dusting rags and disinfectant. The cleaning makes one feel like th=
ere's
room for a fresh start. It's almost as if the house and its inhabitants ar=
e
being reborn. Not this year. We=E2=80=99re managing just enough water to r=
inse dishes
with. To bathe, we have to try to make-do with a few liters of water heate=
d
in pots on kerosene heaters.
Water is like peace- you never really know just how valuable it is until
someone takes it away. It=E2=80=99s maddening to walk up to the sink, turn =
one of the
faucets and hear the pipes groan with nothing. The toilets don=E2=80=99t f=
unction=E2=80=A6 the
dishes sit piled up until two of us can manage to do them- one scrubbing a=
nd
rinsing and the other pouring the water.
Why is this happening? Is it because of the electricity? If it is, we shou=
ld
at least be getting water a couple of hours a day- like before. Is it some
sort of collective punishment leading up to the elections? It=E2=80=99s un=
believable.
At first, I thought it was just our area but I=E2=80=99ve been asking arou=
nd and
apparently, almost all of the areas (if not all) are suffering this drough=
t.
I=E2=80=99m sure people outside of the country are shaking their heads at =
the words =E2=80=98
collective punishment=E2=80=99. =E2=80=9CNo, Riverbend,=E2=80=9D they are =
saying, =E2=80=9CThat=E2=80=99s
impossible.=E2=80=9D But anything is possible these days. People in many a=
reas are being told
that if they don=E2=80=99t vote- Sunnis and Shia alike- the food and suppl=
y rations
we are supposed to get monthly will be cut off. We=E2=80=99ve been getting=
these
rations since the beginning of the nineties and for many families, it=E2=
=80=99s their
main source of sustenance. What sort of democracy is it when you FORCE peo=
ple to
go vote for someone or another they don=E2=80=99t want?
Allawi=E2=80=99s people were passing out pamphlets a few days ago. I went =
out to the
garden to check the low faucet, hoping to find a trickle of water and
instead, I found some paper crushed under the garden gate. Upon studying i=
t, it
turned out to be some sort of =E2=80=9CElect Allawi=E2=80=9D pamphlet prom=
ising security and
prosperity, amongst other things, for occupied Iraq. I'd say it was a
completely useless pamphlet but that isn't completely true. It fit nicely =
on the
bottom of the cage of E.'s newly acquired pet parakeet.
They say the borders are closed with Jordan and possibly Syria. I also hea=
rd
yesterday that people aren't being let into Baghdad. They have American
check-points on the main roads leading into the city and they say that the=
cars
are being turned back to wherever they came from. It's a bad situation and
things are looking very bleak at this point.
It's amazing how as things get worse, you begin to require less and less. =
We
have a saying for that in Iraq, "Ili yishoof il mawt, yirdha bil iskhooneh=
."
Which means, "If you see death, you settle for a fever." We've given up on
democracy, security and even electricity. Just bring back the water.
- posted by river _@ _ (mailto:@) 4:19 PM
:: Article nr. 9075 sent on 23-jan-2005 00:07 ECT
:: The address of this page is : _www.uruknet.info?p=3D9075_
(http://www.uruknet.info/?p=3D9075)
:: The original address of this article is :
_riverbendblog.blogspot.com/_ (http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/)
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