Bill Moyers: “Buying the War”

Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner. He was hailed by media stars as a “breathtaking” example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House’s claim that the war was won. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews declared, “We’re all neo-cons now;” NPR’s Bob Edwards said, “The war in Iraq is essentially over;” and Fortune magazine’s Jeff Birnbaum said, “It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context.”

How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported? “What the conservative media did was easy to fathom; they had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked. How mainstream journalists suspended skepticism and scrutiny remains an issue of significance that the media has not satisfactorily explored,” says Moyers. “How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?”

On Wednesday, April 25 at 9 p.m. on PBS, a new PBS series BILL MOYERS JOURNAL premieres at a special time with “Buying the War,” a 90-minute documentary that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Click HERE to View It

360 Vision – Gold Diggers Part 1

Honduras is rich in silver and gold. So why is this Central American republic plagued by such desperate poverty?

Roman Catholic Church officials in Honduras believe foreign mining concerns like Canada’s Goldcorp Inc. bear much of the blame. They want these companies out of their country – now. 

Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on ‘Sacrifice”

(Chris Floyd) Rope Trick: Burying America’s Collusion With Saddam

Saddam Hussein, who is being held in American custody, has been tried by an American-appointed court which has ensured that all evidence pertaining to the massive Anglo-American support given to Saddam during the worst years of his savage reign has been completely supressed. The crimes for which he has been sentenced to death were carried out while Donald Rumsfeld was shaking his hand and Ronald Reagan was supplying him with moolah, diplomatic support and direct military intelligence to target his poison gas attacks on Iranian forces and aid his bombing of Iranian cities. The crimes for which he is currently on trial — gassing the Kurds — were not only countenanced by George Herbert Walker Bush and his administration (which included Dick Cheney and Colin Powell in key positions), but Bush went on to reward Saddam with showers of money (much of it funneled through secret bank accounts), military hardware — including dual use technology for WMD — and agricultural credits, which allowed Saddam to use his hard currency reserves for more weaponry. (article – read more)

America’s Corporate Merchants of Death

Jaggi Singh Out on Bail – November 27, 2006

Montreal QC — A hearing was held at Montreal’s municipal court today in the case of Jaggi Singh’s arrest on Friday, November 24. Singh was arrested by an RCMP officer at Montreal General Hospital, where an announcement and press conference by Canadian PM Stephen Harper was to be held. (read more)

Keith Olbermann on Habeus Corpus

“Sadly, the threat this generation of Americans needs to take seriously, Mr. President, is YOU.”