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Iraq Winter Soldier Hearings: Victory for Independent Media
In 1971 at age 19, I had a life-changing experience when I met dozens of Vietnam veterans who'd descended on my hometown of Detroit to testify at the "Winter Soldier" hearings organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War. In anguished presentations, the Vets painstakingly described the horrors against Vietnamese they'd seen or taken part in. And the attitudes of racism and bloodlust that motored the war. Many vets blamed the lies in mainstream media for convincing them to go to Vietnam in the first place.
Virtually every soul in that Detroit hotel banquet hall wept openly at the heartfelt, bone-chilling revelations pouring out of the Vietnam vets struggling with bloody memories and post-traumatic stress. But no one outside that hall could see or hear the proceedings. No TV or radio networks covered the event.
This weekend at the National Labor College near Washington D.C., a new generation of vets convened by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) presented powerful hearings - "Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan" - that were more extensive and perhaps even more emotional.
Thirty seven years later, I again found myself sobbing at testimony from solemn young Americans returned from needless war, grappling with shattered lives over brutalities against civilians and prisoners they'd witnessed or participated in.
But I was nowhere near D.C.
This time, I watched the dramatic testimony - often buttressed by photographic and video evidence -- live online at www.IVAW.org. This time, I caught hours of coverage on Free Speech TV, the national satellite network that broadcast the panels of testimony and featured interviews with vets and their families in between panels. This time, I received regular video news feeds in my email inbox from The Real News Network. (The hearings were also televised on 20 public access channels from Fayetteville to Palo Alto, and in public gatherings from Florida to Alaska.)
On my car radio, I listened to the proceedings live on the Pacifica network, which broadcast the hearings to affiliates nationwide - along with call-ins and email from listeners, including Iraq vets and soldiers not as critical of the war.
The four days of vets' testimony revealed the struggle these young Americans are waging to regain their humanity and morality after having been transformed into callous war-fighters who largely dehumanized Iraqis as a people - not just "the enemy" or combatants. An objective observer hearing the testimony would have good reason to wonder if U.S. troops - given the often gratuitous and racist brutality, and the mistreatment of women, children and the elderly -- can ever be a solution in Iraq.
On panel after panel, the veterans offered heartfelt "apologies to the Iraqi people" for what our country has done to their country. I saw a vet rip up the commendation he'd received from Gen. David Petraeus, denouncing the general as a cheerleader who put his own ambitions above his duty to the troops and to the truth. Many vets called for rapid withdrawal from Iraq and criticized Democratic leaders for prolonging and funding the endless occupation.
Ex-Marine Jon Turner, who served two tours in Iraq, ripped his medals from his shirt and threw them on the ground, concluding: "I'm sorry for the hate and destruction I and others have inflicted upon innocent people... Until people hear what is going on, this is going to continue. I am no longer the monster that I once was."
Such powerful first-hand accounts - if heard by the American public - would threaten continued funding of the Iraq occupation. But national mainstream outlets in our country, unlike big foreign outlets, largely ignored this weekend's proceedings.
Not surprisingly, these Iraq veterans had little but scorn for U.S. corporate media whose journalistic failures helped sell the war five years ago, and whose sanitized coverage helps sell the troop "surge" today.
But thanks to the Internet and the growing capacity of independent TV, radio and web outlets, a significant minority of Americans had access to these proceedings. And the archived hearings are now available to anyone anytime with computer access.
In Detroit in 1971, I remember what happened when one of the rare mainstream camera crews showed up at Winter Soldier. . . and then abruptly packed up to leave in the middle of particularly gripping testimony. A roomful of Vietnam vets booed and jeered. It was the moment I became a media critic.
Winter Soldier II shows that it's not enough to criticize corporate media. Even more important is to take advantage of new technologies to keep building independent media.
45 Comments so far
Show AllGreat article -
I have yet to check the event out.
Due to the Internet, I can yet do that - good.
Hey you guys that are dying to rain on the article with your negativity and hopeless ranting: Please, stop it.
I can't stand your whining anymore.
Don't ruin this thread too.
Try to write something encouraging or positive (I know it's hard - believe me - I do know).
Jeff Cohen, you rock!
The indy media must be prepared for a blizzard of corporate media obfuscation along the lines of the "Vietnam vets spit on upon their return home" myth (which, btw, never happened) once the Iraq fiasco endgame is complete and it is time to apportion blame. Thus it is vital that this sort of stuff be put out there again and again until it is out there at the level that whatever corporate legend is put out there, it does not become fact.
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
America wanted this war; and this war is what they got. Somehow American seem to think war is rosy-cheeked American children waving little flags while fireworks in red-white-and blue light-up the background.
War is nothing like this. War is shattered lives, mountains of corpses, and an innocence that will never live again.
War is hell on earth. Period. And the sooner people realize this-the better for all of mankind.
For people tuned into independent media, this was an event.
For people watching monopoly media, there was little or no coverage.
A large majority of people are watching monopoly media.
We still have a lot of work to do.
We need to build more independent networks.
We need to increase the awareness of those networks.
We need to be happy with our new opportunities,
but understand we have a long way to go.
Independent Media is our last hope if we are going to regain our collective decency and repair our Democracy. Were it not for our beloved indy media, we would be as ignorant of the facts and issues as the rest of the asleep sheep inhabiting the hinterlands.
Support Independent Media any way you can. DONATE!!
Unfortunately the truth comes in trickles while the hype, spin, and lies come in tsunamis. It's gonna take some serious surgery to save "our" country. The way things are going it looks like this isn't even our country any more. It belongs to them that bought it. Calls for patriotism are a ploy presented tongue in cheek in order to procure cannon fodder. RIP USA.
call your local newspaper, call your local TV stations, check out fair.org click on activism then click on media resources and start calling, faxing and emailing the major media outlets. "Why didn't you present this information on Winter Soldier 2008?" " Why were you complicit in this suppression of the truth when the majority of the US public are supportive of a quick end to this war that is destroying Iraq and the US?" God Bless Pacifica,Free Speech TV, Real TV and the minority indy media that speak "truth to power" on behalf of the majority of us! Especially blessings and heartfelt gratitude to those courageous soul who testified last weekend!
Thanks to Jeff Cohen for this.
I am about his age. I didn't attend the Winter Soldier hearings, but I remember during one of the May Days anti-war demonstrations in 1970-71, a group of Vietnam Era veterans, probably early VVAW members, many newly-returned from that slaughter, marched on the US Capitol up to a (it was either a barbed-wire or chicken wire) fence on the back steps of the building.
Many ripped medals and decorations from their fatigue shirts and threw them over the fence. Some cried, some spat in anger, some bowed their heads in shame. Many held up their arms in clenched-fist salutes.
I think a number had testified at the Winter Soldier hearings years before. There were many purple hearts scattered on the steps. And silver stars and oak leaf clusters and campaign ribbons and maybe even a medal of honor.
It is on Democracynow.org all week. In my metro area it is on the radio.
Cohen is a fantastic journalist and critic of this administration and its corporate media.
I was in the Navy during the Vietnam era and for some of that time served with a Wave who had been spit on. If a Wave, who never served in Vietnam, was spit on at an airport; I would have to imagine that some soldiers and sailors who returned from Vietnam were spit on.
As always, it is very dangerous to say "never".
Except for taking an old friend out for a Sat. birthday lunch I listened to all broadcast hours over 94.1 fm, KPFA, Berkeley. I am a listener supporter, and this Pacifica radio station is now in my will. I recently retired (great timing with economy), and I sent emails last night to local V.A. hoping to volunteer time to do something for vets and those who support them. The testimony, over and over, is that military behavior is ordered, sanctioned, varying from clear cut to absolutely mixed messages, from the top down. Always was, always will be. This civilian and military group of commanders, went in with our kids pants down, lied about it, and is currently destroying the kids. Turns out this destroys us too.
I lived through the Vietnam Era too, and never saw or heard of anyone actually spitting on a returning Vietnam Vet.
By the end of the era, there were many people violently opposed to our involvement, but most blamed the military-industrial complex, not the soldiers.
To many, the real heroes of that war were the people who gave up their country and went to Canada or Sweden and gave up everything and everyone they knew in order to make their feelings known.
As a fledgling newsman, I attended the Senate Foreign Relations hearings the day John Kerry spoke... and have always been outraged by the lies spread about him and his testimony.
First of all, Kerry never spoke at the Winter Soldier hearings in Detroit... he only attended. Next of all, EVERYONE in the room on April 22nd, 1971, INCLUDING the vets, the Press and the Senators present gave him a standing ovation... his eloquent words won bipartisan praise from the senators who listened to him.
Kerry didn't join the antiwar movement to indict his fellow soldiers; he often spoke with passion about the injustices done to them, both during the war and when they returned home to inadequate medical care and an indifferent government. His purpose was to prevent more of them from being killed, as he said over and over again.
To my way of thinking, people like John O'Neill, (who worked at Bush's personal law firm and helped found the Swift Boat Vets), should be dropped naked at Midnight outside the Green Zone in Baghdad.
And still no mention in MSM. My local paper won't even comment on my requests fror info about these critical hearings.
Thank God for independent media sources. While mainstream corporate media is fixated on linking Obama and Hitler, independent media gives us news we can use. Winter Soldier inspired me to fight harder than ever to bring an end to this war. I've been talking about it to people I know don't want to hear, at the risk of alienating myself from them. I've decided that the deaths of thousands of innocent people, in and out of uniform, are more important to me that friends and family who want to bury their heads in the sand. I think we need to start pressuring corporate media to at least begin showing some respect for the fallen soldiers and covering their funerals - the body bags we saw coming home during the war in Vietnam were enough to sway public opinion in the end. We can not be meek and humble here, lives are at stake.
Why was the 2008 "Winter Soldier" broadcast left out in the cold by local major PBS and NPR outlets through which far greater numbers of citizens could be engaged?
Implicit in Jeff Cohen's excellent article therefore is the fact that we must also organize to democratically restructure, better fund, and revitalize the larger and more powerful public radio and public tv resources.
Social justice requires a collective effort to enhance and strengthen all nonprofit, noncommercial community media, incl. major local community media; our best long term hope is to find ways to permanently fund and democratically support nonprofit journalism outlets of ALL sizes.
Without that, we will be left for some time to come with only part of the information network necessary for substantive change; it's time we think micro AND macro regarding community media.
Hint: Such a rebuilding effort could be timed with the $10-30 billion analog tv channel give back in early 2009.
Viva Oaxaca!
Four years, ten months since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. And yet there has been absolutely no system of accountability for what is going on in our name over there. I'm glad that this hearing will slightly fill the gap in terms of installing some sort of transparency, although we all know we have much more to uncover.
Similarly, the recent Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing did help uncover some of the cryptic mishandlings of taxpayer money, as well as expose some of the despicable activities of the many contractors that are allowed to run amok and unaccounted for.
Some of the highlights from the hearing:
-Fraud, waste and corruption in war funds have been "widespread"
-US Government oversight has been "lacking" and "grossly inefficient"
-Poor accountability has resulted in thousands of weapons provided by the United States to the Iraqi security forces being stolen, looted, or otherwise provided to insurgents and militias to use against U.S. troops.
-The most effective way to fight al-Qaeda and other insurgents in Iraq is to cut off their funding by implementing strict accountability measures over all monies – U.S. and Iraqi.
It cannot be stated in any clearer terms that the administration's lack of oversight over the funding of this costly war is damaging any chance we have of protecting the American public from the threat of terrorism. We cannot allow our tax dollars to be funneled to this machine of corruption and ineptitude any longer, especially with the knowledge that it undermines our security at home. Progressive Future is a new organizing group that is working on reshaping the American political consciousness around the idea of Progressive Values, and we believe that this means redefining "security" to include accountability for actions that represent the United States overseas and cleaning up our international reputation. Visit our website to join the call for consequences for KBR. http://progressivefuture.org/contractor-accountability/pentagon2?id4=BL
Why didn't the New York Times and The Washington Post give major coverage to Winter Soldier?
Are they tired of being newspapers? Do they wish to become local shoppers (newspaper pages full of brightly colored ads)?
I just heard Seymour Hersh on Democracy Now speak very harshly about his former employer, The Times. He pointed out that they missed "the great moral story of our time"-- the reasoning and means behind our
invading and occupying Iraq.
And now they have missed this. Why? Do they not accept the premise of Penny Coleman of AfterNet, that if America would listen to what these active and retired Iraq vets have to say, the war would end tomorrow?
Don't they learn in journalism school nowadays that ending My Lai everyday only in Iraq would be a pretty
good goal?
Or do they prefer the occupation to continue? And are they opposed to the free exchange of information? And do they have no wish at all to get at the truth of things ever?
The Post is now one hundredth what it was in the time of Watergate. The Times is maybe good at explaining icecaps.
This proves how much we need internet neutrality -- and why the powers that be are trying to squelch it.
Yes, those of us with good computer access or live in a Pacifica radio area could be in the know, the rest of America is pretty much oblivious to the Winter Soldier hearings.
Media matters. Let's demand more corporate coverage and absolutely the preservation of internet neutrality.
To hold these hearings is, I hope, the beginning of a real revolt against the Bush Administration, a changing of course, an awakening by the people.
Blogs can spread the word, get the truth out there, destroy the lies and propaganda that comes from official sources.
The importance of blogs cannot be underestimated!
www.dangerouscreation.com
How many IVACs praised Ehren Watada , Jonathan Hutto or the many others who have either deserted or claimed CO status ? How many IVACs publicly advised current servicemen/women to desert and then promise to support them financially , morally and legally when they did ? Anything short of these drastic measures will be ignored by both Congress and White House whoever is there and the occupation will continue indefinitely ( like McCain says ) .
The war was over for Russian soldiers in 1917 when they fragged the officer corps , turned about en masse and walked home , linked arms with the peasants at home and started the revolution . I would suggest that these soldiers were smarter than their American counterparts . Then again , an increasing percentage of American enlistees classified as semi-literate or ex-cons might explain the relatively-erudite Russians .
When I read this article, I think back to the media blitz of 9-11 and wonder at the number of lies we were told to make us back the invasion of Iraq? I think of the number of broken veterans who have returned from their tours in Iraq with images and horrors forever imbedded in their minds, hearts and souls. Is it so different than Vietnam? Our govt. has asked young men to travel to a country far away from home, handed them guns and told them to wipe out the insurgents. These young kmen and women have been placed in areas where they fear for their lives and they are told to kill or be killed. Yet, as I see it, mainstream America has no idea. Our corporate stations are keeping most Americans blissfully ignorant. How many times have I turned to one of the major stations only to find the words used, insurgents, terrorists and such used to discribe the majority of the Iraqi people. A news report today stated, with the anniversary of this conflict we are looking at 4000 + soliders dead, but that doesn't include the number of returning soliders who have committed suicide, which is 6000 +. Or should we mention the number of Iraqi women, children and elderly who have died as a result of our invasion? The number of civilians, Iraq civilians for the month of February is over 700. In one month!
Do any of our new stations report these numbers or show the aftermath of the destruction of our weapons? No.
May free press and journalist who aren't afraid of the truth, continue to report to those of us, who care.
By comparison, the MSM has no soul.
You are already here at Common Dreams.
Enhance your news day here:
http://www.democracynow.org/
Jeff Cohen, keep up the good work. Looks like you pushing into Rainbowed Coalitionizationism, and we love it. Stop the damn endless war, and let's have health care not war fare.
The word "war" should come between the words "damn" and "endless," in case I didn't get it in an earlier attempt at editorial correction.
How about the word "war' should come after the word "endless."
Thank You Winter Soldiers for your courage to face these issues head on. Shame on the (so called) 4th estate for the purposeful lack of courage to face what is happening to the troops you say you support.
Big-media is the drug of a nation, and it's not entirely unexpected. The herd gravitates to their streams for a number of reasons. 'Left-wing product' is bundled and placed on the CD website, and our market is tapped for ad revenue. No surpise, it's money that matters, and the game is controlled. You can push the truth out on pipes that are owned by corporate tyrannies, but net-neutrality is simply a clash of corporate interests, and anything that doesn't spur some sort of revenue can be ignored. A shout of "injustice!" in the middle of barren wilderness simply echoes into silence. Call it efficency, or painting a civilization into a corner, either way - big media is funded by the interests that we are at war with.
Here are the responsible, I think, replies from my local NPR, PRI outlets. I `mispoke earlier it seems, they seem to have a conscience after all - and their hands tied, in a way. I was most impressed for their prompt and positive responses. No response from Public Television.
KALW:
Thanks for the message.
I do know that the Winter Soldier hearings have been mentioned more than once on KALW – I heard discussion about them on Friday's Your Call media roundtable, as well as on today's Your Call, when one of the Winter Soldier participants was a guest on the program.
The primary reason we did not carry full coverage of the hearings is that they are being run in their entirety on KPFA, which can be received by nearly all of our listeners. I agree that these are important hearings, but where possible, we are moving to decrease our duplication of programs available on other stations.
Matt
KQED:
KQED Radio news only reports on California events. We do not have anyone in Washington, DC to cover these hearings. NPR has covered it, including interviews with soldiers, Sunday evening on All Things Considered. Here is the direct link to the archive:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88346816
This is a link to the results page on news.google.com searching for Winter Soldiers:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=%22winter+soldier%22&btnG=Search+News
The main stream media appear to be avoiding the whole thing. Pacifica Foundation's KPFA in Berkeley covered the meetings because Pacifica has another radio station in Washington, DC, thus they had local coverage from back there. KQED Radio has to rely on NPR, BBC, NewsHour, The World and other programs to provide coverage of national & international news.
Thank you for listening
Regards Paul
I'm one of those Viet nam Vets, i'm here to tell you that if someone was to spit on a viet Nam Vet you had better run for your life. If someone got spit on , it had nothing to do with being a VNV.
I've been a listener of KPFA since the late 1980s when they were on top of the Iran Contra crimes and I became a member when the Persian Gulf War started because their reporting and raw information from reliable sources was not heard in the Corporate Media and only occasionally on PBS/NPR. I've also subscribed to Z Magazine since 1991 and because of them and KPFA I've read countless books by Noam Chomsky, as well as Howard Zinn, Gore Vidal, Chalmers Johnson, William Blum, Michael Parenti, Robert Fisk and others. I've also subscribed to Extra the magazine of FAIR (I believe Jeff Cohen was a founder) since this time as well as it tells you the truth about the lies, omissions and distortions in the Corporate Media; such as the New York Times recent coverage of the 5th Anniversary of the U.S. Military Occupation of Iraq which featured No Anti-War Voices and 9 Pro War:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3317
Thanks KPFA for covering the TRUTH of the brave United States Soldiers that served in Iraq and Afghanistan!
http://www.warcomeshome.org/
Thanks Richard for pointing out the NY Times BS in Sunday's OpEd with the 9 pro war dingbats.
You can find this link to the OP ED CONTRIBUTORS by NYT searching on-line 'March 16, 2008 OP ED'
read all OP ED CONTRIBUTORS that appear on list presented. If you throw up, don't be surprised.
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=march+16%2C+2008+OP+ED&srchst=nyt&d=&o=&v=&c=&sort=closest&n=10&dp=0&daterange=full&frow=10
Thank you Jeff Cohen for this article and your service to this country for starting FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) I met you about a year and a half ago in a San Jose, Ca. union hall lecturing along with Scott Ritter. For those of you remembering the great Phil Donohue on MSNBC, Jeff Cohen was the producer, and in spite of high ratings, the Corporatists took Phil off the air because he questioned the coward-in-chief's reasons for invading Iraq and commiting crimes against humanity. FAIR is an excellent source of news reporting.
noliesplease, I agree with you about supporting independent media.
David Grayling, Interesting site. Very good.
Curmudgeon99 , Richard valentine, and sansf, I'm a listener/supporter of KPFA which I think is the best radio station in America. Glad to know others who appreciate the station. And Mr. Valentine, the gents you mentioned are champions of truth and integrity to the highest degree.
roblang, Also include LINKTV which has some fine programming as well. I watched Amy Goodman tonight on DemocracyNow! and she had exerpts of the 'Winter Soldier' hearings and the last segment was with another honest courageous reporter, Seymour Hersch on the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre which he exposed.
Ronald White, Interesting points. I can only speak for myself, but I'll drive 120 miles each way to donate money and time for people like Lt. Watada and IVAW folks. In fact I went to a 'Winter Soldier' fundraiser in Santa Cruz about three weeks ago and we raised more money than expected for their expenses and needs. Not everybody contributes but I think more and more people are coming around with financial support.
By the way, as a Vietnam vet, I was treated like I was Jimmy Dolittle or Audi Murphy when I returned home. I never met a vet that was spit upon on returning to the states, and I'm curious as to how many times it happened
Jeff Cohen, I salute you!.
The NY Times is not going to cover the Iraq Winter soldier hearings because they support the war.
Thank You CommonDreams, for printing this article.
Thankfully many had the opportunity to listen through these new technologies.
What about those who can't afford them?
Is there a DVD of the recent Winter Soldier event that I can buy?
I would be interesting in the Vietnam gathering DVD too.
I can't imagine spitting on someone unless I was ready to fight right then and there. The reports of Vietnam vets being spit upon never made much sense to me. These supposed "baby killers," would certainly have taken offense and probably would have retaliated in some manner so as to cause attention to the situation yet I don't recall any airport murders or violent atrocities from back in the day. That doesn't mean they didn't happen … I just can't recall. But I do know that as time went on it seemed as if there were more and more reports of these spitting incidents after the fact, perpetuated by the MSM and of course the war mongers living in the USA. I just can't imagine spitting on a veteran and I can't envision committing such an attack unless I was damn ready to rock & roll with that person. I detested the Vietnam War as much as I detest this Iraq disaster however so to the powers that be and the remaining thirty percent or so I say tie a yellow ribbon around this…
Thank you, Jeff Cohen, for this essay.
And thanks to everyone who participated in Winter Soldier, to all the veterans who stand for peace, and especially to all the courageous active servicepeople who are resisting the war from within. You are the bravest people I know.
The peace movement can only succeed if it includes military resistance. Every person who stands for peace has a moral obligation to support military resistance.
See Courage To Resist and The War Resisters Support Campaign to see how you can help.
http://couragetoresist.org
http://resisters.ca
"By the way, as a Vietnam vet, I was treated like I was Jimmy Dolittle or Audi Murphy when I returned home. I never met a vet that was spit upon on returning to the states, and I'm curious as to how many times it happened."
There are exactly zero documented incidents of this. No one has ever been able to prove that it happened.
See "Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam" by Jerry Lembcke.
Here on the prairie I can't even get cspan or msnbc. I have 9 Family Channels, 4 Jesus Channels, CNN and Fox.
I could get more paying more for the DISH second tier, but with the cable company, they don't have mo'better at ANY price, unless you think more family channels and more jesus channels are mo'better.
I know a lady that works in the local school district doing speech therapy... she has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science.
She told me the other day she thought Obama was a Muslim. She really didn't know.
I let her watch the Mama Obama video from Journeyman Pictures, subsistence farming, taking in orphans, going to her little local Christian Church. I think if she gets to listen to ONE Obama speech, she might vote for him. These people are fed up with the War and NAFTA, and they're Christian Conservatives... Farmers mostly.
If they could hear these young men and women... they'd be on our side... I'm convinced of it.
I think it's time to storm the Bastille or somethin'. Take over a TV Station... I don't know. Ya feel me?
Here is the truth, I was there too... Us peacenicks ended the war including the Vets who protested.
We never raged against the troops...ever.
But there were stories of spiting on Vets...lots of stories like urban myths.
Some of them might have happened but there was no follow up like Who did the spiting and what did the vets do about it.
I suspect that it was a CIA psy ops plan to prevent the Peace People from getting any credit for bringing the troops including McCain safely home.
There might have been one or two instances of honest hatred spiting but even if that is the case, the media made out that the peace people didn't do anything good but lose the war and spit on troops.
Real Peace people would never spit on soldiers and we ended the war in Nam.
I apologize that we gave McCain the chance to keep the Wars goin.
The media never had to celebrate the end of the war with us. No the only post war story was some vets got spit on.
Just the way it was pushed with no proof or follow up proves to my satisfaction it is a mainly Psy Ops Job to prepare for the no Draft Volunteer Army.
I watched as much of the hearings as I could on FSTV, but then had to go somewhere, so I turned on the local NPR station.
They were busy announcing that McCain would benefit from the "fact" that the Iraq occupation was going along swimmingly, that the decreased deaths were a sign that this was a success and that the Iraq war was now justified.
You who get Pacifica instead of NPR are lucky. I send money to FSTV twice a year, and I'm so glad I do.
marlee,
As long as you have a computer and one with audio, the information can be watched or listened to online. Scroll down on Common Dreams to the bottom of the cover page and on the left, there are radio stations you can click on and to the right, tv programs are available. If you are new to Common Dreams (CD), many folks post links to articles, videos, and radio broadcasts everyday. Please listen or watch these programs.
As a long time listener/contributor of www.kpfa.org, I recommended it for starters. They have a wide range of shows and have done a wonderful job since 1949. But explore all of these stations and you will find what interests you.
L-Girl, Thanks for the info.
Amos and Jim Glover, Good comments.
cranky_chatter,
If you can can get 'The Dish Network' satellite, providing it's in your aea, I recommend it. FREESPEECH TV, and LINK TV are worth the price of monthly payments. Also THE DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL has been presenting some fine films also.
If you can't afford it, follow up on my advice to marlee on the internet.
greenerthanthou,
Good for you supporting FSTV which is tops in progressive shows. I can't listen to NPR. Too corporate minded. Again, if you have audio streaming on your computer, list to Pacifica radio.
Paul wrote:
"Here are the responsible, I think, replies from my local NPR, PRI outlets. I `mispoke earlier it seems, they seem to have a conscience after all - and their hands tied, in a way. I was most impressed for their prompt and positive responses. No response from Public Television."
[big snip]
"The main stream media appear to be avoiding the whole thing. Pacifica Foundation's KPFA in Berkeley covered the meetings because Pacifica has another radio station in Washington, DC, thus they had local coverage from back there. KQED Radio has to rely on NPR, BBC, NewsHour, The World and other programs to provide coverage of national & international news."
I doubt KPFA wouldn't have sent reporters to Winter Soldier if there hadn't been a "local" Pacifica Station. This was something the station wanted to broadcast and it has the equipment, reporters and budget that it was able to do so regardless of whether any other Pacifica stations were in the general vicinity. NPR certainly has "local" stations and a demonstrated ability to report news from places nowhere near any NPR stations. The Low Power state university radio station in Olympia, WA I listen to interrupted regular programing and carried the event live in it's entirety. Choices of what to broadcast were made.
IVAW made considerable effort to have this event publicized and reported on and I believe is continuing to do so. I've read many news services did have reporters in attendance at this Winter Soldier but chose not to report anything or in a few instances to report but only report very little. The Associated Press was definity there and for all I know covered Winter Soldier very throughly; it's subscribers choose what AP content they use or do not use and overwhelmingly chose not to use much, if any, content about Winter Soldier 2008. Radio stations, TV stations, newspapers and other news organs have access to the internet just as we do and use information and content from it. The information was available and remains available. The mainstream news media organs so far have almost entirely chosen not acknowledge Winter Soldier 2008, let alone to inform the public about it. It is not difficult to quickly think of many mainstream media entities that unquestionably have the resources to have covered as much as they wished. Hands were not tied, choices were made about what to report or not report.
Anyone else remember the old Tom Paxton song, "We Didn't Know" from the album, "Ain't That News!"?
Perhaps some of the mainstream magazines will do better. We'll see as issues are published in the near future according to their nondaily schedules. Or if it will turn up in some weekly newspaper features, radio programs or TV programs. There are some Winter Soldier articles at huffingtonpost.com and Arriane Huffington is on Left, Right and Center which is a weekly program of NPR station KCRW which has a very large audience in Southern California. If knowledge of Winter Soldier can break into general public knowledge it still has the potential to be a major, influential event; particulary since people can get on the net and listen to the archived broadcast if they know about it and take enough interest to do so.
RSN 004
RSN, "I doubt KPFA wouldn't have sent reporters to Winter Soldier if there hadn't been a "local" Pacifica Station."
Not true. First of all, the five Pacifica stations do not broadcast the same programs.
Secondly, KPFA has sent Lary Bensky (now retired), one of their best reporters ever, not only to Washinton D.C. but to other parts of the country where Pacifica has no stations. Mr. Bensky still covers important events for the station.
KPFA did a fantastic job covering the Winter Soldier hearings and thought it important enough to preempt many of their shows with the broadcasts.