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TechnoratiWhen Gibbs Attacks
After Gen. Taguba Alleges Existence of Prisoner Rape Photos, Robert Gibbs Attacks. . . British Media
Wow. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is really embodying the idea that when the message is devastating, you attack the messenger. Except in this case, Gibbs is not even attacking the messenger, but rather the newspaper that quoted the messenger.
In a major story today, London's Daily Telegraph quoted Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba describing photos (that the Obama administration is fighting to keep secret), which allegedly depict US personnel raping prisoners, other sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. "These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency," Taguba said. Put that statement against this one from the president: In defending his decision to fight the ACLU in its efforts to have the photos publicly released, Obama said on May 13, "I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational."
At the White House press briefing [on Thursday], Gibbs lashed out-not at Gen. Taguba, who made the allegation on the record, and not even specifically at the paper that quoted Taguba. Instead, Gibbs went after the entire British media, saying "I think if you do an even moderate Google search (heh) you're not gonna find many of these newspapers and ‘truth' within say 25 words of each other:"
"I want to speak generally about some of reports I've witnessed over the past few years in the British media and in some ways I'm surprised it filtered down," Gibbs said. "Let's just say that if I wanted to look up, if I wanted to read a writeup today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League Cup, I might open up a British newspaper... If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not sure that would be the first stack of clips I picked up."
No, instead perhaps Gibbs would pick up one of those stellar US papers with spotless track records on "the truth." He could start with The New York Times, which was basically a conveyor belt for the lies of the Bush administration during the lead up to the Iraq war. Or he could turn to any number of US lie factories masquerading as media outlets.
This is pathetic. Really. Hey, Gibbs, here's a suggestion: go after Gen. Taguba, a 34 year, decorated military veteran whose career was brought to an end for battling Rumsfeld and the torture machine at the Pentagon. Go after the General who last year (when Bush was still in power) called for prosecutions of the torturers. "There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account," Taguba wrote in June 2008. Go after him, Gibbs. Call him a liar. Say he is a dirty propagandist that wants to hurt US troops. Oh, right, you can't. Taguba actually agrees with Obama on this issue, as he told the lying, evil British media:
"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them."
I'll wait to see if the Telegraph produces a tape of the interview (they should) or for Gen. Taguba to say he was misquoted before I would even mildly question the veracity of this story. Everything about it rings true to everything Sy Hersh has written, every torture document and photo we have seen thus far and every testimonial we have heard from those former military/intelligence and other government officials with the guts to speak out. As Raw Story pointed out today, this allegation of rape of prisoners is not new:
"The American public needs to understand, we're talking about rape and murder here," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), telling reporters in 2004 why the Abu Ghraib photos should not be released as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld faced calls for his resignation. "We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience. We're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges."
As for the Pentagon's statement [Thursday] (reiterated by Gibbs as the official US line on this story) that the Telegraph "demonstrated an inability to get the facts right," here is what I say: the Pentagon, whose personnel allegedly commited the torture described by Gen. Taguba, is not an independent observer here to say the least. In fact, the Pentagon has "demonstrated an inability to get the facts right."
28 Comments so far
Show AllLet's face it - the U.S. is nothing more than a giant corporation with the President as CEO and the Congress as his minions.
Their focus is to keep enriching themselves, not by producing a product worth buying, but by forcing the populace to "buy" (with their taxes) whatever they put out in terms of a product and which they call "Democracy."
We have no government and certainly no democracy. It's "Congress's way or none" and Congress has no motivation whatsoever (when they can buy elections) to listen to the voice of the people.
The people will have to pay regardless!!!
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
What a smarmy liar Obama has turned out to be--on big issues and small alike. He can't be trusted but he still has legions of mouth-breathing dupes out there. It's pathetic and infuriating. I just unsubscribed from MoveOn.org's email list and told them it's time for a large umbrella United Progressive Party to come in as a Third Party with enough membership to club the Dimocrats and Rethuglicans over their heads and eviscerate the worst ones in the primaries. A Third Party that will consistently fight Big Media's habitual framing of every issue in militarist, corporatist terms. One that will enlist progressive groups who have wasted their support on a Dimocratic Party that has morphed into an un-reformable creature of the DLC fascist facilitators--even as it nears a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
The sheer stupidity of the Democratic Party corporatists at this point is beyond astonishing. Progressives cannot afford to let it zombify us. We need to unite with a clear platform and find articulate courageous candidates to fight the good fight before it really is too late for this country and the world.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
as i posted elsewhere last evening, so too shall i here today. get used to it for the next couple of days. everything is connected.
over the barrel
astounding is the simplicity of the disaster.
when we start connecting the dots, when we start following the obvious, when we take a step back and say ohmyfuckinggod, only then is the picture clear.
in cheney's run-up to the iraqi war, many corporations and institutions were approached to play a major part in such an irresponsible act of greed, an act that promised huge slices of pie to those willing to invest in this hostile act of aggression, an act that would be a piece of cake resulting in those rewards of huge slices of pie, rewards in the form of total control over a basically helpless country unable to defend its only natural resource of any significance; this country ruled by no-fly zones, combined with another country infested with some of the most non-caring and complacent and ignorant citizens on the planet, this second country ruled by fear.
these corporations and institutions - banks, the white collar crooks of all time, wall street, ditto, insurance companies, ditto, and automobile manufacturers concretely connected to the invaded country's sole natural resource - all, unbelievably, managed to buy the salesman's pitch, everyone blinded by the greed, a greed so insane that it brought the pompous american empire to its knees and will ultimately bring the world as we know it to ruin; they pooled their financial resources into the salesman and his pet puppet's pet project and with the promise of shock and awe and missions accomplished and bring 'em on and yellow ribbons and plastic sheeting and duct tape and torture and while they waited for the wealth to pour thru the funnel, the salesman, the CONsumate salesman, always one step ahead, had other ideas.
then, inconceivable to the crooks and to the concretely connected, a complete and total and absolute failure of leadership occurred, causing the walls to crumble - previously witnessed by all on that sunny september morn - in such a way that the slices of pie turned to visions of sugar plums, far and distant and untouchable. events happened. bubbles of all kinds began to burst, record prices for the invaded country's natural resource, natural disasters, oh-so-golden parachutes... their investment, billions and billions of dollars, began to disappear quicker than a bush smirk or a cheney sneer. too much. spinning out of control. how to hold the salesman accountable? suddenly, the crooks and the concretely connected concocted the bailout. their bad investment suddenly became an even more brilliant scheme than the salesman had imagined. the salesman connected to it all. even more suddenly, money flowed from the presses. just as suddenly, bankruptcies were handled in record-setting performances. not quite so suddenly, the american people were duped. once again.
and the american people - engrossed in super bowls and lost causes and fat people losing weight and dancing with the starlets and bubba wants another beer - all sat on their collective lazy asses.
chris hedges, david michael green, seymour hirsch, cynthia mckinney, ralph nader, dennis kucinich, keith olbermann, anyone and everyone, the challenge is issued to pick up this ball and run with it.
Everyone needs a scapegoat, especially in a toxic place like Washington DC.
Gibbs may speak for Obama - Many Americans will believe his line of spin.
The world however does not believe anything that the Obama regime dictates.
Obama had a brief moment to tell the truth and begin the healing process. For reasons, known only to himself, he has sold out the American people in a much more cynical way.
The world knew that Bush represented fascists. At least they were up front about their motives.
Does anyone really know who Obama represents.
The world understands all too well that the US is guilty of torture, of genocide and neglect of human values.
Obama is more afraid of the reactions by Americans than the reactions of the oppressed who understand us too well.
Apparently, Americans are only outraged when a President lies about consensual sex acts with an adult.
Rape and torture committed by military members under the orders and with the blessing of an administration? So.
"No, instead perhaps Gibbs would pick up one of those stellar US papers with spotless track records on "the truth.""
I love this sentence...
If I was looking for results of sporting events in Great Britain, I would check outlets from many sources in the same way I check any event I want to know about. What a dimwit. If the digital divide is ever closed corporate shills will become dinasaurs.
The British newspapers are more openly partisan and ideological than American newspapers, but that doesn't mean they're allowed any looseness with facts. Besides, my recollection is the Telegraph is regarded as more in line with the Conservative Party.
In any case, given the record of most American mainstream media during the Bush years, it's no wonder The Guardian once said it was getting more web traffic from the US than the UK. They kept the skepticism of Bush press releases that most US media discarded as unpatriotic. Once we get past Knight-Ridder, PBS, and NPR, it's hard to say the same about major US media.
What I like about the UK papers is that they are open about being partisan. The Guardian is open that it is a left paper. The Telegraph is open that it is a right paper; though both will have columnists providing alternate views.
They don't try to pretend to be "neutral" and "unbiased".
Re the looseness with facts, it is easier to sue for libel, and win, in the UK than in the US. That will put a check on looseness with facts.
I'm surprised all of the scumbags covering up these disgusting episodes have not blamed the victims of these rapes. And or they'll say it was not as bad as what Oday and Qusay did to their own people. Which reminds me of the two NYC cops who are facing charges of raping a drunken woman and their comrades who violated the immigrant Loima. Count your beads folks
Re FrankS May 29th, 2009 12:53 pm
It's important to know what the official line is. As the old joke goes, "I won't know it's true until I've heard them deny it."
Surely readers of pages such as these need no convincing that our news media is nothing more than a shill for our government, or we wouldn't be taking the time to read them.
Is it ever going to change? Of course not! And it's probably why many newspapers are now folding. Well, good riddance! Rupert Murdoch and his ilk all need to be put out of business permanently.
But we have the internet and I think, because of that, the real truth will never be hidden again. It's just too bad our government leaders don't quite understand that. Don't they realize how incompetent, dishonest, and two-faced they appear when we learn the truth? I now watch TV purely for entertainment. I get my "news" (truth) elsewhere.
"But we have the internet and I think, because of that, the real truth will never be hidden again. It's just too bad our government leaders don't quite understand that."
I would say they understand that very well, which is why they are trying very hard to exert control over internet content and the independent ability to access sites, as the internet is the last refuge of democracy existing in the US Empire. Support your local ISP even if it costs a few dollars more; otherwise, net freedom will surely be compromised with very negative effects.
Thus, we now see Obama saying we must protect/upgrade the "security" of "computer networks," as he appoints a new "Cyber Security Czar," http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/business/index_xml/~3/dfV3dypC8oQ/AR2009052900350.html
China used the "security threat" as its rationale for censoring the internet. The same is about to happen here.
Not just in China and the US. The Aussie government tried to pass an internet law that would basically allow it to engage in censorship. Various European politicians have suggested passing laws that would regulate the internet. To protect the children and to fight terrorists, of course.
Why do Americans listen to these propadanda ministers? All he does is pick and choose which reporters get to ask the questions and then he avoids the questions. If a certain reporter asks too many "bad" questions, that reporter is banished. Even if he answers a question, he is answering it based on what is told to him by the people who actually know the true answers. Why don't the reporters go to who is actually running the country instead of to this theatre?
Great comments so far. Gibbs is the new Ari Fleischer, who's business is covering up for an administration already committed to lies and coverups, poised to do its damned worst anywhere Empire needs the dirty dancing done. Rove and Cheney must be very impressed. Let's see how long it takes for Obama to retract Gibbs' obfuscations, or admit Taguba is right, or apologize to the British media. He'll sooner consent to being waterboarded by Rush.
I was going to compare Gibbs to Ari Fleischer, but I see that you beat me to it! Gibbs' attack on the British media was so brazen in its dishonesty that it took me back to my memories of the Bush years. The mainstream media's failure to debunk him did the same.
I'm pretty sure that the Gibbs family shortened their name from "Gibbers".
And, as I commented elsewhere regarding Gibbs' response:
The administration's message is, once again, that it behooves We the People to accept that now abideth faith, hope, trust, these three; but the greatest of these is Trust.
If the media has gotten it all wrong and screwed it up to the detriment of Amerika, surely sunshine is the best disinfectant, no?
Put out what's there in a context that validates and authenticates, as far as possible, that what's being released is ALL. OF. IT. with absolutely minimal redaction for verifiable, responsible reasons.
This would render obsolete the coy Dance of the Veils we've been suffering: logically inconsistent claims and rationales, executive (royal) censorship, taking cheap shots at the messenger, and admonitions to Move Along.
It is this sort of blatantly reprehensible authoritarian abuse of power that nullifies the increasingly weak hypothesis that Obama is a benevolent Man with a Plan, struggling to implement political tectonic shifts that will radically reform and repair the apocalyptic political landscape.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Well, now even those slow on the uptake should be convinced -- regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power, the pronouncements of the US government have zero credibility. US citizens need to do as the Russians under the Soviet Union and the Chinese under the PRC learned to do long ago -- read between the lines. The official US sources are completely Orwellian and only a complete fool would take anything said at face value.
Hey Kivals, maybe we the people instead of learning to read between the lines, should read our constitution and look for the remedy that our founding fathers prescribed for dealing with a government that is unresponsive to the desires of the owners of the country, WE THE PEOPLE. It's time throw away the Republican and Democratic parties and restructure our institutions. We need to hold the federal government accountable for its actions. If the courts won't do it, then WE THE PEOPLE must. If the founders we alive today they would not take it. They would organize and defeat the greatest power on the Earth. They got away from the British empire, and they would do the same today.
I hear you, but it appears those couches are a bit too comfortable, the television is a bit too mind-numbing, and the computer games, high-tech toys, Internet porn, and other modern sources of entertainment are a bit too distracting. And the corporate elites and their underlings in government know it and so they continue to push for more and more and more.
Kivals you are right I've said the same on many occasions. It just burns me to have learn a new skill(reading between the lines)because most Americans don't fight for the rights that were so hard to win and preserve over the years. How many people who fought for those rights never got enjoy them because they paid the ultimate price. And what do we do with those gifts? We thrash them. And now we are virtual economic slaves to these f-----g corporations and this treasonous government. Oh and if like me you refuse to work for these bastards, well poverty is the best you can hope for. And if you don't like it, and protest, well then it's time to go to jail. And while you are in jail, abuse from the jailers and the inmates(if not worse) becomes a daily routine. We are so F----D.
If we lose the rights that those who came before us fought for, did they fight in vain? And if they did fight in vain, does knowledge of that make it too difficult for others to engage in such fights in the future? If virtually all, if not all, are discouraged from fighting for such rights in the future, does that portend the final death of idealism, signifying the end of an era in human societal evolution?
Imagining the death of idealism surely brings great joy to the most ruthless and rapacious predators.
Well, maybe someone in the press corpse will followup and ask Gibbs if he's saying Taguba was lying or the paper just manufactured the interview whole cloth. Just wildly denigrating British press when our own is in such a sorry state is a new low in spin. He has seen our "news" hasn't he? It's tabloid sensationalism filler between propaganda operations for wars and bailouts, etc.
odoco
I have witnessed Gibbs either simply lie, or more vaguely 'talk around' a question when an accurate answer would throw unfavorable light upon the Obama Administration. Gibbs has no credibility as he has already proven himself to be a political shill. Of course, he would never have been given his current position if he had not been willing to sing the song of the ruler.
The American corporate media is providing cover for Obama on issues of constitution and law just as it did for Bush.
Gibbs, like innumerable Bush sycophants, attacks the few remaining honest media sources who dare utter the truth.
The painful reality of our generation is that nothing truly exists until it gets repetitive coverage on the mass media.
Since the pictures depicting rape and sodomy will remain buried the vast majority of Americans will believe the liars Obama and Gibbs.
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Whoever controls the media controls the country. Period.