Network censorship from the NYT + some comments

["Jose G. Perez" <jgperez@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bin Laden Spokesman Threatens Westerners
By SUSAN SACHS with BILL CARTER
CAIRO, Sunday, Oct. 14 - A Kuwaiti spokesman for Osama bin Laden issued a
blistering televised threat today to kill Westerners, whether in their home
countries or in the Persian Gulf area. In the process, he directly linked
the bin Laden network to the attacks in the United States on Sept. 11....

None of the American TV news networks broadcast live any portion of a latest
statement, and for the most part they paraphrased his comments in very brief
reports....

Executives from several of the network said last night that they had simply
followed normal procedure with regard to last night's tape.

But a spokeswoman for CNN said that that network had instituted a new
committee of senior executives to review any new tapes issued by Al Qaeda.
The committee made the decision on how to handle last night's statement, the
spokeswoman said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/international/middleeast/14TAPE.html

*  *  *

The idea that "normal procedure" was followed with regard to last night's
tape is too ridiculous for words. The networks have been absolutely
craven --and stupid-- in capitulating to the White House on this.

Stupid, both from their own and the U.S. Government's point of view, for at
least a couple of reasons:

a) The more U.S. networks pretend to be impartial news organizations, the
more effectively they can be used as propaganda outlets by the
administration.

b) Vis a vis the population of the U.S. and other major imperialist
countries, one could not hope for more effective prowar propaganda than
these Bin Laden tapes.

Moreover, the censorship has now been extended to the Taleban. A statement
faxed to news organizations by the spiritual leader of the Taleban was
neither shown on TV nor translated in full. Instead, CNN offered viewers
brief "excerpts." It said gee, Afghanistan doesn't have an extradition
treaty with the U.S. and anyways, we haven't seen any proof that Bin Laden
was involved.

In addition, one would think the threat by Al Qaeda to continue more
airplane attacks would he the top headline news. Given what has happened, it
is an entirely credible threat and it would allow an *intelligent*  American
administration to take the offensive against those who before were arguing
against striking at Bin Laden & Co on the basis that there was no evidence
against them. It removes any doubt that remained after the previous two
tapes that Bin Laden & Co. have the same attitude as the [also supposedly
former] CIA operatives who blew up the Cubana de Aviación flight in Barbados
a quarter century ago: "Pusimos la bombam, ¿y qué?" ("We planted the bomb.
So what.")

Not that I believe that Bin Laden & Co. were acting as the behest of some
secret committee in U.S. ruling circles or at least got indirect aid through
people in the "intelligence community" deliberately botching
counter-terrorism work aimed at Bin Laden's networks. But Bush could not
have created an  opponent whose public pronouncements seem more custom
designed to the Administration's purposes.

On the very day some American "smart bomb" blew up a Kabul civilian
neighborhood, showing the real nature of this war, which is not against
terrorism, but against the Afghan people and the peoples of the middle east
and central Asia, Al Qaeda is kind enough to provide a tape to re-enforce
the argument of the Bush folks that, despite regrettable mistakes and so on,
the war is absolutely necessary. All he has to do is play Al Qaeda's warning
to Americans not to fly or go into high rise buildings because "the storms
will not calm down, especially the storm of airplanes, until you see defeat
in Afghanistan."

José





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