Ragging the Dogs of War at the New York Times

Caught with its pants down, the New York Times, on 26 May 2004, briefly stepped out of character and, well off the front page, admitted that its editors and journalists, most notably Judy Miller, skewed information to fit a preconceived plan of action by certain government officials.

In plain English, the Times acknowledged that it had spread lies in a successful attempt to persuade the American public that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Amazingly, the Times confessed that it spread these lies so that the criminal officials in charge of the Office of Special Plans in the Defense Department could provide the bloodthirsty, oil-hungry Bush Administration with the false pretext it needed to illegally invade, conquer, and occupy Iraq, killing tens of thousands of innocent people in the process.

This was not merely bad journalism; in so far as the rape of Iraq was perpetrated by government officials with stronger loyalties to Israel than to America, the lies of the Times amount to treason, and complicity in a war crime of epic proportions.

Will the Times now admit that its editors and journalists routinely skew information in an on-going and highly successful effort to swing American public opinion against the Palestinians and toward Israel? What other unrealities has the Times been creating, as it continues to spout the most unbelievable propaganda on a daily basis?

Part of the new propaganda is that Ahmad Chalabi is to blame for the whole WMD charade. But Chalabi is right when he says that CIA director George Tenet is conducting a smear campaign against him – again with the help of the Times and others who have momentarily taken their eye off the ball. Chalabi is the designated fall guy, suitable in his ethnicity and total lack of credibility, despite the fact that he was a puppet of the CIA and the same pro-Israel maniacs running the Times and the US government.

Talking about maniacs: Where were New York Times reporters back in December 2003, when the line of Iraqis outside Abu Ghriab prison already stretched a mile long? Wasn’t there a single Times reporter present to interview these people, any one of whom could have told a harrowing tale of missing relatives who, after being illegally snatched at midnight and detained by US forces, were either inside Abu Ghriab being tortured by other US forces, or already murdered and dumped in a ditch by CIA “interpreters”, “translators”, and/or civilian “contractors”, all of whom have been immunized by Paul Bremer for any war crimes they commit?

Why hasn’t the Times breathed a word about the CIA’s organization and massive illegal operations inside Iraq, and throughout the Middle East? Why hasn’t the Times uttered a single word about the role of Israeli military and intelligence officers participating in the murder and torture of Iraqis?

Don’t wait with bated breath for those sordid stories, folks. The only way that information will be forthcoming, is when the American people emerge from their comfortable coma and forcefully take back the airwaves and print media that rightfully belong to them, not the multinational corporations, or the wicked agents of foreign nations masquerading as Americans.

DOUGLAS VALENTINE is the author of The Hotel Tacloban, The Phoenix Program, and TDY. His fourth book, The Strength of the Wolf: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1930-1968, is newly published by Verso. For information about Mr. Valentine, and his books and articles, please visit his web sites at www.DouglasValentine.com and http://members.authorsguild.net/valentine

 

Douglas Valentine is the author of The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War on Drugs, and The Strength of the Pack: The Personalities, Politics, and Espionage Intrigues that Shaped the DEA.