By Dave Lindorff
The sorry performance of the US corporate media, which blacked out
stories questioning the official line on the so-called “Iraq Threat”
until the nation was deeply mired in to pointless, bloody war in that
country, and which has almost completely ignored a three-year,
nation-wide movement calling for the impeachment of the president and
vice president, has continued.
Search far and wide, and you will find no reporting on the fact
that Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has filed a total 36 proposed articles
of impeachment against President Bush, is finally going to get to
formally present his case to the House Judiciary Committee, beginning
on July 25. Although this is not an impeachment hearing, it is putting
impeachment “on the table,” from which it has been banned for two years
by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Although the House last week voted
251-166 to send Kucinich’s articles to the Judiciary Committee for
hearings, the New York Times, the Washington Post
and the nation’s television news organizations ignored this
breakthrough (which included 24 Republicans voting for the measure).
Only USA Today, at least in its online edition, even
mentioned it, with a headline saying “Pelosi cracks door open on
impeachment resolution”--and that was just a five-sentence story.
Another critically important story that is being blacked out by the
corporate media is the Bush/Cheney administration’s march towards war
with Iran. On Sunday, the London Times ran a well-researched and reported piece headlined President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran,
saying that Bush has given the “amber light” to Israel to get its air
force ready for an aerial assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The
article, which quoted an unnamed “senior Pentagon official,” reported
that while an actual attack would require a further “green light” from
the president, the “amber light” meant planning could proceed.
The article also stated that the president was acting, “Despite the
opposition of his own generals and widespread skepticism that America
is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of
an airborne strike on Iran.”
Surely such news of an increased possibility of the US being dragged
into yet a third war in the Middle East should at least warrant a
mention in the mainstream media. The Times of London is,
after all, hardly a fringe publication. Though owned by Rupert
Murdoch’s NewsCorp. it has a sterling reputation. If it reported on a
gossipy story about another sex scandal involving the British royal
family, you can bet the American media would be quoteing it ad nauseum.
Yet while the rest of the world is holding its collective breath
wondering if such a cataclysmic attack might be about to happen with US
sanction and assistance (Israel would be flying American-made planes in
any attack, and would have to be given clearance to fly over
US-controlled airspace in Iraq, even if it was denied access to US
airbases along the way), Americans are being left blissfully unaware of
this latest crime in the making by their war-mongering president.
This is news of major import, and it is nothing short of a shame and
a scandal that it is not being reported in the American media, which
more and more is resembling state propaganda.
Those who want better of their news purveyors should contact local
editors and demand that they stop blacking out stories like these.
Better yet, get together with friends and picket your local news
outlets!
___________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His
latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback edition). His work is available at ThisCantBeHappening.net
