...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Monday, April 07, 2003
      ( 4:16 PM )
 
Democracy NOW
We took a break from unpacking this weekend to watch Amy Goodman's interview of CNN's Aaron Brown. She had with her a representative of FAIR and they grilled Brown relentlessly. He feigned cooperation, but then would burst into indignation when they interrupted his long-winded soliloquys on why he believes his show is so neutral and fair. They kept asking him why did he have so many generals on, but barely ever interviewed or did analysis with someone who is anti-war. He kept insisting that now that the war is on, there is no point in having any one anti-war on his show. He seems to feel that it is now irrelevant that there are other options than what is now happening. He also tried to defend the fact that CNN is whitewashing the war by never showing pictures of the casualties while the rest of the world is seeing the devastating effects on the population of Iraq from our invasion. While admitting that the picture from Vietnam of the little girl burned and running from the napalm attack was a turning point for American support for the war, he said that he didn't think similar pictures that are coming out of Iraq would be "tasteful" to show on American television. No wonder 70% of people are still "for" the war. He came off as pompous as he does on his show, and I felt that Amy and her team did a great job of showing that the American coverage of the war is indeed biased, no matter how they try to couch their laundering clean of the dirtyness and tragedy of the war we are waging.

Also on Democracy Now's Website - some news on the SECOND AMERICAN PEACE ACTIVIST IN ISRAEL ATTACKED BY A TANK:
Just weeks after Rachel Corrie of Olympia was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza town of Rafah, Israeli forces nearly killed another U.S. peace activist on Saturday, 24-year-old Brian Avery.

He is reported to be in serious condition. He has regained consciousness and is able to communicate by writing messages. But his face is said to be shattered, with his tongue split in two.

Eyewitnesses and members of the International Solidarity Movement say Avery was shot by an Israeli tank. Israel said the shooting is under investigation.

Avery, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, had come out of his apartment building to investigate shots being fired on the streets when an armored personnel carrier rounded a corner, said Tobias Karlsson, 30, a member of the Palestinian-backed group from Stockholm, Sweden.

"We had our hands up and we were wearing vests that clearly identified us as international workers when they began firing," Tobias told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Brian was shot in the face, and it looks like he was hit by a heavy caliber bullet because of the extent of the wound."

I've barely seen any news about it. Is it old hat now for the IDF to injure and murder peace activists who get in their way? I'm sure possibly finding chemical weapons in Baghdad is much more important anyway.

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