{"id":1452,"date":"2003-04-04T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2003-04-04T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles-wp\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2003-04-04T14:20:00","modified_gmt":"2003-04-04T18:20:00","slug":"deny-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles\/2003\/04\/04\/14\/20\/deny-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Deny Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

So the spinmeisters<\/a> are in full effect trying to deny that any US\/UK bombs could, might, even possibly be responsible for the civilian slaughters in Baghdad. Their main strategy is to besmirch the reputation of the journalist Robert Fisk.<\/p>\n

Robert Fisk has a proud record of reporting what he sees. He has travelled to dangerous places and described unflinchingly what is happening. He prefers to speak to the people caught up in conflicts rather than report what the generals, politicians and spokesmen are saying. Any careful reader of his reports from Iraq would know that he holds no brief for the Saddam regime. Indeed, he was among the first journalists to report Saddam’s use of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war. Anyone who read his reporting of the Kosovo war will remember that, when Nato headquarters denied that its aircraft had hit civilian convoys, he went to the spot on the ground where the missiles fell and found the markings on casings of US munitions. Nato spokesmen later admitted responsibility.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Blair said British and US troops had done “everything possible” to minimise the number of innocent Iraqis killed in the conflict, adding that no civilian sites had been targeted … The coalition has repeatedly said there was no evidence that one of its missiles had caused the destruction, and suggested it might have been an Iraqi air defence missile that missed its target and fell back to earth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“We have broadcast media behind what I would describe as enemy lines, reporting blow-by-blow what is happening. We have it reported certainly in our own media in the United Kingdom on occasions as though they were moral equivalents. Those of a progressive, or liberal bent, in my view, are egged on into believing that this is the right way to get to the true facts.” (David Blunkett, UK Home Secretary)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>Among the calamities of war, may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.” – Samuel Johnson, 1758<\/p>\n

Earlier here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the spinmeisters are in full effect trying to deny that any US\/UK bombs could, might, even possibly be responsible for the civilian slaughters in Baghdad. Their main strategy is to besmirch the reputation...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t