RE: Recommended Website -
The media gave the US government a free ride without much criticism when it decided to invade Iraq. The world said that they didn't have much proof Saddam still had the weapons capacity. The inspectors didn't see the proof though they were always open minded to it.
Powell’s case for invading Iraq was based on forged documents that were proven to be forged before he gave his speech to the UN. Note that there was the outing of a CIA agent as a way of punishing Wilson for challenging the administration on the matter.
(I’ll even use well known US sources)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/14/sprj.irq.documents/
(CIA outing)
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1083895,00.html?internalid=ACA
Moreover, much of the info Powell gave was old and dated. Did the media really take the US government to task? No.
A poll was also done asking people whether they believed there was a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. At the time most believed there was even though the connection was proven to be hardly the case. Saddam and Osama were actually rivals. Saddam, because of his tyranny, would never allow a militant group to operate within his country.
Did the news media work to really inform the public of their misconceptions? No. Even when Bush himself had to publicly state there was no connection to 911, through his administration continue to make references to 911 with regards to invading Iraq. Does the media take them to task on continually spreading misperceptions? No.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5223932/
The UN made a clear stance that the case for war wasn’t strong. Old allies challenged the US on this. The US media however rather than question the validity of their arguments, created a poor impression of the rest of the world, the UN, and scapegoated France. Who was right in the end? Well now that hindsight is 20/20 I guess the rest of world but the information was there at the time to challenge the need for war. Did the media take the US government to task? No.
(Please note, Harper would have taken us into Iraq if he were leader at the time. He wrote an letter of apology to the US for Canada’s refusal to become involved.)
NBC is 80% owned by General Electric. I take interest in who owns what. I have to as I have a keen interest in the markets. So don’t say I’m not into capitalism. I need to get my facts straight or I lose my ass if I just go along believing the taking heads or the corporate BS. General Electric makes missile switches. You tell me there isn’t a conflict of interest.
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/ge.asp
I didn’t look up the website originally posted for this forum so what I’m saying has nothing to do with it. The facts I mentioned however are out there.
The political decisions a country makes are my business to know because they do things to an economy which I have a keen interest in. So I have to know what is really going on regardless of the patriotic fuzzy feeling the media likes to reports. If somebody wants a more clearer picture than they have to read the news from all over the place, stick it up on a wall and draw a line down the middle.
The mainstream US media, I’ve discovered, has the least reliable news out there. They might give mention of truth, but then they bury it with the government position and paid experts. It then all becomes a blur where the public mostly hears the falsehoods while never having the time to dig deeper for the real truth.
My greatest concern would be that we go soft on this side of the fence with reporting.
Why is Harper in hiding? An official complaint was filed by our media with the political body for Harpers refusal to meet with the media.