yet another blog

9/11 suspect confesses UK targets - Yahoo News UK

The September 11 attacks, the Bali bombing and plots against British targets were among the confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay.According to a transcript released by the Pentagon, Mohammed said in a statement read during the session: “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z,”

This report by the Press Association, read on Yahoo News UK, goes on to say…

Mohammed also claimed he was tortured by the CIA after his capture in 2003 in Pakistan, according to an exchange he had with the military colonel who heads the three-member panel that heard his case.

“Is any statement that you made, was it because of this treatment, to use your word, you claim torture,” the colonel asked. “Do you make any statements because of that?”

Portions of Mohammed’s response were deleted from the transcript, and his immediate answer was unclear. He later said his confession read at the hearing to the long list of attacks was given without any pressure, threats or duress.

Oh come on… how naive can you be! And the media certainly aren’t naive. Cynical, yes. Profit-driven, yes. But naive - no! And, against the background of Mr Mohammed’s earlier remarks concerning torture, the censored parts of his statement, and in the context of the documented abuses at Guantanamo Bay (and indeed the present American regime’s stance on torture) no reasonable person can be left in any doubt that this case is built on very shaky ground.

How then justify the attention-grabbing headline adopted by Yahoo?

Planted Propaganda - washingtonpost.com

Planted Propaganda
It’s a bad idea, whether or not it violates regulations. Too bad the Pentagon won’t say that.Monday, October 23, 2006; Page A20

THE DEFENSE Department inspector general has concluded that having a Pentagon contractor secretly pay Iraqi journalists and news organizations to run positive news stories about the war doesn’t violate any laws or regulations. It’s almost impossible to tell whether that conclusion is correct: The scanty, two-page summary released by the Pentagon provides no details about the activities of the contractor, the Lincoln Group, the contract under which it was operating or the applicable rules.

We won’t dwell too long, though, on the irony that an assessment of the military’s secret propaganda operations is itself — except for the largely exculpatory conclusion — secret. The more important point is that, assuming the inspector general’s legal assessment is right, it only makes the problem worse. The U.S. government has a legitimate interest in conveying its point of view. The problem is when it does so in secret. The government shouldn’t be in the business of covertly peddling propaganda — especially in a war based on the notion of seeking to export democratic values such as, say, a free press.

more…

Aljazeera.Net - Pentagon unit to push US message

The US defence department is setting up a special unit aimed at influencing 24-hour news outlets and websites around the world to counter what it considers derogatory publicity, according to a memo.