When prisoners of war aren't even close. (Was: RE: Rogue terror state violates Geneva Convention)

John Young jya at pipeline.com
Mon Jan 14 08:06:46 PST 2002


Despite what has been promoted by the media (and orchestrated
leaks to it by the US and UK):

1. No definitive link between Al Qweda and the 911 attackers/Moussaoui 
has been proven; only assertions have been to date.

2. Nor any proven link of the attackers to the Taliban, the ruling government 
of Afghanistan with whom the US and other governments had been engaging
in regular diplomatic relations.

3. Most if not all prisoners of war held by the US served under the
Taliban, not
Al Qaeda.

4. There is more evidence for punishing the US military and homeland for
directly 
training and arming the Murrah Building attackers and instigating the
attack than
there is for punishing the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

5. Defining enemies of the US is and has been a role of US media for longer
than we want to believe due to our having no access to secret information
upon which national defense policy is made until, at best, long after the US
has deliberately misled its poplulace with biased and misinforming news
reports, leaks and official statements.

6. The US is not alone in keeping its citizenry and some of its governing
officials
misinformed, allegedly in the national interest.

7. The US lacks a mechanism such as the British Parliament to question its
ruling Taliban; the media claims this role for itself but does not do what it
is specially privileged to do, particularly in times of war and variations on
alleged national emergencies, primarily because much of the media is
organized to distribute simple-minded entertainment matters based on
a flood of custom-made delivery mechanisms -- press releases, conferences,
salons, din-dins, retreats, pillow talk, temporary service in minor roles in 
government and study groups.

8. As we see here virtually all the time, debate never exceeds what the
debaters have read, seen and heard of media output, except in the
rare cases of original research, and even then, until the research is
valorized by media coverage nobody pays attention to it.

9. There were times early on when the list offered original material
on a fairly regular basis, from subscribers or from anonymous
contributors; occasionally that still occurs, but mostly we enjoy
eating and arguing about fake food.

10. These points are well-worn and have no original content; this
is known as the American Way in the US, in Afghanistan the Taliban,
elsewhere called what fundamentalism sells bibles and advertising.





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