Exclusive: The American people are receiving a highly distorted view of the Syrian war – much propaganda, little truth – including from one of the moderators at the second presidential debate, writes Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
How ABC News’ Martha Raddatz framed her question about Syria in the second presidential debate shows why the mainstream U.S. news media, with its deep-seated biases and inability to deal with complexity, has become such a driving force for wider wars and even a threat to the future of the planet.
Raddatz, the network’s chief global affairs correspondent, presented the Syrian conflict as simply a case of barbaric aggression by the Syrian government and its Russian allies against the Syrian people, especially the innocents living in Aleppo.
ABC News’ chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz.
“Just days ago, the State Department called for a war crimes investigation of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and its ally, Russia, for their bombardment of Aleppo,” Raddatz said. “So this next question comes through social media through Facebook. Diane from Pennsylvania asks, if you were president, what would you do about Syria and the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo? Isn’t it a lot like the Holocaust when the U.S. waited too long before we helped?”
The framing of the question assured a response from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her determination to expand the U.S. military intervention in Syria to include a “no-fly zone,” which U.S. military commanders say would require a massive operation that would kill many Syrians, both soldiers and civilians, to eliminate Syria’s sophisticated air-defense systems and its air force.
But Raddatz’s loaded question was also a way of influencing – or misleading – U.S. public opinion. Consider for a moment how a more honest and balanced question could have elicited a very different response and a more thoughtful discussion:
“The situation in Aleppo presents a heartrending and nettlesome concern. Al Qaeda fighters and their rebel allies, including some who have been armed by the United States, are holed up in some neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo. They’ve been firing rockets into the center and western sections of Aleppo and they have shot civilians seeking to leave east Aleppo through humanitarian corridors.
“These terrorists and their ‘moderate’ rebel allies seem to be using the tens of thousands of civilians still in east Aleppo as ‘human shields’ in order to create sympathy from Western audiences when the Syrian government seeks to root the terrorists and other insurgents from these neighborhoods with airstrikes that have killed both armed fighters and civilians. In such a circumstance, what should the U.S. role be and was it a terrible mistake to supply these fighters with sophisticated rockets and other weapons, given that these weapons have helped Al Qaeda in seizing and holding territory?”
Siding with Al Qaeda
Raddatz also could have noted that a key reason why the recent limited cease-fire failed was that the U.S.-backed “moderate” rebels in east Aleppo had rebuffed Secretary of State John Kerry’s demand that they separate themselves from Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, which now calls itself the Syria Conquest Front.
Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (U.N. photo)
Instead of breaking ties with Al Qaeda, some of these “moderate” rebel groups reaffirmed or expanded their alliances with Al Qaeda. In other words, Official Washington’s distinction between Al Qaeda’s terrorists and the “moderate” rebels was publicly revealed to be largely a myth. But the reality of U.S.-aided rebels collaborating with the terror group that carried out the 9/11 attacks complicates the preferred mainstream narrative of Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin “the bad guys” versus the rebels “the good guys.”
If Raddatz had posed her question with the more complex reality (rather than the simplistic, biased form that she chose) and if Clinton still responded with her recipe of a “no-fly zone,” the obvious follow-up would be: “Wouldn’t such a military intervention constitute aggressive war against Syria in violation of the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg principles?
“And wouldn’t such a strategy risk tipping the military balance inside Syria in favor of Al Qaeda and its jihadist allies, possibly even its spinoff terror group, the Islamic State? And what would the United States do then, if its destruction of the Syrian air force led to the black flag of jihadist terror flying over Damascus as well as all of Aleppo? Would a Clinton-45 administration send in U.S. troops to stop the likely massacre of Christians, Alawites, Shiites, secular Sunnis and other ‘heretics’?”
There would be other obvious and important questions that a more objective Martha Raddatz would ask: “Would your no-fly zone include shooting down Russian aircraft that are flying inside Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government? Might such a clash provoke a superpower escalation, possibly even invite nuclear war?”
But no such discussion is allowed inside the mainstream U.S. media’s frame. There is an unstated assumption that the United States has the unquestioned right to invade other countries at will, regardless of international law, and there is a studied silence about this hypocrisy even as the U.S. State Department touts the sanctity of international law.
Whose War Crimes?
Raddatz’s favorable reference to the State Department accusing the Syrian and Russian governments of war crimes further suggests a stunning lack of self-awareness, a blindness to America’s own guilt in that regard. How can any American journalist put on such blinders regarding even recent U.S. war crimes, including the illegal invasion of Iraq that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis?
President George W. Bush in a flight suit after landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln to give his “Mission Accomplished” speech about the Iraq War on May 1, 2003.
While Raddatz referenced “the heart-breaking video of a 5-year-old Syrian boy named Omran sitting in an ambulance after being pulled from the rubble after an air strike in Aleppo,” she seems to have no similar sympathy for the slaughtered and maimed children of Iraq who suffered under American bombs – or the people of Yemen who have faced a prolonged aerial onslaught from Saudi Arabia using U.S. aircraft and U.S.-supplied ordnance.
Regarding Iraq, there was the case at the start of the U.S.-led war when President George W. Bush mistakenly thought Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein might be eating at a Baghdad restaurant so U.S. warplanes leveled it, killing more than a dozen civilians, including children and a young woman whose headless body was recovered by her mother.
“When the broken body of the 20-year-old woman was brought out torso first, then her head,” the Associated Press reported, “her mother started crying uncontrollably, then collapsed.” The London Independent cited this restaurant attack as one that represented “a clear breach” of the Geneva Conventions ban on bombing civilian targets.
But such civilian deaths were of little interest to the mainstream U.S. media. “American talking heads … never seemed to give the issue any thought,” wrote Eric Boehlert in a report on the U.S. war coverage for Salon.com. “Certainly they did not linger on images of the hellacious human carnage left in the aftermath.”
Thousands of other civilian deaths were equally horrific. Saad Abbas, 34, was wounded in an American bombing raid, but his family sought to shield him from the greater horror. The bombing had killed his three daughters Marwa, 11; Tabarek, 8; and Safia, 5 who had been the center of his life. “It wasn’t just ordinary love,” his wife said. “He was crazy about them. It wasn’t like other fathers.” [NYT, April 14, 2003]
The horror of the war was captured, too, in the fate of 12-year-old Ali Ismaeel Abbas, who lost his two arms when a U.S. missile struck his Baghdad home. Ali’s father, his pregnant mother and his siblings were all killed. As the armless Ali was evacuated to a Kuwaiti hospital, becoming a symbol of U.S. compassion for injured Iraqi civilians, the boy said he would rather die than live without his hands.
Because of the horrors inflicted on Iraq – and the resulting chaos that has now spread across the region and into Europe – Raddatz could have asked Clinton, who as a U.S. senator voted for the illegal war, whether she felt any responsibility for this carnage. Of course, Raddatz would not ask that question because the U.S. mainstream media was almost universally onboard the Iraq War bandwagon, which helps explain why there has been virtually no accountability for those war crimes.
Letting Clinton Off
So, Clinton was not pressed on her war judgments regarding either Iraq or the Libyan “regime change” that she championed in 2011, another war of choice that transformed the once-prosperous North African nation into a failed state. Raddatz’s biased framing also put Republican Donald Trump on the defensive for resisting yet another American “regime change” project in Syria.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a press conference on Sept. 9, 2012. (State Department photo)
Trump was left muttering some right-wing talking points that sought to attack Clinton as soft on Syria, trying to link her to President Barack Obama’s decision not to bomb the Syrian military in August 2013 after a mysterious sarin gas attack outside Damascus, which occurred six months after Clinton had resigned as Secretary of State.
Trump: “She was there as Secretary of State with the so-called line in the sand, which…
Clinton: “No, I wasn’t. I was gone. I hate to interrupt you, but at some point…
Trump: “OK. But you were in contact — excuse me. You were…
Clinton: “At some point, we need to do some fact-checking here.
Trump: “You were in total contact with the White House, and perhaps, sadly, Obama probably still listened to you. I don’t think he would be listening to you very much anymore. Obama draws the line in the sand. It was laughed at all over the world what happened.”
In bashing Obama for not bombing Syria – after U.S. intelligence expressed suspicion that the sarin attack was actually carried out by Al Qaeda or a related group trying to trick the U.S. military into attacking the Syrian government – Trump may have pleased his right-wing base but he was deviating from his generally less war-like stance on the Middle East.
He followed that up with another false right-wing claim that Clinton and Obama had allowed the Russians to surge ahead on nuclear weapons, saying: “our nuclear program has fallen way behind, and they’ve gone wild with their nuclear program. Not good.”
Billionaire and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Only after attacking Clinton for not being more militaristic did Trump say a few things that made sense, albeit in his incoherent snide-aside style.
Trump: “Now, she talks tough, she talks really tough against Putin and against Assad. She talks in favor of the rebels. She doesn’t even know who the rebels are. You know, every time we take rebels, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else, we’re arming people. And you know what happens? They end up being worse than the people [we overthrow].
“Look at what she did in Libya with [Muammar] Gaddafi. Gaddafi’s out. It’s a mess. And, by the way, ISIS has a good chunk of their oil. I’m sure you probably have heard that.” [Actually, whether one has heard it or not, that point is not true. During the ongoing political and military strife, Libya has been blocked from selling its oil, which is shipped by sea.]
Trump continued: “It was a disaster. Because the fact is, almost everything she’s done in foreign policy has been a mistake and it’s been a disaster.
“But if you look at Russia, just take a look at Russia, and look at what they did this week, where I agree, she wasn’t there, but possibly she’s consulted. We sign a peace treaty. Everyone’s all excited. Well, what Russia did with Assad and, by the way, with Iran, who you made very powerful with the dumbest deal perhaps I’ve ever seen in the history of deal-making, the Iran deal, with the $150 billion, with the $1.7 billion in cash, which is enough to fill up this room.
“But look at that deal. Iran now and Russia are now against us. So she wants to fight. She wants to fight for rebels. There’s only one problem. You don’t even know who the rebels are. So what’s the purpose?”
While one can’t blame Raddatz for Trump’s scattered thinking – or for Clinton’s hawkishness – the moderator’s failure to frame the Syrian issue in a factual and nuanced way contributed to this dangerously misleading “debate” on a grave issue of war and peace.
It is surely not the first time that the mainstream U.S. media has failed the American people in this way, but – given the stakes of a possible nuclear war with Russia – this propagandistic style of “journalism” is fast becoming an existential threat.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Honestly, I would have been shocked if that war-correspondent-posing-as-a-journalist HAD framed the question properly. But she wasn’t competent enough to do that. Although I really wonder whether the question (being posed by a viewer) was intended to be framed the way it was, since I don’t think people outside the presstitute media think up all those preambles to their questions. In that regard, she didn’t disappoint me. She was shilling for the Establishment, who are deathly afraid of losing control if Donald Trump were to actually win this popularity contest-election.
Thank you Robert Parry! I have been taking the day off and catching up on the world machinations of the usual suspects. After having read several articles from many different news sites, I have to say that your take is the most honest and straightforward yet. I have (for example) read several articles where the authors, who seemingly attempt to be unbiased, continue to repeat the idea that Obama failed to attack Syria over the ‘red line’ crossed by the poison gas attack in Syria. Never mind that that was proven to have been ‘rebels’. Then one mentions Russia’s role in the missile downing of MH17, as if the proof that it was downed by missile is proven…which it is not. There were many more examples…obstensively by reporters that were ‘balanced and fair alternative media’, which, by way of perpetuating existing lies as accepted truth, they were not. I’ve found that there is indeed many, many so-called alternative news sites that are as bad as MSM. VICE News is a leader in this department. Thanks again for the many articles that you have produced to keep people informed with the truth, not the truth as you see it. It is much appreciated and very much needed.
In 1996 the prominient US neocon/Zionist “Study Group” prepared for the Prime Minister of Israel the “Clean Break” report which was considered “a kind of US-Israeli neoconservative manifesto” basically calling for Israel to take steps to reorder the entire Middle East.
This seems to have been the plan that has got us to where we are today..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw
Does anyone know how to get hold of the texts of the draft resolutions presented to the UN Security Council on Oct. 8? All I could find was this:
http://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12545.doc.htm
This has the reactions of various parties to the drafts but not the texts themselves. This seems perverse to me. Why are we not allowed to see the actual texts of the drafts?
Same thing goes for the talks in Lausanne on Sat. What these people say is important. The minutes should be made public (better yet, videotaped).
Those of you who understand German might be interested in my comments here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Russia-Reads-US-Bluster-as-by-Ray-McGovern-Putin_Russia-And-China_Russia-And-Us-Conflict_Syria-161011-932.html. I am referring to a discussion program on German tv the other night that was surprisingly fair.
The US government and their media do nothing but lie, so there is no surprise there. What’s happening in Syria is the same program the US government has used in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and many other nations – support terrorism and then point your finger at someone else. https://waitforthedownfall.wordpress.com/get-bashar-al-assad/
Did he shuff an orange into the crotch of his swell looking flight suite
Why does anyone who is informed watch the lame stream media? Or the debate for that matter. Is your vote going to make a difference? Perhaps you are watching as a form of mental self mutilation. As soon as the question was asked and that annoying woman began to lie one more time, I admit, I could not hurt myself any longer.
God bless America, we really need a blessing or two.
I for one sit here reading while I keep this little tv on with the sound on mute. When I glance up from time to time and see something interesting and possibly worthwhile (a very rare occasion) I then put the sound on. KT you are right though, our MSM media is of no use. Although, every morning and from time to time during the day I take a look at HuffPo, Drudge, and Briebart, just to get a temperature reading of how divided we still are. I noticed something really disturbing that during Hurricane Matthew Drudge was down playing the hype, while it’s rival liberal (I say liberal lightly) counterpart HuffPo was into the stratosphere with the hype, and seeing that how now we are making the weather into a right left, red blue, liberal conservative issue convinced me we are too far gone to save. Our media among other things is doing a great job of conquering and dividing us….that way we won’t coalesce around one theme. One voice, can’t have that. The MSM needs broken up into many independent smaller pieces.
Lastly I may not vote, and if I do it will be for Jill Stein.
You Jews really stick together, don’t you, Joe?
I don’t think he’s Jewish. And what did Jill Stein do to you.
Why would anyone really be surprised? Seriously!
And as always, Robert Parry nails it.
Western media all around the world are now predominantly right-wing owned and tend to report ‘press release-style’ stories supplied by governments as fact.
The framing of the question regarding Syrian and Russian war crimes was just so farcical and based on a false premise. The ONLY legitimate foreign power in Syria is Russia, with the possibly exception of Iran, if they have forces there. ALL other foreign nations fighting in Syria have broken international law.
Find a serious investigative journalist or foreign correspondent in ANY Western media outlet. They do not exist.
The overwhelming body of evidence suggest that the plan to invade Syria was made years before the attack ever happened. Then with some careful manipulation and arming of so called ‘moderate’ rebels to attack strategic Syrian areas, the foreseen brutal response from the government and the ‘false flag’ sarin attack, the coalition of the evil had their justification to finally invade.
It is a playbook they have followed over and over again, but the people just seem to be so dumbed down, that they allow it to pass each and every time. It’s a sad indictment on both our media and the populace in general.
“Very frequently propaganda is described as a manipulation for the purpose of changing idea or opinions of making individuals ‘believe’ some idea or fact, and finally of making them adhere to some doctrine—all matters of the mind. It tries to convince, to bring about a decision, to create a firm adherence to some truth. This is a completely wrong line of thinking: to view propaganda as still being what it was in 1850 is to cling to an obsolete concept of man and of the means to influence him; it is to condemn oneself to understand nothing about propaganda. The aim of modern propaganda is no longer to modify ideas, but to provoke action. It is no longer to change adherence to a doctrine, but to make the individual cling irrationally to a process of action. It is no longer to transform an opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief.”
– Jacques Ellul, Propaganda
https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Ellul_Jacques_Propaganda_The_Formation_of_Mens_Attitudes.pdf
Great piece Bob. A must read.
What really tops everything up is John Kirby’s press conference yesterday concerning Syria and Yemen, this is another low point of American politics. This is certainly in line with the reports about the “Russian guilt” concerning MH17 and the “Russian aggression in the Ukraine”, if it is not even below that level. I am surprised that the state government has even published it: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/10/263001.htm#SYRIA. It’s embarrassing. You have the feeling that some of the reporter’s questioning started to feel sorry for Mr. Kirby and gave him a break….. I am just wondering what we will get with those two shining stars competing to become the next president of the US, the world will be asked for a lot of patience….I hope they can keep their nerves and ignore all the potential provocations ahead of us.
I’ve been calling her Martha Nazi for many years. ABC has been the mainstream channel I go to for an occasional dose of propaganda for at least a decade. My fascination with the grotesque keeps me coming back. The article almost implies that Mr. Parry expected something better from this hag. If so, you’re not keeping good track of the Goebbel’s love children.
I find her hideous to look at, but that ugliness pales in comparison to her heart and mind. I wish ABC would replace her with a less gruesome fascist, but even with martha on ABC, CBS and NBC are more difficult for me to watch.
“Raddatz, the network’s chief global affairs correspondent, presented the Syrian conflict as simply a case of barbaric aggression by the Syrian government and its Russian allies against the Syrian people..”
This was not a misunderstanding or based upon ignorance of the actual situation in Syria, it is purposeful propaganda from on of the many tentacles of American Pravda, a thoroughly corrupted media.
Mr. Parry, please give us an article on President Putin’s October 11 trip to Turkey. President Putin is a diplomatic genius, but this is his greatest achievement, and a total “game changer” (I dislike that phrase but if it applies anywhere it applies here) for the “situation” in Syria. Bravo President Putin!!!!!
Precisely. As far as I’m concerned, these so-called journalists are aiding and abetting WAR CRIMES. Raddatz is no better than Julius Streicher or Alfred Rosenberg, a “journalist” and a “philosopher”–both of whom were hanged at Nuernberg.
So-called journalists today are counting on acquittal or never being called to account for their propagandist efforts.
Hans G. Fritzsche worked for the German government in the new mass media of the radio. In September 1932 he was made head of the Drahtloser Dienst (the wireless news service). He joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) in May 1933.
Under Joseph Goebbels’ Reich Ministry he continued to head the radio department before being promoted to the News Section at the Ministry. In mid-1938 he became deputy to Alfred Berndt at the German Press Division. Responsible for controlling German news, the agency was also called the Home or Domestic Press Division. In December 1938 he was made chief of the Home Press Division. In May 1942 Goebbels took personal control of the division, and Fritzsche returned to radio work for the Ministry as Plenipotentiary for the Political Organization of the Greater German Radio and head of the Radio Division of the Ministry.
Fritzsche ended the war as Ministerialdirektor at the Propagandaministerium (Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda). He was present in the Berlin Führerbunker during the last days of Adolf Hitler. After imprisonment by the Soviets, Fritzsche was sent to Nuremberg, and tried before the International Military Tribunal.
Fritzsche was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his positions in the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi State, Fritzsche played a role to further the conspiracy to commit atrocities and to launch the war of aggression.
According to journalist and author William L. Shirer, it was unclear to the attendees why he was charged. Shirer remarked that “no-one in the courtroom, including Fritzsche, seemed to know why he was there – he was too small a fry – unless it were as a ghost for Goebbels…”
Fritzsche was one of only three defendants to be acquitted at Nuremberg, along with Hjalmar Schacht (President of the Hitler’s Reichsbank and Nazi Minister of Economics) and Franz von Papen (conservative Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–34.).
NO-FLY ZONE FOR ISRAEL….
1. Negotiation of a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone including Israel, the major
Mideast nuclear power. It must include random inspections, the elimination
of CAPACITY of Israel to make nuclear weapons or import any material for
so doing and strong sanctions leading to strong sanctions and embargo
for non-compliance and irresponsible behavior. Similar to many recommendations
in the UN General Assembly invariably blocked in the Security Council by the US
(on behalf of Israel). Similar to “nuke deal” for Iran with Russia and China in
negotiating and supervisory roles etc.
2. No-fly zone in Israel. Hopefully going deep inside Israel of borders set
by UN agreements years ago and eliminating seiges, walls etc. Determination of
Israeli war crimes against those supposedly to be
Israeli’s mandate but instead under Israeli military law.
This is only a starter.
—Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA
The American people will continue to be fooled – unless they educate themselves.
Stop relying on the MSM owned by 6 conglomeates, that all say the same thing.
There are a range of other sources to read there are no excuses as it’s just a few clicks on a smart phone or computer to find other sources. They can do it lying in their bed!!!
The link to the Independent story about the Baghdad restaurant bombing is dead.
Allegations about the “heart-breaking video of a 5-year-old Syrian boy named Omran” were made by the fake “citizen rescuer” White Helmets, a pro-terrorist propaganda project created by the UK and US, and “fact-checked” by the fake “citizen investigative journalists” at Bellingcat.
The rapid dissemination of fake news reports by propaganda launderers like Bellingcat, the White Helmets, and the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights allows government factions to pursue their “regime change” agendas.
Fake “citizen investigators” like Bellingcat are employed as deception conduits by the more aggressive factions in Western governments, which seek to sabotage peace efforts in Ukraine, Syria and other parts of the world.
NGOs: Grassroots Empowerment or Tool of Information Warfare?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro1byfe5vUM
“The White Helmets were created in 2013 with funding from western governments in training for the British mercenary named James la Mercier. Who was operating formerly as a mercenary protecting gas fields in the UAE. He moves in to southern Turkey with money from the State Department and the British Foreign Office to train up a group of first responders. The money that his group started to receive, first in the hundreds of thousands and then in the millions, came through the USAID, the United States Agency for International Development’s office of Transitional Initiatives […] the political arm of USAID, the arm that has promoted regime change and political subversion around the globe.”
Journalist Max Blumenthal shares his latest investigation into the public relations firm Syria Campaign and the USAID-backed White Helmets, both of which are calling for a no-fly zone in Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTLAb5G6UI
My week after that strange presidential debate is now complete, thanks to Robert Parry. I’am so happy to see Mr Parry called Martha Raddatz is out, for her well neojournalist slanted wording. This debate on 10/9/16 was in my mine the worst when it came to how lopsided the question phrasing was put to the candidates. Not to mention how neither candidate came across as having any thing of any real value to offer the American public when it came to having a solution for our many problems. Both Donald and Hillary were throwing remarks and vague statements all over that town hall stage.
I have said this before, and I will say it again…this whole election comes off staged. I don’t know if the puppet master is a Rothschild, or a Rockefeller, or someone like Soros, but our so called American democracy has been hijacked. Hillary email leaks claim how the Clintons preferred Trump three months before Trump even announced his candidacy…coincidence, you can quietly answer that question to yourself, because you wouldn’t want to be called a conspiracy nut, would you?
Joe i followed your thoughtful ideas.
As Mr paryy has laid out it was a question designed t illicit a respoce. Clinton went first, Bla Bla no fly zone, support rebels save children , maybe war with russia.
Trump.1 Saying to Clinton “you don’t know who are the rebels….
Trump 2 Apello, it’s gone can’t be saved.
TRump3 Hit ISIS hard get together with Russia and hit ISIS.
Tease every one of these statement out to a logical conclusion.
2. Not committed to the policy of Assad must go
3 The only way the US and Russia could combine together would be to move to the Russian policy which is let the Syrian peple decide, which most properly would be secular Assad.
I have closely watched Trump, and with in the last 6 mths he also said in regard to Syria. World war three over Syria, please….. (much like my writing he is sometimes not clear however the tone was on the last word Pllllleeeeae , meaning he objected to the US being in a situation of no value to the US
Please…don’t think that I don’t find some of what Trump says is not provocative, or that everything he says is wrong. There are plenty of times where the Donald comes out with comments which makes sense. In this respect he comes off looking like a real candidate. If either one, Hillary or the Donald, were running up against another candidate of a better likability score who knows what the outcome would be. The Democrate’s I imagine, when no one is around to hear them, say how they can’t get over how bad Hillary is doing. My hope is that the puppet masters will see a need to improve the conditions of our world, and allow valuable needed things to happen. The world can’t keep going in this current direction, and be a livable place to thrive in.
For better or worse at least Israel has a dog in the fight but what the fuck does the US have to do with it all?
Absolutely nothing.
Anyone else notice how Putin is a punchline for more and more TV comedians?
Trump. With friends like Putin who needs enemies? Am I right or am I right? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
From Israel’s point of view we’re just a bunch of useful idiots.
Well ….?
It’s always OK when the exceptional nation does it because our intentions are always pure, or some such bunk. But that is how these idiots think.
“Our” intentions are always pure, alright – pure gold..
“While the US has suspended co-operation in bi-lateral channels with Russia over Syria and that it has explicitly threatened it with more ‘body bags’, the underlying and unstated objective of this frenzied behaviour and a sustained media and propagandist vilifying-campaign is to create a distraction at global level, project Russia and Syria as essentially ‘villains’ and force them into taking actions that would presumably invite more criticism and, if need be, violence. By projecting Russia and Syria as ‘brutal’, the US is creating a justification for pumping more jihadi fighters into Syria, send more weapons and then paint this situation as yet another uprising against Assad’s ‘brutality.’ While this is precisely how the war was actually orchestrated in 2011, it also shows who the US treats as its real enemy. A careful reading of the recent developments shows, and as some recent evidences have once again reinforced the fact, the US has never treated these proxy and terror groups as its real targets. For the US, victory in Syria, which can only be achieved by Assad’s fall, remains the primary goal and the terror networks its primary tools to achieve this goal. Russia and Syria are the primary hurdles in the way of this victory and, as such, the real enemy of the US. Hence, the current escalation.
“[…] co-operation between the US and Russia could never have taken place because of the US’ dual strategy and that peace cannot be recovered as long as such groups continue to receive support from the US and its allies, recent escalation by the US also makes it clear that the US does not treat these terror-groups as the primary enemy; for it, Russia and Assad remain the primary ‘enemies.’
“This particular position explains the US’ official vilification of Russia and Syria for their “brutal” offensive in Aleppo and the so-called ‘war crimes’ they have committed. This also explains why the ceasefire agreement was violated by the US and how the time was utilised by the proxy groups to re-organize and receive supplies of weapons to prepare for the next phase of fight that may take place not merely in and around Aleppo but may also involve Russia’s naval logistics facility in Tartus and the Navy’s task force as primary targets.”
Syrian Escalation: A US Way to Avert Defeat
By Salman Rafi Sheikh
http://journal-neo.org/2016/10/11/syrian-escalation-a-us-way-to-avert-defeat/
This series of Syria related essays has been superb.
Where is Justice finding war criminal for last fourty years.Killing innocent human on earth .Who make Alquada who make Taliban these under world tereerist business partner of U sA.Looting of foolish Arab wealth of oil.Talban were made to sell white gold heroin to finish human life with help of Zia and Multan to collect money to kill innocent human on earth.War criminal are U.S.A and alies who earned money from foolish Arab and foolish U s.a intelligence c.i.a but benefecery was E. U and Great Britain.Alies like Britain who first make Lawrence of Arabia and on that bases Yamaha bin Laden was made.War criminal are U S.A and foolish Arab and gready tactics playing after is Britain.You see all industries of Britain bank corupted unemployed young nation but pound us establish why.Only looting Arab foolish and Mad America depend on wicked and greedy alies.U sA dollar position you can see
Calling it a ‘failure’ implies it was a mistake and not willful misrepresentation of the facts in order to allow current policies to be continued (support of the terrorists in Syria). Determine what answer you want, then frame the question in such a way as to elicit that response.
Just take a look at the Podesta emails and the incestuous relationship between the media, large corporations and the government.
Why does no one acknowledge that fact that establishing a no-fly zone requires a commitment to shoot down the planes of countries not on the approved list? In the case of Syria, that might very well include Russian planes. What might be the consequences of such an action? That is the question that Raddatz should have asked, but probably she hasn’t thought it through herself. She, like Hillary, can’t get past “saving lives” through regime change.
Rob – “…but probably she hasn’t thought it through herself.” If we have thought it through, you can bet she has. She HAS to toe the line to keep her job, so she does.
“She, like Hillary, can’t get past ‘saving lives’ through regime change.” I think that ‘saving lives’ is the last thing on Hillary’s mind, but she uses ‘saving lives’ as her pretense for war. Her main objective is to take Assad out, but she can’t come out and say that. Where was her cry for saving lives when the Iraqis were being slaughtered? Nowhere.
backwardsevolution–I think you are giving MSM actors too much credit. They are, above all, purveyors of conventional wisdom. It’s how they rise in the profession and keep their jobs. And in order to maintain their own mental balance, they must internalize the conventional wisdom no matter how shallow and inconsistent it may be. Neither of us knows for certain whether Raddatz understands or accepts the full implications of a no-fly zone in Syria. My guess is that she does not, or she would not have asked such a wrong-headed question. She could have avoided the subject altogether.
As for the “saving lives” rationale for establishing a no-fly zone, note that I put it in quotes to indicate that it is not Hillary’s true motivation. That would be regime change, which has led to disaster wherever it has been tried. Some people never learn from their mistakes.
Rob – you are probably right. Whenever I watch Anderson Cooper on CNN (which I seldom do now) and he comes out with ridiculous one-sided questions, I always think he must know better, that he must be lying to protect Hillary, but maybe you’re right, maybe he doesn’t think deeper than what he’s doing later that night. And you are correct about internalizing false information, as I am ashamed to admit I’ve done it myself. All a matter of protecting yourself.
I occasionally turn on CNN out of the hope that perhaps they’ll have somehow seen the light since the last time I tuned in, but I’m always disappointed. These talking heads are really just salesmen selling the elite line. They are not free thinking/investigative types; they are conformist, toe the line clowns. I’ve always given them way too much credit. Anderson Cooper really must believe what he’s saying, and for that I pity him. He’s living in his own man-made bubble.
Thanks.
And/or the Gazan women and children, among the many others who were their victims?
How does someone fix it?
Q: How do you know when pro-Israel neocons are pushing hard for a military intervention?
A: When the media start kvetching that a situation is “a lot like the Holocaust”.
In late 2011, American historian Deborah Lipstadt attacked American and Israeli politicians for what she called their invocation of the Holocaust for contemporary political purposes, something she thought mangled history. She rebuked Republican party presidential candidates for speeches that ‘pandered’ to the Evangelical constituency, as much as it did to the Republican Jewish Coalition. She also judged Howard Gutman’s remarks on causal links between Muslim anti-semitism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as ‘stupid.’ She decried:
“the ‘hysteria’ and ‘neuroses’ of many Jews and Israelis who compare the current situation in Europe and in the Middle East to the Holocaust era. ‘People go nuts here, they go nuts. There’s no nuance, there’s no middle ground, it’s taking any shade of grey and stomping on it. There are no voices of calm, there are no voices of reason, not in this country, not in Israel.'”
See Chemi Shalev. “Full Interview with Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt,” at Haaretz, 16 December 2011.
In the same interview, she argued that, “If anti-Semitism becomes the reason through which your Jewish view of the world is refracted, if it becomes your prism, then it is very unhealthy. Jewish tradition never wanted that.” On a visit to London in September 2014, Lipstadt criticised the Israeli government and said that the government had “cheapened” the memory of the Holocaust by using it to justify war.
How can something be cheapened if it is just a figment of the Rothschilds’ imaginations? The imaginary “Holocaust” is a molehill cum mountain.
Right.
Do you really think Russia will commit suicide over Syria,is Putin that crazy.
Do you mean Crazy Like A Fox, GS? President Putin’s October 11 trip to Turkey has permanently changed the game.
Look what intervention in the Middle East has cost the US.
OBAMA AND HILLARY CERTAINLY ARE.
It seems Martha Raditz has made her mark based on a don’t ask don’t tell any but the U.S. military side of any issue. It seems she’s an expert on the story the military presents and hardly a voice for independent journalism. Perhaps she’s a true patriot but her privilege to speak as a journalist is based on the assumption of honest reporting not her allegiance to questionable policy.
Don’t forget to sign my petition to stop the “no fly zone” in Syria. Here is the link.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Avaaz_Stop_Avaazs_Neocon_no_fly_zone_for_Syria_petition/
RamboDave, no petitions are neccesary. President Putin’s October 11 trip to Turkey has put a stake through the heart of the No-Fly-Zone Vampire.
All of this is further clear proof – if any further were needed – that the USA is not a democracy or even a republic, but a corrupt plutocracy in which elections are nothing more than a crude joke. It is ruled unconditionally by the rich, and very little happens without their willing it. That is why all the media lie in chorus, and that is why Trump is so hated and maligned. Rich as he himself may be, he is not owned by the establishment. Clinton is.
But why is Trump so cozy with the Zionists – our enemy?
“At some point we need to do some fact-checking here.” – here, here! Thanks for doing it. I wish that it could be done simultaneously, moderators included.
That’s “Hear, hear,” M.
So who controls the Libyan oil fields? They may not be shipping but still control it.
Exactly, Robert! The idea that oil could fail to find a market just because it is being sold by murderous, liver-eating terrorists is utterly ridiculous. Hasn’t Mr Parry heard of the huge quantities of Iraqi and Syrian oil that ISIS has been smuggling out to Turkey for years now – much of it, incidentally, winding up in Israel?
Besides, why would anyone baulk at buying from ISIS when the world’s second biggest supplier of oil is Saudi Arabia – which differs from ISIS only in having been there longer, and having a king rather than a Caliph? ISIS is nothing other than liquefied “essence of Saudi Arabia” that has squirted out of the Kingdom and right across the Levant.
Robert Bruce – good question. After Gaddafi had fled, but before he was murdered, Sarkozy of France and Cameron of the U.K. were in Libya sorting out the details of who was going to get what. From Hillary’s leaked emails:
“During mid-September 2011 French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron traveled to Tripoli to meet with and express support for the leaders of the new government of Libya under the National Transitional Council (NTC). According to knowledgeable individuals, as part of this effort, the two leaders, in private conversations, also intend to press the leaders of the NTC to reward their early support for the rebellion against Muammar al Qaddafi. Sarkozy and Cameron expect this recognition to be tangible, in the form of favorable contracts for French and British energy companies looking to play a major role in the Libyan oil industry. According to this source, Sarkozy feels, quite strongly, that without French support there would have been no revolution and that the NTC government must demonstrate that it realizes this fact. […]
At the same time, this source indicates that the government of France is carrying out a concerted program of private and public diplomacy to press the new/transitional government of Libya to reserve as much as 35% of Libya’s oil related industry for French firms, particularly the major French energy company TOTAL.”
http://failedevolution.blogspot.ca/2016/09/clinton-emails-race-of-western-neo.html
Thank you so much, Robert, for telling it like it is, and laying down a factual record for the first draft of history.
Without your tireless work, the mind-numbing groupthink of the mainstream media would flow unopposed. So many people don’t question why our tax dollars go to blowing up civilians around the world, or what gives us the right to do so. It’s not OK!!!!
Brainwashed Americans like “Diane from Pennsylvania” had better wake up out of their American exceptionalist stupors or they’re soon going to experience a holocaust they’ll never believe.
… she seems to have no similar sympathy for the slaughtered and maimed children of Iraq who suffered under American bombs – or the people of Yemen who have faced a prolonged aerial onslaught from Saudi Arabia using U.S. aircraft and U.S.-supplied ordnance.
And you can bet your last dollar that indifference extends to the thousands of victims of Israeli operations against the people trapped in the Gaza shooting gallery.
it looks like Shillary wont get to declare her no-fly zone…it looks like the Syrian government and the Russian military will declare their own no fly zone first…can u say S300 or S400? regards
Don’t bet on it. Russia’s Syrian expedition is a limited one, and those systems can be overwhelmed. But as attacking them means war, a lot depends upon the sanity of Obama and his undisciplined nominal underlings.
Obama has nothing to do with who calls the shots, it’s Bibi who rules our M.E. foreign policy.
Derek leisure, you are 100% correct. A No-Fly zone will require Turkish cooperation and use of Incirclik AFB. Zero chance of that happening now after President Putin’s trip to Turkey. TurkStream is going foward, that means No-No-Fly Zone. Putin must be thanking the NATO sanctions dullards that got SouthStream canceled. Putin’s diplomatic skills are astounding, to get to this point after Turkey shot down a Russian jet. Russia/Turkey cooperation will include intelligence, aid corridors in Syria, and military re:Turkish Shield operation. My admiration of President Putin is unlimited.
You should study how he came to power:
http://postsovietpost.stanford.edu/moscow-bombings-september-1999-full-text
Well, I have read this post you recommend. All of it. Conclusions were made out of declarations of some people, all enemies of Putin. Not a trace of a proof, (just a detonator? And where they would find imitation?SOMEBODY MAKE THEM? When I was serving in army, I remember that we were using real detonators for practice. They would pop, and that was that. – not dangerous at all) Just someone hear something,somewhere, another “suppose” , “theorize”, . The basic premise that KGB organized bombing just to delay or destroy elections, is patently false : never happened. Why ? that was not explained, except noting that something “changed”. They have changed the plan because of Putin´s ratings? Went through all the preparation, execution, etc., just for the sake of what ?? If the “family” planned this, they would´ve immediately used this, not waiting for some polls for Putin. To imagine that, one have to be totally unaccustomed to Russian realities. These are serious people on that level, and when they do something, they do it usually well.
Next, do FSB did it before, and how many times? Is it their “modus operandi”? Do they regularly do “false flags”? Like Mossad, for example?
Very weak case, actually not case at all. Now, WTC 7 falling in several seconds,(from fire?) that is something to investigate…
So I got your attention. Chewing carpets at Langley? RAB3L, cute name for a ROBOT.
To clarify, derek leisure is correct but for the wrong reason. Zachary Smith comment is 100% correct, but that scenario has been obsoleted by President Putin’s trip to Turkey.
You are so right. But why do we only get a distorted view of what’s happening in Syria?. It continues the same narrative as Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, yet we still get the same lies from the US and its lackeys. Whatever happened to good investigative and objective reporting?
I fear for the world
“But why do we only get a distorted view of what’s happening in Syria?”
A. Money.
B. Violence and the threat of it.
Every journalist, editor and proprietor in the Western world and its satellites is painfully aware of the establishment line, and knows that to hew to it in everything she writes will lead to continued employment and possible promotion. Whereas departing from the establishment line results (at best) in a spiking for the first offence, and thereafter a rapid and terminal career decline.
Moreover, it is extremely likely that the most talented and recalcitrant may suffer some kind of “accident” – possibly inflicted by a firearm. What happened to the Kennedys and Martin Luther King can certainly happen to a humble journalist. Or perhaps he might trip and fall down stairs, or drown in the bath, or unfortunately suffocate himself during an experiment with auto-erotic asphyxia… A little online searching may yield a lot of examples, although it might also give you nasty nightmares.
Give it a rest;Zionism is why the truth is dead,as truth would kill it.
It’s the GOD stupid…..and all who use this fictional character to push their program.
You are a moron, voxpax.
At last, someone has the guts to name the evil people who are causing all these wars and other tragedies for the civilized world. If it weren’t for their control of our every source of information we might get more people to understand who our real enemy is. Thank you, dahoit!
C. Israel
“Wouldn’t such a military intervention constitute aggressive war against Syria in violation of the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg principles?”
What UN Charter? What Nuremberg Principles? Those are for our opponents to follow. The USA is exceptional and has its own rules.
“What UN Charter? What Nuremberg Principles? Those are for our opponents to follow. The USA is exceptional and has its own rules”.
Precisely, although I’m not sure about that last part. Personally, I’m inclined to think they make up the rules as they go along. After all, all things are pure to the pure in heart.
The Nurenberg Trials (Notice I’m spelling it the german way) was nothing but a Kangaroo Court spectacle designed to hide the war crimes of the Allies.
Raddatz’s favorable reference to the State Department accusing the Syrian and Russian governments of war crimes further suggests a stunning lack of self-awareness, a blindness to America’s own guilt in that regard. How can any American journalist put on such blinders regarding even recent U.S. war crimes, including the illegal invasion of Iraq that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis?
Because like animals in an abusive circus they are trained to respond in a certain way to particular stimuli. And as presstitutes for major media corporations the pay justifies the selling of their souls.
This might end up being nothing:
“Someone claiming to be associated or affiliated with Anonymous has, it appears, discovered that at least one of Hillary’s “private-cum-private” servers is on a public cloud. […] Update: That was fast — Anon now claims in a Twitter post that the server has been penetrated and imaged. Here it comes Hillary; this is what you get for hiring incompetent people who do blatantly-stupid things.”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231549
Also, where were these same news media – many of the same exact ‘newspeople’ – during the runup to and invasion and occupation of Iraq? The news media still don’t want to confess their own damnable decrepit co-ownership of that one gargantuan war crime. And what about the huge war crime within that overall war crime, the consecutive assaults on and destruction of Fallujah, turning it into near-desolation and then internment camp, even using biometric data to identify residents of Fallujah? And American news media point at Aleppo as if it’s something only some OTHER country would ever participate in. The American news slant is incapable – not just mistaken about – of seeing things clearly and certainly not fairly. The same warped view emanating from each consecutive American presidential administration, and therefore Pentagon and State Department (and CIA, NSA, NSC, et al), hand in hand with the its media handmaiden, means we’re deadlocked into the same kind of corruption and repetitive destruction all great empires (or small ones) have experienced throughout history. We’re no better or smarter than the Assyrians, Babylonians, squabbling Greek city-states, imperial British, imperial anything. We’re brilliant idiots at this nation business. It’s an endemic personality disorder. It’s only kept in check – and then only relatively – when someone without a massive deviant complex assumes leadership. That, unfortunately, is a rarity, or at least an infrequent occurrence. Trump would be the most ignorant, unhinged, and dangerous leader yet, despite your biases against Clinton. And yes I know your biases are based on her policy recommendations, past and present, but if there ever was a case against not letting the perfect be the enemy of the ‘good’, then this election is it! It’d be nice to hear you say so, Mr. Parry, at length and eloquently, as you do with every other topic you cover.
“Syrian war – much propaganda, little truth” – from the mainstream news media, agreed, thank God for alternative media sites, like Consortium News.
…thank God for alternative media sites, like Consortium News
Make that “thank Robert Parry, his staff and contributors.”
Bingo, give that man a gold star. At least there were independent voices then that attempted to tell us what was really happening in the war. As a participant, I can tell you they never got it right though they tried, some mightily. The Pentagon Papers laid out the reality of the DOD being the main cheerleader and driver of policy in that area when the French were under siege at Dien Bien Phu. It was always sold to the American public that we were against the French attempting to hang on to an old colony. In fact, our generals were lobbying for an American rescue or take over of the war and it appears Eisenhower was able to hold them off. The whole thing spun out of control when Kennedy came in. The generals did everything except a military coup. And then Kennedy was killed. There were probably more American generals who wanted him dead then Communists. WTF?
Hillary Clinton could have been asked: ” You are demanding a no-fly zone in Syria, even though Gen.. Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has testified to congress that it would mean war with Russia. Is this in fact what you intend?’
I like that J.D…..ask the hard questions. In our dreams !
“It is surely not the first time that the mainstream U.S. media has failed the American people in this way, but . . .”
Raddatz and all the other MSM propagandists are false friends who exploit their audience. The MSM did the same thing during the Vietnam war. I noticed at that time that my parents, who watched the TV evening news every day and read news magazines, didn’t understand what was going on in Vietnam or why (e.g. they were never told about the Phoenix program). They were thoroughly misinformed yet they continued to pay for their subscriptions and to watch TV news. They never realized that they were being used.
I think it is a lot worst today, mostly because of the consolidation of mainstream media, than during the Vietnam War era.
It is definitely worse today for the reason mentioned, corporate consolidation. Viet Nam was eventually stopped as a result of remaining diversity in the media of the time. Today’s fascist cheerleaders, the Post and the Times, often were sceptical. After all, Hersh worked originally for the Times. What is truly frightening, though is that now the ultimate goal seems to be a lemming-like move toward war with Russia and the end of civilization, a far more frightening result. Even Nixon was for ‘detente” and may even have continued the war for, among other reasons, to provide cover for reducing cold war tensions. All of this seems to be out the window. The illegal war in Iraq seems to have developed into a precedent that the yankee imperium gets away with any war it seeks to unleash. Unfortunately, this reality is likely to prove fatal for most if not all of us. I also believe that Trump won’t go full opposition out of his suspicion that most of the population are already brainwashed by the media fixation on armageddon. It is also disheartening that previously civilized countries like France appear to be labouring under the same fatal illusion. The propaganda central has become international, as is particularly noticeable since the Snowden affair. Trump, with his flaws, needs to be supported because it is obvious that Hillary is the candidate of death and must be stopped if possible.
The propaganda central has become international but not global. The current propaganda bubble exists only over the Zionist controlled countries, after US, France appears to be the most prominent such (the French AIPAC is called CRIF). Under the dome of the propaganda bubble, it appears that there is no way out, but the rest of humanity does not sustain on the same sewage as we do. You would not believe the media diversity outside of the bubble.
France Zionist-controlled? Are you completely stupid?
Maybe she mentioned the holocaust because she converted from christianity to judaism, and has been married to one of Obama’s men, Julius Genachowski.
Barack Obama was a law school classmate of Raddatz’s ex-husband Julius Genachowski at Harvard and Genachowski:
“For Senator Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, Genachowski was Chairperson of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Policy Working Group, which created the Obama Technology and Innovation Plan.[15] He also advised and guided the Campaign’s innovative use of technology and the Internet for grassroots engagement and participation.”
Stefan,
It doesn’t matter if she turned into a turnip colored Zionist Syrian… she still fed the Hillary warmaniac. Hillary’s answer was also a bit misleading: “her determination to expand the U.S. military intervention in Syria to include a “no-fly zone,” which U.S. military commanders say would require a massive operation that would kill many Syrians, both soldiers and civilians, to eliminate Syria’s sophisticated air-defense systems and its air force.”
It turns out that a more modest proposal is being tossed about. In place of a “no fly” zone (which means only NATO and US plane can fly), there’s now a bit of whispered conversation about a “no bomb zone” which makes some sense and can’t be used to destroy the Syrian government like the “no fly zone” was used to destroy the Libyan government.
Of course, they need to market the new war crime in more “palliative” terms in order to sell it to the americans, because the general public has finally deciphered the meaning of the words “no fly zone” (translates roughly to “war crime”).
As for “no bomb zone” , you(we) should translate that to “only US bombs allowed zone”.
Else, we are bamboozled by our own naivete.