“Blowback”

Speaking of “Democracy Now!,” the host of the show, Amy Goodman, wrote a book that just came out a few months ago, The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers and the Media that Love Them. I've just ordered the book, and based on the reviews and hearing her talk about it it looks like the most honest and most stinging rebuke of the way the current news media works not in the best interests of its audience, but rather works in consort with whoever pays the advertizing bills. Goodman is wha one would call a ‘real reporter’, one who goes after the truth of a story no matter what, one who doesn't let politicians slide because of their party (she totally ripped into Bill Clinton on her show one time when he called in.) and who doesn't put other people in danger moreso than herself. She was the person who broke the story of the massacres in East Timor, just about the only North American reporter who was even there, and certainly the only one doing more than delivering only surface-scratching reporting about what they could see from their hotel rooms.

Anyway, I just noticed that there is a free sample chapter of Goodman's book available online for free titled “Blowback” which I read last night, and I have to say it's the best, most consise roundup of the actions perpetrated by the US government over the last few decades and their connection to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, DC, as well as what the scene was like on the ground in lower Manhattan for the few days after the attacks. Democracy Now! was the closest news organization to the World Trade Center site at the time, as instead of evacuating like everyone was ordered to do, they slept on the floor of their old firehouse studio so they could stay and report on what's going on.

Link: Blowback.

USA! USA! . . . USA?

A few days after the Twin Towers fell, President Bush came to Ground Zero. I watched as a chilling cheer went up around him: "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chanted the crowd in unison. Among those who set up this Ground Zero photo op-a defining moment in Bush's presidency-was Jim Wilkinson, who went on to become the media point man in Qatar spinning the Jessica Lynch story and was then appointed communications czar of the 2004 Republican National Convention.

I don't think rallying around the flag is the answer to what happened on September 11. The answer is a global community united against terror, determined to rout it out wherever it originates- including the White House and the Pentagon.

The answer is institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), where people who commit crimes against humanity can be tried. But who is the primary force opposing this court? The United States. A reluctant President Clinton waited until the last moment to sign the treaty to recognize the authority of the ICC. Then Bush came in and unsigned the treaty. In mid-2003, Bush strong-armed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution that would exempt U.S. officials and soldiers from being held accountable in the same way as others around the world. And the Bush administration has pressured countries, at the risk of losing U.S. aid, to sign bilateral agreements that would prohibit them from bringing charges against U.S. citizens before an international court.

Of course I think that Osama bin Laden and his accomplices should be tried for what happened on September 11. But when you look at where bodies have stacked up around the world-from Chile and Argentina to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and East Timor-I think Henry Kissinger should also be tried for crimes against humanity.

If we have any hope of routing out terror and breaking the cycle Of blowback, we must have a universal standard of justice.