Friday, April 11, 2003

In all of the talk about Eason Jordan's column in the NY Times today. Nobody comes right out and says it. CNN deceived their viewers. They maintained that they reported the news objectively and they now admit they lied. They lied so that the few people involved in their organization would be safe. The price for this lie was every Iraqi tortured by Ba'ath thugs, a political prison for children, millions of dollars sent to the families of suicide bombers, all of the men, women and children who suffered as a result of sanctions, 12 years of grinding oppression and hopelessness for Iraqis and we don't yet know if part of the cost involves terrorists getting their hands on WMD. And when questioned, like they were by New Republic, they responded with indignity and scorn. The death of every Iraqi at the hands of Saddam and his murderers left a stain on CNN and all of the other "objective" media agencies who claimed that they told the whole story and told it truthfully. In order to keep feet on the ground so they could report to us the stories that Saddam wanted us to hear CNN and the others turned a blind eye to the suffering, torture and murder. They blamed America and the others who upheld the sanctions regime for these deaths but, they knew the truth. They were willing to trade 12+ years of tyranny for the people of Iraq in order to assure their place at Saddam's side. e thought it somewhat of a joke when we quipped that al Jazeera is the CNN of the Arab world. But now we know this is closer to the truth than is comfortable. And it leaves us with many questions. How many other people have been sold out by CNN? How many other dictators stand on the throats of their people while getting a soft touch from CNN? Castro? Mugabe? Chavez? Arafat? No mere column claiming "'finally' we can tell our story" will suffice. CNN lied to us but for the people of Iraq they facilitated the delay and aided those voices that called for delay in the removal of Saddam. To us they owe an apology and must show contrition. Their debt to the people of Iraq is something that cannot be repaid. For they cannot now give back all of those dead. They cannot replace lost limbs. They cannot console the raped women. They cannot wipe away the images of children being murdered in front of mothers and fathers. They must forever carry a stain on their souls for what they have done. I would hope that this would weigh heavily and would make them re-asses their reporting in other places. I can hope but, I do not know if I have faith that they will.

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