The RAF and US aircraft doubled the rate at which they were dropping bombs on Iraq in an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war. The Times of London cites newly released statistics from the British Defense Ministry showing that the Allies dropped twice as many bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of 2001 and that “a full air offensive” (in other words, a war) was under way months before the invasion had officially begun. Supposedly part of enforcing “no fly zones,” the bombings were actually systematic assaults on Iraq’s capacity to defend itself. Targets included telephone exchange buildings, ground units of the Republican Guard (because we all know that ground units violate no-fly zones all the time, right?), and radar installations. The US had never declared war. Bush had no authorization. He was simply attacking another nation because he’d decided to do so. This preemptive war preempted our own Congress, as well as international law.
Of course, this will most likely be ignored by the American media as well.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and other Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are holding a public forum (they can’t be called “hearings”, because no Republicans are showing up) on the Downing Street Memo, and these newly uncovered facts. Of course, CNN (and the rest of the American media) are reporting it as a minor, partisan event. Much more important to spend coverage time on Michael Jackson, after all.
It only takes one member of Congress to begin an impeachment process. Conyers has said he’s considering it. I hope he does–that’s a sexy enough story that the mediawhores couldn’t possibly ignore it.
If you don’t buy it, eventually they have to stop selling it
I don’t watch the news on major US networks. I don’t read the AP/Newswire stories much. I do read The Nation occasionally, and I do listen to my international news from overseas sources (BBC World News is my favorite).
If you stop buying what the “media” is selling, they’ll have to change their product suite. I suspect you know that already, but it bears repeating.
It is sometimes appalling to see how powerful the traditional media outlets are in glossing over some issues and focusing the attention of the majority of the lemming-brained people in this country on pointless “news”. For that, we have Bill Clinton to thank. I happened to like Bill Clinton quite a bit, but he reallly screwed us when he allowed the media consolidation that has led to the current sorry state of affairs.
Of course, you can’t completely blame the supply-side unless you’re a supply-sided republican. It’s beyond me why the news consumer is in the tittillation frenzy that we’re seeing cloud the practice of real journalism. More and more, it seems like “If everybody doesn’t want it, nobody gets it.” I can’t speak for anybody else, but that’s not good enough for me. Demand more.
(And thanks for bringing this to my attention.)
I assume you did note the last paragraph of that article.
These bombings were going on even during Clinton’s time in office. Neither party is going to want to touch this.
That is not to say that I wouldn’t love to see Mr. Bush impeached. Then I’d prefer he be proscecuted for war crimes in the Hague.
D.