Serious News?
From Sic Semper Tyrannis and Pat Lang, a question about how seriously we should take the 24/7 news organizations.
Anyone who still watches such news on a regular basis should be able to form an opinion quite easily by looking at the coverage of something like Anna Nicole Smith, but the Colonel is asking about a more serious issue.
That's an M-48 tank out on a firing range. The Lebanese Army has these. This is an old tank from before the Vietnam period, but, how new do tanks have to be when used for shelling refugee camps full of civilians? The fighting around the "Nahr al-bared" camp at Tripoli, Lebanon continues.
. . .
The 24/7 news networks were hard at work today trying to make Syria responsible for the Sunni zealots in the camps. The statement was being made today that these groups were connected to AQ. No evidence was offered, but the assertion was repeatedly made based on the "possibility" that had supposedly been voiced by some nameless person in the Lebanese government. . . .
Now, think about it, folks Al-Qa'ida is a virulently anti-Shia Sunni group. Everyone "knows" that Syria supports Hizbullah, a main target of AQ displeasure. So, which is it? Which side does the Syrian government support? Does the Syrian government support both at the same time? If you believe that, then you really are a sucker for propaganda.
The comments after the article also note that the leader of the Fatah-al-Islam group that the Lebanese Army is fighting was in prison in Syria for three years and that he and many of his followers are wanted by the Syrian police and intelligence services.
Not that Syria couldn’t support more than one side in the multi-sided Lebanese political scene, but this particular group is likely quite far off their radar.
The main issue I have with the "dreaded MSM", is that you won’t even hear this questioned or get the in-depth analysis needed to make an informed judgment on the issue.
Little wonder intelligent people have such a hard time taking them seriously.
UPDATE:
From Tim F at Balloon Juice, this little snippet:
Last March, Hersh reported that American policy in the Middle East had shifted to opposing Iran, Syria, and their Shia allies at any cost, even if it meant backing hardline Sunni jihadists.
A key element of this policy shift was an agreement among Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national security adviser, whereby the Saudis would covertly fund the Sunni Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon as a counterweight to the Shia Hezbollah.
Fucking brilliant.
