Monday, May 09, 2011

media scrambles as bin laden story crumbles

NewAmerican | While the establishment media was busy parroting President Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s supposed assassination, reporting the unsubstantiated claims as if they were unquestionable facts, much of the so-called “alternative” press was far more cautious — and accurate, it turns out. But more importantly, with the new official storyline indicating that bin Laden was in fact unarmed, bigger and much more important questions are beginning to emerge.

In terms of coverage, it turns out that the skeptical approach proved far superior in terms of getting it right. Countless mainstream sources were so confident in Obama’s word that they reported many of the claims as fact without even attributing them to the President.

But the official White House narrative has been changed so many times in recent days that now it’s almost unrecognizable. There wasn‘t even a fire fight; yet this was one of the crucial elements of the original story that justified the assassination of a person the government painted as the most valuable source of information on the planet — the leader of al-Qaeda. And in reporting the statements as fact, the establishment press has officially been left with egg all over its face again.

"[Bin Laden] was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in," said terror czar John Brennan. Similarly, Obama said that “after a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” The next day, however, the White House spokesman admitted bin Laden “was not armed." Trying to save face and justify the killing of an unarmed man, the spokesman added, without elaborating, that “resistance does not require a firearm."

More than a few other important parts of the storyline have been altered, contradicted, or simply exposed as false, too. Everything from which of bin Laden’s sons was supposedly killed to the claim that his wife was killed after being used as a “human shield” — all of it has changed for some reason or another. The transcript after Brennan’s speech was altered to change the name of the dead son. The new and improved narrative now says that not only was bin Laden’s wife not killed, but that she was not used as a human shield.

Originally the White House also suggested top officials watched the raid live through a video feed. Terror czar Brennan, for example, claimed that they “had real-time visibility into the progress of the operation.” CIA boss Leon Panetta later exposed that claim as false in an interview with PBS, saying: “There was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes that we really didn't know just exactly what was going on."

That means the “photo op” of Obama and other officials intently “watching” the operation in the “Situation Room” was almost certainly staged for the press. And almost every media outlet that ran the picture used inaccurate captions parroting the White House claims.

And there’s more.

11 comments:

umbrarchist said...

Is the government becoming hopelessly stupid?

CNu said...

To the contrary. I speck that's Obama's boy strategically meddling with information flows or "cascades" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein#.22Conspiracy_Theories.22_and_government_infiltration

Gee Chee Vision said...

This article is genius. It creates a controversy for you to invest in. It gives you two options. You either believe Osama was killed justly or unjustly. There is no number three that was it possible that "Osama was already dead." That would mean its all a lie. But surely there is no lie if their is controversy behind matters of humanity. Just like the ground zero mosque fiasco. It indirectly substantiates that 9/11 was not an Operation Northwoods.


It matters not if Osama went out like Scarface or like a sucka (Carl Weathers in Predator), the idea is for you to believe that the government account is, as Tyson would put it, "impetuous, impregnable and ferocious." lol


"Stupid" is never apart of the equation where the government is concerned. Internet, cell phone, ipods and other locating/census taking devices provide a valuable surveillance source. In other words, you may have some idea of how many people disbelieve propaganda, but they know precisely and are prepared for damage control.


Now we have a president addressing what a lot of people before would casually dismiss as a "conspiracy theory." But falsehood has this tendency to loose its effectiveness over time. At this stage its rapid dissipation is of grave concern to national security.


Therefore definitions of extremism is beginning to take another evolutionary leap. As the wiki page CNu cites, just questioning 9/11 is extremism. So watch your words now cause they have no problem making laws retroactive.

Gee Chee Vision said...

Much much appreciated

Uglyblackjohn said...

Do you think the story would have gone unchallenged if the wife would have died?
Without witnessess, who knows who lied?

CNu said...

Whatever Double-O says happened IS what happened. Everything else is merely conversation.

nanakwame said...

Tensions may be rising with Pakistan over the raid that killed Osama bin Laden—and President Obama apparently insisted that the Navy SEALs team be large enough to fight its way out against Pakistani police and troops—but had Pakistan agreed to allow exactly such a raid? The Guardian says that in 2003, Pakistan, under the leadership of Pervez Musharraf, agreed to let the U.S. kill bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al Qaeda No. 3 in unilateral raids—and that both sides even agreed Pakistan would loudly protest the action afterward. "As far as our American friends are concerned, they have just implemented the agreement,” a Pakistani official says. A U.S. official says Pakistan’s protests are just the "public face" of the deal, adding "We knew they would deny this stuff."
Read it at The Guardian
Diplomacy and Assassinations have been with us forever. Since we are moving towards a Middle Age scenarios around the globe; it makes absolutely good sense.

Uglyblackjohn said...

Yeah Nana, that sounds about right.
I think having survivors created the environment where the media story had to jibe with the real story.

Makheru Bradley said...

Double -O has in fact expanded the diabolical barbarism of
George W. Bush
as
Glenn Greenwald notes
.


[ It is extremely rare,
if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing
,
officials said. A former senior legal official in the administration
of George W. Bush said he did not know of any American who was approved
for targeted killing under the former president. . . .


Yesterday, riding a wave of adulation and military-reverence, the Obama administration tried to end the life of this American citizenYemen, but missed and killed two other people instead:]

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/07/awlaki/index.html


This
reminds me of a serial killer on his final binge, except there's no end
in sight. The real wave he riding is this: For the White Supremacy
Dynamic, retaliatory violence, as well as aggressive violence, against
perceived enemies is therapeutic.



And buried in this tsunami of adulation for this psychopathic
Quimbo are the murders of 6-month old Mastura al-Qaddafi al-Qahsi; 15-month-old
Seif Mohammed al-Qaddafi, and 2-year-old Carthage
al-Qaddafi.

Double-O is a sick dude.

CNu said...

I believe in the superiority of black popular culture today. He is like
rap music with all its investors and behind the scene editors.



good..., it is vitally important to understand the degree to which Double-O transcends the familiar "narrator-in-chief" role, and actually signifies/exemplifies/embodies cool, black, and ophidian command of the apparatus of American culture. think of him as you might Capt. Kirk and never confuse the starship Enterprise with Jacques Yves Cousteau's Calypso....,

Makheru Bradley said...

You were expecting maybe the Pope?-- LOL He is precisely what I predicted he would be--The Perfect Proxy for the Anglo-American imperial elite. Selecting Obama was clearly one of the most brilliant strokes in their barbaric history.


Double-O is a highly intelligent and ruthlessly efficient. Indeed, in fact he could become the model for all future psychopathic elites to emulate.

Master Arbitrageur Nancy Pelosi Is At It Again....,

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