Guest blogged by David Edwards
On Saturday, January 7th, American journalist Jill Carroll was kidnapped in Iraq. At the same time, her translator was also killed. Associate Press, Reuters, AFP and UPI almost immediately reported the story. Editor & Publisher compiled one of the most complete reports within hours of the kidnapping.
UPI, however, adds this somewhat conflicting detail: “They said the driver of the bus in which the journalist and translator were riding managed to escape the incident when he fled and sought the help of a police patrol that happened to be in the same area at the time.”
While the BBC provided some details of the kidnapping during their broadcasts, American network and cable news outlets virtually blacked out the news. Jane Hamsher finds a possible explanation from comments in a Kos thread:
European news organizations often approach this issue differently, however, and will make an annoucement earlier, especially if they feel that the nationality of the reporter is likely to decrease the threat to his or her life. That is not the case here.
Yesterday afternoon, AP released additional details including the name of the kidnapped journalist. Jill Carroll had recently lost her job at a newspaper and decided to follow her dream of covering conflicts in the Middle East. While in Iraq, Jill Carroll had done freelance work for The Christian Science Monitor, AJR, U.S. News & World Report and other foreign outlets.
Organizations like Reporters Without Borders have become increasingly concerned with the number of journalists killed in Iraq. 76 reporters and media staff are known to have been killed since the beginning of the Iraq war. In comparison, 63 reporters were killed within the 33 year Vietnam conflict. Some reports even suggest that the U.S. Military has targeted journalist in Iraq. Secret memos leaked in the U.K. suggest that President Bush wanted to bomb the headquarters of the Al Jazeera news network. In fact, Al Jazeera pulled all journalists out of Iraq after their Baghdad studio was “accidentally” hit by U.S. missles.
This morning, 3 days after the kidnapping was originally reported, CNN finally reported details of the Jill Carroll kidnapping.
Video in Streaming Flash format…
Video in Windows Media format…
Al Jazeera likes to show videos of Americans getting their heads chopped off by your "freedom fighters". I see now how much it would bother you to have that taken away. Personally, I like my fellow country men and think promoting such actions should be stopped, even if it were your throat under the rusty blade.
The Clinton News Network was too busy shoring the Samuel Alito nomination with Bush-approved watercarriers.
That God they did, I might add.
The radical left was trying to sully Alito’s reputation before he had a chance to speak to the Senate and CNN was just doing their job.
The female reporter kidnapped in Iraq probably just hooked up with a hot Iraqi stud with a big cock and she’s enjoying having her new lover make a creampie between her legs.
As far as I know, nobody in the United States has access to Al Jazeera.
What channel is it on, Ricky? As long as you’re presuming to be our human TV Guide, please explain how we could of having something taken away from us that we don’t have to begin with.
Ricky’s rantings aside, what I can’t fathom is why journalists are so reluctant to write about other journalists being kidnapped and murdered. They sure protect one another when it comes to protecting sources, even when the source is a government official scheming against a political enemy.
No where to go Pukes?
Abraham Jackoff got you down?
CNN: "We have breaking news!!! An American journalist was kidnapped. About 3 days ago…." In other breaking news, about 1 minute ago Brad Pitt just broke off his romance…"
CNN: "Hey, I just realized! WE STINK ON ICE!!!"
CNN: "In other breaking news, about 5 years ago, Bush stole the election from Al Gore via fraud and electronic voting machines……."
CNN: "We stink, baaaaaaaaaaaaad………"
That’s really a good point, the question about why journos don’t seem to be eager to raise questions about the journalists’ deaths, even after the British memo about Bush wanting to bomb Al Jazeera.
I think it’s probably a lot that there is a lot of pressure from above to mute all criticism of this administration. Careers are on the line and they know it.
Plus, you could be next. This administration serves interests that are concerned about billons and billons of dollars. What will people do to protect such interests? What won’t they do?
It’s all part of being an Empire.
For Eppie: Think about it for a minute. The media go into paroxysms over some ditzy bride who gets cold feet at the altar and runs away. They carry on for weeks about a girl from Alabama who disappears in Aruba. But when their own colleagues are murdered or kidnapped, you hardly hear a word about it.
It’s part of being an empire, all right. And the umpires of the empire (according to the empirical evidence) are the corporate bosses in the ivory towers who send the story line down to the news desk every morning. If something doesn’t fit the story line, it doesn’t get talked about.
Ricky: Can you provide a link to a single instance where al jazeera broadcast a beheading? I bet you can’t.
Vote fraud by Republicans gives aid and comfort to the enemy. Because it makes a mockery out of the Iraq War.
scottfromc
Try "Consevitive News Network"
Like Gallup "who always polls more Rightwingers"
to get 50 percent do not mind wiretaps"
Wolf blitzer " enterprise Insitute"
Bill Shiender " Right Wing Shill"
name me one liberal on CNN after they fired Aron Brown
And do not tell me Anderson Cooper Just Cause He May Be GAY
hell Half of the Republicans in WashingtonAre Gay
scottfromc
Try "Consevitive News Network"
Like Gallup "who always polls more Rightwingers"
to get 50 percent do not mind wiretaps"
Wolf blitzer " enterprise Insitute"
Bill Shiender " Right Wing Shill"
name me one liberal on CNN after they fired Aron Brown
And do not tell me Anderson Cooper Just Cause He May Be GAY
hell Half of the Republicans in WashingtonAre Gay
scottfromc
Try "Consevitive News Network"
Like Gallup "who always polls more Rightwingers"
to get 50 percent do not mind wiretaps"
Wolf blitzer " enterprise Insitute"
Bill Shiender " Right Wing Shill"
name me one liberal on CNN after they fired Aron Brown
And do not tell me Anderson Cooper Just Cause He May Be GAY
hell Half of the Republicans in WashingtonAre Gay
The MSM does not cover journalists who are not in lock step with their coloring book approach.
There is another sour grapes admin figure that we should listen to.
Paul Bremer. He is announcing some news.
He says the admin botched Iraq and made him the scapegoat for that mess-o-potamia affair (link here).
I am beginning to see that the admin is made up of two basic types:
1) Those who are intellectually honest and leave
2) Those who stay until they are indicted.
EMC Mortage stealing homes the story gets deeper
http://www.msfraud.org thousands of people are loosing homes due to the companies manufacturing forclosures. NEver a late payment, and noone will speak of it. EMC is one of these companies and is owned by Bear Sterns
Partners in Fraud: The Bush and Greenberg Families
They are partners in fraud. The Bush Family which runs the USA and the Greenberg Family which runs the insurance cartel composed of AIG, Marsh McLennan and Ace Insurance have a lot more in common than mainstream media will ever tell you, writes government whistleblower Al Martin, author of "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider."
In his column "Secrets of the Insurance (Fraud)Industry: The Bush-Greenberg Connection" published on Al Martin Raw (www.almartinraw.com), Martin writes that "New York State Attorney Eliot Spitzer is investigating systemic fraud in the insurance industry in which Greenberg Family controlled insurance cartel companies like Marsh McLennan, AIG and Ace Insurance get kickbacks for steering corporate clients their way. Three employees of Marsh McLennan have already pled guilty to insurance fraud. Now, in this exclusive report on AlMartinRaw.com, you will learn about the insurance fraud connection between the Bush and Greenberg families which Spitzer is NOT investigating.
Martin explains the background of the Greenberg clan and their domination of the insurance industry as well as the Colombian branch of their family involved in facilitating many Bush Family Iran Contra era frauds.
"In the 1980’s, the Colombian Greenbergs began to expand their commercial real estate business into south Florida and the southeastern part of the United States in general. You would see that in all of the office buildings they bought, including my own, the building wherein I maintained my office, that AIG was the insurer of all of the properties that they own because, obviously, they received a preferred rate from their American Greenberg cousins," Martin explains.
"Both the American and Colombian branches of the family are substantial contributors to the Republican Party, individual Republican candidates and Republican interest groups. Despite their enormous wealth and the enormous cash flow of the businesses that they control in the United States, they pay remarkably little tax.
The connection between the Bushes and the Greenbergs is deep, Martin writes. "The Bush family is intimately connected with all of the companies that the Greenberg family, both the American and Colombian branches, run. You will note that Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, is the chairman of AIG, and his cousin is Alan “Ace” Greenberg, the former chairman of Bear Stearns.
"Bear Stearns, of course, is where the Bush family, the Cheney family, George Schultz, James Baker, etc. all do business. It is the leading brokerage firm of the great and all powerful Bushonian Cabal.
"For instance, it was Bear Stearns that executed, through an account on the Cayman Islands, the large short positions in United Airlines that the Pilgrim Investment Group and the DLC Trust accumulated just prior to the planes crashing into the World Trade Towers.
In another footnote to history, Martin writes that "it’s interesting to note that the CIA in its operations in northern South America, Venezuela and Colombia in particular, always did their agency banking through Greenberg-owned banks. This connection really goes back to the time that George Bush Sr. was head of the CIA"
For the rest of this remarkable exclusive report, subscribe to Al Martin Raw.com
Subscribe to Al Martin Raw.com") and get Political Economic and Financial Intelligence you can use to protect your assets. Log on and subscribe to AlMartinRaw.com: Political, Economic and Financial Intelligence (http://www.almartinraw.com
* AL MARTIN is an independent economic-political analyst with 25 years of experience as a trader on NYMEX, CME, CBOT and CFTC. As a former contributor to the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors, Al Martin is considered to be a source of independent analysis for financially sophisticated and market savvy investors.
After working as a broker on Wall Street, Al Martin was involved in the so-called "Iran Contra" Affair as a fundraiser for the Bush Cabal from the covert side of government aka the US Shadow Government.
His memoir, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider," (http://www.almartinraw.com) provides an unprecedented look at the frauds of the Bush Cabal during the Iran Contra era. His weekly column, "Behind the Scenes in the Beltway," is published weekly on Al Martin Raw.com, which also publishes a bimonthly newsletter called "Whistleblower Gazette."
Al Martin’s new website "Insider Intelligence" (http://www.insiderintelligence.com) will provide a long term macro-view of world markets and how they are affected by backroom realpolitik.