Press Release: Dahr Jamail and Jeremy Scahill in Sacramento on March 14

http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/2006/02/press-release-dahr-jamail-and-jeremy.html

From: "Dan Bacher" danielbacher@fishsniffer.com
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 16:29:17 -0800

Press Release: Dahr Jamail and Jeremy Scahill in Sacramento on March 14

Dahr Jamail and Jeremy Scahill
The Story Corporate Media Won’t Tell

First Methodist Church
21st and J Street
Sacramento, CA
March 14, 2006 7:00pm

Information: mbrassell@riseup.net
                    916-803-3909
                                
Dahr Jamail and Jeremy Scahill are among a tiny minority of independent journalists who continually risk their lives to maintain a “free press” in the United States, one that can expose the effects of US policy:   from burned off faces on the streets of Fallujah to Blackwater SUV’s parked on the banks of the Mississippi; from the interrogation rooms of Abu Ghraib to the offices of Al Jazeera;  and from the morgues of Baghdad to the bank accounts of DynCorp.

The danger is real, as is their courage. It is not just a matter of being banned from corporate media.  Journalists who don’t regurgitate official government press briefings are targeted by the US government.

In a report published by Project Censored, Camille T. Taiara states,
“Last year was the deadliest year for reporters since the International Federation of Journalists began keeping tabs in 1984. A total of 129 media workers lost their lives, and 49 of them—more than a third—were killed in Iraq.  In short, non embedded journalists have now become familiar victims of U.S. military actions abroad.”

Journalists who investigate events that occur under occupation through eye witness testimony or filmed documentation can expect treatment similar to that of Salah Hassan, whose story Jeremy Scahill reported.  

While interviewing people at the scene of a car bombing,  Salah Hassan was picked up by US troops and “interrogated in Baquba ... flown hooded and bound to Tikrit... and held for two days in a bathroom.”  Later at Abu Ghraib, “he was greeted by US soldiers who sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him through his tight plastic hood, stripped him naked and addressed him only as ‘Al Jazeera’, ‘boy’ or ‘bitch.’”  Still later, he was ”made to wear a dirty red jumpsuit that was covered with someone else’s fresh vomit and interrogated by two Americans in civilian clothes.”

In reporting from Dohar, Qatar on February 3, 2006,   Dahr Jamail recounts the history of attacks on Al Jazeera, “The Al-Jazeera bureau in Afghanistan was bombed by U.S. warplanes in 2001. During the invasion of Iraq, U.S. tanks shelled Al-Jazeera journalists in a Basra hotel. Shortly after, its office in Baghdad was hit by a missile from a U.S. warplane; correspondent Tareq Ayoub was killed.  Al-Jazeera reporters have been detained by U.S. forces and placed in prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It has weathered verbal attacks from U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and from government officials in many countries in the Middle East.”

Managing director Wadah Khanfar of Al-Jazeera, said. "If you, as a journalist, would like to be loyal to your profession, you know it is going to be difficult to get the story sometimes, but you have to do it anyway if it's at all possible."

Integrity and commitment to their craft give Dahr Jamail and Jeremy Scahill the power to expose the layering of lies that bombard Americans from the corporate media on a daily basis.  They have been in Iraq.  Walk with them through blood stained mosques, bombed out homes, and morgues filled with rows of innocent civilian bodies.  Wait in terror, at home, expecting to be swept up into the nightmare of US interrogation and torture.  Hear Iraqi voices seething with anger at humiliation and degradation, devastation and carnage.  Look into the eyes of a people resisting the brutality of sanctions, and the rain of continual bombing raids and join the resistance.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0526-06.htm

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 by Inter Press Service  
Washington Urges Media Freedom - But Not for AlJazeera  
by Emad Mekay  
  
WASHINGTON - When the U.S. state department shyly released a human rights report two weeks ago amidst an international outcry over U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners, it slipped in some tough talk on media freedom -- against the practice, not for it as would be expected.

Lorne Craner, deputy assistant secretary for democracy and human rights, told reporters that Arab TV network AlJazeera was inciting violence against U.S. troops in occupied Iraq.

”AlJazeera, from what I understand from CPA (the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq) and others, is quite different in what they do. They go a lot further than 'New Yorker' Magazine or CBS. And that's my point. We are extremely tolerant, we have been for over 200 years in this country, of criticism, but incitement of violence is something else.”

The accusations from Craner, the man whose job includes promoting media freedom worldwide, were the last in a series of high-level U.S. moves to muzzle the TV network, which has so far managed to outpace many U.S. news sources in covering the U.S.-led attack and occupation of Iraq, starting more than one year ago.

Although AlJazeera, which started broadcasting in 1996, irked both the U.S. media and the Bush administration even before Washington invaded Iraq as the first step in its plan to remake the Middle East on a ”democratic” model, the attacks turned vicious after the channel aired lived coverage of civilian casualties of the U.S. military's heavy bombardment of the town of Fallujah in April.

AlJazeera correspondent Ahmed Mansour was apparently the only reporter in the city when U.S. forces were enforcing a crippling siege.

According to medics in Fallujah, the U.S. offensive claimed the lives of at least 700 Iraqis, mostly women and children, and left up to 1,500 others injured.

The senior U.S. military spokesman, Mark Kimmitt, suggested that Iraqis who saw civilian deaths on AlJazeera, ”change the channel to a legitimate, authoritative, honest news station. The stations that are showing Americans intentionally killing women and children are not legitimate news sources. That is propaganda, and that is lies.”

But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went further. ”I can definitively say that what AlJazeera is doing is vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.”

”But you know what our forces do,” he added, ”they don't go around killing hundreds of civilians. That's just outrageous nonsense! It's disgraceful what that station is doing.”

Secretary of State Collin Powell, the outwardly dovish face of the administration, went further and earlier this month formally demanded that visiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr al-Thani tighten the screws on the 24-hour network, which is based in his country.

Powell said in statements after meeting al-Thani in Washington that relations between the two countries were being harmed by AlJazeera's coverage.

The channel has also taken some heat on the ground. On May 21, Rashid Hamid Wali, assistant cameraman and fixer for AlJazeera, was killed by gunfire in the Iraqi city of Karbala, the last in a string of journalists who been killed in Iraq.

On several occasions, the channel's correspondents have also been banned from government offices and news conferences in Iraq.

Media analysts here say that Washington's attack on AlJazeera, under the pretext of fighting the promotion of violence, has negative implications both for media freedom and for U.S. political strategy.

”To say that running false stories if they could inflame the conflict is grounds for ending the media outlets' right to report is to say that no major U.S. media outlet should be allowed to report anymore,” said Jim Naureckas, editor of media watch dog magazine 'Extra'.

The 'New York Times', for example, ran a story quoting Iraqi defectors saying the country possessed weapons of mass destruction, which was one of many articles published by the U.S. media that inflamed the conflict, he added.

Washington also risks losing more of its credibility over its attack on the Arab TV network.

”Officials in Washington keep saying they want to encourage democratization in the Middle East, but the Bush administration's moves to throttle AlJazeera certainly indicate otherwise,” said Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

Others see the U.S. attack as emblematic of its political and military woes in the region.

”The U.S. is losing the war in Iraq and is increasingly isolated politically in the Arab world, so what's its response? Blame the media. The U.S. media wouldn't accept such an argument from Bush the candidate, so why accept it from Bush the commander in chief?” said Reese Erlich, a foreign correspondent who has covered the Middle East extensively for 20 years.

The best way to control AlJazeera and other media outlets that defy Washington's control is to stop atrocities on the ground, analysts say.

”There are ways that the U.S. government could legitimately reduce the negative coverage it gets on AlJazeera. For instance, if President Bush wants AlJazeera to stop airing grisly footage of dead Iraqi civilians, as commander in chief he could order U.S. troops to stop killing them,” Erlich said.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Related Al-Jazeera Links:

Al-Jazeera Home Page
http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Friends of Al-Jazeera Blog
http://www.friendsofaljazeera.org/

Telesur and Al-Jazeera sign deal
Submitted by karim on Wed, 2006-02-01 15:08.

The Latin American TV station Telesur, backed by the Venezuelan government, has signed a co-operation agreement with the Arabic channel al-Jazeera.

They will share content, as well as journalistic and technical expertise.

Head of Telesur Andres Izarra said his channel felt inspired by the path which al-Jazeera had taken to become a reference point in the Arab world.
Posted in AlJazeera in the news | login or register to post comments | read more »
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Al-Jazeera in English and Contemporary Summary
Submitted by karim on Wed, 2006-02-01 09:44.

DOHA, Qatar (UPI) -- Al-Jazeera, the Arabic language satellite television network based in the tiny Gulf state of Qatar that the Bush administration loves to hate, has faced more than its share of problems brought about by the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism.

The network`s bureau in Kabul, Afghanistan, was bombed by the U.S. military, as was its office in Iraq. In both cases, the United States said it was a mistake and that it did not intend to target al-Jazeera. Several al-Jazeera journalists and cameramen were killed and wounded while covering the war in Iraq, probably no more than one hour`s plane ride away from their modest Doha headquarters.

Posted in AlJazeera in the news | 1 comment | read more »
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Hola All ~ Having been raised inside the 'brain of the fascist beast' in Sacramento, California I believe that there is a lot of ignorant prejudice and insane stupidity against Al-Jazeera that we should help to expose, plus, as humane activists we should help educate others about the great positive influence of Al-Jazeera in the world, especially with its News Coverage.

I am taking Communications/Journalism at Sacramento City College and returning back to school at 54-Earth years.

My Research Paper will be on the role of Al-Jazeera in the Mass Media and its survival struggles in the face of fascist persecution. This ain't just Left-wing rhetoric! I know that the very truth itself can be revolutionary and those who speak the truth can be a real threat to Evil in High Places.

I checked out of the Sac City College Library yesterday the book 'Al-Jazeera' ~ The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West ~ by Brother Hugh Miles. Even just my checking out book, the middle-aged White Librarian was nervous, tipped over a jar full of pencils and really tripped out. She was afraid to look at me.

I am tall, with a tapered whitened goatee on my face and with long hair. Thus, I am not always easily identifiable as a Mexican-American-Native or Chicano. I told her I was doing a Research Paper for my Mass Media Class with no real response from her. She was just happy to get me out of there!

It seems that many prejudice American people, not necessarily racist but pre-judging without knowledge of the facts,  just see Al-Jazeera as a front for Al-Queda. End of story.

So there needs to be a lot of educational work among the people. Thus, I was utterly delighted to find this website blog about Friends of Al-Jazeera this morning.

What saddens me is the great poverty of wise courage among Americans at a time in human history when we need real strong courage in the face of fascist tyranny now more than ever, not blind ‘my country right-or-wrong’ phony patriotism while young American boys die in unjust wars on foreign sands.

Remember the ‘home of the brave and the land of the free’?
Remember ‘… with liberty and justice for all!”

Combat Amerikan Fascism!
Peter S. Lopez, ~ aka Peta
Humane Liberation Party
Sacramento, California, USA

Related Blog:
http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/  

Related Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/  
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>