MEDIA ALERT: DEMOLISHING LEBANON - PARTS 1 and 2

Media Lens

... The public is relentlessly bombarded by the fraudulent media version of events: Israel is merely 'retaliating' in 'self-defence'. Condoleeza Rice (often referred to, affectionately, as 'Condi') is an honest broker seeking peace. And, the icing on the propaganda cake, Britain is biased +towards+ Arabs. Patrick Wintour and Ewen MacAskill wrote in the Guardian on July 21: "In private, the Foreign Office, which has a reputation as being traditionally pro-Arabist, is sceptical about the Israeli strategy and its impact on the wider Middle East." ? We asked British historian Mark Curtis for his response: "This is the traditional mainstream media view - 'pro-Arabist' being some nice, meaningless term. In fact, the record clearly shows that Britain has played it both ways - both strongly backing its favoured Arab dictators ('pro-Arabist') and at the same time arming Israel and supporting its aggression. Current policy is a good example.

Traditionally, Britain has also armed both sides. Of course it is by no means against UK interests to have ongoing instability and conflict in the Middle East - the goals are control over oil and having pro-Western regimes in place, after all, not weird notions of peace or democracy, which are purely for the cameras." (Email to Media Lens, July 26, 2006) Curtis points to a dark, and for the mainstream media all but unthinkable, truth - when state goals are best achieved by exploiting an overwhelming military advantage, peaceful negotiation, diplomacy and compromise can come to be seen as threats to be crushed at every turn. From this perspective, the more vicious the killing, the more wanton the destruction, the better...

continua / continued