January 26, 2009

Is Tide Turning on Impunity of Western Power?

We've seen some unbelievable headlines in recent years. We saw a US presidential election stolen in 2000-2001. We saw the twin towers in NYC collapse in 2001. We saw our nation initiate a war of aggression based on lies in 2002-2003. We saw Enron implode and Enronian blackouts in California. We saw the US looking like an under-developed nation as the government failed to respond to Hurricane Katrina. We are seeing headlines talking about economic depression. We've seen the headlines of the first African American president of the United States.

Is it really so unimaginable to envision headlines of war crimes being brought against high officials in the US and Israel? This thought recently reached my consciousness in reaction to a critique of my GDAE Podcast. The critique challenged my criticism of the main stream media:

I take a little exception to your characterization of mainstream media's coverage of the Gaza debacle. CNN has had some good reporting about the situation inside Gaza within the limitations of access granted by the IDF. One of their reporters was in one of the tunnels leading to Egypt and commented that whenever humans feel trapped they will try and tunnel out and Palestinians in Gaza certainly feel trapped.

I could quibble about this, but that's not the point.

This critique was in reference to Episode 3 of GDAE Podcast (Jan 15, 2009), in which I claimed the establishment media was perpetuating several false narratives about the Israel/Palestine conflict. In addition to this critique of GDAE Podcast, I saw the following Yahoo News Headline:

"Israel promises troops legal backing over Gaza war"
, the opening line of which put Israeli war crimes on the table:

International calls to investigate Israel over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip prompted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday to promise military personnel state protection from foreign prosecution.

It goes on to quote Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, who said,

It does not mean there is an immunity against legal actions...More of such efforts will be seen also in the near future.

Is it possible the US media is beginning to ponder the imponderable?

So the thought occurs to me... we've seen some amazing headlines in the past few years. It's conceivable that a ground swell of demand for justice could spawn headlines about US and Israeli officials being charged and convicted for war crimes. It's possible.

Psssst... Do Something
Sources:

Associated Press,
Israel promises troops legal backing over Gaza war
, January 26, 2009.

Graphic Credit: Poet515 from DevianArt.

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2 comments:

libhom said...

I disagree with your commenter for the most part. Good reporting on Gaza is rare in the corporate media. How often do they mention that it was Israel, not Hamas, that initially violated the cease fire? Do they ever mention that Israel commits far more acts of terrorism against the Palestinians than vice versa? Do they mention the fact that it is completely illegal under international law to maintain an occupation on the West Bank and that it is an act of war to maintain a military siege against Gaza?

I could go on, but you get the point.

GDAEman said...

And well put.

This is a link to the GDAE Podcast episode with three clips from alternative media sources addressing your point "that it was Israel, not Hamas, that initially violated the cease fire."