Attn. ABC media whores. You are being called out for your anthrax lies in the UK press

[JohnyCanuck]

Was the US public misled about the anthrax attacks?

Was the US public misled about the anthrax attacks? ABC News should reveal the sources of its false report that the anthrax attacks after 9/11 were tied to Saddam Hussein

Dan Gillmor

SNIP

The network's hyperventilating broadcasts of leaked, false allegations purportedly tying the anthrax to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime (see Glenn Greenwald's meticulous examination of the coverage) was bad enough. What the organisation is doing now is journalistically unforgivable.

Pressthink's Jay Rosen and I, among many others who care about the journalism craft, believe ABC has some big, vital questions to answer. Here are three:

1. Sources who are granted confidentiality give up their rights when they lie or mislead the reporter. Were you lied to or misled by your sources when you reported several times in 2001 that anthrax found in domestic attacks came from Iraq or showed signs of Iraqi involvement?

2. It now appears that the attacks were of domestic origin and the anthrax came from within US government facilities. This leads us to ask you: Who were the "four well-placed and separate sources" who falsely told ABC News that tests conducted at Fort Detrick had found the presence of bentonite in the anthrax sent to senator Tom Daschle, causing ABC News to connect the attacks to Iraq in multiple reports over a five-day period in October, 2001?

3. A substantially false story that helps make the case for war by raising fears about enemies abroad attacking the US is released into public debate because of faulty reporting done by ABC News. How that happened and who was responsible is itself a major story of public interest. What is ABC News doing to re-report these events, to figure out what went wrong and to correct the record for the American people who were misled?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/04/terrorism.usa

Not that I am going to hold my breath for anything substantial out of ABC on how they either willingly and despicably lied, shilled and propagandized for the necon's favorite war du jour or, at best, were duped into broadcasting patently false information, with the the intention of their unreliable sources being that it would stir up war fever in the mass population.

[ryanmuegge]

1. I'm not a big conspiracy theorist normally, but I think it's pretty apparent where the anthrax came

from and what motivated it. It was a textbook example of "disaster capitalism."

[Kaleko]

23. And this good example of disaster capitalism

is clearly connected to that other one that we mustn't consider a false flag attack for fear of being ridiculed.

Look at the dates in this anthrax note. Then remember Cheney Inc. started taking Cipro the night of September 11.





Some pennies should be dropping in the suburbs of 9/11 debunkersburg right about... now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. Is that the same thing as chaos capitalist?

[ck4829]

2. There will be peace in the Middle East before ABC tells us who the liars are

[The Backlash Cometh]

31. What if there are powerful people who don't want peace in the Middle

East until they have full control of the area?

[malaise]

3. Dan Rather on the anthrax attacks

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7538496.stm

[Bonobo]

4. Answer the questions, ABC! nt

[MadrasT]

5. Cheers for The Guardian

:toast:

[KharmaTrain]

6. This Thing Is Really Unravelling

No wonder Muck-asey wants to bury it and fast. Damn Ivins for messing up the whitewash by suiciding himself. If he only had taken one for the team.

What's most discomforting, besides how long it took to get this case back into the limelight, is the rush to find a scapegoat and try to bury this thing. The harder they try, the deeper the hole gets.

So, will Brian Ross come clean? Or is he so secure in his "journalistic" cocoon that he can hide and have his corporate employer run interference for him?

[zbdent]

7. Didn't they get their anthrax info from the same people who produced

"The Path to 9/11"?

[Supersedeas]

8. complicity or what are they trying to hide?

[Gold Metal Flake]

9. Attn: JohnyCanuck. They Don't Care.

They will not report what the news media from Europe reports. They tell Americans to mistrust any info from "urp" as liberal lies. Whether they report the truth or not does not matter here because They Still Get Paid.

As long as the checks cash, the whores will fuck.

The media is our biggest enemy. They take the vision of the American Fascists and make it reality.

Destroy the Corporate Media to save the USA.

[JohnyCanuck]

10. Yeah, I sort of hinted in my comment in the OP......

that I got that feeling.

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. I know. I'm just venting.

You know that discouraged noise Crusty the Clown makes? I do that a lot these days.

[JohnyCanuck]

12. Afternoon kick n/t

[robertpaulsen]

13. K & R! Glad UK is paying attention.

:kick:

[spanone]

14. this should be major headlines in the US....if the media won't report on the media, we'll never know

[yellerpup]

15. Always was an 'inside' job.

Anthrax packets were only sent to 'liberal media' and 'liberal politicians'. If it had been done by people trying to bring down the USA they would have gone for the snake's head, not the journalists who were holding Bush's feet to the fire and to his opponents in Congress who were blocking his way.

[MadMaddie]

17. In any other country in the world it would be considered

"Treason" against the state.

But not in the good ole USA, it's considered just politics, the media is complicit in these crimes.

[nikto]

19. This is DEATH-PENALTY stuff...

...If the REAL PLOT were uncovered and those responsible convicted.




Why, it's even more serious than lying about a blow job!

[file83]

20. Yeeeup - ABC is complicit with domestic enemies.

Line 'em up against the wall is what they'd be doing if justice was served.

[Virginia Dare]

36. It's a concerted plot to assassinate U.S. Senators..

for political gain. Fuck yeah, it's treason.

[yellerpup]

40. Treason since day one. n/t

[yellerpup]

39. Depends on who's getting the BJ.

Jeff Guckert/Gannon--no problem. Monica Lewinsky? Quick, somebody let the dogs out!!!

[yellerpup]

37. I hear that, MadMaddie.

They've been trashing everything they can at a frantic pace. Democracy, justice, and The American Dream all out of reach now for most of us.

[Kaleko]

27. Isn't that so freaking obvious, it splits your head

when people can't connect these dots even after all these disclosures?

:banghead:

[yellerpup]

38. Willful blindness. You'd have to shut down not to notice.

It seems all too obvious to me.

[Bonobo]

16. Kick.

[suffragette]

18. K&R for Gillmor adding his voice to those demanding this information

Perfectly stated by him

[Norrin Radd]

21. kr

[neuvocat]

22. How many people here alone saw through this at the beginning?

How often has someone asked "What if no weapons of mass destruction are found?" or "What if the soldiers find weapons of mass destruction, only to prove the UN inspectors were right in the first place?"

How often was the phrase "rush to judgement" uttered?

How many people said "we need more proof"?

How many times did someone ask "where's the link between Iraq and 911?" or "what about the phony yellow cake uranium?"

How many times was someone branded a traitor for asking these questions?

The answers are obvious: too often, too many, too much. The corporate media did indeed create this quagmire but too many people didn't ask the same questions.

[GreenTea]

24. ABC (Disney) huge contributors to the republican party....what can one expect? Honesty?

Goes against their interest one must by now understand this ....They are the republican party of corporations....And the millions of working fools who believe Limbaugh, Fox & the rest, and who vote for republican corporate ideology....I have no sympathy for.

Do you?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

25. ABC = Aiding Bush's Coup

[Gabi Hayes]

26. this has been discussed here already, yes? mccain/anthrax/letterman: Oct. 18, 2001:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/01/mccain-anthrax-iraq/

On October 18, 2001, McCain appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. When asked how the war in Afghanistan was progressing, McCain volunteered that the invasion of Iraq would be the “second phase” of the War on Terror. He preyed on the public’s fear at the time by claiming that the anthrax “may have come from Iraq”:

LETTERMAN: How are things going in Afghanistan now?

MCCAIN: I think we’re doing fine …. I think we’ll do fine. The second phase — if I could just make one, very quickly — the second phase is Iraq. There is some indication, and I don’t have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.

LETTERMAN: Oh is that right?

MCCAIN: If that should be the case, that’s when some tough decisions are gonna have to be made.

[myrna minx]

28. K&R n/t

[CanonRay]

29. How can anyone with any sense of honor continue working there?

Why don't they resign? What has happened to people's sense of honor and courage?

[Amonester]

32. What has happened to people's sense of honor and courage can be...

described this way: "Money Trumps Honor And Courage."

Sad, but true.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. Any honorable people are long-gone.

Now they have a gang of pathological liars who will tell whatever stories they are ordered to tell.

[Kokonoe]

34. What if they sent it to Ronald reagan instead of Tom Daschle

nt

[Virginia Dare]

35. Or Bill O'Reilly...n/t

[fascisthunter]

41. and ABC should be held accountable for this

[SpiralHawk]

42. Calling out ABC - put up or shut up

How about the plain, unvarnished truth for a change, ABC?

[librechik]

43. Did ABC respond to the "Pentagon paid Pundits "story yet? It's been months.

ABC is NOT a journalistic enterprise, but a PR shack. No wonder they didn't pick anyone from there to moderate the debates.

Brian Ross should be fired like Dan Rather. Only legitimately.