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<font face="Verdana" size=2>June 11, 2008<br>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/ahmad06112008.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/ahmad06112008.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b><i>When AIPAC
Went Missing <br><br>
</i></font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
<b>Whatever Happened to "Democracy Now?"
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By MUHAMMAD
IDREES AHMAD <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">I</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>t is with some alarm and dismay that I
watched Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now” provide platform to right-wing
Paksitani journalist Ahmad Rashid, long an apologist for Bush's
war-on-terror, to recycle propaganda from British tabloid press and other
discredited sources. His tale about al-Qa'ida recruiting white converts
for terrorist acts in Europe originated with the British security
services as part of their fearmongering campaign to build support for the
42-day detention without charge plan. No shred of evidence was ever
offered.<br><br>
Equally bogus are his claims of organized al-Qa'ida 'training camps',
where recruits are offered foreign language training etc. Once again,
these claims are the products of the vivid imaginations of the
terrorologists proliferating in the war on terror fear factory. I suggest
Goodman ask Rashid to substantiate claims, or issue a retraction. (When
he claims 'Iraq is an Arab problem' and that it would be resolved when
its neighbours 'stop interfering', I would have liked Goodman to at
least ask if he was aware the country is under <i>U.S.</i>
occupation.)<br><br>
He suggests the truce negotiated by the Pakistani government is
tantamount to 'supporting the Taliban'. Quoting U.S. military officials
in Kabul he alleges that Pakistan is 'funding' the 'resurgence' of the
Taliban. He faults Pakistan for not cooperating more enthusiastically in
Bush's war on terror. Rashid appears to be living in a timeless world
where the realities of 10 years past substitute for the present.
Pakistani military's intervention in the FATA region has been brutal, now
extending to the frontier heartland of Swat. Tactics have included
Israeli-style collective punishment; wholesale demolition of recalcitrant
villages; disappearing of opponents (mostly of the tribal <i>homines</i>
<i>sacri</i>, not wealthy media figures of Rashid's stripe); bombing
raids; extrajudicial killings. The response of the tribesmen -- all swept
under the handy label of 'the Taliban' by the government and hacks like
Rashid -- is as brutal as it is predictable. Only a few months back three
rockets landed in the very safe neighborhood where my sister resides in
the frontier city of Peshawar. <br><br>
Kidnapping for ransom has become a common phenomenon. Suicide attacks on
the military have been frequent. The Pakistani military death toll now
numbers in the hundreds. So when a guest on Goodman’s show starts
claiming that the Pakistani government is funding and encouraging the
slaughter of its own soldiers I am forced to demur despite my disdain for
the regime. When I hear Goodman’s guest fault Pakistan for not allowing
US forces on its territory, and refusing CIA a base in the tribal
regions, its <i>your</i> judgment I must question Goodman for letting
this pass without challenge.<br><br>
The government for some time has shown a preference for a negotiated
political settlement, only to be thwarted every time by unauthorized US
assaults renewing the conflict. Other times the government has caved
under pressure and resumed the assaults itself to fend off accusations
that it is 'not doing enough' in the fight against the Taliban. This is
the same twaddle Goodman has allowed Rashid to recycle on her
show.<br><br>
There is no reason why Pakistan should be cooperating with the US “war on
terror”. Under this rubric, the Musharraf regime has already devastated
much of the tribal belt and created enemies where there were none.
Contrary to Rashid's claim that the new government is 'willing to follow
the US agenda', it has promised to open dialogue with the tribals in
order to end hostilities. This is a positive development that makes the
US apprehensive, as it does Uncle Toms like Rashid who have wedded their
careers to the 'war on terror' as its sanctioned cheer leaders.<br><br>
I hope Goodman shows more care in the future in vetting her guests. She
certainly could not have been unaware of the political leanings of this
guest as on her very show he had declared his preferred outcome for the
region's conflicts: a NATO 'victory' in Afghanistan.<br><br>
This is the second time in a week where Goodman’s editorial judgment has
left me deeply disappointed. First was the refusal to cover -- yet again
-- the AIPAC conference, with all its implications for US politics and
the Middle East. In a year when even the mainstream media was finally
forced to take notice (with Jon Stewart of the Daily Show going so far as
to refer to the lobby group as the 'Elders of Zion', Democracy Now
appeared alone in missing the irony of three presidential candidates
pledging to fight the domination of lobbyists in Washington genuflect to
the most powerful of them all. <br><br>
Amy, what happened to Democracy Now's promise to speak truth to power?
Did you not say once that your aim was to go where the silence is? How is
it that the Washington Post was able to break the silence even as
Democracy Now remained AWOL? Why did Democracy Now join MSM in denying
Mearsheimer and Walt a voice, instead allowing their views to be
misrepresented by critics without a chance of rebuttal? How well placed
are you to criticize the mainstream for refusing to stand up to power
when you can yourself be considered guilty of the same?<br><br>
<b>Muhammad Idrees Ahmad</b> is at the Department of Geography and
Sociology, University of Strathclyde. He can be reached at
<a href="mailto:m.idrees@gmail.com">m.idrees@gmail.com</a></font>
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