New weapon in war on terror

The Pentagon has revealed its new top-secret weapon in the war against international terror — Big Bird from Sesame Street.

An internal report by Donald Rumsfeld’s Department of Defense on how the US can win the propaganda war against al-Qaida says that an Arabic version of Sesame Street with all-American messages buried within the antics of the Muppet characters is what is needed to wrong-foot Osama bin Laden.

The report, written in Sept. 2004 and entitled “Strategic Communication,” says that the US is losing the “war of ideas” to al-Qaida and being “outflanked” by bin Laden’s own propaganda.

The Pentagon, however, puts the blame for this squarely with the Bush administration saying that the war on terror and the invasion and occupation of Iraq have increased support for al-Qaida, made ordinary Muslims hate the US, and caused a global backlash against the US because of US “self-serving hypocrisy” in the Middle East.

In response, the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board Task Force calls for a massive increase in sophisticated propaganda drives by the US.

The dissemination of cultural reference points like Sesame Street would, apparently, “de-legitimize extremism and terrorism.” (Sunday Herald (Scotland))

Dow subject of hoax

The BBC, Britain’s public service broadcaster, acknowledged Dec. 3 that it had been tricked into broadcasting an interview with a man pretending to be a spokesman for Dow Chemical, who claimed that the company had taken the blame for the disaster in Bhopal, India, in 1984.

The hoax, contradicting Dow Chemical’s rejection of any responsibility, came on the 20th anniversary of the catastrophe, when waves of lethal gas escaped from a chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killing more than 3,500 people and injuring thousands more. At the time, the plant was owned by the Union Carbide Corporation, which was taken over by Dow Chemical Company three years ago. Survivors have long complained that they have received inadequate compensation.

Twice on Dec. 3, the channel broadcast the interview with a man identifying himself as Jude Finisterra, who said Dow Chemical had agreed to set up a $12 billion compensation fund. In a separate BBC interview on a lunchtime radio news show after the hoax was uncovered, the same man said he represented an organization called “The Yes Men,” whose Web site (www.theyesmen.org) says it engages in “identity correction.”

“Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them,” the website says. “Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.” (New York Times)

Networks bar ad promoting tolerance

Three broadcast networks have rejected an advertisement from the United Church of Christ (UCC), deeming the ad’s message of tolerance to be too controversial.

Citing the Bush administration’s proposal of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, CBS and UPN have refused to run a UCC commercial that advertises the church’s acceptance of all people, including gays and lesbians. NBC also deemed the ad “too controversial” to air.

The ad depicts two bouncers in front of a church letting in two white girls and a white heterosexual couple but turning away others, including people of color, a man in a wheelchair, and two men holding hands. A message reads, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” As the camera pans over a crowd of diverse UCC members, including a woman who puts her arm around another woman, a voiceover states, “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

Several networks accepted the ad, including ABC Family, Fox and TNT. (FAIR)

MD governor places ban on reporters

Maryland’s governor says his order that state officials stop speaking with two reporters for the (Baltimore) Sun was “meant to have a chilling effect” on two writers he believes “have no credibility.”

The ban was intended to set a benchmark for the minimum level of accuracy expected of newspaper coverage of his administration, Gov. Robert Ehrlich said in a radio interview.

Sun attorney Stephanie Abrutyn said the newspaper disagrees with Ehrlich’s description of the two reporters’ credibility and called his explanation of the ban “troubling.”

“He’s admitted that what he’s doing is using the power of his office to censor what citizens are able to hear by manipulating who they can hear it from based on whether he’s liked what they’ve said in the past.” (AP)

Whistle-blower crackdown spreads

A hard-edged tactic used by a Justice Department special counsel to smoke out anonymous sources in a CIA leak case is about to be expanded to the 2001 anthrax investigation—despite profound misgivings within the department about the legitimacy of the practice.

As many as 100 FBI agents, federal prosecutors and other department employees are likely to be asked to sign broadly worded statements waiving any confidentiality agreements they had with journalists about the anthrax case. The waiver statement was recently ordered by a federal judge at the urging of lawyers for bioterrorism expert Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who has filed a lawsuit alleging that government officials leaked damaging personal information about him  in an effort to connect him with the anthrax attacks.

The language is to be patterned on a similar statement distributed last year to White House officials and others in the investigation headed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, a US attorney in Chicago, to determine who leaked the identify of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. Like the upcoming Hatfill waiver, the so-called “Plame waiver” was designed to be an end run around journalists’ claims that they are protecting the confidentiality of sources when they refuse to testify in leak investigations. (Newsweek)

Reuters seeks answers to abuse of staff

Andrew Marshall, Reuters’ chief correspondent in Iraq, is seeking justice for three of his Iraqi news staffers and an NBC cameraman who claim they were severely abused earlier this year at a US Army base outside of Fallujah.

Marshall, a soft-spoken, short-haired, mirror image of a military officer, lobbies the American media to cover the case (it was first probed by E&P Online in May) has pressured the Pentagon to reopen its investigation of the incident that was eerily similar in some regards to the military treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

The journalists were arrested Jan. 2 by soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division as they were filming the aftermath of the downing of an American helicopter.

The men claim they were subjected to three days of mental and physical abuse. This included beatings, sexual humiliation, and sleep deprivation. (Editor & Publisher Online)

Video game celebrates Fallujah slaughter

If you thought the new video game inviting players to try their virtual skills at assassinating JFK was tasteless, hold on to your hat. A just-released mission in the Kuma wargame series is themed “Fallujah: Operation al-Fajr.” It re-creates the recent assault on Fallujah, which may have left thousands of civilians dead.

Players join US Marines and Army soldiers in their attack on the Jolan district in Fallujah. For the making of “Fallujah: Operation al-Fajr,” Kuma Reality Games used detailed satellite imagery of Jolan.

Publicity material for the new game says players “dodge sniper fire and protect civilians,” while fighting to secure the Jolan district. (BreakForNews.com)

Venezuela heading towards free software

Venezuela, following in Brazil’s footsteps, has joined the club of countries that are adopting and promoting free or open-source software, in a bid to save money, achieve technological independence, and strengthen alliances among countries of the developing South.

“We are working on a decree to make it official and obligatory in Venezuela to acquire and foment the use of free software in the public administration,” Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced in a recent forum on technology held in capital city of Caracas.

But government entities are not waiting for the presidential decree, and have already begun to migrate to open-source software programs, which tend to be free of charge, unlike the proprietary operating systems sold by corporations like Microsoft and Unisys.

The decision by the government of left-leaning President Luiz Inácio da Silva in Brazil to make the move to open-source software throughout the public sector is based on economic considerations, as well as the search for technological autonomy and the aim of sharing knowledge. (IPS)

Columnist quits paper

Longtime San Diego (Calif.) Union-Tribune columnist Jim Goldsborough is quitting the paper, saying Publisher David C. Copley abruptly pulled a column scheduled to run Monday as “payback” for his criticism of President Bush.

“I’ve written columns for everybody. I’ve been edited, criticized... But never have I gotten a call Sunday night that the column is not running Monday, and there’s no discussion,” he said.

The spike of the column was “almost like prior restraint,” Goldsborough said. “Don’t criticize Bush, or you column won’t be run.” (Editor & Publisher)

Army spun tale about Tillman

Just days after Pat Tillman died from “friendly fire” on a desolate ridge in southeastern Afghanistan, the US Army Special Operations Command Dec. 6 released a brief account of his last moments.

The Apr. 30, 2004, statement awarded Tillman a posthumous Silver Star for combat valor and described how a section of his Ranger platoon came under attack.

It was a stirring tale and fitting eulogy for the Army’s most famous volunteer in the war on terrorism, a charismatic former pro football star whose reticence, courage and handsome beret-draped face captured for many Americans the best aspects of the country’s post-Sept. 11 character.

It was also a distorted and incomplete narrative, according to dozens of internal Army documents obtained by the Washington Post that describe Tillman’s death by fratricide after a chain of botched communications, a misguided order to divide his platoon over the objection of its leader and undisciplined firing by fellow Rangers. (Washington Post)

Military channel to hit cable

Discovery Communications International, a media behemoth that boasts 60 networks representing 19 entertainment brands (including TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids, and, in partnership with the New York Times, the Discovery Times Channel) will “re-launch” its six year-old Discovery Wings cable channel next month as the Military Channel, focusing on all aspects of the armed forces, military strategies, and personnel throughout the ages.

Discovery offers what its press materials dub “a broad focus on all aspects of the military with a wide array of programming about its people, strategy, technology, and history.” (Mediachannel.org)