Government Lies, Real Journalism, and Suffering On Behalf of the People

Nancy Youssef, of McClatchy News, wrote a long article about Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil, an Afghan who was detained in U.S. custody for 6 years, most of that time was spent in Gitmo.  He was released in 2008.

He's back in Afghanistan working as a tribal to help the people of his province, and much to his horror the Pentagon is now accusing him of engaging in terrorism again.  Read the article to see how ridiculous their claim is and how badly Wakil has been treated by our country.

Glenn Greenwald used this article to highlight the many lies our government has been telling us about terrorists, detainees, Gitmo, and the whole Bush war on terrorism.  Glenn praises Youssef's article and calls it an example of how real journalism should be practiced.

As the McClatchy article reflects, what is and is not real "journalism" is not that complicated.  The government makes a claim.  The role of the "journalist" is not to repeat it or merely report that the government claims..., but instead, to investigate it with skepticism to determine whether it is true, and then report if it isn't.  And journalists don't have to wait for a member of the "opposition party" to call them and object before doing so.  That's so basic that it's staggering to believe that it is disputed, and yet not only is that proposition disputed, it is explicitly rejected by many -- if not most -- establishment journalists.  And in that fact lies much of the explanation for what has happened in the U.S. during this decade (at least).

Also of interest is the first comment posted to Glenn's column.  Jim White is a frequent commenter and here is what he wrote:

At the end of the [McClatchy] article, we have this:

"Where is the justice? I am still being threatened because of this," Wakil said, his arms flailing. "But I do not want to retaliate. People respect me now more than before because they know I am innocent. It is my job as a tribal elder to suffer on behalf of my people."

What a succinct summary of the depths to which we have sunk. First, of course, Wakil understands that the concept of "justice" no longer exists for the United States when it come to the Great War on Terror.

Further, though, I dare anyone to give me a single example of a political figure in Washington who sees their job as entailing the obligation "to suffer on behalf of my people". Inside the Beltway, the only objective is to enrich oneself as much as possible in both cash and power while ensuring re-election. The concept of doing anything, let alone suffering, on behalf of the people is completely foreign to our government...

--Trakker

Comments

[horsec]

Suffering on behalf of my pecker people

FergusonFoont's Comment on: Ensign's Parents Made Payments to Mistress, Her Family at 7/10/2009 12:27 AM EDT

The most fascinating aspect of the John Ensign saga is that the nightly network newscasts never even MENTION it. On a broadcast this evening where they had time to report on a panda's fourth birthday party and, at least on NBC, some weirdly insipid Internet cartoon advertisement featuring dancing babies, they have not found the time to mention the self-inflicted downfall of a member of the Senate Republican leadership and one of the probable contenders for their party's nomination for president in 2012.

They didn't even mention this weird turn of events, where a U.S. Senator's mommy and daddy made payments to the family of his concubine, a woman who was his subordinate at work and who was married to another of his subordinates, for some undisclosed reason that for all the world smells like hush money.

This is a first class scandal that is far weirder and sleazier, and MUCH more improper on any grounds, than anything Eliot Spitzer might have dreamed of.

And now, his roommate at that particularly weird D.C. townhouse, Tom Coburn, seems to be in on it too, claiming some of the strangest privileged relationships anyone has ever tried to assert in public in order to try to avoid talking about it.

If this ain't newsworthy, well, what the heck IS?

[Trakker]

If this ain't newsworthy, well, what the heck IS?

My son was in LA last week for a convention. He didn't have time to read or watch any news until the last day. After he was packed and waiting for the shuttle he had some time and wanted to catch up on the news he missed. ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN: the only thing they were covering was wall-to-wall Michael Jackson. He flipped to BBC World News and they were reporting on Honduras, Iran, and all the other important stuff that was happening around the world.