From Asia Times, Jul 26, 2003
PALAST - SWIMMING AGAINST THE MAINSTREAM
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, fresh off
of his award-winning investigation of the manipulation of the Florida
ballot count which gave George W Bush his father's old job, Palast
decided to take a look into what was being done by the US government
to get to the bottom of the biggest intelligence failure in US
history.
In November 2001, Palast discovered that the Bush administration was
blocking federal probes into both the bin Laden family and the Saudi
royal family. The findings he presented in his report on BBC
Newsnight didn't make it into mainstream media across the Atlantic
until recent weeks - almost two years later - via a report issued by
Republican Thomas H Kean, former New Jersey governor and chairman of
the independent commission on September 11, and former Representative
Lee Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat and vice-chairman of the commission.
The report said that the Justice Department and Pentagon were not
providing enough information to the commission's investigation. The
Bush administration initially opposed the creation of the commission.
"It's taken two years, and it's only coming out now because some white
Republicans are saying it," Palast said. "Before then, it couldn't get
reported in the US." Palast is disappointed, but not surprised, by
what he perceives as US newspapers functioning more as distributors of
information that is given to them, rather than aggressively trying to
find and pursue leads on their own. "Why aren't papers trying to find
that material for themselves?"
Palast emphasized that he does not subscribe to any notion espousing
the idea that the Bush administration is suppressing September
11-related information because of any foreknowledge of the attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Bush did not know of the
attack in advance, but the investigations are being blocked because
the United States government has slavishly protected the Saudi royal
family."
For observers of the US since September 11, the compliance of the
American media has played a pivotal role in stoking patriotic fervor
which has given the Bush administration the benefit of the doubt
several times, while failing to represent the voices of Americans who
see things differently - including Palast.
For Palast, the state of alarm in the US since the attacks of
September 11 is not necessarily unwarranted, but it conveniently
serves the interests of the ruling elite. "America was attacked by
maniacs. Our president didn't do anything to prevent it and hasn't
done anything since. The truth is America is still a safe place - but
the administration doesn't like that image because they think it's
easier to control people when they're afraid."
While many pundits state that the popularity of Bush is vulnerable to
US troop casualties in Iraq, Palast insists that American voters are
unlikely to remove Bush from office over anything but domestic
concerns - the sputtering US economy in particular. "I think Bush
will have a difficult time getting re-elected," Palast said, "Once the
yellow ribbons fall off of the trees, people will start to wonder
where their pensions have gone."
Palast noted that US unemployment is at its highest since the
presidency of George H W Bush, according to the current Bush
administration's figures. Palast said that the administration
intentionally released the new unemployment data on the Fourth of July
in order to minimize press coverage.
Palast cited the story attributed to the recovery of Private Jessica
Lynch as another example of unquestioning media obedience. "They
swallowed the whole PR sausage," he said. The majority of world media
has not demonstrated the American media's appetite for Pentagon
sausage. Practically every other media outlet in the world describes
the "rescue" of Lynch as an unnecessary Hollywood-style raid on an
Iraqi hospital that was treating the injured soldier's wounds.
Amid the current media focus on Bush's State of the Union address in
January in which he said that Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire
uranium from Niger, Palast said that there has yet to be a major
change in coverage of the administration by mainstream US media.
"Occasionally backing up is done under the pretense of being
'balanced' - this is pretense, it's not real," he said.
Palast is obviously dismayed by American media in the post-September
11 age, characterizing it as "gone to hell in a handbag". Palast
views news in the US, television in particular, as being
disproportionately affected by the rise of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News.
"It's 'Foxification', they've gone from news to viciousness, barely
disguised racism and pseudoentertainment intended to be taken as news
- and every station is now trying to follow that formula," he said.
From the tone of his voice and the words he chooses, it can be easily
gleaned that Palast's opinion of Fox News is less than positive.
Likewise Murdoch and Fox News employees such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean
Hannity in all likelihood have little love for Palast. This did not
prevent the network, which constantly reminds viewers that its content
is "fair and balanced", from inviting Palast to be a guest on a show
which featured a studio audience. Palast laughed, "They brought me
out for about five minutes, and I was booed the whole time." Palast,
however, seems to have reveled in having appeared on the network whose
message he is working to counter. "My appearance on Fox seemed to be
for the purpose of beating me up, but that's okay - let them do it.
Some people will still get the word," he said - a challenge
reminiscent of Bush's recent taunting of Iraqi guerrilla forces to
"bring it on".
BATTLING THE BLACKOUT
Palast's new book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: An Investigative
Reporter Exposes The Truth About Globalization, Corporate Cons and
High-Finance Fraudsters, has been on the New York Times bestseller
list for the 20 weeks since its release. While this is not an
unheard-of achievement for a book, it is a significant accomplishment
for a book that has essentially not been reviewed or advertised
anywhere in the mainstream American media.
"While the mainstream media would love to block it out, it has been
very well received in America - people are fed up with brain-dead
infotainment " Palast said. Palast also cited the influence of
outspoken filmmaker Michael Moore as providing a boon to his book
sales. "He [Moore] has been extremely helpful to me in breaking
through".
To counter the blackout of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Palast
set out on a 10-week, 27-city speaking tour to support the book. "The
tour was received excitedly - it was very heartening", Palast added,
saying that with the book's recent translation into Japanese and a
Chinese version on the way, he plans an East Asian book tour in the
near future.
For Palast, after years of investigating corruption and being blacked
out of his own country's media, the US book tour was a refreshing
eye-opener. "I learned to like America again. It isn't the same
country that is presented to us and the world by bubblehead
politicians and fake-hair news," he said. "Americans aren't happy with
the current oligarchy."
Palast said that working Americans see through schemes such as the
proposed removal of the inheritance tax or Bush's recent tax cut for
what they really are. "The average American recognizes it as theft,"
he said.
IRAQ AND THE NEXT WAR
Finished with the book tour, and working on an edited US version of
his investigation into the Bush dynasty which aired on the BBC under
the name "Bush Family Fortunes" ("America can't take it straight up,"
he said), what is Palast up to next?
"I have a document from before the war, an official State Department
document about the plan for Iraq's economy. This includes the
privatization of the oil industry. The plan is essentially to turn
Iraq into a corporate Disneyland," Palast said. "If that oil is
privatized as planned, the Middle East will catch fire," he said. "The
question is, who wrote this document?"
Since my interview with Palast, he has named one member of the Iraqi
"Disneyland". Palast has said that Hilary Rosen, chief executive of
the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), is helping draft
copyright legislation for the new administration in Iraq. Currently
in the US, the RIAA is using the judicial system to hunt down
fileswappers it deems guilty of violating copyright laws.
Interestingly enough, none of the accused are America Online
subscribers - AOL/Time Warner happens to be an RIAA member. Palast
has declared Madonna to be the winner of the Iraq war.
As for speculation on the Bush administration's next target in its
"war on terror", Palast predicted that Bush's next war will not be
Iran or Syria, but Venezuela or Nigeria - for reasons of oil and
geopolitics.
Palast has already written about the negative and one-sided Western
media coverage of President Hugo Chavez, and has interviewed the
politician regarding the coup attempt against him, which Palast
believes was connected to Chavez's attempts to strengthen the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which
Venezuela is a member. As for oil-rich Nigeria, Palast said that the
Bush administration will attempt to "solidify its control on the
country as the French and British surround that nation".
A journalist who is frequently the only person in his field saying
what he says, Palast said people frequently take issue when he
challenges the veracity of administration claims and corporate
reports. "People come up to me and say, 'If this isn't true, then why
haven't I read about it in the New York Times'?" Palast paused - and
let a small laugh escape.
"My answer is, 'You will'."
Greg Palast is an investigative reporter for BBC-TV and the author of
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: An Investigative Reporter Exposes
The Truth About Globalization, Corporate Cons and High-Finance
Fraudsters.
Greg Palast's writings can be found at www.GregPalast.com
From:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EG26Aa02.html
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