NPR: National Pentagon Radio

I choose radio services other than the presidential/military stenographer

I don't listen to NPR nearly as much as I have in the past. From about 1978 into the run-up to Iraq, I probably had NPR on at least an hour a day -- every day I was near a radio. Not any more. Who are those new people on Morning Edition, anyway? Frankly, I don't miss it.

These days what I try not to miss are Democracy Now!, FSRN, and Flashpoints. On Friday there is a new Counterspin from FAIR and occasionally I pick up an Alternative Radio. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I sometimes catch the Duke Skorich Show from KUWS in our old stomping ground of Duluth/Superior. It's a Wisconsin Public Radio affiliate. WPR also has a very worthwhile talk lineup on the Ideas Network. Check out their program notes. Finally, driving across Canada has given me a lot of appreciation of CBC Radio One. Links for all of these services may be found in the left pane.

Today I made the mistake of listening to a couple of NPR's hourly newscasts (thank goodness Maine Public Radio also carries the BBC) and a few All Things Considered segments. Here are things I heard:

NPR hourly newscast
Bush took a few reporters questions at an event today. Here is part of the transcript:

Yes, Gregory.

Q Mr. President, you're sending more troops to Iraq now. This comes on the heels of reports that Iraqi security forces appear to be under-performing, appear to be unprepared for elections in January. If that's the case, what would be so bad about postponing elections if there's the potential that those elections may be seen as illegitimate?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, first of all, the elections should not be postponed. It's time for the Iraqi citizens to go the polls. And that's why we are very firm on the January 30th date. Secondly, I have always said that I will listen to the requests of our commanders on the ground. And our commanders requested some troops delay their departure home and the expedition of other troops to help these elections go forward. And I honored their request.

And, thirdly, we are working hard to train Iraqis. And we have got certain benchmarks in mind. And General Petraeus is in charge of training the Iraqi troops, and the Iraqi ministers in charge of that are meeting the goals. And the idea, of course, and the strategy, of course, is have the Iraqis defend their own freedom. And we want to help them have their presidential elections. And at some point in time, when Iraq is able to defend itself against the terrorists who are trying to destroy democracy -- as I have said many times -- our troops will come home with the honor they have earned.

It's time for those people to vote, and I am looking forward to it. It's one of those moments in history where a lot of people will be amazed that a society has been transformed so quickly from one of tyranny and torture and mass graves, to one in which people are actually allowed to express themselves at the ballot.

Yep, you guessed it. The italic part alone was what was inserted into the broadcast with zero effort to report other views on the Iraqi election. As can be seen from the reporter's question, there are a lot of issues involved and many reasons to doubt the Iraqi election is what it seems or what Bush says it is. And that blatant hypocrisy about torture again! With new stories flying that US treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba was "tantamount to torture", and with the bodies piling up, you'd think NPR would not just replay Bush's known fraud of saying he led the cleanup of torture and mass graves in Iraq!!

All Things Considered (ATC)
Nothing else need be discovered about what ATC does these days after you listen to the interview, "Fallujah Invasion Can Offer Lessons for the Future". In it, Major-General Robert Scales tells NPR's Michele Norris all about the precision guided munitions zeroing in on "point targets" containing the insurgents in Fallujah. Clean, precise killing. We've heard it all before. We kill only those deserving it with ultra-clean technology. We've beaten the strategy of the resistance. Lies.

Some weeks ago, in another ATC segment, Anne Garrels, a courageous reporter who has done multiple embedded tours in Iraq, showed how she clearly is too close to the troops on whom she is reporting. As the Marines were readying the big assault on Fallujah, she speaks, without skepticism, of how her Marines told her they played Marine Corps Hymn to rile insurgents enough so that they could be located and shot.

Semper fi NPR! From the Halls of Montezuma, To the Shores of Tripoli...!!