The following is Jared Israel's response to Tresy Kilbourne's attempted
rebuttal on the LIES OF THE MIGHTY,  a study of suppression of the free
press in England.

Peace,
Ken Freeland

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 2:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: LIES OF THE MIGHTY


Dear Ken,

Tresy Kilbourne's ITN "refutation", which you forwarded me from the
Chomsky
e-list, employs techniques amazingly similar to those employed by the
pro-NATO mass media.  It shamelessly plays to emotion, and it bears
false
witness.

Kilbourne and the ITN say 1) they showed UNCUT footage of "haunted"
faces and
"menacing" looking guards.  Does that mean the jury was shown ALL THE
FOOTAGE
shot that day?  I don't believe it.  So what does UNCUT mean - and how
would
the jury know whether, indeed, it was uncut?  And as for "haunted" and
"menacing" - clearly the climate created by a) the media's demonization
of
the Serbs and b) things said in the courtroom would color the jurors'
impressions.  If you see a man squinting in the sun (as the men in the
famous
barbed wire sequence in fact were) and you are TOLD he is afraid, he has
been
tortured, etc., he will undoubtedly LOOK "haunted" - but the emotion may
in
fact be in the eye of the beholder.

The key to the creation of the proper courtroom atmosphere was probably
the
doctor's testimony.  After hearing his story, any pictures would take on
a
haunting/menacing appearance.  But who says his story is true?  ITN and
the
doctor say it, that's who, and I say ITN had ALREADY lied on a giant
scale:
it deliberately produced film and still photos which falsely convicted a
people - the Serbs - of crimes against humanity.  Having lied on an epic
scale, why would ITN hesitate to produce false testimony to defend their
lie?
 Especially when that lie was used to support NATO policy: the
destruction of
the Bosnian Serb forces, which were fighting the secessionists which the
NATO
countries backed.

If one doubts the possibility of this consider: during the war against
Iraq
the daughter (I believe - anyway, some relative) of the Kuwaiti
Ambassador (a
neighbor of Kennedy, known to Jesse Helms as well) was brought to
testify in
Congress.  She masqueraded as a nurse (now they have doctors!) and said
Iraqi
soldiers were pulling babies out of incubators.  Do you all recall that
story?  And wasn't it a total lie?  It is not hard to produce false
witness,
especially if you have the combined financial/political power of all of
NATO
behind you, especially if NATO and a big news station's combined
credibility
are at stake.  Money talks; money buys lies.

As I said in my article, we have a film which shows Penny Marshall's
movements that day.  Please send this reply to the Chomsky list.  I urge
everyone on that list: order a copy of the film.  See for yourselves.
It
will be available from tenc.net starting (we hope) this coming Monday,
March
20.  Check tenc.net over the weekend and again Monday for news.

At the end of the film, the producers show exactly how certain footage
was
cut to produce the "haunted" and "menacing " shots used to fool millions
of
people around the world, plus a few in the English courtroom last week.
You
see the canteen - which doesn't look in the least menacing - and hear
the
relaxed testimony of the chief official at the detention center.  You
see
Marshall and Co. setting up INSIDE the barbed wire, it's all quite
clear.

In the email you sent me, Tresy Kilbourne writes:

"As they drove on to Trnopolje, the reporting team insisted on stopping
and
> "among the sights to greet them was that of an emaciated man stripped
to the > waist in the heat standing behind barbed wire."
> When the journalists left, they took with them an undeveloped reel of
film > secretly taken by an inmate who had told Ms Marshall of torture,
beatings and > rape."

Actually, the Serbian film crew followed Marshall around all day,
filming
her.  When, pray tell, could she have been alone and talked - unobserved
by
the other crew - with the an inmate who smuggled out film.  While the
film
shows that Marshall was never alone, it also shows the atmosphere all
day was
quite relaxed.  If this WERE a death camp why would these "menacing"
guards
let her interview emaciated people behind barbed wire - especially when
they
- supposedly forbade her to visit certain (evil) parts of the camp.

This all relies, as with other pro-NATO propaganda, on the impact of
emotionally charged statements.  It's really quite shameful.

By the way, if people go to
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/images/bosnia/camp.htm.  they can look
at a
couple of the pictures which ITN made available to the media and which
were
used to present the same impression as the text your correspondent
presents.
Look at the second picture (BELSEN 92 is the caption).  Notice the
structure
of the barbed wire, foreground left.  The wire is clearly turning away
from
the people - that is, the men are standing near the OUTSIDE corner of a
barbed wire enclosure. If you are unsure, show it to anyone who has
worked in
construction or agriculture - where they handle barbed wire.

I personally come from the left I started out in the civil rights
movement; I
went on a freedom ride and was active with the Congress of Racial
Equality.
I was one of the leaders of the student movement against the war in
Vietnam.
Then for years I was inactive.  When I got back into things a couple of
years
ago I was stunned to see supposed leftists kissing NATO's ass. I felt
like I
had woken up in a nightmare world.   From what I've seen, Ian Williams
is one
of the worst offenders.  His influence at the Nation has produced
apologies
for NATO policies which are sometimes worse than what one gets at the NY
Times.  And then the Nation connection is used among left-leaning folks
to
lend credibility to William's pro-NATO line.

Best regards,
Jared
PS - Ms. Kilbourne makes a big point of getting the other side by going
to
the ITN Website - as if ITN were being silenced by big bad Emperors
Clothes
which is dominating the air waves.  Well, as of earlier today you could
NOT
go to the LM website to hear their side.  They've been shut down.  As
far as
I know, ITN still has a major news station, and ALL the reporting has
backed
their side of the story.