Webloggin » Patterns In Journalism - All The Torture That's Not Fit To Print

Earlier in the week I wrote about the difference between the way the mainstream media and various anti-war activists characterize military actions against terrorists and that of terrorists who use men, women and children as human shields.

On Tuesday the BBC ran a report titled ”‘Massacre’ at Lebanon refugee camp“. The article’s author, Jim Muir, is quick to use terms such as atrocity, massacre and indiscriminate bombing when describing the siege. I find it interesting that these words are reserved for those who fight terrorists.

When was the last time Muir or anyone else used the same terms when describing terrorists who blow themselves up in public gathering spots, stone women to death for looking at the wrong guy, execute men for being gay, cut off the breasts of women in a genocidal rampage or any other in a long list of atrocities that radical Islamic militants are committing world wide? What is it going to take to get these labels to be applied to terrorists?

In fact I can not remember the last time I read about a suicide bombing that was labeled for what it really is; a gutless and murderous attack on innocent people. Calling it a suicide bombing is one stop short of calling them martyrs; a label that is implied in any event.

In my mind there is no doubt that the activists in the media intentionally and deceitfully choose to ignore or overlook the emphasis on terrorist lead actions as torture for the specific purpose of furthering their anti-war agenda.

Since that time there has been two events in particular that have been met with stone cold silence by those who spent months if not years characterizing abu Ghraib and the detentions in Guantanamo Bay with hyper-emotional labels such as “torture” and “human rights abuses”.

The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. was recovered from the Euphrates River on Wednesday and indeed there are visible signs that he had been tortured. I will not detail the specifics of the torture out of respect for his family but I can tell you that what happened to Pfc. Anzack and others who have met a similar fate is incalculably worse than anything that happened at abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

The AP was so unconcerned about this despicable act of torture that they decided to emphasize the diversion of resources used for the search instead of emphasizing that the search was all the more imperative because of the likelihood that the men were being tortured.

The search for the captured soldiers has also taken thousands of troops out of the pool of forces for the Baghdad security crackdown.

Let’s also dispense with the characterization of the troops as being captured. They were ambushed, kidnapped and tortured; something quite different than being captured and detained or imprisoned.

Likewise, the discovery of an al Qaeda torture manual was met with the same kind of lackadaisical silence and will likely be forgotten by the agenda driven media by weeks end. In order to emphasize the importance of this manual one needs to realize that it was found complete with the tools required to carry out the tortures. (h/t Michelle Malkin)

This goes beyond lazy reporting; it is nothing short of an intentional effort to cover it up.

Perhaps they simply don’t believe it to be true. But their perception of truth is not an acceptable filter in the light of supporting evidence such as the discovery of our slain soldiers. In fact the press has an obligation to report this news and let us determine for ourselves whether or not it is true; especially considering that a journalistic obligation to inform the people was excuse enough to print national security secrets.

The world of journalism is done a great disservice by news services that are so entirely tainted by an agenda that they stoop to the lowest depths of human decency in ignoring the importance of such a find.