Senate report on torture exposes collusion between corporate media and CIA

[Octafish]

by Niles Williamson
World Socialist Web Site, 11 December 2014

The executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report sheds light on the manner in which the corporate media knowingly served as a conduit for the CIA to selectively and anonymously leak favorable reports on its interrogation program to the public. The Senate document also discloses that the media acceded to requests from CIA officials and Vice President Dick Cheney to withhold information about the program that was deemed unfavorable.

The report makes clear that the so-called “free press” in America functions as a propaganda arm of the state, with journalists serving as stenographers of official lies. Through the input of the CIA, the media sought to obscure the heinous character of the actions being carried out and condition public opinion to tolerate, if not support, so-called “enhanced interrogation” methods.

An entire section toward the end of the Senate report is devoted to the role of the media. It explains that the CIA’s Office of Public Affairs (OPA) fed information to journalists on the torture program while the program was still officially classified in order to undercut critics and project a more favorable image of the program to the public. When such classified information was published, the CIA did not press for criminal investigations, as the leaks had been approved by the agency itself.

Classified information on the torture regime was provided to journalist Ronald Kessler, who used the information in his book The CIA at War, published in 2003. The Senate report states that the CIA decided not to investigate this as a leak of classified information because “the book contained no first time disclosures,” and “OPA provided assistance with the book.”

Senior Deputy General Counsel for the CIA John Rizzo is quoted as saying that an investigation was not opened because the transfer of information to Kessler had been “blessed” by then-CIA Director George Tenet.

CONTINUED...

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/11/pres-d11.html

PS: I wonder how else CIA pressures Corporate McPravda?

PPS: I wonder if it would have made a significant difference had the media, uh, pressured Congress to release the report BEFORE the election?

[notadmblnd]

1. Judy Miller

the CIA doesn't just pressure the media, they plant their operatives right in the Media.

[Octafish]

18. Her duties encompassed Dr. David Kelly and Scooter Libby.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5049854

The Aspens. Like Scooter Libby reminded Judy Miller, then an imprisoned NYT reporter, they're all connected underground.

[stillwaiting]

2. Mockingbirds infest the corporate media. nt

[Octafish]

19. Frank Wisner, Sr. played the Mighty Wurlitzer on behalf of Allen Dulles.

Today, his son plays with the Mighty in Washington and Wall Street bailout king AIG.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frank_Wisner

[JEB]

3. Torture is official policy counter to tstanding law.

Presidents on down through the alphabet soup agencies are skating free. Why not just shut down all our prisons and throw open the doors. This is not a nation ruled by law.

[Octafish]

24. CIA Tortures. Present Tense. And it's got Them scared the public knows it.

With all the friends George Bush has, we may have to build more prisons. The truth, history and the People are on the side of Justice.

[JEB]

34. I hope to hell that they are scared, but

I doubt that they are. The media, the administration and all to many "folks" seem to be content to sweep this under the rug and hope the blood seeps through the floorboards and the body doesn't stink too bad. People have been executed following due process for less horrendous acts than we are talking about today.

[Octafish]

38. Torture Trail leads straight to two made men of the BFEE.

And now that the world knows Congress knows, next on the agenda are getting the paperwork ready for indictments. Based on "money trumps peace" approach to governance, there is a paper trail of who has benefited from the golden calf called the war on terra, including Judge Mark Fuller who railroaded Gov. Don Siegelman.

[blm]

4. Poppy Bush's cronies CREATED the show '24' to help create public thirst

for an unchecked CIA……well….HIS personal, inner power circle at the CIA, anyway.

[Dont call me Shirley]

5. +1

And walker, texas ranger to promote w.

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. 24 did alot with the frog soon to be boiling pot.

In June 2006, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff joined a panel of 24 cast and crew members at a Heritage Foundation event that was moderated by none other than hillbilly heroin popping Neo-Con talk show walrus Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh put the morning forum in jeopardy when he planted a kiss on the lips of 24 actress Mary Lynn Rajskub, causing the media in attendance to almost projectile vomit their breakfast.

The show's connection to the Bush White House and the conservative establishment became explicit last June, when Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff appeared alongside the show's producers and three cast members at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation to discuss "The public image of US terrorism policy." The discussion was moderated by Rush Limbaugh. The C-SPAN store sells a DVD of the event--price reduced from $60 to $29.95.

The conference also featured numerous self-described national security experts and even Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. You can watch the two hour event by clicking here .

http://www.c-span.org/video/?193133-1/public-image-us-terrorism-policy


The show sometimes toys with the audience’s discomfort about abusive interrogations. In Season Two, Bauer threatens to murder a terrorist’s wife and children, one by one, before the prisoner’s eyes. The suspect watches, on closed-circuit television, what appears to be an execution-style slaying of his son. Threatened with the murder of additional family members, the father gives up vital information—but Bauer appears to have gone too far. It turns out, though, that the killing of the child was staged. Bauer, the show implies, hasn’t crossed the line after all. Yet, under U.S. and international law, a mock execution is considered psychological torture, and is illegal.

On one occasion, Bauer loses his nerve about inflicting torture, but the show implicitly rebukes his qualms. In the episode, Bauer attempts to break a suspected terrorist by plunging a knife in his shoulder; the victim’s screams clearly disquiet him. Bauer says to an associate, unconvincingly, that he has looked into the victim’s eyes and knows that “he’s not going to tell us anything.” The other man takes over, fiercely gouging the suspect’s knee—at which point the suspect yells out details of a plot to explode a suitcase nuke in Los Angeles.

Throughout the series, secondary characters raise moral objections to abusive interrogation tactics. Yet the show never engages in a serious dialogue on the subject. Nobody argues that torture doesn’t work, or that it undermines America’s foreign-policy strategy. Instead, the doubters tend to be softhearted dupes. A tremulous liberal, who defends a Middle Eastern neighbor from vigilantism, is killed when the neighbor turns out to be a terrorist. When a civil-liberties-minded lawyer makes a high-toned argument to a Presidential aide against unwarranted detentions—“You continue to arrest innocent people, you’re giving the terrorists exactly what they want,” she says—the aide sarcastically responds, “Well! You’ve got the makings of a splendid law-review article here. I’ll pass it on to the President.”

In another episode, a human-rights lawyer from a fictional organization called Amnesty Global tells Bauer, who wants to rough up an uncharged terror suspect, that he will violate the Constitution. Bauer responds, “I don’t wanna bypass the Constitution, but these are extraordinary circumstances.” He appeals to the President, arguing that any interrogation permitted by the law won’t be sufficiently harsh. “If we want to procure any information from this suspect, we’re going to have to do it behind closed doors,” he says.

more at link
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/external?http%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DjrocSU5nXwMC%26pg%3DPA24%26lpg%3DPA24%26dq%3DSince%2BSeptember%2B11th%2C%2Bdepictions%2Bof%2Btorture%2Bhave%2Bbecome%2Bmuch%2Bmore%2Bcommon%2Bon%2BAmerican%2Btelevision.%2BBefore%2Bthe%2Battacks%2C%2Bfewer%2Bthan%2Bfour%2Bacts%2Bof%2Btorture%2Bappeared%2Bon%2Bprime-time%2Btelevision%2Beach%2Byear%2C%2Baccording%2Bto%2BHuman%2BRights%26source%3Dbl%26ots%3DdD5FTGNYOd%26sig%3DRQp8QmLUNd2jTnrk9GP0-y5gEao%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26ei%3D6fL6T4zTN4ic8gTymKzeBg%26ved%3D0CEsQ6AEwAQ%23v%3Donepage%26q%3DSince%2520September%252011th%252C%2520depictions%2520of%2520torture%2520have%2520become%2520much%2520more%2520common%2520on%2520American%2520television.%2520Before%2520the%2520attacks%252C%2520fewer%2520than%2520four%2520acts%2520of%2520torture%2520appeared%2520on%2520prime-time%2520television%2520each%2520year%252C%2520according%2520to%2520Human%2520Rights%26f%3Dfalse

[Enthusiast]

17. But but, Limbaugh is so studly and desirable!

Great post, Ichingcarpenter.

[Enthusiast]

16. That was my initial take on 24.

They control every aspect of the media except for some tiny corners on the intrawebs.

And in those tiny corners of the internet they send their employees, their minions, to misinform the other users. While we pay for the privilege of being lied to 24/7.

[Octafish]

25. Let the Profit Soar!

[blm]

29. Poppy Bush will HAVE his New World Order. We're just speed bumps

along the way.

BFEE will continue.

[spanone]

6. k&r...

[bbgrunt]

7. kick kick kick kick kick and a big rec.

[mindwalker_i]

8. Yup, just more data that TV is there to control people

It shapes their opinion into what corporations and government want it to be.

[CJCRANE]

9. Yes, the power lies with the MSM.nt

[navarth]

10. that's why I say

There will be no change as long as the TV works.

[mindwalker_i]

21. TV turns citizens into consumers

But worse, by moulding public opinion into what the government (Bush) wanted, it was a form of mind control. In this case, make torture acceptable.

[navarth]

11. kick for Octafish and extra kick for the wsws.

...two valuable resources.

[Fred Sanders]

13. And who will watch the watchmen? The media were made the guardians of democracy, they foreit

their free speech rights when they continually fuck over the the terms of the social contract.

[nashville_brook]

14. k and r

[abelenkpe]

15. I am shocked

Wait.... Nope, not at all.

[turbinetree]

20. You Think

All you had to do was watch Hardball last night, it says it all.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Gee, wait till it comes out the media is peppered with members of the CIA.

[Octafish]

23. Talk about crickets.

Mass Media ignoring 'RFK Believed in Conspiracy' shows corrupt nature of America's Press

[Spitfire of ATJ]

27. Is it any wonder they're trying to influence the web?

[johnnyreb]

26. Indeed there does appear such a section

IV. Overview of CIA Representations to the Media While the Program Was Classified

A. The CIA Provides Information on the Still-Classified Detention and Interrogation
Program to Journalists Who then Publish Classified Information; CIA Does Not File
Crimes Reports in Connection with the Stories

Wow, what scumbaggery. They don't care how many millions of views all those media-deception youtubes have as long as their trickery still works on enough of your neighbors.

[Rex]

28. Well the NYT might as well be working for the CIA.

Probably is.

[blm]

30. In print circles, WaPost used to be called Spook Central for all the CIA

activity going on there. I doubt there are many left in the news business these days that even remember.

[rhett o rick]

31. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[woo me with science]

32. kick

[GoneFishin]

33. BEFORE Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the run for California governor I remember

one of the networks (Fox? FX?) ran a macho Arnold anti-arab type movie, I think it was "Collateral Damage", back to back for about a week. It was over the top and blatant. It was basically on a continuous loop.

I knew it was some kind of propaganda tool. When Arnold became the governator I knew there were some well organized unseen forces behind his election.

[annabanana]

35. Thank you for this Octafish.

As usual, your posts add significant info to the discussion!

[kentuck]

36. Kick for a little more exposure...

:kick:

[JEB]

37. K&R for the original post and subsequent informative posts and links.

[noise]

39. The media has never covered 9/11 like a free press should

For example in the recent coverage we see no media effort to point out the contradictions in counterterrorism policy.

1) Why isn't strange pre 9/11 government conduct discussed? Most notably why did the CIA obstruct the al-Hazmi/al-Mihdhar investigation which not only related to the forthcoming 9/11 attack but also the in progress at the time USS Cole investigation?

2) Why did Tenet lie to the Joint Inquiry Congressional panel when asked if he met with Bush in the month before 9/11?

3) Why is there no mention that Bush and Cheney didn't want a 9/11 investigation?

4) Why doesn't the media talk about the weird cooperation of Bush and Cheney who would only meet with the 9/11 Commission together?

5) Why is there no mention of the Bush White House cover up of Saudi links to the hijackers?

6) Why did Bush not replace Tenet or Rice after 9/11?

Instead the media completely ignores all these issues.

[woo me with science]

40. kick