Former CIA Official To Press: Don't Get Fooled Again

[Tace]

Nieman Watchdog

Paul R. Pillar, the former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year, writes that the press was insufficiently questioning both in the run-up to war and in its coverage of the 9/11 Commission. He proposes questions reporters should ask -- retrospectively and prospectively -- about the use and abuse of intelligence by policymakers.

By Paul R. Pillar -- Georgetown University

Q. Why was more not done before 9/11 to counter the terrorist threat from Al Qaeda in response to the intelligence community's highlighting of that threat -- as reflected in DCI George Tenet's public statements?

Q. How exactly is the reorganization of the intelligence community under the legislation of December 2004 supposed to correct what the 9/11 Commission stated were problems in counterterrorism? What effect, if any, does the reorganization have on the problem of insufficient or improper use of intelligence by the policymaker?

Q. When was the decision to go to war in Iraq made, what beliefs and analysis led to that decision (as distinct from arguments used to muster support for the decision), and where did those beliefs and analysis come from?

more

http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=2469

[rodeodance]

1. yeah-----the press were fools and played Americans for fools--

[Tace]

5. Few People Appreciate Just How Young Are The Folks In The Newsroom

In the average newsroom these days, the average age is somewhere in the mid-20s. Most journalists are easily duped not necessarily because they are corrupt, but because they don't have a full grasp of what's happening. The owners like it that way. The wankers you see on-air -- most of them sold out long ago.

[blm]

2. Broadcast media is controlled by GOP fascists - they are not truthseekers

any longer, they are propaganda readers.

The few real journalists left at KnightRidder are about to be taken out of the game by the Bush cronies who bought control of the shares and now control their fate.

[RagingInMiami]

3. The Miami Herald, which is owned by KR

Is most likely about to be sold any day now, according to people I know that work there. They just don't know who yet, but it is a very tense period for them.

[corkerjoe]

4. propaganda is rampant and of control.

I fear for Lou Dobbs life. he is only one still speaking out. the KKK wing of the republican party wants him gone. that should be enough to keep any other news person in line. If th a were thinking about becoming journalist, not just tv personality's.