What They Don¿t Tell You
on CNN
By S Raghotham
Four instances of what CNN and Fox News told you after
the World Trade Centre attacks, and what they did not tell you. Mainstream TV
News, versus the truth, reported elsewhere.
Ever since Sept 11, US television networks have been
involved deeply in finding a brand name for George W Bush¿s war, they have been
deeply involved in finding the rationale for a war without knowing against whom
that war was to be conducted, they have been trying to convince the world that
suspicion is as good as evidence when it is the US that is suspecting someone.
CNN has been changing the brand name of its coverage of the terrorist attacks
and the aftermath - from America Under Attack to America¿s New War to War
Against Terror. In all this, the television networks and their brand name
correspondents have found it convenient to show and tell only one side of the
story. Here are some of the things that these corporate media networks missed out
- or rather chose to miss out:
Mainstream TV News: America
has successfully built a coalition that includes Muslim nations against
terrorism. Saudi Arabia, UAE and other Muslim nations support Bush¿s war on
Afghanistan.
The Truth, Reported Elsewhere: Israeli
terrorism and security analysis publication Debkafile has been reporting
since at least Sept 18 that the coalition has come unstuck and that¿s what has
delayed US action despite the superpower deploying overwhelming force in and
around Afghanistan. On September 24, Monday, Debkafile reported that
there had been a ¿dramatic turnaround¿ of Arab support. It said: "Saturday
afternoon, it became clear that events in Riyadh had dealt the final deathblow
to…Colin Powell¿s failed efforts to create an Arab front to bolster the Bush
administration¿s world war on terror."
The ¿events in Riyadh,¿ reported on Sept 22, were
somewhat like this: There was a "palace revolution sparked by differences
in the royal family over support for the US offensive..." King Fahd wanted
to let the US use Saudi soil for its offensive, but Crown Prince Abdullah
overruled him, backed by the religious establishment.
When US Air Force Lt Gen Charles Wald landed in
Riyadh on September 18, to take charge of air operations, the Saudis told him
America could not act from Saudi soil.
Following this, on Sept 19, King Fahd abruptly left
his kingdom for his palace in Geneva, Switzerland, along with his family,
princes and royal entourage.
BBC and CNN reluctantly reported only that Saudi
Arabia had refused to let its soil be used for the military strikes, and that
only on Sept 29.
Mainstream TV News: Using
footage shot by RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan, CNN repeatedly aired a programme titled ¿Beneath The Veil¿ that
showed the terroristic regime of the Taliban. The RAWA representative even told
CNN on air that the people of Afghanistan might actually look forward to an
American offensive against the Taliban.
The Truth, Reported Elsewhere: CNN chose to miss out something again. RAWA has also written many articles in lesser-known publications in the US and even to the US government, asking the latter to stop propping up one fundamentalist regime after another in Afghanistan. Here are excerpts from the official ¿RAWA statement on the US attacks¿: "…RAWA had already