So, it’s been about 16 hours since we covered indie journalist/historian/blogger Andy Worthington’s detailed report on the the reported suicide of the man who falsely “confessed,” during torture, to a false tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The forced confession was subsequently used by the Bush Administration (Bush himself, as well as Powell and others) as justification for the war on Iraq. That, despite the fact that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi recanted his story not long thereafter, as long and widely reported.
As of this moment, not a single mainstream U.S. newspaper or broadcast outlet has reported on the story. Is it not notable? Or are our newspapers just dead set on ensuring their irrelevance by continuing to not report on news that actually matters, no matter how widely it’s being reported in other parts of the world?
A search of “al-Libi” at Google News, at this moment, lists five stories in all, with The BRAD BLOG’s coverage as the top story on the matter. The one, late, mainstream-ish entry is the coverage, finally, from Reuters filed one hour ago. And it’s pathetic. Simply pathetic…
Their lede: “A Libyan Islamist whose fabricated testimony about al Qaeda was used by the United States to justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq has killed himself in his Libyan jail cell, a Libyan newspaper reported on Monday.”
They go on to say that al-Libi, also known as Ali Mohammed Abdelaziz al Fakhiri:
U.S. media have reported that Fakhiri provided the account to interrogators in Egypt, where he was sent by the United States in January 2002.
Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Egyptian officials were not available for comment? How about U.S. officials, such as Bush and Powell who each used the false tie — supplied by al-Libi following torture, as it’s been well reported, as opposed to “to avoid torture” — in public speeches to justify the war. Did Reuters bother to try to get comment from them? Or would that be inconvenient in continuing to avoid the well-reported facts that al-Libi’s forced “confessions” were made following torture, after the U.S. renditioned him from Guantanamo to Egypt, where they knew he would be tortured?
Reuters continues:
No doubt, the 2006 U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report, widely regarded as a whitewash for the Bush Administration before the Republicans were booted from the majority, may say that al-Libi merely “withdrew his accusations.” But, as Worthington’s report explained last night, Newsweek’s 2007 coverage, which did note Bush/Powell’s use of al-Libi’s false information, found that…
Was none of that mainstream reportage, the veracity of which has not been challenged, as far as we know, not worth including in Reuters coverage of this matter? Not the fact that he explained to debriefers that he was essentially buried alive for 17 hours and then punched for 15 minutes before offering the “made up story” about Iraq training al-Qaeda in the use of non-existent WMD?!
Reuters continues its useless coverage:
Could any of this possibly be more sugar-coated?
Only the last graf of the report offers anything that might be useful in advancing this story beyond Worthington’s far-superior coverage from last night:
Want actual coverage of this story (and all the rest of the stories that matter)? Compare the Google News search to the Google Blog search, where you’ll find links to Worthington’s original coverage, “bmaz” at emptywheel, John Amato’s at Crooks & Liars, Nick Baumann at MoJo Blog, and many more.
Or compare it to a Google News search for “Sykes Limbaugh” or “Sykes Hannity” (more than 1000 “news articles” found for each).
Other than that, we just can’t understand why the U.S. corporate mainstream media is having such trouble surviving.
UPDATE: The UK’s Telegraph jumps in with coverage, noting:
“We can assume nothing”? Since when, George? Seems like you allowed Dubya and Powell to “assume” plenty when they used al-Libi’s initial confession, no?
BTW, the Telegraph goes on to report:
“Reprieve has been exploring tentative contacts with al Libi, and his death may have been a result of the pressure to allow him to speak openly about his torture.”
UPDATE 9:52pm PT: Okay, finally some U.S. outlets are jumping in to tell this story, both quoting from a Human Rights Watch press release issued tonight calling on Libya to investigate the circumstances of al-Libi’s death after he was renditioned by the CIA.
UPI posts a squib (second story down at link) appx “two hours ago,” according to Google News on the al-Libi death. While short, at least it far exceeds, in quality, the Reuters report. It includes reference to Powell’s use of the false material gained from al-Libi under torture, and also notes:
…
HRW called on Libya to disclose what it knows about al-Libi’s treatment in U.S. and Egyptian custody.
And, as the first U.S. newspaper to run anything on the reported suicide of al-Libi, Washington Post’s Peter Finn filed a not-bad report a few hours ago as well. Finn includes [emphasis ours]:
“I would speculate that he was missing because he was such an embarrassment to the Bush administration,” said Tom Malinowski, the head of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch. “He was Exhibit A in the narrative that tortured confessions contributed to the massive intelligence failure that preceded the Iraq war.”
…
Libi angrily rejected speaking to the researchers [from HRW, who found him in Libya’s Abu Salim prison on April 27th], saying, “Where were you when I was being tortured in American prisons?” according to [HRC’s Heba] Morayef, who described the encounter in a phone interview.
…
Libi was among dozens of former “ghost prisoners” who were in American custody overseas but whose disposition has never been officially released…
The Obama administration recently announced that it was decommissioning the CIA’s global network of secret prisons, which have been mothballed since 2006, but human rights activists say the U.S. government should still provide the ICRC with an accounting of where it sent every prisoner it once held.
Does everyone realize the “liberal” corporate/govt/GOP media is a controlled joke? Then they wonder why their ratings and newspaper sales are going down. That says less for the financial crisis, as it does for Americans getting smarter.
The Pakistani president said he thinks Bin Laden’s dead, probably for years. Not only didn’t I see that anywhere except on the internet, but no stories about the FAKE Bin Laden videos which were popping up even after he died. Nothing about Bhutto saying with David Frost, matter of factly a while ago, that Bin Laden was dead. Plenty of Bin Laden videos after that, though! From Rita Katz’ shill SITE organization! Is SITE still finding them? Or did they get shit-canned when Obama got in there?
RIP al-Libi. Condoleezza Rice, notorious Bush frontwoman who famously told the CIA regarding torture: “this is your baby go do it.” will host the gala opening of the University of Calgary’s school of public policy May 13. This unindicted US war criminal is not wanted here in Canada. Nor is Bush, Clinton, John Bolton and Michael Chertoff who speak in Toronto May 29-31. Please sign petition against Rice visit on website.
Isn’t that a story? That the Pakistani president thinks Bin Laden’s been dead…Bhutto said it years ago…YET, Bin Laden (fake) videos kept popping up in, yes, the corporate/GOP/govt mainstream media? That’s not a story? There’s no investigative journalism going on! No one said: “Hey! Then what were all those Bin Laden videos?”
David Brock, the reformed conservative noise-maker, on how the Right has sabotaged journalism, democracy, and truth.
As a young journalist in the 1990s, David Brock was a key cog the Republican noise machine. Writing for the American Spectator, a conservative magazine funded by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, Brock gained fame for his attack pieces on Anita Hill and President Bill Clinton. Then, in 2002, Brock came clean. In his memoir, Blinded by the Right, Brock admitted that his work was based on lies and distortion, and part of a coordinated smear campaign funded by wealthy right wing groups to discredit Clinton and confuse the public.
Since then, Brock has continued to expose the conservative media onslaught. In his newest book, The Republican Noise Machine, Brock documents how right-wing groups pressure the media and spread misinformation to the public. It’s easy to see how this is done.
Fringe conspiracies and stories will be kept alive by outlets like Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, and the Drudge Report, until they finally break into the mainstream media.
Media groups like Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center have spent 30 years convincing the public that the media is, in fact, liberal. As Brock says, it’s all a sham: “I have seen, and I know firsthand, indeed from my own pen, how the organized Right has sabotaged not only journalism but also democracy and truth.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/09/republican-noise-machine
No one has stated this, but I classify David Brock as a “WHISTLEBLOWER” on the corporate media!!! That’s exactly what he is: an inside whistleblower! The same as govt whistleblowers.
huffington Post has a link to here now, btws
suicide or murder, he died in a Libyan jail, just like so many hundreds before him… when are we going to get Ghadafi to the Hague for all his crimes against humanity?
“Or are our newspapers just dead set on ensuring their irrelevance by continuing to not report on news that actually matters,”
Yup.
Viva la Blogs!
Colonel Hogan ~ A Veeeeery Interesting thing happend last night;
Bitter Lib talker Mike Malloy brought up this story and plugged this blog at the beginning of his show. Then as quickly as he brought it up he mysteriously deep sixed it . . . Then again often his show routine and structure makes little sense.
~
So, does the Obama DOJ, FBI and CIA know where Cheney’s hit squad members are RIGHT NOW? Can’t imagine a likelier target than Ibn.
Between the ghosts of Connell and Ibn, imagine what an interesting conversation we might hear.
The timing of this just sets my tinfoil deerstalker a-tingling. Add to it Cheney’s full court press press and there’s reliable evidence that the game is afoot.
Al Libi’s death was covered today by Democracy Now, which quoted Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch:
Amy Goodman added:
“suicide or murder, he died in a Libyan jail, just like so many hundreds before him… when are we going to get Ghadafi to the Hague for all his crimes against humanity? ”
Daniel don’t you think you should be dealing to the murderers of tens of thousands of Iraqi’s or thousands of Americans ,namely Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfield,Perle,Feith,Wolfiwitz…etc.
The story hit The Boston Globe today, just a reprint of the AP story on page 2 or 3 in among all the tidbits of international news.
When it comes to political prisoners and misdeeds by the government it is the responsibility of the citizens to act. Brad, your citizen-journalism sets a high standard of conduct. Please keep writing about political prisoners, America has a lot of them.
… Bamboo Harvester said on 5/12/2009 @ 9:35 am PT…
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Brad, Piss Poor Unprofessional Moderation!
BH said:
I agree, BH. We have no money to pay professional moderators, so it’s catch as catch can by myself and those who volunteer to help out.
Very few commenters have earned the “privilege” of needing to be moderated in the first place. So I am sorry you’ve found yourself on that list, even as I’m sorry we don’t have the funding to handle it quicker and more “professionally”.
I can’t recall the last time The BRAD BLOG received a new donation. From anybody. If you’d like to change that, you may do so right here.
Keith Olberman mentioned it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#30753585
That’s about it though.
It’s difficult to assess which of these events wins the Most Convenient Political Death of All Time Award: The “suicide” of al-Libi, or the “death” of Reagan-era CIA chief Bill Casey.
I can’t recall the last time The BRAD BLOG received a new donation. From anybody. If you’d like to change that, you may do so right here.
Brad, “catch 22” . . .