How did the Bush administration manage to hold a U.S. citizen for three and a half years in solitary confinement with no charge and no access to legal representation, to perpetrate systematic physical and mental torture on this citizen until he was a broken human being, yet not incur overwhelming condemnation from the American public?
The mainstream media's reaction to yesterday's guilty verdict in the Jose Padilla trial echoed all of the omissions, half-truths and stenography that aided and abetted this administration's war crimes against Mr. Padilla. From yawning indifference and feckless summarizing to declarations of what a Great Victory this was for King George, the predominance of the mainstream media once again revealed its allegiance to this White House's narrative and its refusal to report the hard truths for fear of being branded un-American.
Of course, in doing so, they only further consecrate what has been and continues to be so highly un-American about the Bush administration: its dictatorial disregard for the rule of law.
Perfectly encapsulating the mainstream media's reaction to the Padilla verdict was last night's report filed by Justice Correspondent - paging Dr. Orwell - Pete Williams on NBC Nightly News.
First, preceding the Padilla report, anchor Brian Williams spent over six minutes on the "wild ride" on Wall Street and over a minute and a half on the weather. He then turned his attention to the Jose Padilla verdict, a landmark case that could have extremely serious repercussions on the civil rights of American citizens for years to come, and dedicates a full one minute and twenty-seven seconds to it. Moreover, like any serious journalist, Brian Williams quickly sets up the story for Pete Williams (no relation) by reminding us, in case we forgot, that Mr. Padilla was the man the Bush administration accused of plotting to set off a radioactive or "dirty" bomb, but fails to mention that even though they couldn't prove this, they nonetheless held Padilla for three and half years, obliterating his mind and dignity through cruel and inhuman treatment.
Brian also fails to ask Pete Williams even one follow-up question to this thorough report:
PETE WILLIAMS: Brian, this was a big legal victory for the Bush administration but not on the basis that led to Jose Padilla's arrest five years ago. That's when he was accused of coming to the U.S. to set off a dirty bomb. And then the government later said he was plotting to blow up apartment buildings in New York. But today a jury found him and two other south Florida men guilty of something much less serious - providing support for violent holy war in several countries overseas. Among the key evidence was an application the prosecutor said Padilla filled out to attend an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. But it wasn't just the spectacular allegations against Padilla that made his case so unusual. He was the first American citizen since 9/11 to be arrested in the U.S. and declared an enemy combatant. He was held in a Navy brig for more than three years. And then just before the Supreme Court was to consider his detention, the government brought these charges that led to today's verdict. And now Jose Padilla could face a sentence of life in prison, Brian.
To this woefully remiss Cliff Notes version of the verdict, Brian Williams responds with the probing, "All right. Pete Williams with the Padilla case out of Washington for us tonight. Thanks."
Incidentally, isn't it about time NBC found a justice correspondent who wasn't formerly employed and rewarded by Vice President Dick Cheney? From Pete Williams' MSNBC bio: "In 1986 he joined the Washington, DC staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs."
Another great victory for the Bush administration.
Padilla's Verdict and Justice MSM-Style
Posted by: MediaBloodhound | August 17, 2007 at 04:01 PM