CLIFF'S NOTES
by Cliff Kincaid

DEAR FELLOW MEDIA WATCHDOG:   December 1, 2005

REP. JOHN MURTHA, THE VETERAN WHO TURNED AGAINST THE IRAQ War, has become a household name. But odds are you haven't heard of Thomas L. Bock. He's a veteran who is critical of media coverage of the war. He says controversial things like "Today's media-hungry war-protest movement is an anti-freedom movement." Actually, Bock is more than a veteran; he's National Commander of the American Legion, the largest veterans organization. Bock is also a Blue Star dad. His son, Adam, is an Army CH-47 helicopter pilot currently serving in Iraq. In an editorial appearing in the December issue of the American Legion magazine, Bock writes that "The call to prematurely withdraw U.S. troops from the war on terrorism will quite likely—as public opposition to the Vietnam War showed us—have the unintended consequence of prolonging the fight. Ho Chi Minh described the antiwar movement in the 1960s as a second front in his march to relieve South Vietnam of its freedoms."

AS MY COLLEAGUE, AIM ANALYST ROGER ARONOFF, HAS POINTED OUT, WE HAVE TO LOOK at the war in perspective. Democratic revolutions have occurred in Ukraine, Georgia and Lebanon. Elections have been held in Egypt, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. Pressure is mounting on countries like Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran to begin their own democratic transformations. And these are not happening in a vacuum. They are happening because the U.S. and its allies are staying the course. In spite of the continuous negativity coming out of the media on the war and the administration's ability to execute, sustain and win it, there is reason for optimism. Drop the enclosed postcard to President Bush, telling him to accept nothing but victory in Iraq. 

ON VETERANS' DAY, PRESIDENT BUSH DEFENDED HIS POLICY BY SAYING, IN EFFECT, THAT Democrats used the same intelligence from the CIA that he did. Bush's biggest mistake, of course, was in retaining Clinton's director of the CIA, George Tenet, who told him that it was a "slam dunk" that the U.S. would find stockpiles of WMD in Iraq. For some reason, however, the CIA escapes accountability. Incredibly, Bush even gave Tenet the Presidential Medal of Freedom after he resigned. As part of this new public relations strategy, the Republican Party has produced a video of leading Democrats declaring Saddam to be a serious threat to America and having WMD. But how will drawing attention to liberal flip-floppers save the Iraq policy? Think about Bush's charge. He's basically saying that the Democrats are wrong to say that he deliberately misled the nation. He's saying that if he made a mistake, they did too, and they were as incompetent and wrong as he was. This admission only whets the appetite of the sharks in the media.

WHILE PRESIDENT BUSH IS MERCILESSLY PUMMELLED BY THE MEDIA, THE FORMER PRESI-dent who committed adultery with a White House intern and lied about it under oath is being rehabilitated by CBS News into a spokesman for good eating. On November 18, the CBS Evening News ran a segment on "Eating With Bill Clinton," giving the disgraced former president an opportunity to appear on national TV as a good role model. Nothing, of course, was said about his sexual addiction or serial womanizing. But his status as a "former junk food fanatic" who has had a heart by-pass operation was the focus of the story. Like a school girl with a crush, correspondent Mika Brzezinski went on and on about Clinton's "personal journey" from eating bad food to eating right. If Clinton can persuade kids to eat right, that's great. But let's face it: his sexual appetite has been as serious a problem as what he eats. And it's in the sexual arena that he could really perform a public service. He should step forward and campaign against sexual diseases. Please send Ms. Brzezinski a postcard about this.
 
AIM IS PLEASED THAT THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC Broadcasting has announced an investigation into how public broadcasting may have engaged in illegal lobbying against a proposed cut in federal funding of public TV and radio. We had urged such a probe last June and eighteen Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, made the official request in August. They also asked the Justice Department to take a look. The members of Congress are concerned about violations of law. 31USC, Section 1352 prohibits the use of federal funds to engage in lobbying activities. The law is clear. It says that you may not use federal funds to influence or attempt to influence any member of the Executive or Legislative branches of government for the purpose of securing a grant or contract. Yet federally-funded public broadcasting succeeded in scaring Congress into thinking that Big Bird and Clifford the Big Red Dog were at risk because of the proposed cut. Whether the activity was illegal or not depends on how public TV and radio stations maintain their books. If they manage to escape serious scrutiny and accountability, it will be because they have kept monies segregated, at least on paper. That's pretty easy to do. But make no mistake: federal funding indirectly at least enables these stations to continue to lobby for more taxpayer dollars. And that is the ultimate outrage that must be ended. 

THIS AIM REPORT BY WES VERNON EXPLORES HOW THE ARAB/ISLAMIC WORLD IS MAKING inroads into the Western media, including News Corporation, parent of the Fox News Channel. This is a very dangerous development. One might think that an established conservative-oriented news operation like Fox would not shift positions on major issues. But the airing of "The Heat is On: The Case of Global Warming," demonstrates how this can happen. We are asking you to send Fox chairman Roger Ailes one of the enclosed postcards about this program.

THE WES VERNON STORY COMPLEMENTS OUR CONCERN ABOUT THE ADVENT OF THE English language version of Al-Jazeera. You may have seen references to a sensational story about President Bush once threatening to bomb Al-Jazeera. The story was probably planted to generate sympathy for the terrorist channel. The timing was curious. On the eve of Al-Jazeera's entry into the Western media market, this story in Britain's Daily Mirror has all the earmarks of disinformation designed to obscure the fact that Al-Jazeera is a mouthpiece for Al-Qaeda terrorism and encourages the killing of Americans. In the global war on terrorism, the case can be made that Al-Jazeera is a legitimate military target. If the story is true, Bush should be congratulated for recognizing this fact.

THE FIRST MANAGING DIRECTOR OF AL-JAZEERA WAS EXPOSED AS AN AGENT OF THE Saddam Hussein regime, and an Al-Jazeera correspondent was recently sentenced to seven years in prison in Spain for acting as an agent of Al Qaeda. Clearly, Al-Jazeera has served as the propaganda arm of a terrorist organization. Our media, if they have any desire to report the truth, should broadcast the video tapes already seen on Alhurra TV showing Al-Jazeera managing director Mohammed Jacem Al-ali meeting with Uday Hussein and receiving directives from the evil son of the former Iraqi dictator. "My mission at Al-Jazeera is to serve Iraq, the country that has had so much to do with the success of the station," said Al-ali. He also told Uday Hussein that "Al-Jazeera is your channel." The idea that a television channel like this is somehow legitimate and respectable is a fiction of our media. Help us tell the truth.   

For Accuracy in Media,
Cliff Kincaid
Editor