: that a dictator will be tried for vicious crimes seems to be causing little rejoicing on the BBC’s 10’o’clock news tonight, and much desire to make viewers aware that rejoicing was naïve and inappropriate. “President Bush has been under enormous pressure over the high U.S. casualties”, said the studio presenter, opening a typical leading question. “If these continue, is the bonus from Saddam’s capture likely to be short-lived?” Matt Frei, the BBC’s Washington correspondent, well known to readers of this blog for an anti-americanism so blatant as to be sometimes comic, is happy to answer questions of this kind. (One assumes his facility with them is why he was given the job.)
In short, it was standard, undiluted Biased BBC. Sometimes, they’re not so bad; Andrew Marr’s recent summing up of President Bush’s visit was a very good-humoured admission that despite the efforts of the demonstrators (and, though he did not mention it, the BBC’s own predictions*), the visit had gone well for Bush (and for Blair). At other times, the Beeb is like a caricature of everything one could say about it; a double-act of leading questions and prepared answers.
We will see how they cover the trial and likely sentence itself. The jury is out, BBC.
(*One CEEFAX article on the damage it would do Blair ended, “But despite its cost, the visit may not help Bush much either. Pictures of hostile demonstrators may hurt his ratings back home”, and this was fairly typical.)
Channel 4 7 p.m. newscast on 15 December ended up correlating the use of the code word “Wolverines” used by the US Army when capturing Saddam with it’s use in ‘the most violent movie ever made’.
What they don’t realize is that Wolverines also used by the Rose Bowl bound football team from the University of Michigan … a more likely correlation.
Just read the Letters in today’s Washinton Times and most of them were not very upbeat with the news. There seems to be a “Bush Derangement Syndrome” pandemic.
Have just read this “Saddam on trial” on today’s jpost:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1071469777108
and wondered if anyone has anything broadcast by the BBC at the time?
Couple of bags carried on the new BBC bandwagon:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3324631.stm -‘Vatican slams handling of Saddam.’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3324021.stm – ‘Saddam daughter pleads for father’. ‘A lion is still a lion, even when it is shackled’
‘It is clear…(Saddam) was drugged during his capture’- Arab commentator.
Hey, it’s happyhour for pitiful quotations time again.
I’ll take his head on a pike – Hey, it worked for England for centuries, didn’t it?
But I prefer hanging from a lamp post w/a basket of shoes underneath and $1 US a whack.
See, the Italians also had a good idea.
As Ed notices:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3324021.stm – ‘Saddam daughter pleads for father’.
Find out what happened to the husband of that daughter (Raghda)
In 1995, his sons-in-law, Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel, defected to Jordan. Saddam was distraught. He guaranteed their safety in order to lure them back. They returned, full of contrition. He killed them anyway.
The price of this act of vengeance was estrangement from his daughters, Rana and Raghda. Saddam had already wrecked his marriage with Sajida by conducting an affair with Samira Shahbandar, the wife of the director of Iraqi Airways.
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/18/wisad18.xml
So what is she smoking?
Sorry Rob,but the op was called ‘Red Dawn’,hence the wolverine name…….