In an instant millisecond twinkle-of-an-eye kind of way the ever predictable Beeb comes through when the pot calls the kettle ‘black’. One piece of advice for Mark Gregory: listen to your own programmes before writing stuff like this.
US politicians have often accused the UN of incompetence and, perhaps, corruption in its handling of the oil-for-food programme, a scheme to alleviate Iraqi suffering under sanctions before the war. Now the boot is on the other foot. [bolding added]
Yes, and the mention of Halliburton definitely balances the scales of moral equivalence. Those eeevil ooooiiiil mongers are at it again. What a pity that the BBC was unable to discover the corruption under the Saddam regime that they now have in their investigative crosshairs.
The panel’s report says the US-led authorities also failed to deal with widespread smuggling of Iraqi oil out of the country immediately after the war. Nobody knows how much revenue for reconstruction was lost as a result. [bolding added]
It doesn’t matter that the UN Oil-for-Food scandal burgeons (prompting calls from certain quarters for a “Kofi Break“). Now that a defunct “US-led authorit[y]” is discovered to have possibly been inept, the BBC is all over it.
The BBC also want to overlook the illegal oil pipeline to Syria that Saddam ran for years.
http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2004/11/bbc-discovers-un-oil-for-food-scam.html
The BBC surpass themselves in this article
“Ten suspected Islamic militants have been jailed in Paris for their part in a failed plot to blow up a Christmas market in Strasbourg in December 2000.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4102023.stm
Still only suspected despite conviction & the word alleged appears a dozen times in the article.
I thought the BBC were commenting on Israeli justice when they insisted on reporting Barghouti’s crimes as “alleged”, but it seems they are not even prepared to accept that a French court can come to a true verdict.
Suspected Islamic militants can never be reported as guilty men!
“Ten suspected Islamic militants have been jailed in Paris for their part in a failed plot to blow up a Christmas market in Strasbourg in December 2000.”
But…but….if it weren’t for the evil Bushitler neo-con blood for oil war in Iraq, there wouldn’t have been a bomb plot in December 2000….er….yes that’s it!!!
Allah be praised! They saw the future and tried to bomb it.
If you’re a terrorist ‘on the other side’ and you still want a senior BBC News person to refer to you as a terrorist – this is what you need to do:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1201444.stm
Sad, but true.
.
If you bomb the BBC they will put phrases like “Does the BBC bomb signal a change in terrorist tactics?” into their reporting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1202000.stm
Bomb a bus in Tel Aviv crowded with civilians and the “T” word is replaced by “Militant”.
Hypocrites!
Actually, the BBC WS only started reporting the Oil for Food scandal a month or so after it took it’s place in the mainstream US print and TV press.
It seems to them that the boot never really was on the original foot, or was only there for about 2 weeks before they started grasping for THEIR kind of story.
Then along came someone else who could point a finger at an american.
The fact remains that they have reported all day on the “top of the hour” news, a minor item about Rumsfeld signing letters personally, instead of using a machine.
This, to them, because it’s about Rumsfeld, is somehow BIG news which they report before “Iraqi Bombers target Shia Cities” and the Auction of a $9 bn sector of Yukos.
Aren’t they just so sweet!
Humphrey Hawksley takes himself off to Ohio to provide his “personal reflections” – no doubt at our expense & to voice reflections identical to the BBC line.
His text –
“Given that so many in Europe and the developing world are appalled at the policies of President Bush, how far would his supporters actually let him go?”
A large number of assumptions, no?
Seems Bush’s supporters are those fundamental Christians – & who are they like?
“it is, in fact, the raging debate about Christian values that may well decide the future path of America, very much.
As the debate between extremist and moderate Muslims is likely to set the tone for the future of the Islamic world.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4105229.stm
“Those eeevil ooooiiiil mongers are at it again.”
No need for that, I thought. We all no that oil companies aren’t run to the highest moral standards no matter which countries they are based. It would also seem to figure that oil companies would stand to gain from the oil for food scheme. In regard to the question of smuggling oil to Syria, I think you’ll find that the French asked the US to’ keep an eye on it’ circa 1998•ish. Lets just wake up to the fact that this isn’t going to be the cross to nail Kofi too as some of you would like, but likely to be a corperate wrongdoing which mostly involved US companies (JP Morgan Chase have also been mentioned) and French subsidiaries, albeit with the help of lax US authorities and complete mismanagement from the UN.
Correction: “We all know that oil…”
One name does feature time and again BNP Paribas…
Of course as this is a Phwench bank it gets the “communist chest” “get out of genocide free” card.
The BBC really arn’t even trying to be even handed at the moment. I think they’re mad at thsoe Americans for ignoring their “enlightened” “advice”.
(Don’t) Have Your Say is having another Bush-bashing session, prompted by his recent naming as Time’s Man of the Year. Entirely predictable, as are the numerous contributions comparing Bush to Hitler:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4111431.stm
The Beeb — the paint-by-numbers version of “journalism.” 3 or 4 familiar templates for your fill-in pleasure. No coloring outside the lines allowed!
Matt Frei comes up yet with another accurate, astute and intelligent commentary on an important US political issue:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4104055.stm
He spends several paragraphs describing a Hollywood movie about illegal immigrants to the US from Mexico. and uses it as reference material for a “factual” report on the subject.