Please use this thread, and this thread alone, for off-topic comments, preferably BBC related. Please keep comments on other threads on the topic of that particular post. N.B. this is not an invitation for off-topic comments – the idea is to maintain order and clarity. Thank you.
This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.
Even the New York Times has no trouble describing Zarqawi as a TERRORIST.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1149825600&en=d6d9b3b68ae5cc4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
And the NYT story is miles more thorough, more cpmplete and more fully contextual than the BBC’s wet efforts.
Yup, George is top billing:
Question Time Panel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/default.stm
Very predicable, however we may have reached a ‘tipping-point’ with the ‘rather distasteful’ views of Respect. Ridley’s call to not co-operate with the Police didn’t go down well with joe public and if Galloway comes out with crap like that tonight, fine. He will increasingly be viewed as a dangerous crackpot.
Maybe he will repeat his view that the PM should be murdered. That will give PC Plod something to think about.
This was Ming’s day
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5055544.stm
snigger…
“His style was no different to previous performances – all ramrod straight and, frankly, sparkle-free. But this time he pulled it off.
Pulled what off exactly? Had Ming managed to get the PM to admit collusion in rendition? Nope. Not even close.
Ming got slapped down twice by Blair and got absolutely nothing.
I fail to see how this was in any way “Ming Ding’s day”, aside form the fact that he was talking about ‘rendition’ which is the BBC’s favourite topic, and they will fawn over anyone like Ming who goes on and on and on about it. Most of the public aren’t interested, which is why the libdims are suffering under Ming.
What will Al-Zarqawi’s death mean for Iraq?
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=2085&edition=1&ttl=20060608122702&#paginator
Vast majority of ‘Recommended’ say “Good riddance”. Nice one. BBC must hate it.
Iraq terrorist leader Zarqawi ‘eliminated’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1792817,00.html
That’s how far left the BBC has become. Even the Guardian calls Zarqawi a terrorist.
and maybe something you didn’t know…
Media Monkey’s Diary
http://media.guardian.co.uk/diary/
“Signing frenzy
The Times’ People diary wonders today whether the BBC’s muted coverage of the Cherie Blair and Alastair Campbell Hutton report signing row is anything to do with the fact that Today rottweiler John Humphrys had also signed a copy for a charity auction. “It was sold months ago. Although not, I hasten to add, for the Labour party,” Humphrys said. “I sign all kinds of things for charity,” he added.”
Malloch Brown lives in a house owned by George Soros the No 1 of SPECTRE (allegedly) and the moneybags behind most liberal organsiations such as MoveOn….now what does that say about his leanings then…?
Well done Bolton! The sooner we scrap the UN and start a free nations forum of DEMOCRATIC nations ONLY the better.
This morning on Radio 4 John Simpson described Zarqawi as “fairly distasteful”.
And this after listing his alleged involvement in multiple attacks and at least one beheading.
Unbelievable.
Basically, I find the BBC to be fairly mediocre in its standards of journalism. Incomplete, unthorough, late, lots of omissions.
And that is before they inject the spin and the bias.
Their standards are especially poor when one considers how lavish their budget is.
Incidentally – David Dimbleby frequently interrupts Question Time panellists. I bet he doesn’t interrupt Galloway to quote back at him some of the Respect statements – eg on how Zarqawi is a good guy. The BBC should be stuffing those quotes down Galloway’s throat.
I wouldn’t get your hopes up for Galloway on QT tonight; he is a master of deflection and will within seconds be into Bush/Blair/blood for iol/war criminals/Memri is an ISRAELI organisation before you can say Jenny Tonge. And there will be a sizeable section of the local Stop the War/ Palestinian Solidarity Movement in the audience, so he will get plenty of cheers as well as boos.
It’s pretty depressing stuff and I won’t be watching it.
Please don’t say Jenny Tonge!
interesting – bbc radio 2 news reported that the iraqi journalists broke into spontaneous applause at the press conference this morning.
i wonder how the Galloway Islamists will try to spin that one. oh right – they’re all really Jews and working for Mossad…
silly me.
Grimer – I laughed at the tags you used on that youtube vid 🙂
The more one reads about the Malloch Brown gaffe in criticising and patronising Middle America, the more deliberate his attack appears – and the more stupid he and Kofi’s entrenched position.
http://www.nysun.com/article/34079
This is a very big row indeed – and it could thunder on all year. It deserves far more attention than the BBC are giving it. Quit the renidion stuff, BBC, it’s going nowhere. Get back to realpolitik.
And the BBC seems to be in danger of wholly misjudging the risks that the Repubs will lose control of either side of Congress this year. The BBC will of course fail to recognise how potent an issue illegal immigration may become in individual Senate and House contests :
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=89300
The BBC has of course failed to tell us that Bush’s poll ratings have been improving over recent weeks from some results in the low 30%’s for approval. The death of Zarqawi will likely give Bush (and Blair) and fillip. But it will probably need Bush’s approval ratings to get back well above 40% before the BBC deigns to tell us.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=89300
“The BBC. Last place to go if you want to know what is really happening in the US”
As somebody on (D)HYS commented; compare the coverage of the death of al-Zarqawi with the “targeted assassination” of Sheik Yassin.
“Malloch Brown lives in a house owned by George Soros the No 1 of SPECTRE (allegedly) and the moneybags behind most liberal organsiations such as MoveOn….now what does that say about his leanings then…?”
to be fair, Soros’s early background is one of growing up under first Nazism , and then communism , in his native Hungary. He’s Jewish, and managed to escape the Budapest holocaust (where 500,000 Budapest Jews were wiped out)
He also supported and funded Charter 77 in Prague and Solidarity in Poland.
we might disagee with his views on many things, but he is a firm believer in freedom and a democratic society.
he’s lived through dictatorship and knows what it is first hand.
archduke
Soros a clean pair of hands these days? Really ?
When he supports people like Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan who regard Zarqawi’s people as Minutemen/freedom fighters, how can you say he believes in democracy in Iraq ?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/ edited again, back to Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is killed in Iraq, in an operation hailed by US President George W Bush as a serious blow to al-Qaeda.
I guess that’s because they now mention Bush’s comments :-/
“how can you say he believes in democracy in Iraq ?”
it probably does – but he disagrees with how we went about bringing democracy to Iraq.
disagreeing with the method doesnt equate with being pro-Saddam…
At least he doesnt fund the Respect party…
bizarre biodegrable – utterly bizarre.
first it was “alleged leader”, then it was “leader of al qaeda”, now its “militant leader”
they cant bring themselves to say the T word, so we’re getting all sorts of contortions and twists and general head-up-ones-own-arse crap…
unbelievable.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
ITN call him a “terror chief”:
http://www.itn.co.uk/
sky news call him a “al Qaeda terror leader”
http://www.sky.com/skynews/home
the Mirror, call him a “al qaeda terror chief”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/
and, even the Guardian!
“terrorist leader”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1792817,00.html
get a load of this folks.
DFH has the goods.
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/06/mpacs-bbc-insiders.html
seems like MPACUK has some insiders working at the BBC.
BBC Obituaries dept is quick off the mark…
In pictures: Life of Zarqawi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/5058476.stm
How long do you think it will take before the BBC runs the inevitable “Americans kill innocent civilians in Zarqawi air raid” story? “Bystanders claim…”
Slightly OT of the current thread but, for a moment, forget about bias in “Today” and look at its basically poor journalism.
The story of the 3 soldiers acquitted of murder: “Today” interviews one of the defence lawyers (predictably emphasising that there was no case to answer and the case should not have been brought) and the Attorney General (predictably claiming that there was a prima facie case and good evidence etc etc.) Good journalism would have 1. given an idea of what the crucial evidence was on which the prosecution was launched 2. set out why this evidence might have been considered weak or strong, and 3. got the protagonists to say WHY their view of the evidence is the correct one. Instead “Today” gives us pure assertion from either side which neither sheds light on what happened nor allows the listener to make up his or her own mind. Frankly, why bother?
Ritter
The BBC is institutionally treasonous.
Lets hope the newspapers mention it.
Umbongo. Quite right.
At the end of the coverage I had no idea on what evidence the case was brought, and on what evidence it was thrown out. A few facts from the BBC would have helped.
The Today coverage left me with the uncomfortable feeling that the soldiers were released simply because of a lack of evidence. So, were the BBC implying that the soldiers were probably guilty, but there wasn’t enough hard evidence to prove it in court, or that there was no evidence and the whole thing should not have gone this far?
zaqwari dead – oil prices fall
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5058822.stm
my my. my day is just getting better and better…
yet more islam propaganda, paid for with my tax money…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/middle_east_muslim_women_preachers/html/1.stm
Here we go again with one of the BBC’s favourite and most used phrases, except this time I note a slight and welcome change.
Until now its always been “Palestinians often fire crude rockets into Israeli territory but these rarely cause any casualties.”
Today’s Israel kills three by Gaza border now reads thus:
Rockets fired by Palestinians often land in Israeli border towns, occasionally causing casualties.
From rarely cause to occasionally causing is progress of sorts, I suppose.
Archduke
Re “women preacherS” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/s…hers/html/ 1.stm – even here the BBC speaks with forked tongue: there appear to be 10 photos of a single woman preacher not 1 photo each of 10 women preachers: what a breakthrough for the RoP!
Just seen the BBC World coverage of the US news conference following the killing of the Militant Zarqawi during which the US General, although constrained by int and security considerations did say that the operation had included input from the terror cell, the Iraqi Police and others and also other countries. Well, he could hardly have openly thanked Jordan for quickly confirming the finger prints matched. (speculation but just an illustration)
A security expert was wheeled out, one Frank Gardner, beloved of these pages and his opening and main point was to criticise the US for claiming all the credit. Perhaps he has a brief attention span. Is he the best that the BBC can produce? I don’t understand why you all admire him so. He seemed woefully ignorant of the security world and all in all a bit of a dork. Natalie, feel free to substitute “fool”
if the “d” word offends.
Oh and I forgot to mention that during the questions part there was a female Arab voice as the representative of the BBC. Sadly no shot of her so I couldn’t see if she had the table cloth on.
and finally, well O/T
Gary, you seem to be growing very eloquent of late. Is there a ghost writer involved ? I think I could do with him.
Boblog: no, you’re absolutely spot-on in yr impression of dork Gardner. he gets sympathy for his injuries after being shot by “militants”, but apart from that he’s a dead loss. NEVER gives the slightest worthwhile prediction, is always wise after the event etc. When have we heard him predicting al-Qaeda link-ups between Dewsbury and Canada? When did he ever produce anything uptotheminute on Zaqari when he was still on the run?
headline change!
“Bush hails Zarqawi death”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Spent an idle moment this am watching a proppoganda film on beeb2 about Islam.
There was an interesting allegory of how effective it is if they all pull together, illustrated by a wooden stake trying to hold up a tree in a strong wind. The aforesaid anthropomorthic stake called out for his fellow stakes to help him and they formed a bundle and saved the tree.
Clearly, the cartoonist was sublimely oblivious of the fact that he had just animated a fasces, icon of the Fascist movement.
Well it made me smile, anyway.
“Bush hails Zarqawi death”
But he’s still a “militant”
What does it take to be a terrorist?
Breaking news!
Swiss ‘foiled hit on Israeli jet’
But wait, this isn’t new!
May. 19, 2006 9:21 | Updated May. 19, 2006 19:
Plot to down El Al jet in Geneva foiled
WTF is going on with the BBC?
I wonder what Zarqawi will be saying to Che Guevara……………”nice T-shirt ?”
Maybe this is the new part:
The federal prosecutors’ office said seven people of North African origin had been arrested.
In May jpost.com had reported Swiss officials reported that no arrests were made following the discovery since the plan had yet to reach its final operational stages.
I have noticed the way BBC et al are trying to downgrade Zagibaby’s influecne and reach in the world of terrorist activities after months if not years of building him up to be the biggest bogyman after Osama BL.
Meanwhile News 24 today – “I’m no expert but I’ll comment anyway” whilst waiting for the US Press conference was the order of the day! Get a former military expert onto discuss things on the programme you clowns instead of stupid people with no experience beyond what they’ve read in Gardner’s book or having studied Bobby Fisk’s uninformed often wrong missives for years! (Fisk is the guy who claims Jesus was born in Jerusalem amongst other things…) Jeez at least Fox News haul military guys on so they get the up to date military perspective etc.
Can we start a ‘BBC must employ pounce’ thread and see if we can get Gardner sacked?
http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/zarqawi-killed-in-baquba-prime.html
John Simpson’s bestest buddy speaks:
“There is no evidence of operational links between his Salafi Jihadis in Iraq and the real al-Qaeda; it was just a sort of branding that suited everyone, including the US. Official US spokesmen have all along over-estimated his importance. Leaders are significant and not always easily replaced. But Zarqawi has in my view has been less important than local Iraqi leaders and groups. I don’t expect the guerrilla war to subside any time soon.”
So where DOES Cole get his facts from? Is he really a CIA plant or something? He is always SO sure of his facts, oui?
boblog
No; I think its all still me. I think its just practice. Also maybe, what I have always said, has just started to make sense to more people. I live in hope.
I also got bored with making excuses for “sloppy work,” so started trying a bit harder.
Zarqawi and his lot killed thousands of Iraqis. THOUSANDS. He was mostly too scared to take on the Coalition head-on – he concentrated on cowardly attacks on civilians.
He can be nothing but a terrorist. He and his deeds define the word terrorism.
The BBC needs to be taken to the cleaners on its refusal to use the T word about him. They have been caught out once, on 7/7, on their weaselly avoidance of the T word.
They need to be exposed far and wide for their sick attitude, their moral equivocation – their refusal to recognise pure evil.
He is merely “distasteful” said John Simpson. Is he recorded in writing as saying that on the BBC website, not just on the Today prog ?
Oh Lord – the BBC have just brought on another of their “experts” – Paul Pillar, ex-CIA. They don’t preface his remarks by saying he has been a fierce critic of the White House. He has NIL specific info – so why interview him ? Except he has inserted the “quagmire” remarks that the BBC wanted.
boblog
Let’s say it plain in case you misread some of the comments here.
We do NOT admire Frank Gardner’s journalism. I for one think he is totally disingenuous in failing to say that Islamic ideas of jihad are the real root cause of terrorism. I think he is wet for failing to call terrorism for what it is – even when it hit him. I think he has been pretty useless in giving any real insight on the terrorist threats here in Britain.
He is one of the well-spoken people who will grate on American audiences. Along with most of the BBC’s US crew – the likes of Matt Frei and Justin Webb, plus the Middle East crew and of course Mr Kabul Simpson.
We have sympathy for Gardner’s injuries, for his disablement and of course for his family. But his journalism is not rated highly round here.
Fair & balanced headline from FOX:
‘Terminated’
http://www.foxnews.com/
and FOX provide a handy reminder of the innocent people that this terrorist scum has murdered:
Fast Facts: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198661,00.html
and more….
Complete Coverage of Zarqawi’s Death
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198700,00.html
When do we get FOX UK??
Good old BBC PM Radio 4 telling us Zarqawi worked in a video store in Jordan – funny i thought he was a petty thief who was in prison and was also heavy into drugs
Dumbcisco
Is that the same Paul Pillar who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year?
You know, the one who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005?
The one who spent 28 years in the CIA and was regarded as the agency’s leading counterterrorism analyst and was responsible for coordinating assessments on Iraq from all 15 agencies in the intelligence community?
That Paul Pillar?
Ritter
On the right-hand side of the Fox home page there are links to Fox video clips.
As you will know, if you go to any clip, you can then scan what clips they have under each heading – News, Politics, etc, O’Reilly, John Cavuto, Brit Hume, Hannity and Colmes etc etc.
10 times more worthwhile than the BBC for a vivid and actually pretty balanced view of US events.
reith
Yes – the Pillar who if he was that good on counter-terrorism he failed to get Clinton to deal with Osama when he was in the cross-hairs. The Pillar who everyone knows is a fierce critic of the White House, which the BBC fails to tell us. The Pillar who just said he has no specific info on the Zarqawi termination – so why interview him ? The Pillar whose testimony on other matters has been attacked as disingenuous and indeed wrong. The Pillar whom the BBC could rely on to say that things are a quagmire.
Obituary: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5058262.stm
“Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was Iraq’s most notorious insurgent – a shadowy figure associated with bombings, assassinations and the beheading of foreign hostages.”
But at least he wasn’t a terrorist.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4774541.stm
Israeli attack ‘jump-started nuclear programme’
“Until Israel’s attack, we were only dabbling with some calculations relating to nuclear fuel burn-up and criticality calculations – nothing.”
Lol, sucessfully worked out criticality calculations mean you have a nuclear weapon. The BBC is more naive than evian.
reith
and the same Pillar who was heavily involved in the CIA’s failure to get the assessment of Saddam’s WMD’s right – but who now tries to blame the White House. The Pillar who thinks terrorism is something you manage, not something you attack.
You see the BBC can’t just slide these slippery people past us any more – the Internet lets us get our own handle on them in an instant :
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/713hkkee.asp
http://thomasjoscelyn.blogspot.com/2006/02/paul-pillar-goes-public-again.html
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/013104.php
The Pillar whose judgment seems decidedly flawed – who in various ways FAILED at the CIA. And who is so partisan that the BBC should not be using him without a health warning. They are the fools for thinking we are fools.
But why aren’t you tracking down the answers to all those questions you promised to pursue ? Try dealing with at least one concrete issue out of your long list of overdue answers – at present your rep round here is zilch because you avoid direct questions.
bbc 6 o’clock news say that al zaqwari “was the leader of the iraq insurgency”
leader?
huh? i dont think the Sadr Army was answerable to him,