This is a Letter sent to ABC News Radio: ABC News Radio (Australia) Fails Again to Adequately inform the Public On the Causes of Middle East Extremism I was listening to an interview conducted by Tracey Holmes with an expert on terrorism (1/1/2014) that once again highlighted the misleading nature of your reports on that issue. The interview framed the ongoing terrorist problem to include the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. My key concern was that the interview avoided the leading cause of the admitted escalation in terrorism which is foreign intervention. Even the CIA acknowledges this fact - especially in relation to the drone war assassination program. The expert being interviewed did point out that after the US attack on Afghanistan, in late 2001, there was no longer any threat from Al Qaeda - and indicated that the present day conflict was contained within the country. In fact, there was no real threat from Al Qaeda following the September 11 attacks since the Taliban were prepared to negotiate a handover of Osama Bin Laden provided evidence was tabled that connected him to 911. However, the FBI had no such evidence and Bin Laden denied involvement. This sticking point became mute when the US unilaterally invaded. The later Bin Laden confession video, discovered by occupying forces, simply touched upon the events in NY, after the fact, and had been mistranslated by the Amercians. There was no confession. Regardless, there was no security need for western forces to occupy Afghanistan. When Iraq was mentioned, the host of the radio show appeared think that this was another internal issue, but again there was no extremist problem in that country until the illegal intervention by the US-led coalition of the willing. The dictator Saddam Hussein, who headed a secular regime, had no ties to Al Qaeda extremists, and did not want any. The report that alleged Al Qaeda agent Mohammed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague was know to be false by both the FBI and CIA at the time and yet neoconservatives, including the Vice President, continued to push that falsehood. It was only subsequent to the US invasion, launched on knowingly misrepresented and outright fabricated intelligence, that we saw a rise of extremism in the country - grossly exacerbated by US occupation policies. Furthermore, the interview failed to identify the root cause of the extremist ISIS success in Syria and Iraq, which apart from the policies of the central Government Bahgdad, was largely due to foreign intervention - from the Turks, Saudis and US in their pursuit of regime change in Damascus. Recent Germany TV news reports highlight the problem, where they have shown trucks and jihadist fighters crossing the Turkish border largely unopposed except for the actions of local Kurdish militias. The News Radio interview was a showcase of poor understanding and research. It raises questions about the expert being interviewed and the hosts competency. The narrative you are selling your audience is a false one and only facilitates war and extremism. You must inform your listeners that there are State actors that have fuelled, and continue to fuel, the extremists to serve geopolitical goals. Without identifying the root cause of the current extremist successes in war real solutions will be hard to find.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 14:38:30 +0000
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