When Iran Nukes Are News, And When They Aren't
A Nov 5 Reuters article caught my eye.
IAEA found nothing serious at Iran site: ElBaradei
Thu Nov 5, 2009 4:26pm EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5A13KW20091105
I had been anticipating the results of the UN inspection, and when I read the article I thought jeez, this is news. But no, it was not news.
Many of us have held the fear that maybe "the big one" was going to drop. Every time the news cycle gets bored, they are back to "Iran is building a bomb", boogah, boogah! If the US won't drop the big one by God Israel will go it alone! Cheney and the gang played this card to escalate the perpetual war machine till the bitter end.
Now it seems that maybe Iran isn't very close to weapons grade enrichment, and the "secret plant" isn't even close to the boogie man it has been billed. For one, I am relieved. You would think it would have gotten some attention. Alas, it is not much for news folks. Not enough boogah, boogah.
Google search results with the Reuters title left our main stream media oddly quiet, but as I suspected, Juan Cole does consider noteworthy. http://www.juancole.com/ (Nov 7 post).
Thank you for this. Yes, the investigation's findings will be relentlessly ignored by our media, then, after awhile, attacked as "faulty". We can expect a hastily thrown-together "annex" to accompany it, made up of cherry-picked urban legends, bald-faced lies and "reports" from authoritative sources in the sports bars and pool rooms around Michael Ledeen's house. It will dispute the IAEA findings, accuse El Baradei of deceit and allege Iran is attempting to import weapons-grade uranium from Willy Wonka's Oompa-Loopa Land. The IAEA, you see, is blinded by these silly "facts".
November 10, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like you've been paying attention. ;)
November 10, 2009 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
What blows my mind is it seemed to be the entire media machine. I was watching for the story to be reported by ANY major outlet, network or cable. The entire frigging group played along, as far as I could tell. Maybe I missed it.
And yes, I remember well the IAEA, El Baradei and other inspectors (including American vet Scott Ritter) being pooh pooh'd during and after the run-up to the Iraq invasion.
Of course they did the same thing to France, Germany, NATO etc. whenever the message was contrary to the Neocon/Vulcan meme.
I've also noticed that the media now addresses the issue as "the Iran nuclear WEAPONS program", having morphed from their "nuclear program". They don't seem to need any factual basis or proof for the morph. We can all just assume it is so.
November 11, 2009 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Iran poses limited threat" just doesn't sell soap quite like 'boogah, boogah'.
November 10, 2009 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink