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Huge NYTimes AD! Conservatives Running Scared on Torture? (Update II)
Calling itself a "grassroots plea" - a HUGE one page ad in the New York Times this morning (page 19 in my print edition), by the Conservative "media watchdog" group, Accuracy in Media, seems to be part of a new push by the Torture lovers to shut down Media reports on torture.
Are we making progress in getting media attention? Apparently so! These folks must be really running scared to pay for a full page in the Times. Is this ad in other newspapers?
Here's the ad (as best I can reproduce it) but you have to imagine the word, TORTURE, in two-inch high letters at the top of the page!
There you have it! How many lies does it contain? Here's an initial accounting:
Maybe I missed a few lies. Feel free to fill them in. Links? I'll do that later.
_______________________________________
Update I:
The group that sponsored the ad in the Times, Accuracy in Media, is part of a Right Wing effort to attack the Times (and other institutions they view as spreading propaganda, through their sister arm, Accuracy in Academia, connected with Lynn Cheney). Efforts to trace their project, Torture Truth Project, lead back to this very post. Accuracy in Media has previously attempted to start a "grassroots" movement to Boycott the NY Times . (N.B. Their website says their annual report is "coming in May 2008")
See artappraiser's comment for good commentary on their likely aims and tactics in putting up this ad (to pressure the Times and create havoc by reader complaints) .
In short, they appear to be trying to rattle the Times. But in my humble opinion, they are only throwing flames on the fire of investigating torture. Karma!
Torture Truth: Indeed!
Update II:
For the perfect capstone: radiofreewill connects the dots (cheney's wife, this ad, her connections to Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia):
Right-Wing propaganda machine in full Panic Mode!
Are we making progress in getting media attention? Apparently so! These folks must be really running scared to pay for a full page in the Times. Is this ad in other newspapers?
Here's the ad (as best I can reproduce it) but you have to imagine the word, TORTURE, in two-inch high letters at the top of the page!
TORTURE
Throughout the Entire World
The Word 'Torture' means Intense,
Lasting, Brutal Physical Agony
Why is the U.S. News Media Eagerly
Spreading An Incalculably Harmful Lie
That Can Only Motivate Terrorists To
Further Attacks On America?
A Grassroots Plea To
The U.S. News Media
Stop Misleading The World
That Our Country Condones Torture* You now know as a result of the recent release of what you
choose to call "The Torture Memos" that these are the
14 interrogation techniques permitted by the United States:
* Sleep deprivation... Dietary manipulation... Abdominal
slaps... Facial slaps... Attention grasps... Facial holds...
Forced nudity... Water dousing... Stress positions not designed
to produce pain... Cramped confinement in a dark space...
Confinement with insects such as a caterpillar... Pushing
against a wall... Wall standing... Pouring water on a person's
face to induce the feeling of drowning (waterboarding).
* As you know, waterboarding has not been used for 5 years and
was used on only 3 detainees. Our own troops are subjected to
waterboarding as part of their training.
* By your continual use of the word 'Torture' to describe these
interrogation techniques you have been misleading the world that
the United States condone techniques of barbarous cruelty. The
consequences could be horrendous.It's Time For The TruthWe are losing the goodwill of people across the
world and you are aiding al Qaida in recruiting
terrorists for future attack on America.
Torture Truth Project
A project of Accuracy in Media Inc., 4455 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008 / (202) 364-4401
There you have it! How many lies does it contain? Here's an initial accounting:
- The ad does not use the definitions of what is outlawed by the Geneva Conventions or the Convention Against Torture - what is illegal under international law.
- The media hardly uses the word "torture" when called for. Indeed, many have complained that the Media does not use the word torture enough!
- Grassroots Plea? Hardly! This is a well-funded, right-wing organization's ad.
- Scare Tactic: Tell the US public that learning about the truth is dangerous!
- The world knows about the torture and is calling for War Crimes Tribunals. It has long been a recruiting tool of Al Quaida. Arguably, exposing it will lead to world approval!
- The 14 interrogation techniques do constitute violations of Geneva and the CAT.
- We have no proof waterboarding has not been used for 5 years.
- SERE training of our troops, if it includes waterboarding, is voluntary.
- We do know many of these techniques are still approved for use by the US.
- Time for Truth? Absolutely! Time for a Special Prosecutor!
- Losing goodwill around the world? Not the media's fault! That was lost under the previous Badministration's disastrous policies!
Maybe I missed a few lies. Feel free to fill them in. Links? I'll do that later.
_______________________________________
Update I:
The group that sponsored the ad in the Times, Accuracy in Media, is part of a Right Wing effort to attack the Times (and other institutions they view as spreading propaganda, through their sister arm, Accuracy in Academia, connected with Lynn Cheney). Efforts to trace their project, Torture Truth Project, lead back to this very post. Accuracy in Media has previously attempted to start a "grassroots" movement to Boycott the NY Times . (N.B. Their website says their annual report is "coming in May 2008")
See artappraiser's comment for good commentary on their likely aims and tactics in putting up this ad (to pressure the Times and create havoc by reader complaints) .
In short, they appear to be trying to rattle the Times. But in my humble opinion, they are only throwing flames on the fire of investigating torture. Karma!
Torture Truth: Indeed!
Update II:
For the perfect capstone: radiofreewill connects the dots (cheney's wife, this ad, her connections to Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia):
Lady Macbeth:
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.Macbeth:
I'll go no more.
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.Lady Macbeth:
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil.Macbeth Act 2, scene 2, 45-52
That says it all, doesn't it?
Advertisement
I have heard people say that they like the idea of torture. What possible convolution of the psyche can generate that?
While on the road, I overheard a conversation in a restaurant one morning, at breakfast in "small town America" that was so horrendous I could not believe what I was hearing, about the sorts of tactics these people would like to have employed against "those terrorists". I will not repeat any of it.
Something, several things more likely, is terribly, terribly wrong with the makeup of a large subset of the American people. And I don't have answers for what we do to address it.
And I'm misanthropic enough as it is...
May 14, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Listen, we used to have a neighbor, a pilot, a National Guard member as well, who believed they should have "nuked" Afganistan and Iraq! Nice family man, with 4 wonderful children, his wife a nurse.
Very scary!
May 14, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know several people like that. I take it as hyperbole - an expression of anger and frustration and not much else.
These folks have always been on the side of guilty until proven innocent. Unfortunately it takes serious thoughtfulness to make yourself care about the 1% that were innocent (or amenable to rehabilitation). Most people just don't take the time to think about what they're saying; it's a hard problem and they prefer an easy answer to ease the cognitive dissonance.
May 15, 2009 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
"What possible convolution of the psyche can generate that?"
Perhaps the convolution of the psyche inhabiting the vanishingly small, puerile brain of George W. Bush, who was first referred to in the NY Times in 1967, defending the practice of branding fraternity pledges with a red hot coat hanger. Never lose track of the fact that the moral default point of this contemptible man runs to an adolescent conception of petty sadism. Even letting our imaginations run wild, we probably didn't envision this particular trait when as an electorate we chose NOT to have him as president, in 2000 and again in 2004. Acknowledgment once and for all of his sorry illegitimate tenure as an abberation is not enough. He needs to be jailed.
May 14, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant time to recall that for us! Thanks.
May 14, 2009 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is the U.S. News Media Eagerly Spreading An Incalculably Harmful Lie That Can Only Motivate Terrorists To Further Attacks On America?
So, if they far-right lunatic fringe realizes that torture motivates terrorists, why then are they defending torture . . . ?
They LOVE bloodshed -- so long as it's someone else's. Makes them feel like RIGHTEOUS chickenhawks, instead of cowardly chickenhawks.
May 14, 2009 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
cheney is their Poster Boy!
He's the one running around 24/7 with the message! And he's getting all the media time he wants.
May 14, 2009 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Plus the ad comes from an group connected to his wife!
May 16, 2009 3:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Got a link on that coat hanger story?
May 14, 2009 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a post on Delta Kappa Epsilon's web site from December 01, 2005 referencing the story.
http://www.godeke.org/News/PhiAlumnus_GeorgeWBush9.2.htm
Hope that helps you. Since the original article was published in November of 1967, it may well not exist on the web.
This would be the part of interest:
The News article, published Nov. 3, 1967, featured a photograph of a half-inch high "D" burned into a pledge's naked backside. Trudeau drew his first cartoon for the News for the story -- a picture of smiling pledges, naked and bent over at the waist, with a figure holding a DKE branding iron standing over them.
In a News story the next day, Bush is quoted calling the branding "insignificant." He said he did not understand how the News "can assume Yale has to be so haughty not to allow this type of pledging to go on."
May 15, 2009 7:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.godeke.org/News/PhiAlumnus_GeorgeWBush9.2.htm
May 15, 2009 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
oops...posted that before I saw that fenestrate had done so already. I'd merely gone to my dashboard former posts and seen tlees2's query, and responded. Ready, shoot aim...just like the Republicans do! (Hopefully that's the only thing I did that's just like Republicans do...)
May 15, 2009 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm. Do you think this means that W has a D branded onto his butt?
June 3, 2009 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're absolutely right. It is working. As Bill Clinton said: "it's over."
What makes my skin crawl is this insistence that the use of the word 'torture' is what creates ill will; it has nothing to do with the actual act of torture. Disinformation at its weirdest.
May 14, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have a feeling the comments in this thread are going to be more effective than the blog itself! Thanks for your words.
May 14, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for all your work. I was originally ready to let the torture issue go. Then I started reading your work several weeks ago. You've changed my (and who knows how many others') sense of how crucial this is. As they say in The Godfather, we're going to the mats over torture.
May 14, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I appreciate your kind words, MBH. And I'm glad to have played a small role here in bringing this issue to the fore.
It's all about the Rule of Law.
May 14, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
These people can't be serious.
"only used on 3 detainees" I love that. Only. We should have never used it at all - even once.
If I ever experienced "forced nudity", you bet I'd describe it as torture because that's what it is.
"you are aiding Al Qaida in in recruiting
terrorists for future attack on America." Wow. Just wow.
I was trying to find more lies contained in this ad, but in all honesty I'm sort of shocked, and probably shouldn't be. Thanks for sharing TheraP, I don't read the NYT.
May 14, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you say PROPAGANDA?
Thanks to Mr. TheraP, this was noticed!
May 14, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, thanks Mr. TheraP! Then again, it was put out by AIM, does anyone take them seriously?
May 14, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe you'd like to do a blog just on them? Why not fight fire with fire?
May 14, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
A rachel maddow style expose? I could do that certainly. I put your link in my last tweet, I got a lot of responses already.
May 14, 2009 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please Do!!!! Thanks for your help here. Bless you!
May 14, 2009 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
This isn't just about waterboarding. A whole lot more than three detainees died in U.S. custody. The total is closer to 100, and more than two dozen of those deaths have been officially classified as homicides.
It ain't just torture, folks, it's also murder.
May 14, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. Not only did they murder. Their "torture redefinition" is pretty much a description of murder: intentional organ failure.
Thanks for your comment! Working together here we will bring justice on behalf of all those harmed by these war criminals.
May 14, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh I am not too late. Propaganda. This is war. Must keep confronting the lies. We must never stop.
Our little nook keeps hummin. TPM is providing good articles. I am optimistic about this. I really am.
I am so glad you keep up on this. I just heard about this ad a few minutes ago on cable.
May 14, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really? Ok, well what did cable say about it? I have no cable!
Yes, I think we are really getting somewhere.
Plus, the blog I did yesterday, on "experimentation" on prisoners being a War Crime is likely also percolating through the media or whatever.
May 14, 2009 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looks like letters to the Editor of the NYT are in order.
May 14, 2009 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I've tried that in the past. That won't get you anywhere. But try contacting the Public Editor - like an ombodsman:
May 14, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the advice, Thera. Will do.
May 14, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Glad to help! Good to have the info up!
May 14, 2009 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please see update, LisB!
These folks want to take down the Times!
May 14, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been in three times over the last six years. It's not easy to get published but it is possible.
May 14, 2009 7:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been in twice, but a few years back. Topics that still interest me now....
May 14, 2009 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
From a marketing perspective, this seems to just cement the word "torture" ... even down to their name "Torture Truth Project". They've married their name to the word ... before anyone even opens their mouth the audience thinks "this is about torture".
It is pretty damn creepy to see the GOP machinery mobilized in this fashion. They are burning resources to protect the old guard while doing nothing to help elect republicans in 2010 - so I guess it's good. But damn creepy.
May 14, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right of course. If one looks carefully, it's obvious they're trying to derail the push to get at what happened. But if one just skims, the ad actually plays up the word TORTURE and I think it works against them.
Like these folks usually do, the organization is called Accuracy in Media.
And the project is Torture Truth Project.
Orwellian, isn't it?
May 14, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP, I was just thinking. That pollster that is on Fox has been there forever. Pudgy little f....
I mean the repubs tie peoples brains to machines and measure before they post ads. That is why this stuff scares me even when it appears they are screwing up.
I mean they must have had data that the ad works to their benefit. But who knows...
May 14, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
They HOPE it works to their benefit. Then, again, dd, so does cheney, who's running around, talking torture 24/7 - and all it's doing is bringing it more and more into people's thoughts and words, onto the blogs, into the news right and left!
I think they have totally lost control over this story. They're sticking fingers and toes into the dikes, feet into mouths, you name it! It's kind of like a Trojan Horse they've suddenly found in their living rooms! And they're going: Trojan Horse! Trojan Horse!
And then they're saying: We own it, but it's got nothing to do with us!!!
May 14, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's almost hilarious: they are labeling it torture, in huge big letters, as their very first word.
'Way to go! Keep that word "TORTURE" circulating!
May 14, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
How right you are, JNag!
Who would have ever thunk it?
May 14, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you only read the bold words ... it could easily be an ad demanding the paper stop publishing Cheney's assertions (making it look like we condone torture).
An insidious counter-campaign could be to keep the format and the major points while changing the small text to support an anti-torture message.
May 14, 2009 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would appear the group that put out the ad is connected to cheney's daughter!
May 14, 2009 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Correction - to his wife.
May 16, 2009 4:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
If high ranking officials in the Bush/Cheney White House are convicted of war crimes there won't be anything the GOP can do to get anyone elected. The Rupublican brand will be the kiss of death. All other issues are on a back burner. Even Rove is in full "Look Over There" mode.
May 15, 2009 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
They're in hot water and can't seem to get out!
May 16, 2009 4:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
NY Times ad sales plunge 27%!
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10488807/new-york-times-ad-sales-plunge-27.html
Makes you wonder if they're now so desperate, they'll take any kinds of ads, no matter how deceitful!
May 14, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
THE WAR ON ERROR
The laws were written for us all
To bring to court the guilty pall
When bodies fall
Who told who to torture who
And what they did we never knew
And now we do
.......................................
According to John Sifton, it is not just the new torture photos that we need to see. Attached to the photos are the memos which contain names of people who ordered these atrocities and carried them out.
From The Bush Administration Homicides
by John Sifton
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-05/how-many-were-tortured-to-death/
May 14, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love your little poems!
Very helpful comment.
Yes, the murders. As someone mentioned above. The most recent of which was likely al Libi, who was reported to have died (by his own hand) just as Human Rights organizations were closing in on trying to interview him.
There are way too many "disappeared" folks, including 2 children.
I think this story is cracking open like crazy. I think nothing can stop it now.
May 14, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
We NEED those photos released, however much the media treats them as pornography. Those who are on the fence about torture as a "good idea," if sufficiently revolted, will make their decision, one way or the other. And MOST will decide they are against it.
And more will decide that something MUST be done about it in terms of investigation and prosecution.
May 14, 2009 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect they'll trickle out.... over time.
Plus, I wonder when the torture tapes will surface, the ones they say were destroyed.
May 14, 2009 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
The torture story is not going away any time soon even though AIM expounds the boldest lie that money can buy. They steal meaning to do harm.
Terrorism:
"Violence or the threat of violence carried out for political purposes."
I think AIM meets the definition of threat. Fear fear fear.
May 14, 2009 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your comments are so valuable! Thanks. :)
May 14, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bringing this to the fore is very important and I'm glad you addressed it.
The way the road to justice is manipulated and undermined by those who would buy us off with fear makes me angry.
Their implicit message is that if we continue to speak out against those people who obviously tortured human beings = we will get attacked again.
That is insane rhetoric and the text/subtext is certainly a threat.
May 14, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yup, if talk about torture is bad, then how bad is the torture being talked about?
May 14, 2009 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think we need to see the memos but not the pics except at any trials. Pics are factually disconnected dots unless there is testimony or other evidence to form a genuine pattern of proof.
If you see a naked/hooded/restrained/... prisoner, but without context, what does it mean?
May 14, 2009 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice catch and thx for the good-faith rendition of the text. I wonder if the ad appears on any online NYT pages...
Throughout the Entire World
The Word 'Torture' means Intense,
Lasting, Brutal Physical Agony
[comment: not exactly but it can have those connotations to many]
Why is the U.S. News Media Eagerly
Spreading An Incalculably Harmful Lie
That Can Only Motivate Terrorists To
Further Attacks On America?
[comment: lack of evidence undermines allegations and characterizations]
A Grassroots Plea To
The U.S. News Media
Stop Misleading The World
That Our Country Condones Torture
[comment: Many Americans do appear to condone torture of some kind under some circumstances, according to polls]
You now know as a result of the recent release of what you
choose to call "The Torture Memos" that these are the
14 interrogation techniques permitted by the United States:
[comment: It's true that there has been a rush to judgment when it comes to the use of the word 'torture'. Many fail to draw a clearly articulated line between torture and interrogation. A complicating factor is that whether the listed methods are genuinely "permitted", truly legal, or not, other cases of torture are evidenced and reported. Focusing on only the margins is problematic.]
[list elided]
As you know, waterboarding has not been used for 5 years and
was used on only 3 detainees.
[comment: officially, maybe. I believe there is evidence that it was used on others]
Our own troops are subjected to
waterboarding as part of their training.
[comment: true enough but not an excuse]
* By your continual use of the word 'Torture' to describe these
interrogation techniques you have been misleading the world that
the United States condone techniques of barbarous cruelty.
[coment: Again, I agree that the word had been bandied about loosely as a convenient if inaccurate label]
The consequences could be horrendous
[comment: Mere insinuation but maybe Bush&Co should have thought about consequences more carefully and mindfully when they set out on this road]
It's Time For The Truth
[comment: If only...]
We are losing the goodwill of people across the
world and you are aiding al Qaida in recruiting
terrorists for future attack on America.
[comment: Probably true on both counts but sometimes progress amounts to a step backwards before setting off in the right direction]
May 14, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I spent HOURS this morning getting that text to look pretty much like the original.
There is no record of it on the web that I could find. There are some google links - but they lead nowhere!
Mr. TheraP caught it!
May 14, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
For some reason the Blockquote which showed up fine in the Preview didn't show up in the comment. I hope you caught my [comment: ..] entries throughout the quoted material.
May 14, 2009 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sometimes the software trips you up.. but I got the gist...
May 14, 2009 8:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I looked online also, and couldn't find it in the Times.
May 14, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since it's only in the paper edition, this whole thing makes you wonder.... why in the heck are they spending this much? Do they imagine their ad will change the minds of Times readers? Or are they in marching to cheney's drum? Curious.
May 14, 2009 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how effective any print ad is in any print paper, at this point. Several friends of mine have canceled their subscriptions just because they don't read half of the paper (we're on the left coast) and can get what info they want online. Bang for the advertising buck? Not like the good old days.
May 14, 2009 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obviously these folks are out to decrease the number of people who take the paper edition!
Thanks for that clue!
May 14, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is indeed a sign they are worried, but also a sign that they know they are gaining some ground. You can find almost no one in the corporate media who can even pronounce the word "torture" since Obama announced he would oppose prosecutions of CIA torturers. Obama himself, nor anyone in the administration uses it. Reporters don't use it. It's always "enhanced interrogation techniques" even though every single one of them knows torture is the appropriate term.
So, AIM's purpose in excoriating the media for doing something it has already stopped doing seems sort of silly if you don't understand how the right wing noise machine operates. They have already won this battle, but they are hitting this chord hard because the second phase is that they will now begin trying to convince everyone that none of the stuff we know full well was torture was, in fact, torture at all and that no crimes were committed and thus no investigation is required. In other words, they are wanting people to believe the torture memos were valid legal opinions that exculpate all those involved.
Once again, the right wing's use of the Big Lie is impressive. I don't think they can pull this off given all the information already available, but I wouldn't rule it out.
Because of such efforts, this also highlights how really badly the President is undercutting those who are working for a return to the rule of law on this subject when he adopts the Bush administration's indefensible positions on such matters.
May 14, 2009 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
With all due respect, oleeb, I think the tide is turning in our favor.
Nevertheless, maybe we should have you put up a blog declaring that they've won the torture debate. Then we'll all recommend it. And that will be great disinformation! ;)
May 14, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think it is apparent that the tide is turning. I think everything is currently in play with most powerful forces aligned against us with the notable exception of the truth and the law.
My point above is that they right continues to wage an intense PR battle designed to rescue them and their torturing heroes. They strongly believe that everything boils down to pr and this effort demonstrates their belief. From a strategic point of view, if they are able to manipulate the debate to the point where consensus in Washington favors their side, they believe, with some good reaon they will more than likely be in the clear.
Scared as they are, they are pursuing a strategy that has produced positive results for them over and over again for many years now. Their fondest hope is that they can bully the result they want just one last time and they may just do so. I think it is very, very unclear at this time how all this is going to play out.
Our hope lies in bringing the issue to and keeping it in front of the public so that public opinion does matter. That means we must "expand the arena of conflict" and make sure this is an issue for the whole nation and not just insiderdom. If this issue remains an insider's game we are almost surely destined to lose. The Republicans understand this very well and so their focus is on obfuscating the issues, politicizing them to the maximum extent possible and making it appear this is not a matter of war crimes but of vindictive liberals versus "everyone else."
May 14, 2009 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I buy this comment completely, oleeb. We've looked closer into this group that sponsored the ad. Take a look down the thread. Because this group is not only out to take down the Times, I think they'd like to take down TPM as well.
So as far as PR goes, I am totally on the same page with you. I think their need to fight this hard indicates, to me, they are fearful. And as you point out, I think we can expect their PR war to ramp up. We have to be vigilant.
Thanks to seashell and AA and others we found out a lot today about who likely is behind this ad. We discovered links to cheney's daughter!
I've updated the post, but there's a lot in the thread.
May 14, 2009 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice post, Thera, I don't read the NYT print edition anymore. And I only read a handful of the online NYT articles.
IMO, the rally for truth and the rule of law is thankfully emerging more forcefully and with more durability and credibility than the opposing disinformation/distraction PR effort.
Good to try and connect the dots as the public discussion of torture comes to a head. Despite Cheney's torture publicity junket, it is becoming increasingly clear, and harder and harder to refute, that torture was used to elicit false confessions about the link between Saddam and Al Qaeda. (We all know this, and it's something that's been mentioned more in the current MSM now than ever.)
Right now we're getting a great deal of specificity that runs counter to the sweeping assertions of Cheney and others about how torture kept the country safe. Just yesterday, in fact, we had the FBI agent who actually interrogated Abu Zubaydah (the terrorist most often used as an example of giving up actionable intelligence under the duress of torture) testify that torture did not work.
That is the kind of first-hand testimony that is hard to ignore.
That kind of specificity represents a "clear and present danger" to Cheney--who is facing a potential war crimes prosecution.
We know the following: Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi was captured, thrown in an Egyptian cell, beaten then buried for 17 hours in a coffin by CIA surrogates, then coerced into falsely claiming that Saddam had trained al Qaeda terrorists in deploying WMDs. THIS SPECIFIC EVIDENCE was then cited by Colin Powell as part of the rationale for going to war in Iraq.
Now clearly, some people are getting very very worried.
A few days ago, it was reported that al Libi "committed suicide" in his prison cell.
Thera, I want to encourage you to continue to stay on top of all this and continue to connect the dots as we pursue the truth and attempt to return the rule of law to its rightful place in American history.
May 14, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for your support and encouragement and your continuing assistance in this endeavor as well!
I do believe this train is leaving the station. Ever so slowly, but that's how trains do it.
May 14, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
How many times did he stab himself in the back?
May 14, 2009 6:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought he constructed a gun from "parts" in his cell. But maybe you're right.
May 14, 2009 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
From a column printed yesterday on the Accuracy for Media website [the emphases are mine - gleefully]:
May 14, 2009 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Ok. Let's get to work then! I mean, up till now, of course, we've been loafing. But given this news, I say: Let's ramp right up!
May 14, 2009 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think MSNBC's KO, in an effort to be fair and balanced, makes a point of it to cite both sides of the blogosphere; Josh Marshall occasionally at the beginning of the program and Michelle Malkin toward the end in the "worst persons in the world" segment".
May 14, 2009 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which explains how more journalists know Malkin than Marshall. They watch WPITW segment and read 'Talking Points'. :-)
(To be fair and all...)
May 14, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
:), I admit, seashell, I had never heard of Michelle Malkin until Keith Olbermann mentioned her. In the interest of fairness, I googled her, and made a point of visiting her site every now and then to discover her brand of journalistic integrity on my own.
On a credibility scale, she's, well, she's not on one.
May 14, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now I'm starting to wonder about something else. For a while there was someone here posting blogs attacking the Times. And we know this group has, in effect, launched an attack at TPM. I think these things are connected.
May 14, 2009 6:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
"For example, more journalists know about Michelle Malkin than Talking Points. Yet twice as many journalists actually read Talking Points than read Michelle Malkin."
So Malkin is well known (for something other than quality) but hardly read.
Maybe journalists read TPM for the high quality Reader Posts and comments! :-)
May 15, 2009 3:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Paging PseudoCyAnts: Come in please! You're needed!
Here's more stuff, or non-stuff:
Nowhere on the AIM (Accuracy in Media) is there a Torture Truth Project or any reference to a TTP. Neither is there a reference to the ad in the NYT today. NOTHING. There are a couple of recent articles about Obama and torture, blah blah, but none of them comes remotely close to what the ad says.
So I'm thinking ... AIM is the cover for a group, or a group of groups or something. Like maybe Republican groups? Who else would need AIM as a cover?
Paging PseudoCyAnts: Come in please! You're needed!
May 14, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP - is there anything else in that ad that you haven't written in your version up top? Anything? No matter how small?
May 14, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I put in every iota that appears.
But I do see I left out a 0 in the zip code. That's 20008.
I'll fix that.
Other than that, I copied the whole thing!
May 14, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
What about Mrs. P? She's good at searching things like the forms these folks need to file with the govt. And then where those forms come from. Or whether other organizations have the same address.
Is there a way to search for others at the same address? I know for a fact that the Times won't publish an ad without ways to reach the organizations putting up ads.
I'll see what a search for the address comes up with.
I too searched their site and the Times site this morning.
May 14, 2009 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's one possibility. It a group that held an open house. Called teampeople.tv.
Also at this address:
Justice Policy Institute.
Institute for Educational Leadership.
Coalition of Community Schools.
Bingo! Gielow Family Foundation (likely source for their money! though the site shows only till 2003) Located at same address!
Here's a list of all that they fund:
http://www.youdontsay.org/Gff1.htm
I'm gonna keep looking!
May 14, 2009 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gielow Foundation also supports: Accuracy in Academia. Located at same address. Website is here:
http://www.academia.org/
Same Acronym: AIA. Their "about page":
http://www.academia.org/about.html
The "authors" are linked at the web page above.
May 14, 2009 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, authors may not be linked.
Purchase their stuff:
http://www.shopaim.org/
CAN YOU SAY RIGHT WING?
May 14, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
The "store" purchases "benefits" Accuracy in Media!
Thus, the websites are linked!
May 14, 2009 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Suite 330 - location of the Accuracy people.
Accuracy In Academia, comes under Right Wing Watch, part of People for the American Way
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/accuracy-in-academia
People for the American Way:
http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepagenew
Claim to want Dawn Johnsen & to impeach Bybee.
May 14, 2009 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pfaw is legit and on our side. AIM makes the claim of being related to AIA and I couldn't find any connection to the ad there, either.
When I Google "Torture Truth Project" the only website that comes up is this blog!
I'm thinking like the RNC might be funding this or something like that...????
May 14, 2009 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
So Right Wing Watch has these people on its list?
Then maybe they know something?
May 14, 2009 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Accuracy in Academia is Lynne Cheney's organization - the one that went after the "anti-American," "terrorist supporting" academics. You may remember their hit list.
Here is a bit on them from TomPaine
May 14, 2009 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Cheney connection! Thanks! What a find!
May 14, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've added your find to the update (above, end of post) with a link to your comment.
May 14, 2009 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, I think the film organization (teampeople.tv) at the same address is part of this group. Look at this recent film the AIM did and sent to PBS statons for airing:
May 14, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is clear that the campaign continues to normalize torture as NOT torture (if we do it) AND as necessary.
A number of commenters here and in previous posts and comments have raised the question (directly and indirectly) as to why there seems to be so much ambiguity over the issue of torture among the US population. The most cogent response I have found to this is an analysis by Roy Eidelson at Cognitive Policy Works titled "How Americans Think About Torture - And Why." I encourage folks to read the entire discussion, however his synopsis of the more extended discussion states:
It is clear that the campaign of propaganda to reinforce the fears of people and the righteousness of torture (which even Obama now refers to as a "technique" and "shortcut" - pah) only serve to muddy the waters. It makes me sick at heart.
May 14, 2009 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sick at heart.
I feel the same way.
Thanks for this.
May 14, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Finally got around to reading that. Wow! I've bookmarked it now. What a discouraging finding about fellow citizens.... If it weren't for places like this....
May 16, 2009 5:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been trying to find information about the Torture Truth Project, nothing on the AIM web site, when I googled "Torture Truth Project" this post returned number one, and I've found nothing on google about the Torture Truth Project. Google maps shows a bunch of businesses for the address, mainly furniture stores, restaurants and other businesses nothing seems to be connected to AIM.
May 14, 2009 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
The BINGO group is Accuracy in Academia. Look at my comment above.
May 14, 2009 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you look at their press release page,
http://www.aim.org/press-release/
You will see that the New York Times is their favorite bogeyman to represent all they think is wrong with "the liberal media." 6 of their 10 press releases on the first page of them are attacking the Times:
and it continues like that on the "previous" press releases.
Within that context, this full-page ad buy is clearly trying to pressure the New York Times editorial to change on topic, by getting readers/customers and other advertisers to write the New York Times and complain.
So I don't think liberals complaining to the Times about taking their money for what they want to say is going to make much sense to the Times. But if people were successful at convincing them to turn down paying ads complaining about the way they report, next time Moveon.org wants to do that, it will be only fair to turn them down, too.
The point: If you want to work against what this group wants, you should be supporting the Times as being attacked for using the word "torture" in its reporting in this ad, not complaining to it about the ad, as several are suggesting here. It's kind of a ridiculous misunderstanding of what's going on here to attack the Times for running the ad, as it's a message attacking the Times, as it appears to be one of the main raisons d'etre for this organization, to attack Times coverage.
May 14, 2009 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was just thinking that as I searched for the New York Times on AIM. They seem to be AIM's punching bag, and as others pointed out they used the word "Torture" bold and throughout the ad, which would seem odd if they did not want to media use it.
May 14, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've updated the post to reflect our findings.
Anything else you can come up with, please feel free to blog on it! (or post here)
May 14, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent comment, AA. I buy that. They're trying to induce folks to cancel a subscription or annoy the Public Editor. And definitely to pressure the Times.
Especially since the Times is under pressure and their ad revenue is down, it makes total sense that they accept this ad, which is designed, as you suggest to get a "boycott the Times" movement going.
They already tried to start "Boycott the Times" a few years back. So this is the likely sequel.
Thanks a million. Anything further you can add here is much appreciated.
I'll add an update to the post.
May 14, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
P.S. The cost of one full-page ad is enough to pay one year's salary for someone to continue reporting on the torture topic using the word torture as they see fit. Could be a researcher or a full reporter, depending upon whether AIM demanded immediate placement or waited until there was a need to fill an empty space in the A section. To give you an idea, MoveOn's Patraeus/Betrayus ad cost $65,000. If you would have them refusing ads complaining about their coverage, they might instead be laying that person off.
May 14, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You've been a huge help, AA! Huge. I've updated the post to reflect their likely aims and tactics, with a link to your comment as well.
May 14, 2009 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
aa - I wasn't interested in going after the Times for running the ad at all. I was just very curious about who or what group would be willing to pay so much money to run what seems like an amateurish, maybe slightly desperate ad like that. I'm well aware that one of the main activities of AIM is to shoot the Times in its knees, er, folds, but this doesn't seem like the ones previously run. In fact, AIM is also affiliated with a site called Boycott the New York Times, but there also, none of the articles match the ad at all. Yesterday is about home mortgages, the day before is about Punch's purse.
If there is a Torture Truth Project, it is the best kept secret project on the planet, which again does not match up with a full page ad advertising it. With all the news media concentrating not only on Cheney and his tortuous explanations, but also on how this is killing the GOP, it makes sense that maybe it is the RNC, or one of the new groups that meets in pizza parlors (I forget their name.) If I'm right, why couldn't they just run it under their own name?
This is just curiosity looking for the cat, but damn, if you hear or see something, let us know?
May 14, 2009 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Forgot to add:
If they were just after the NY Times, why would the ad attack the US News Media and not even mention the Times. It's more like the Times was the best place for many to see and hear about it, rather than attack the Times itself.
Of course, I've been wrong more than once in my life, also. :-)
May 14, 2009 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you see that Rowen connected the sister site (AIA) to cheney's daughter?
They're losing it, I think! Shooting themselves in the foot, it would seem.
May 14, 2009 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey seashell, I responded on my site, but figured I'd do it here as well.
The "Torture Truth Project" was probably made up last minute, and it clearly does not exisist. They wanted to slap a name on it, make it sound more important, but this is from AIM. I wanted to check out their annual reports and see where the money was coming from, but of course click the link for annual report and you get nothing.
AIM believes the U.S. Media is all liberal, if you read some of the wonderful answers in their FAQ you'll find some goodies. So I'm sure they included the Times in the U.S. Media.
May 14, 2009 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Running Scared"
Tells the whole story. We are watching the unraveling of a giant political machine. Yeah...
Important post. Highly recommend.
May 14, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope you get a chance to reread and see what's been discovered here!
May 14, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
These people sure Torture Truth alright!
Torture Truth Project
May 14, 2009 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
These folks are "running scared"? C'mon, that article was spot on. Most of those methods are not torture. Try getting captued by Al Qaeda and you'll learn what torture is.
You want "proof" that waterboarding hasn't been used for years? Try asking Nancy Pelosi...oops!
May 14, 2009 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
The factions are attacking each other, it seems. Some GOP want all discussion stopped, Cheney and friends want it shouted, and these folks just want kinder, gentler thinking about ramming a prisoner into a wall, or wrenching his head around in an "attention hold".
May 14, 2009 6:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, Tom. We're seeing the fragmenting of the right. All pulling in different directions.
May 14, 2009 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saw this in the NYTimes this morning, but nary a mention on AIM's site.
You did miss one LIE:
"misleading the world that the United States condone techniques of barbarous cruelty."
And how many countries have we farmed our torture out to? There's Egypt, and Italy, and all the CIA's 'black sites', etc...
May 14, 2009 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent sleuthing! Thanks!
May 14, 2009 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Got this interesting email commentary on the ad:
May 14, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Folks, just think. Anyone who wonders about the ad, and googles the Torture Truth Project, will wind up at this blog. Which will give them a lot of info about where this ad comes from and who's behind it!
KARMA!
And there's nothing they can do about it!!!
May 14, 2009 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey TheraP, I took your advice and wrote my blog today about the ad. I found A LOT of information on their web site, very interesting so if you and everyone wants to check it out I posted here JennieMaria.com I hope I did that right, lol.
Thanks for the suggestion, and I even ran out and got a copy for myself. Took pictures and posted them as well.
May 14, 2009 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wonderful blog! And I love the photo of the actual ad in the Times. (I will link to your blog from my post!)
I think you're doing an absolutely wonderful job of blogging. You have an amazing blog! And I'll be looking for more comments from you. And links to your own work.
Kudos! And best wishes!
May 14, 2009 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks TheraP and thank you for leaving a comment.
Coming from you, these are all great compliments.
May 14, 2009 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I tried posting a different version of this but it likely got blocked for the number of links. If it shows up, sorry for the duplicate.
It looks to me like we are circling the incestuous neo-con cabal. I wrote a thumbnail piece that may be interesting and pertinent: "Who Are the Neo-cons?" in 2004. Down in the addendum is some information regarding Ms. Lynne and those linked to her.
May 14, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rowan, this is most amazing! I was just going to post a link to an article about neo-cons by a right wing source. I had it bookmarked. Well, I click on that article, which I actually thinking I linked to in a TPM comment recently, and it's locked! No access. As of the date 5/15/09!!! (tomorrow!) So I went to google. And via the google cache, I was able to get a screen shot of it. And I saved it to a word document on my computer. It's related to the cabal of neo-con liars behind the Iraq war.
Now, given all the pieces that have fallen into place just this week, isn't it interesting that this particular article, which I had found via searching for: Feith, Strauss, University of Chicago - showing up first in the google search engine is NOW LOCKED!
I bet the criminals are desperately trying to erase their tracks. Check your links and maybe make sure that any valuable info from your post can still be linked. Or save the raw data.
I think these folks must be running scared! Very scared!
This can't be chance, I think!
And thanks to your comment, I went to find that article. Or I might not have been able to retrieve it all soon.
May 14, 2009 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the heads up. I checked the links and there were a couple of changes. Disinfopedia became SourceWatch but the links all forward fine. The other interesting and pertinent change is that Empower America has transformed into FreedomWorks. I have updated my piece with the new link info noted. Thanks for the heads up.
I have run into the situation you have found more than a few times. I have also found articles totally transformed in their content when I go back to them. I nailed both the NT Times and the Wa Post a couple of times about such changes. Interestingly, the Times response was to then post both articles under separate headings. Sometimes screaming helps.
Thank the cyber gods for "cache." Believe me, history gets rewritten more frequently than we think. No I am NOT a Conspiracy theorist. I am a Conspiracy ANALYST.
May 15, 2009 1:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Conspiracy analyst.
Excellent!
May 15, 2009 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP - left a message for you at JM's. Here.
May 15, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for wise advice, seashell. You may be right again - that my Firefox is bent on protecting me. (I am of the mind that even those who are crazy are sometimes right. But I don't buy into weird ideologies one bit!) It's interesting, isn't it, how weirdos of the right and left seem to need each other - as foils.
May 15, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Happened to run into an essay today on neocons that includes the Strauss connection, also. Have only briefly glanced at it, but it looks good.
May 15, 2009 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Strauss is the guy that all of these neocons "learned from" - and he advocates a Machiavellian world view and way of governing.
Thanks for your link. :)
May 16, 2009 4:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it does look good. And even though the other guy is nutty and from a weird political group, if you compare the two essays, you'll see the first weirdo has actually done a very comprehensive job, which accords with the research of the second guy. (As I've said, even crazy people sometimes make sense. Save the sense and discard the nonsense. That crazy guy has a list of all the neocon players and how they're interconnected. That's all I was interested in: Who was a Strauss disciple and where did they burrow in?)
May 16, 2009 4:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Delicious irony when these pro-torture thugs have to write that check to the NYT ad department.
May 14, 2009 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
How right you are! Karma strikes again! :)
May 14, 2009 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post TheraP.
Keep on it!
example:
"stress positions not designed to induce pain"
this is an oxymoron. Of course they induce pain especially since victims are kept in the position for hours and hours; sometimes their arms are twisted around the bars of the cell. Some have even been asphyxiated by stress positions.
May 14, 2009 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I didn't exactly beieve that one either...
May 14, 2009 11:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
"believe"
May 14, 2009 11:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
The mentality of the apologists is pretty clear.
May 14, 2009 10:59 PM | Reply |