File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2001/postcolonial.0109, message 366


From: "Mohammed BEN JELLOUN" <mohammed.benjelloun-AT-mail.bip.net>
Subject: Fw:      [FAIR-L] Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 23:30:40 +0200



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "FAIR-L" <FAIR-L-AT-FAIR.ORG>
To: <FAIR-L-AT-LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
Sent: den 24 september 2001 16:10
Subject: [FAIR-L] Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets


>                                  FAIR-L
>                     Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
>                Media analysis, critiques and news reports
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ACTION ALERT:
> Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets
> 
> September 24, 2001
> 
> As the news media prepare for war, some prominent journalists have been
> advocating military strategies that violate the laws of war and mirror the
> strategies of terrorists.
> 
> Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, the channel's most popular host, declared
> on his September 17 broadcast that if the Afghan government did not
> extradite Osama bin Laden to the U.S., "the U.S. should bomb the Afghan
> infrastructure to rubble-- the airport, the power plants, their water
> facilities, and the roads." O'Reilly went on to say:
> 
> "This is a very primitive country. And taking out their ability to exist day
> to day will not be hard. Remember, the people of any country are ultimately
> responsible for the government they have. The Germans were responsible for
> Hitler. The Afghans are responsible for the Taliban. We should not target
> civilians. But if they don't rise up against this criminal government, they
> starve, period."
> 
> O'Reilly added that in Iraq, "their infrastructure must be destroyed and the
> population made to endure yet another round of intense pain.... Maybe then
> the people there will finally overthrow Saddam." If Libya's Moammar Khadafy
> does not relinquish power and go into exile, "we bomb his oil facilities,
> all of them. And we mine the harbor in Tripoli. Nothing goes in, nothing
> goes out. We also destroy all the airports in Libya. Let them eat sand."
> 
> It's unclear how O'Reilly is able to reconcile his claim that "we should not
> target civilians" with his calls for decimating the infrastructures of at
> least three countries and starving their populations.
> 
> His tone remained the same a few nights later (9/19/01), as he recommended
> bombing Afghanistan "in strategic ways and hope that the people themselves
> would rise up and throw the Taliban out." Acknowledging that Afghanis "are
> starving as it is," O'Reilly recommended that the U.S. intensify civilian
> suffering by knocking out "what little infrastructure they have" and blowing
> up "every truck you see" to make sure that "there's not going to be anything
> to eat."
> 
> The Geneva Conventions (Protocol 1, Part IV, Chapter III, Article 54) are
> very clear that "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is
> prohibited." They specify that "objects indispensable to the survival of the
> civilian population," including water and food supplies, are not legal
> military targets. Violating these strictures, which are legally binding on
> the U.S., would constitute a war crime, and might be considered a crime
> against humanity.
> 
> New York Daily News columnist A.M. Rosenthal, formerly the executive editor
> of the New York Times, had similarly disturbing advice in his September 14
> column. Rosenthal suggested an ultimatum be delivered to at least six
> countries-- Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and Sudan-- giving them
> three days to hand over documents and information related to weapons of mass
> destruction and terrorist organizations.
> 
> Rosenthal warned that "in the three days the terrorists were considering the
> American ultimatum, the residents of the countries would be urged 24 hours a
> day by the U.S. to flee the capital and major cities, because they would be
> bombed to the ground beginning the fourth day."
> 
> The Geneva Conventions state that combatants "shall at all times distinguish
> between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects
> and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only
> against military objectives" (Part IV, Chapter I, Article 48).
> 
> If actually carried out, the proposals made by these pundits would almost
> certainly result in civilian deaths totaling in the millions. Suggesting
> that killing large numbers of civilians is an acceptable political strategy
> only legitimizes the logic of terrorism.
> 
> 
> ACTION: Please contact these journalists and point out that it is
> irresponsible to encourage the government to commit illegal acts and kill
> innocent people.
> 
> CONTACT:
> Fox News Channel
> Bill O'Reilly, The O'Reilly Factor
> mailto:oreilly-AT-foxnews.com
> 
> New York Daily News
> A.M. Rosenthal
> mailto:rosecolumn-AT-aol.com
> 
> 
> As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if
> you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair-AT-fair.org with your
> correspondence.
> 
> ***CORRECTION: In FAIR's 9/17 Media Advisory, the cite for Ann Coulter's
> column was incorrect. The column appeared in the National Review's online
> edition, not in the New York Daily News. FAIR regrets the error.
> 
>                                ----------
> 
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> at: fair-AT-fair.org .
> 
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