March 13, 2012

Letter to the editor: Netanyahu's "presstitutes" as predictable as the tides

As predictable as the tides, the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brings out the worst of the Ottawa Press Corps.

Identical reaction by US media mavens is to be expected when he is in Washington, DC.

Those charged with disseminating the truth, so often sound like an echo chamber for the Israeli PM spouting his bile about the alleged Iranian nuclear program. Never asked about nuclear warheads in his own country, or about decades of mistreating Palestinians, he rages on about Tehran being the singular threat to stability in the region, and the rest of the world.

Our own PM, having adopted the bellicose Netanyahu as his BFF, was also adamant in early January that Iran is the biggest problem the world faces in 2012.

Strangely, during a CBC interview then, Mr. Harper kept repeatedly referring to the "Leader of Iran", never once mentioning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by name. Perhaps he just couldn't get his tongue around so many vowels?

We all remember a few years ago how George W. Bush's Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight orchestrated the drumbeat of war against Iraq. Their talk of mushroom clouds from weapons of mass destruction had all those in the media rallying around the flag to alarm the world that a preemptive attack on Baghdad was necessary.

Such great institutions as the New York Times, having long held claim as being  "all the news that's fit to print", was completely bamboozled by the warmongers; in fact, it printed grossly unfit untruths, as it turned out.

Now, elite members of the Fourth Estate in Canada & US become little more than "presstitutes" in paying lip service to the bellicose Mr. Netanyahu, whose veins run strong with hubris and arrogance.

It is really tragic when people who consider themselves so much smarter than the average citizen, really have room-temperature-IQ's when it comes to reporting on such ruinous imbecility as Israel threatens. Those who echo Mr. Netanyahu strive to be the imperial messenger, but are largely misinformed.