New York Times Editors Support Wrong Over Right

by Stephen Lendman

Longstanding Times policy is consistent. It promotes establishment values. It supports wealth, power and privilege. It endorses global US dominance.

When America goes to war or plans one, Times editors march in lockstep. Propaganda substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Managed news misinformation is featured.

Editorial policy defends the indefensible. It backs wrong over right. It justifies what demands condemnation.

It supports banksters looting the federal treasury. It does so by not exposing and denouncing them. It does it by not demanding top Wall Street officials be prosecuted.

Monied interests run America. Times editors ignore it. They turn a blind eye to America's de facto one party state. They endorse sham US elections. They give legitimacy to a rigged process.

They give short shrift to growing US poverty, unemployment, underemployment, hunger, homelessness, and human misery.

They support destroying vital safety net protections when most needed. They endorse force-fed austerity instead of denouncing it.

News they claim fit to print isn't fit to read. Managed news misinformation substitutes. Vital truths readers most need to know are suppressed. Core journalistic ethics are violated.

On December 17, a flagrant human rights abuser got feature op-ed space. Doing so effectively endorses his nation's policy.

Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al Saud is Saudi Arabia's UK ambassador. He's a royal House of Saud member. His father, Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz, is a close King Abdullah ally.

Giving bin Abdulaziz feature op-space effectively supports one of the world's most repressive regimes.

State terror is official policy. Human and civil rights are denied. Authority rests solely with King Abdullah and royal family members.

Democracy is strictly forbidden. Constitutional provisions afford ordinary citizens and other residents no rights. Women are especially marginalized and denied.

Political parties and national elections are prohibited. So is media freedom. Most web sites are blocked.

Anyone dissenting is subject to arbitrary arrest and detention. Political critics, independent journalists, academics, foreign nationals, and human rights activists are especially vulnerable.

Fundamentalist Sunni Islam Wahhabism is Saudi's official state religion. Fanaticism defines it. Majority Shia nations are considered enemies. So are secular Arab states.

Wahhabis want them toppled. They want their own version of Islam replacing them. They operate lawlessly. They employ extreme tactics to achieve aims.

Saudi Arabia is hostile to Iran. It wants Syria's Assad removed. It's heavily involved in recruiting, funding and arming terrorist invaders.

It was caught red-handed supplying them with chemical weapons. New York Times editors ignored what demanded headlines.

They reported nothing about new US/Saudi-backed death squad atrocities. Dozens of Adra, Syrian men, women, children, infants, the elderly and infirm were massacred in cold blood.

Doing so is one of the most egregious crimes since Syria's conflict erupted. Defenseless civilians were slaughtered like sheep.

Local residents called terrorist invaders "the decapitators." They burned some civilians to death.

They targeted government employees and their families. They had lists of names and addresses supplied them.

They conducted sham Sharia trials. Guilt by accusation assured death by beheading. Others were shot in cold blood. Some were burned alive in bakery ovens.

Eyewitnesses described mass slaughter everywhere. Children were massacred like adults. Terrorists waged war without mercy.

One survivor said everyone at Adra Ummalia hospital was killed. Syria is Obama's war. He supports death squad invaders.

He's providing funding, arming, training and direction. Death squad diplomacy substitutes for peaceful conflict resolution.

War could continue for years. There's nothing whatever civil about it. US-backed death squads invaded Syria. Assad responsibly battles to defeat them.

Syria is being ravaged and destroyed. Doing so adds another horrific war crime to Obama's rap sheet.

Unspeakable numbers of innocent Syrian civilians could perish before conflict ends. Obama bears full responsibility. Key NATO partners, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and rogue Arab state allies share it.

So do Times and other scoundrel media editors. Misreporting shows support for unconscionable crimes.

Giving feature op-ed space to an enemy of peace and egregious human rights abuser reflects it.

Bin Abdulaziz headlined his Times op-ed "Saudi Arabia Will Go It Alone."

He called relations "with our Western partners..tested..because of differences over Iran and Syria."

"We believe that many of the West’s policies on both (countries) risk the stability and security of the Middle East."

"This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain silent, and will not stand idly by."

"The crisis in Syria continues unabated." He stopped short of explaining Saudi involvement in exacerbating it.

Times editors ignore it. They wrongfully blame Assad for death squad invader crimes. They do it repeatedly. They do it reprehensibly.

It's longstanding Times policy. So is giving feature op-ed space to loathsome figures like bin Abdulaziz.

He called Assad's government "a weapon of mass destruction. Chemical weapons are but a small cog in (his) killing machine."

He called it "an evil regime that is hurting and harming the Syrian people." He lied multiple times throughout his commentary claiming it.

Recent polls show Assad has strong popular support. In early September, Press TV cited a US daily news service World Tribune one.

It showed 70% of Syrians support Assad. Another 20% back neither side. Only 10% endorse opposition elements.

Don't expect New York Times editors to explain. Don't expect bin Abdulaziz and likeminded rogues to feature truth and full disclosure.

Their agenda is ruthlessly repressive. Bin Abdulaziz wants the Islamic Republic of Iran and Syria's secular government toppled.

He wants Wahhabist extremism replacing them. He wants them turned into regional terror states. He wants them run as repressively as Saudi Arabia.

His notion of peaceful conflict resolution is preventing it. He accused "some Western capitals (of) risking the security of the whole Arab world" by failing to increase toughness.

"This means that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no choice but to become more assertive in international affairs," he said.

He ludicrously claimed doing so is a way "to stand up for the genuine stability our region desperately needs."

"(W)e have a humanitarian responsibility to do what we can to end the suffering in Syria."

In February 1968, then AP correspondent Peter Arnett wrote about Ben Tre. He cited an unnamed US major saying: "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it."

Intensive bombing and shelling slaughtered Vietnamese civilians. In mid-March, Charlie Company entered My Lai. Destroying the village to save it repeated. Hundreds were slaughtered.

Most were women, children, infants, and elderly victims. Bodies were found mutilated. Women were raped, then murdered.

Crimes of war and against humanity reflect longstanding US policy. Since early 2011, they continue in Syria.

Media scoundrels ignore them. They wrongfully blame Assad for terrorists' crimes. Saudi Arabia is very much complicit. It's a rogue state writ large.

Bin Abdulaziz shamelessly called its monarchy and likeminded ones "champions of moderation."

His notion of "humanitarian responsibility" is mass slaughter and destruction. It's unspeakable atrocities.

It's wrongfully blaming victims. It's waging war on peace, stability and security. Times editors march in lockstep.

They do so disgracefully. They shamelessly betray readers consistently. Doing so reflects longstanding Times policy.


Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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