inkbluesky

death valley sunset wallpaper

From yesterday’s beach at the Maldive Islands to the desert of the west, very short trip by blog anyway. If we go back about 11,000 years ago you could have taken a swim in the lake that filled Death Valley.

Senate report says Saddam Hussein regarded al-Qaida as a threat rather than a possible ally

Saddam Hussein regarded al-Qaida as a threat rather than a possible ally, a Senate report says, contradicting assertions President Bush has used to build support for the war in Iraq.

Released Friday, the report discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that before the war, Saddam’s government “did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward” al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.

Saddam told U.S. officials after his capture that he had not cooperated with Osama bin Laden even though he acknowledged that officials in his government had met with the al-Qaida leader, according to FBI summaries cited in the Senate report.

“Saddam only expressed negative sentiments about bin Laden,” Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi leader’s top aide, told the FBI.

The report also faults intelligence gathering in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion.

As recently as an Aug. 21 news conference, Bush said people should “imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein” with the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction and “who had relations with Zarqawi.”

Democrats contended that the administration continues to use faulty intelligence, including assertions of a link between Saddam’s government and the recently killed al-Zarqawi, to justify the war in Iraq.

They also said, in remarks attached to Friday’s Senate Intelligence Committee document, that former CIA Director George Tenet had modified his position on the terrorist link at the request of administration policymakers.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (A.K.A. THE DECALOG) -16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

The most useful bit of the media is disappearing. A cause for concern, but not for panic 

Having ignored reality for years, newspapers are at last doing something. In order to cut costs, they are already spending less on journalism. Many are also trying to attract younger readers by shifting the mix of their stories towards entertainment, lifestyle and subjects that may seem more relevant to people’s daily lives than international affairs and politics are. They are trying to create new businesses on- and offline. And they are investing in free daily papers, which do not use up any of their meagre editorial resources on uncovering political corruption or corporate fraud. So far, this fit of activity looks unlikely to save many of them. Even if it does, it bodes ill for the public role of the Fourth Estate.

I’m all for citizens journalists and bloggers analyzing the news , but the part that bothers me about the end of newspapers is the combination of the lack of professional editors and investigative journalists. Without them we just get news release from politicians and corporations regurgitated as news. There are lots of good bloggers out there, but there are more that push their agenda as news, so we quickly get to the point where who ever shouts the loudest wins the day rather then the truth. Further down in the essay he writes,

In future, argues Carnegie, some high-quality journalism will also be backed by non-profit organisations. Already, a few respected news organisations sustain themselves that way—including the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. An elite group of serious newspapers available everywhere online, independent journalism backed by charities, thousands of fired-up bloggers and well-informed citizen journalists: there is every sign that Arthur Miller’s national conversation will be louder than ever.

If the model of reporting gets closer to this quasi-professional-citizen journalism that may be a model I can live with. Then again where and how do you hold people accountable for lousy reporting. In the instance of Judith Miller at the NYT playing cheerleader for for the Bush administration we could complain to the NYT and appeal to their ombudsman. If some blogger does the same from their basement what do we do, write a letter to their mom and tell her to stop her kid from lying. I have a feeling that much of this citizen journalism will be a mix of 25% amazing and 75% unfiltered garbage. I hope I’m wrong and there is more good then bad.