And You Thought American TV Was Bad!

Congratulations, USA!! You have freed the Iraqi people from ... something horrible ... and given them something ... even more horrible!

LYNCH-MOB "JUSTICE" ENCOURAGED BY U.S.-FINANCED IRAQI TV

Tonight's evening news broadcast on French public television carried an account of "Terror in the Hands of Justice," a series that is running twice a day on Al Iraqiya, the state-controlled television financed by the U.S., and operated under a contract to a major Republican party contributor.

You tend to get a bit nervous when it says "state-controlled", but as long as it's tied to a "major Republican party contributor" it can't be too bad, can it?

Really?

Oh, well... Just as long as there's no appearance of conflict of interest...

This is one of the most appalling TV shows one could possibly imagine, for it blatantly encourages lynch-mob justice and individual acts of revenge against alleged "terrorists"--who are presented as such without benefit of any trial or judicial proceeding.

America the beautiful, forging the new Iraqi order, no doubt. How quaint.

One of the most hate-inducing aspects of this TV series: the confrontations between alleged victims of the "terrorists" or their families, and those who are supposed to have committed the crimes against them. The alleged victims cry for vengeance -- "Do with him what you will, kill him, crush him," cries one hysterical woman into the camera. This highly manipulative (and manipulated) TV series is intended to whip up a lynch-mob mentality among viewers--and it does so to great effect.

Splendid!

[I]t is the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund a TV show that encourages violent, extra-judicial revenge on people who have not been tried or convicted of any crime that stands in sharp contradiction of the Bush administration's claims to have successfully exported "democracy" to Iraq.

They were probably hoping you weren't going to notice that. Or mention it.

The display on television of prisoners without their consent violates their rights under the Geneva Convention -- all the more so when individual and mob violence against those prisoners is incited by the TV show on which they appear. But a defense contractor who got its contracts from pay-to-play contributions to the Republicans is hardly likely to be susceptible to such civilized niceties. "Terror in the Hands of Justice" constitutes another dark chapter in the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Pardon me? What "occupation"? We're Liberators, not Occupiers, aren't we?

Oops. Maybe not.

Oh well.

You can read the whole article here.

Thanks to Buzzflash for this link and many more.