US TO BLAME FOR EGYPT

Well,  this one was coming. On Today this morning. John Humphyrs coldly asked US official Michele Dunne just how much GUILT did the US have on its hands for what is happening in Egypt. Yes, the USA is to blame. Tomorrow, can we look forward to the BBC blaming Sarah Palin, or Israel…? I’ll post the link once they publish it.

MINING THE BIAS….

I’ve had several emails on the subject of BBC bias by omission concerning their coverage of the Chilean miners reascue. In essence, it comes down to one thing – a visceral BBC loathing of admitting the formidable contribution the US has made in bringing the trapped men out. Biased BBC contributor Jon Hunt spells it out in clear terms…

“Thereal heroes are American, not that you would know that fromany British news organisation (and we’re supposed to be America’s greatestally).  For example, the company whom the Chilean government contactedto rescue the miners is a certain Chilean-U.S. outfit called Geotec Boyles Bros. SA .  Theyimmediately contacted associate company LayneChristensen of Pennsylvania.

Itwas Layne Christensen who provided:

a)the mobile drilling rig built by a fellow Pennsylvanian company by the name of Schramm Inc. 

b) thespecial drill bits, manufactured by fellow Pennsylvanian company CenterRock

c) the drillersJeffHart and Matt Staffel – the real heroes of the operation, whom they flew infrom Afghanistan

Withoutthese guys and their specialist equipment the miners would still be down theretoday.

 So,how did the UK media cover this amazing side of the story – how the rescuedepended almost entirely on American equipment and personnel?

 AGoogle news search shows that JeffHart & Matt Staffel’s joint roles are widely reported throughout theU.S., South America, Germany, and Spain – but not by any UKnews organisation. 

 Overthe last month alone the BBC has produced ajaw-dropping 130,000 web pages reporting the Chilean mine rescue.  Andyet, theonly one that reports Jeff Hart’s pivotal role appears in theCorporation’s Spanish-language site – suggesting that the BBC’sSpanish staff are not as imbued with the same anti-Americanism as itsGuardianista UK staff – while there is no mention anywhere of Jeff Hart’scolleague Matt Staffel. 

Norhas the BBC reported the role of the U.S. companies involved:  Searchesfor LayneChristensen and CenterRock turn up zilch. 

Asearch for Schrammthrows up several reports which name it as the manufacturer of thedrilling rig, but only one mentions that it is a U.S. company. Meanwhile, a search for GeotecBoyles, to whom Layne Christensen reported, also produces nothing, but asearch for Geotec producesa BBC bulletin describing the company as “Chilean” andimplying accordingly that it was Chileans who were the key personnelinvolved in the rescue.  The BBC reports:

MrButtazzoni, the head of the Chilean mining company Geotec, said his drill hadalready cut through 464m (1,500ft) of rock. He said his team expected to breakthrough to the area where the miners are sheltering in 3-4 days.

– acomplete and utter mis-portrayal through omission.”

In the BBC world-view, American corporations are always evil so best ensure they get NO credit even when they help save lives.

THEY DON’T GET IT…

This was sent to me by a B-BBC reader and you should give it a read if you have a spare moment. From the image used to illustrate the story through the commentary, the BBC just cannot understand how it might be that Americans reject Obamacare. If only Town Hall meetings were attended by the sort of sophisticates the BBC uses to pack their Question Time audience, all would be well!

Victim or Villain?

Did anyone hear Saturday Live R4 yesterday? The bit about Uday Hussein’s body-double, Latif Yahia. The poor fellow was forced, on pain of death to him and his family, to impersonate the evil Uday.

Fi “How did that make you feel” Glover was sympathetic, as you would be. But hang on. When Uday himself decided to take a potshot at poor Latif, all obstacles must have evaporated because he somehow managed to escape and get himself the hell outta there, and henceforth to Ireland where he married an Irish girl and lived happily ever after.

Near the end of the programme, someone emailed to ask why Fi had been so sympathetic and had treated him as a victim, when he had witnessed and possibly carried out some of the more unpleasant things in in the course of his impersonating duties. She wasn’t having any. She sternly reminded us that Latif was terrified and intimidated and had no choice but to comply (on pain of death to him and his family.) We were never told how , when push came to shove, he was able to get away, nor were we told what became of his family.

I wasn’t sure what to make of that yesterday. But just now I clicked on a link and it seems there’s more to Fi’s sob story than meets the eye.

It’s All About No Oil …

Just giving the garage its summer clean and sort, when the following idiocy was aired on the PM program about ten minutes ago. They were discussing the Burmese sentence on the noble Aung San Suu Kyi.

I paraphrase :

“… and we’ve just had a mail come in on the subject of Burma, which says ‘Isn’t it a tragedy that Burma hasn’t got any oil ? Otherwise the resolutions would soon be passed and the invasion forces built up …'”

Now there are a lot of ignorant people in the UK, and this chap may not have heard, say, of a company called Burmah Oil, despite the fact that Denis Thatcher once decorated its board. Any idiot can mail the BBC.

But for the editor to consider this a serious point worth broadcasting – well, perhaps someone who is unaware that Burma is an oil and gas producer shouldn’t be in charge of what purports to be a current affairs program.

We all know why it was chosen, of course. It fits the BBC narrative. Why ruin a perfectly good anti-American sneer for the want of a few facts ?

LEADING THE JIHAD

Abu Ghraid is SO 2004. It’s 2009 and time for a new onslaught on US forces abroad and so the BBC is heading Today this morning with an item which promises “uncovered allegations of abuse the US-run Bagram military base in Afghanistan. Correspondent Ian Pannell reports on former inmates’ claims that they were beaten, deprived of sleep, threatened with dogs and hung from the ceiling.” I understand the American military eat their own babies too. As a propagandising arm for the Taliban, you just can’t beat the BBC. Every captured Jihadist knows the form by now; Allege the most hideous crimes of torture and humiliation against US armed forces and a BBC reporter wanting to believe such pigswill will appear, microphone in hand, prepared to provide an echo chamber for the enemy.

WHY IRAQ IS A DISASTER

The recent success of the Iraq elections clearly runs contrary to the tiresome BBC narrative that everything our military has tried to achieve in that land has been a disaster. The “We’re all doomed, it’s a quagmire “ theme has been a constant feature of BBC coverage for years now so how to handle some good news? Well, earlier this morning they trotted on journalists Sudarsan Raghavan and Patrick Cockburn to review whether the results will lead to greater stability. Cockburn was quick to put the boot on, determined to suggest that despite all the evidence Iraq was still a disaster. Begrudgery incarnate.

A SUSTAINED SNEER

I don’t normally get to hear the main “Today” political interview as I normally otherwise engaged by 8am but this morning I did catch it and what a gem it was. Essentially, it was a ten minute sneer from John Humphyrs. US Ambassador Bob Tuttle was in the studio and the subject was the Bush legacy so you can imagine the vitriol dripping from Humphyrs mouth. To be honest I thought the Ambassador showed remarkable restraint given the relentless provocation from John Humphrys. Every lurid left wing imagination over the past eight years was trotted out to damn the outgoing President. It was a useful insight into how the BBC thinks – and very unpleasant at that! Did you hear it?

ROBERT MUGABE – VICTIM?

Intrigued to listen to an interview on the BBC this morning that pointed out that tyrant Mugabe was cut off from “his feelings” because of a “rough childhood”. I was touched. South African journalist Heidi Holland then went on to equate Mugabe’s belligerent intransigence with the current US position on his failure to share power as explanation as to why there can be no progress here. So, even in Zimbabwe, the US is to blame, eh?