Target Centermass

Day: September 13, 2004

  • Terrorist Group Claims Two Aussies Kidnapped

    A terrorist group in Iraq is claiming to have nabbed two Australian nationals.

    Two Australian security contractors yesterday became the latest foreigners to be kidnapped in Iraq after militants apparently ambushed their convoy on a road outside Baghdad.

    In a statement, a group calling itself the Islamic Secret Army said it would execute both men “without a second chance” unless their government pulled its troops out of Iraq within 24 hours.

    The group said it had seized the Australians, together with two east Asian nationals, in the town of Samarra, a Sunni militant stronghold effectively in the hands of the insurgents.

    Is no news since the claim actually good news?

    IT WAS a good sign that those claiming to have kidnapped two Australians in Iraq had not released the names of their alleged hostages, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

    ….

    Mr Howard said the Department of Foreign Affairs was yet to verify whether a kidnapping had actually occurred, or whether it was a hoax, but said in past kidnapping cases, the names of those held had been released and their passports displayed on television.

    In fact, maybe the claim holds as much water as CBS’ Killian documents.

    Australia has accounted for all its nationals known to be working in Iraq following a claim by a radical Islamic group to have kidnapped two Australians, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday.

    “At this stage we can find no evidence that any Australians are missing or have been kidnapped, but nevertheless we’ve got to be cautious in what we say because further information could turn up as the day goes on,” Downer said.

    He said the Australian embassy in Baghdad had accounted for all 88 civilian Australians registered with it.

    “We have also checked with four companies that we know employ Australians and those companies have all accounted for the Australians,” Downer said in a television interview.

    “There is, though, one of those four companies that is doing a recheck to finally clarify the situation,” he said.

    Let’s hope that this is nothing. However, with elections pending in Australia, one would expect that further moves by the scumbags against our allies are likely to be attempted thanks to the Spanish example.

  • Rather’s Dangerous Game

    With its firm stance supported only by weak defenses, CBS is walking a high-wire with Dan Rather’s assertions that the Bush-Killian documents are valid. These defenses are repeatedly rapidly overwhelmed by the research of the conservative side of the blogosphere, and this has led me to re-evaluate the situation.

    Short of serious substantiation, CBS has two choices: first, crawdad on its assertions and confess its egregious errors in both methodology and mission; second, lay low and continue to deny, hoping it blows over or the rest of the mainstream media rides in to the rescue.

    This brings to mind the French at Dien Bien Phu.

    From Summons of the Trumpet by Dave Richard Palmer:

    The French and the Viet Minh fought the climactic battle at an unimportant and unimposing village high in jungle-covered hills near the Laotian border — Dien Bien Phu. (Memories of that battle would return fourteen years later to haunt and distract American leaders at a crucial moment.) In January 1954, Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap surrounded a large French force at Dien Bien Phu, isolating it from all support except that dropped by parachute. Through February and into March the French held on doggedly. But they were doomed without help — and by March they knew it. Desparately, Paris asked Washington to intervene.

    Is CBS setting up MSM’s own Dien Bien Phu, with the bloggers in the role of the surrounding forces? It would certainly seem that the rehashing of the old AWOL stories would be the equivalent of “an unimportant and unimposing village” in this election year. The stakes on the confrontation? Nothing short of the credibility of the entirety of the old media. If the bloggers retreat into the jungle and let Rather escape, then the current situation continues. If critical mass of the story is reached with the public, MSM goes into a crisis. Will the other branches of the old media play it neutral and see how things play out, or will they do their actual job and seriously look at Rather’s claims? Their credibility may hinge on it, as the Swiftboat Vets story has shown that MSM no longer has exclusive claim to the public’s attention.

    CBS and Rather are potentially setting up their own Dien Bien Phu. Will the rest of the old media support them or do what’s right and what’s their role in society — investigate and cover the story?