The Imperial Media, Libya and the Battle of Bani Walid

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http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m81378&hd=&size=1&l=e

"Rebels" welcoming arrival of NATO war jets to pave the way for their occupation of Ajdabiya March 26. AP Photo
September 13, 2011

The Western Media

Examining the facts and finding the truth of what began Friday night as The Battle for Bani Walid has not been easy due to the many conflicting stories published by the pro-invader media. That the western media has organized itself to blantantly lie about the NATO war on Libya is irrefutable; indeed, they make no attempt to defend their deception depending rather on repetition and brute media force on minds akin to the savagery of NATO's assault with bombs and missiles. In their coverage of the Battle for Bani Walid we argue that the media has warped into publication of deliberate contradictions meant to confuse the reader, hiding or ignoring the facts.

The Imperial Media and Their Grand Deception

Before we look at the Battle for Bani Walid, the BBC and Reuters serve as examples of the grand deception. The BBC reports today on the discovery of bodies found buried outside Tripol. In their title, the BBC calls the burials "roadside graves," a subtle minimization for mass graves that contain up to 15 bodies. The victims are slain African workers whom the BBC states, "They were said to be mostly the remains of African mercenaries who had been fighting for Col Gaddafi." - a rumor propagated by the western media that led to the hysterical murders of African migrant workers by the NATO mercenaries. The corporate media has never provided any evidence that Africans were hired by the Libyan leader to fight against the NATO attacks.

The first of the two photos below is a Reuters photo that includes Reuters descriptions. The second is published by the BBC with their descriptions of the image. The reporters and camera crews from Associated Press, Reuters and the BBC were present in these and many similar scenes showing they had full knowledge of the mercenaries. We can only imagine the photos they have which they chose not to publish. Of course none of the pro-invader media was "embedded" with the Libyan military despite numerous invitations.

One of the Reuters photos of African workers, rounded up by the NATO "rebels" on the basis of their skin color on March 24, 2011. It is featured with others by Reuters under the title, "Gaddafi's Mercenaries." Reuters describes these men without evidence or qualification, "Mercenaries and soldiers loyal to Gaddafi sit inside a prison in Benghazi." In some of the other photos in the same series, Reuters calls them, "Suspected Mercenaries."

In typical western media fashion, the BBC also states, "It is not known who the victims are or who killed them," - after identifying them as mercenaries hired by and fighting for Col. Qaddafi. The BBC also suggests that the "rebels" were probably not responsible for these murders by reporting that the Africans were killed a month ago but the "rebels" arrived in Tripoli 3 weeks ago. It has been well-established that the beatings, lynchings, rapes, murders and dismemberment of African workers by "rebels" were also the rotten fruit of lies spread by the western media.

This corporate media photo is captioned by the BBC: "This machete-wielding Libyan rebel is rounding up men outside Ajdabiya suspected of having fought on the side of the pro-Gaddafi forces. The men's fate is unknown."

CNN serves as our last example of organized deception by the western media. Sara Sidner, their reporter in Tripoli during the sacking of the city was embedded with the mercenaries even as they rode into Tripoli in the wake of NATO bombing. In one scene on August 23, dressed in battle gear she reported as CNN's camera crew filmed the pillaging of the compound and home of Col. Qaddafi and his family. Sara praised the mercenaries as they fired through the exterior walls with heavy weapons for hours and later as they entered the Bab Al Aziza compound. As CNN cameras showed the mercenaries looting the compound, waving their stolen goods, Sara's CNN anchors cheered for the mercenaries and NATO, often laughing audibly in their studio back in Atlanta, Georgia ... while Tripoli burned. Such psychotic behavior. showing not a trace of genuine remorse or sadness for dying Libyans reveals the loathsome culture of the corporate media. Interestingly, CNN did not show any footage of unarmed Libyans who went to the compound to protest the invasion and were summarily executed with hands bound behind their backs.

This is CNN's Sara Sidner reporting on the pillage of the Bab Al Aziza compound in Tripoli on August 23.