Monday, June 30, 2014

Rod Nordland and payments to Iraqi journalists

Rod Nordland has been really enjoying insulting all Iraqi journalists.  What he reports about (handing cash payments to journalists) is not uncommon in the Arab world.  But what he does not report is that US military has made bribery to journalists in the region an art form.  He also does not report about how Saudi Arabia buys journalists outside its borders.  But there is also another matter: how Iran's Shah and current GCC regimes and the Hariri family have been buying WESTERN journalists for decades.  (Read James Bill's The Eagle and the Lion about "gifts" from the Shah's ambassador to key Western journalists).  So please decrease the level of sanctimoniousness a notch.