Yesterday I was angered by the morning news on Radio 4. They were reporting this item about a man who had apparently confessed to masterminding terrorist activities like the twin towers, and also ones that never happened, like killing the Pope or blasting Big Ben. But then, almost as an afterthought or a formality “your home may be repossessed if you do not blah blah…” sort of thing, they mentioned that this ‘trial’ had taken place in Guantanamo bay, without a lawyer, and that he said he had been tortured “but he made this confession freely”. What a contradiction in terms, and what the bloody hell are the BBC reporting such blatant propaganda for?! Don’t they feel in the least bit complicit with the illegality of where this news comes from? How can you trust confessions from a place like that anyway?! What we need is the steady, repetitive reportage of the Newsround programme when I was a kid. Every week we were reminded by the newsreader what Apartheid was… and Mr Craven got himself banned from SA for doing it. Why was I given better information as a child in the 1980s than I am now? The man was not put on trial, and he didn’t admit anything of worth. When will our governments learn you’ve got to keep your hands clean or you end up doubling the corruption. You have to behave like a democratic country at home AND abroad, or you just don’t believe in it at all.
mrs ping*
hear hear!