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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/11/8/81159.shtml
Journalists Report What They Don't See
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Nov. 8, 2001
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- In the war in Afghanistan,
journalists report what they don't see. Most war
dispatches are based on what both U.S. and Taliban
officials tell the reporters. There is almost no real
reporting.
Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan's southern
Baluchistan province which borders the Taliban
stronghold of Kandahar, is home to hundreds of Western
journalists, both print and television.
They spend their nights at a four-star hotel called
Serena, chatting, drinking and eating. In the
mornings, they are busy calling U.S., Pakistani and
Taliban officials to plan the rest of the day. After
lunch, they are herded into station wagons and driven
to the Pakistani border town of Chaman, escorted by
the Pakistani army and police commandos.
Once in Chaman, they are helped to the roof of a
border checkpoint from where they monitor the war. The
photographers take out their high-powered zoom lenses
and snap pictures of whatever and whomever they see on
the other side of the border. Some reporters also peep
through these lenses to add color to their "eyewitness
accounts."
Once this daily chore is over, they return to their
hotel for their well-earned rests.
They depend on Pakistani commandos because it is not
safe to move around without protection. Pashtun
tribesmen, who live on both sides of the border and
blame all white people for bombing Afghanistan, pelt
Western journalists with stones when they see them.
U.S. officials have also warned the journalists that
if they went without guards, they can be kidnapped and
smuggled to Afghanistan where tribesmen may demand
hefty ransoms for releasing them.
Even in the Pakistani city of Quetta they remain
mostly indoors, as it is dangerous to go out in the
streets where religious parties have been holding
almost daily protests against Pakistan's decision to
back the U.S.-led airstrikes against Afghanistan.
"Most of us have no access to independent information
and no means to verify what we are told," said one
journalist. For news from Afghanistan, they mostly
depend on the so-called "informed sources," meaning
aid agencies, local Taliban officials, Pakistani
authorities and U.S. officials in Islamabad.
Even when they are taken inside Afghanistan, there is
little that the journalists can see on their own. The
Taliban keep a tight control over the territory from
the Pakistani border to Kandahar. Nobody is allowed to
talk to journalists. Afraid of the Taliban, local
tribesmen shy away as soon as they see a Western
journalist.
Besides, the Taliban have little communication with
each other. So most of the reports about casualties
and damage caused by U.S. bombings are mere estimates
dished out to the journalists by both sides.
And the Taliban or U.S. officials are not alone in
"spoon-feeding" the journalists. Various aid agencies
and non-governmental organizations have their own
vested interests in reporting what's happening inside
Afghanistan.
The Taliban consulate in Quetta is not there to
facilitate journalists in reporting the war. It is
apparently there to discourage the journalists from
visiting Afghanistan. Those who apply for visas are
shouted at, shoved around and insulted.
Taliban officials do not hesitate to tell them that
they believe most journalists are U.S. spies. This
attitude is even more obvious inside Afghanistan where
anyone with a satellite phone or a camera can be
arrested as a spy.
Even those visiting Afghanistan on official
invitation, can only see and film what the Taliban
officials want them to see. Any deviation from this
practice can lead to immediate deportation, arrest or
severe punishment.
While racking up casualties, the bombings also have
become a source of income for others. Soon after the
bombing, groups of tribesmen rush to the site to
collect the scraps. Sometimes it even leads to fights
among various groups of scrap collectors.
Even the stones unearthed by bombs are collected and
sold in neighboring Pakistan for use as concrete. A
truckload of such stones can bring as much as $50. The
steel collected from used shells can bring more.
After 10 years of war against the former Soviet Union
and more than 10 years of civil strife, the Afghans
are used to bombing and shelling. Few run for shelter
when they hear the jets; instead they rush to the
bombing site to collect the shells as soon as the
bombing is over.
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http://mediafilter.org/caq/caq61/caq61spylocal.html
http://home.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointel.htm
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/
http://www.evolutionzone.com/kulturezone/memetics/henson.memes.metamemes.and.politics
http://www.geocities.com/catzeye94109/Orwell.html
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