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Is the US Media Biased When It Comes To the Middle East?
When Daniel Pearl was killed by Islamists in Pakistan, the US media reported it as a horrific crime -- which was correct because it was. When Israeli Soldiers shot Suraida Saleh to death while she was holding her 9 month old baby in her harms, their was not even a peep out of the US media. It did not matter that she was a Palestinian American that was born in the US. Her family was not invited to speak on Larry King Live on CNN. This one small case points out the extreme double standard by which the US media operates? Who has not heard of Daniel Pearl. Who HAS heard of Suraida Saleh?
http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0403-01.htm
Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill a US Citizen as She Holds Her
9-Month-Old Baby in Her Lap
With the Morgue Overflowing, the Family is Forced to Bury the 21-Year-Old
Palestinian-American in the Ramallah Hospital Parking Lot
The US State Department Does Nothing
NEW YORK - April 3 - Israeli soldiers on Friday shot and killed Suraida Saleh in Ramallah
as she was holding her 9-month old baby in her lap. She and her husband were driving to
safety at her father's house after hearing shooting near their home. Suraida Saleh was a
Palestinian-American, born in George Washington Hospital, in Washington, D.C.
Reached on the phone today in Ramallah, her father Farhan Mohammed Saleh, told
Democracy Now! that Israeli soldiers asked the husband to stop the car and started
shooting. He said they shot Suraida in the head and chest, and she died immediately. After
shooting the husband repeatedly, they let him go. He took the baby from his dead wife's lap
and stumbled up the road to the home of his father-in-law, where he collapsed.
With the Ramallah hospital morgue overflowing and Israeli soldiers preventing anyone from
reaching the cemetery, Saleh said he was forced to bury his daughter in the hospital parking
lot alongside dozens of other Palestinians.
Suraida's father, Farhan Mohammed Saleh, wept as he said: "I took her out of the hospital
refrigerator [morgue] with my own hands, and my wife and my older son with me, we took
her outside and put her in the ground, just temporary."
On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke to the Office of Consular Affairs at the State
Department. The office said the State Department was aware that Suraida Saleh was a U.S.
citizen, but did not plan to release a statement or take any action. Farhan Mohammed
Saleh said that the State Department has done nothing.
As he spoke, you could hear his grandson crying in the background. "[My grandson] is with
me now. He is 9 months old, I don't know what's going to happen with him without his
mother. You know, he's crying all the time, that's what makes me suffer."
Details of Sureida's death were obtained by American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice
(http://www.global-peace.org). They emailed, called and faxed major media for two days and no
one picked up the story. Today is the first time the voice of Farhan Mohammed Saleh, the
father of Suraida, will be broadcast nationwide. The following is a partial transcript of the
interview that Amy Goodman, host of the radio and television show Democracy Now!, did
with Farhan Mohammed Saleh in Ramullah.
Farhan Mohammed Saleh [FMS]: ...some of the neighbors, when they hear
the shooting and saw her in the car, they call the ambulance... she stayed in
the refrigerator [hospital morgue] from Friday morning up to yesterday evening
[5 days]. ... I took her out of the hospital refrigerator with my own hands, and
my wife and my older son with me, we took her outside and put her in the
ground, just temporary, somewhere in the hospital, until they can take her to
the cemetery.
Amy Goodman [AG]: You buried your daughter in the parking lot?
FMS: Yes, yes, she was with 2 more women, the men were buried
separately. It is a temporary cemetery they make...
AG: How many other people are buried in the parking lot?
FMS: About 25 or 27 people. Three women were yesterday, and about 23 or
24 men.
AG: Why couldn't you get to the cemetery?
FMS: Nobody can go to the cemetery, there was shooting going everywhere.
They just give 1 or 2 hours to the people to see their dead. We passed from
the side of the tanks and the soldiers, and we was scared... [my grandson] is
with me now. He is 9 months old, I don't know what's going to happen with
him without his mother. You know, he's crying all the time, that's what makes
me suffer. [Crying of baby in the background]
AG: Has the US embassy come to see you?
FMS: Nobody, nobody up to now. My other daughter in Brooklyn, she called
the Department of State in the U.S. and gave them all the information and they
called the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and gave them my phone
number. They called me Friday or Saturday, and I told them what's happening,
and they say they are going to come and nobody came. And they called me
Sunday morning and say they're going to come and nobody showed up, up to
now. I called 2 or 3 times and I talked with some people working and nobody
has shown up to now, nobody has seen me up to now. I don't know what I'm
going to do with the baby now. [He begins to weep.]
It's a bad situation, a bad situation we have really, we just ask God to help
her. It's killing people everywhere, in the streets, in the houses. They broke
down the houses, the buildings, they get inside the houses and the
apartments and they kill people and break down everything. That's barbarism.
That's the situation we have. I don't know where are the human rights? The US
and all the world, they're calling for human rights - where are the human
rights? Civilian people, they're killing everywhere, in the streets and the
houses and the apartments. Some buildings have 10 to 15 apartments, they
get inside the apartments and houses and are killing everywhere,
AG: Farhan Mohammed Saleh, we're going to try to get more comment from
the US State Department.
FMS: They going to help me the kids, to make his life, I don't know what
they're going to do, [the son-in-law] a very poor little guy, he wasn't not
working from the time when they were married.
AG: He's in the hospital now?
FMS: When I go to the hospital, I took him with me. He saw her before the
burial, and the doctor said go with me. He's with me now.
AG: Farhan Mohammed Saleh, thank you for being with us, and we will check
back with you.
FMS: I appreciate your call, thank you very much.
For more information about this story, please contact “Democracy Now! “at
(212) 431-9090. This show can be heard on mp3 at http://www.democracynow.org. It
can also be seen on Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of the Dish Network, this
Wednesday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. EST or this Thursday at 9:00 a.m. EST.
“Democracy Now” is a daily grassroots news-magazine that airs on Pacifica
and community radio stations throughout the country as well as on public
access cable TV and the satellite Dish Network.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0403-01.htm
Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill a US Citizen as She Holds Her
9-Month-Old Baby in Her Lap
With the Morgue Overflowing, the Family is Forced to Bury the 21-Year-Old
Palestinian-American in the Ramallah Hospital Parking Lot
The US State Department Does Nothing
NEW YORK - April 3 - Israeli soldiers on Friday shot and killed Suraida Saleh in Ramallah
as she was holding her 9-month old baby in her lap. She and her husband were driving to
safety at her father's house after hearing shooting near their home. Suraida Saleh was a
Palestinian-American, born in George Washington Hospital, in Washington, D.C.
Reached on the phone today in Ramallah, her father Farhan Mohammed Saleh, told
Democracy Now! that Israeli soldiers asked the husband to stop the car and started
shooting. He said they shot Suraida in the head and chest, and she died immediately. After
shooting the husband repeatedly, they let him go. He took the baby from his dead wife's lap
and stumbled up the road to the home of his father-in-law, where he collapsed.
With the Ramallah hospital morgue overflowing and Israeli soldiers preventing anyone from
reaching the cemetery, Saleh said he was forced to bury his daughter in the hospital parking
lot alongside dozens of other Palestinians.
Suraida's father, Farhan Mohammed Saleh, wept as he said: "I took her out of the hospital
refrigerator [morgue] with my own hands, and my wife and my older son with me, we took
her outside and put her in the ground, just temporary."
On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke to the Office of Consular Affairs at the State
Department. The office said the State Department was aware that Suraida Saleh was a U.S.
citizen, but did not plan to release a statement or take any action. Farhan Mohammed
Saleh said that the State Department has done nothing.
As he spoke, you could hear his grandson crying in the background. "[My grandson] is with
me now. He is 9 months old, I don't know what's going to happen with him without his
mother. You know, he's crying all the time, that's what makes me suffer."
Details of Sureida's death were obtained by American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice
(http://www.global-peace.org). They emailed, called and faxed major media for two days and no
one picked up the story. Today is the first time the voice of Farhan Mohammed Saleh, the
father of Suraida, will be broadcast nationwide. The following is a partial transcript of the
interview that Amy Goodman, host of the radio and television show Democracy Now!, did
with Farhan Mohammed Saleh in Ramullah.
Farhan Mohammed Saleh [FMS]: ...some of the neighbors, when they hear
the shooting and saw her in the car, they call the ambulance... she stayed in
the refrigerator [hospital morgue] from Friday morning up to yesterday evening
[5 days]. ... I took her out of the hospital refrigerator with my own hands, and
my wife and my older son with me, we took her outside and put her in the
ground, just temporary, somewhere in the hospital, until they can take her to
the cemetery.
Amy Goodman [AG]: You buried your daughter in the parking lot?
FMS: Yes, yes, she was with 2 more women, the men were buried
separately. It is a temporary cemetery they make...
AG: How many other people are buried in the parking lot?
FMS: About 25 or 27 people. Three women were yesterday, and about 23 or
24 men.
AG: Why couldn't you get to the cemetery?
FMS: Nobody can go to the cemetery, there was shooting going everywhere.
They just give 1 or 2 hours to the people to see their dead. We passed from
the side of the tanks and the soldiers, and we was scared... [my grandson] is
with me now. He is 9 months old, I don't know what's going to happen with
him without his mother. You know, he's crying all the time, that's what makes
me suffer. [Crying of baby in the background]
AG: Has the US embassy come to see you?
FMS: Nobody, nobody up to now. My other daughter in Brooklyn, she called
the Department of State in the U.S. and gave them all the information and they
called the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and gave them my phone
number. They called me Friday or Saturday, and I told them what's happening,
and they say they are going to come and nobody came. And they called me
Sunday morning and say they're going to come and nobody showed up, up to
now. I called 2 or 3 times and I talked with some people working and nobody
has shown up to now, nobody has seen me up to now. I don't know what I'm
going to do with the baby now. [He begins to weep.]
It's a bad situation, a bad situation we have really, we just ask God to help
her. It's killing people everywhere, in the streets, in the houses. They broke
down the houses, the buildings, they get inside the houses and the
apartments and they kill people and break down everything. That's barbarism.
That's the situation we have. I don't know where are the human rights? The US
and all the world, they're calling for human rights - where are the human
rights? Civilian people, they're killing everywhere, in the streets and the
houses and the apartments. Some buildings have 10 to 15 apartments, they
get inside the apartments and houses and are killing everywhere,
AG: Farhan Mohammed Saleh, we're going to try to get more comment from
the US State Department.
FMS: They going to help me the kids, to make his life, I don't know what
they're going to do, [the son-in-law] a very poor little guy, he wasn't not
working from the time when they were married.
AG: He's in the hospital now?
FMS: When I go to the hospital, I took him with me. He saw her before the
burial, and the doctor said go with me. He's with me now.
AG: Farhan Mohammed Saleh, thank you for being with us, and we will check
back with you.
FMS: I appreciate your call, thank you very much.
For more information about this story, please contact “Democracy Now! “at
(212) 431-9090. This show can be heard on mp3 at http://www.democracynow.org. It
can also be seen on Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of the Dish Network, this
Wednesday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. EST or this Thursday at 9:00 a.m. EST.
“Democracy Now” is a daily grassroots news-magazine that airs on Pacifica
and community radio stations throughout the country as well as on public
access cable TV and the satellite Dish Network.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0403-01.htm
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The media attention in the Pearl case was relentless and borders on propaganda. Saleh is not even known in this country. An organization for justice emailed, phoned, and faxed major news outlets for days but not one major news agency was willing to report her death.
This is reminiscent of another pair of cases that happened around 1985. Leon Klinghoffer was killed by Palestinian terrorists as retaliation for the Israeli bombing of Tunisia (in which Israel used cluster bombs and killed about 80 civilians). The media attention given to Leon Klinghoffer and the fact that the perpetrators were being set free by the Egyptian government put the US media into a frenzy.
At the same time, Alex Odeh -- a member of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee -- was killed by a bomb planted in his office in Santa Ana (http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0497/9704067.htm).
This received practically no mainstream media attention. The perps in this case were members of the Jewish Defense League. Even though the FBI knew who they were, they were allowed to fly to freedom to Israel. They were never extradited and have probably come back to the states with impunity.
All you got to hear at the time was about Leon Klinghoffer -- which was horrible. But was the bombing of Alex Odeh any less horrible -- so much so in fact that it should receive nearly zero coverage compared to the relentless almost propagandistic coverage given the Klinghoffer case? And what about the moral outrage at the US government allowing the JDL terrorists to go to Israel and get away with this terrorist bombing?
sure. and that sucks. if arabs stopped attacking americans or didnt target children, this might not be the case.
not all arabs are idiots. not all arabs are terrorists. but all terrorists sure are idiot arabs. so yes, theres a bias.
This is true by definition in the US and the West generally.
In other parts of the world, Israelis who kill civilians are also considered terrorists.
Is Ariel Sharon a terrorist? Does killing 20,000 civilians in Lebanon in 1982 considered terrorism? Followed by 25,000 more during Israel's occupation of South Lebanon (45,000 dead). Are we complicit because we support this with our tax money? You probably didn't even know this and probably won't even believe what I'm trying to tell you, but the reason you are ignorant of what is going on in the world is because the media makes you that way so that you will support what they want you to support.
One more thing, is at least 500,000 dead children in Iraq considered terrorism on the part of our government for its role in maintaining the sanctions there which affect the civilian population more than Saddam?
if you want to blame that on the u.s. then fine, it furthers your view. but in the real world of simple truth, its really just silly.
the problem is simple. the solution is simple. it only gets complicated in your head. but sincerely i dont care ome bit. if you never bring that bad water around my children its of no concern to me.
I understand illiteracy is a big problem right now. Please re read the article above and you will find this statement:
"Reached on the phone today in Ramallah, her father Farhan Mohammed Saleh, told
Democracy Now! that Israeli soldiers asked the husband to stop the car and started
shooting. He said they shot Suraida in the head and chest, and she died immediately. After
shooting the husband repeatedly, they let him go. He took the baby from his dead wife's lap
and stumbled up the road"
It's usually good to be able to read something and make sure you have the story straight, before commenting. Just a suggestion.
Now we come down to the final two players. ... You have a United States administration, the Clinton Administration, which, as we've seen with Madeleine Albright's unfortunate statements of 1997, have decided to pervert international law and say that it doesn't matter what Iraq does with disarmament, we're going to keep economic sanctions in place.
Now, these sanctions are becoming harder and harder to defend, on two fronts. One, what good are they doing? Are they having an impact on the target, Saddam Hussein? The answer is no. Who suffers under sanctions? Innocent Iraqi people. Thousands of children under the age of five die every month because of these sanctions, and while the American public might be oblivious to this, believe me, the rest of the world is not, and the longer we continue this program of economic sanctions targeted against Iraq, the more isolated the United State becomes.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/unscom/interviews/ritter.html
"...asked the husband to stop the car and started
shooting."
Can YOU read, X2?
you havent seen the light of my suggestion you be honest so it looks like i may have to start popping out some more windows. how about those garage windows next ?
in case you dont know X2 is nessie. i'll be compiling his nicks for display soon. that'll be fun to watch him defend himself as someone else. have you seen him argue with himself yet? its really cute.