Rose-Colored Glasses

Here is another example of the domestic media filter providing misinformation to the American public. First, here is the story as reported by the international media.

From the U.K. Times Online

The CIA'’s top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as “water boarding”, intelligence sources have claimed.

Robert Grenier, head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, was relieved of his post after a year in the job. One intelligence official said he was "“not quite as aggressive as he might have been"” in pursuing Al-Qaeda leaders and networks.

Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counter-terrorism at the agency, said: "It is not that Grenier wasn't aggressive enough, it is that he wasn'’t '‘with the programme'’. He expressed misgivings about the secret prisons in Europe and the rendition of terrorists."

Now, contrast the framing of that story with the article from Reuters that ran in the Washington Post

The head of the CIA's counter-terrorism center has been forced to step down as part of efforts by the spy agency to bolster its pursuit of al Qaeda, current and former intelligence officials said on Tuesday.

Robert Grenier, 51, told colleagues in an e-mail on Monday that he had been asked to move on from the helm of the unit that plans and executes CIA counter-terrorism operations and provides analysis on terrorism issues.

[snip]

The CIA's counter-terrorism center has recently lost stature as the result of intelligence reforms that created the National Counter-terrorism Center to oversee strategic planning and serve as a clearinghouse for intelligence and analysis for the entire intelligence community in that area.

There's no mention of Grenier's opposition to the torture and rendition policies of the U.S. government, but there sure is a load of spin that implies that his departure will help us track down Al Qaeda more effectively in Bush's Global War on Terror Adventure.

Some bloggers call repeatedly for a newstrike, but I don't subscribe to the notion that that would do any good. It is deeply important that we monitor and fight back against the propaganda that is constantly fed to the masses. It is no mistake that the White House controls their message carefully, they know that the rinse-and-repeat tactic of information dissemination helps to steer the messages favorably in their direction.

Help me and others shatter the rose-colored glasses that have been given to the American public without their knowledge (those that are aware of the glasses and still choose to follow the lies can go Cheney themselves).