US Corporate Media Downplays Pentagon's Special Commando Assassination Unit

[Truth2Tell]

From: Project Censored

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/wikiwoes-in-us-corporate-media/

By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff

The New York Times, Washington Post, and most other newspapers in the US are censoring or under-reporting the WikiLeaks documents that show US Task Force 373 (TF 373) is an out-of-control assassination unit responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan.

Nick Davies’ lengthy article in the London Guardian July 26, describes how the WikiLeaks war logs show TF 373 as a shadowy kill-or-capture squad hunting the Taliban’s most-wanted.

-snip

While the news about WikiLeaks was widely covered in the US media, most papers framed the story in the context of the White House press release and how the release could result in harm to US forces. The Grand Rapid Press reported on page A2 using the headline, “White House condemns war leaks; WikiLeaks provides ground-level account of Afghan military moves.” The Lewiston Morning Tribune (Idaho) on July 26, one of the few in the US to have full coverage of the Guardian’s story, headlined the piece, “Leaked military records provide ground-level account of Afghan war: White House condemns Internet disclosure.”

It is safe to conclude that the corporate media in the US is significantly under-reporting or failing to report (i.e., censoring) the full story from the Guardian regarding the specifics of civilian deaths and assassinations by US Commando Unit Task Force 373. The few US newspapers that mentioned TF 373 failed to say how the targets were selected, gave no specifics on the number of civilians killed, and did not address the thousands in prison. Instead, the corporate media continue to amplify the spin of the US political establishment, decrying WikiLeaks’ actions as potential treason rather than what they really are: actual reporting.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/wikiwoes-in-us-corporate-media/">Read whole report here...

And here's some excerpts from the Guardian article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/task-force-373-secret-afghanistan-taliban

“The NATO coalition in Afghanistan has been using an undisclosed ‘black’ unit of special forces, Task Force 373, to hunt down targets for death or detention without trial. Details of more than 2,000 senior figures from the Taliban and al-Qaida are held on a ‘kill or capture’ list, known as Jpel, the joint prioritized effects list.

In many cases, the unit has set out to seize a target for internment, but in others it has simply killed them without attempting to capture. The logs reveal that TF 373 has also killed civilian men, women and children and even Afghan police officers who have strayed into its path….

Now, for the first time, the leaked war logs reveal details of deadly missions by TF 373 and other units hunting down Jpel targets that were previously hidden behind a screen of misinformation. They raise fundamental questions about the legality of the killings and of the long-term imprisonment without trial, and also pragmatically about the impact of a tactic, which is inherently likely to kill, injure and alienate the innocent bystanders whose support the coalition craves.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/task-force-373-secret-afghanistan-taliban">Read this whole example of actual journalism here...

[katandmoon]

1. K&R

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

Very interesting

[Truth2Tell]

3. thanks leftstreet

I think it's pivotal information.

Good to see ya, :) I haven't been around here too super much lately.