Dahr Jamail – Unembedded Journalist

Sick and tired of listening to the mainstream media pore over General Petraeus’ scripted briefing?  I know how you feel, and have the antidote: Dahr Jamail’s address (43 mins) at the Chicago Socialism 2007 conference.

Disgusted with the coverage of the war in American journalism, Dahr Jamail saved up and took his camera and his laptop to occupied Iraq.  His unembedded dispatches are now recognised as crucial sources of information from the warzone – and are almost unique in their independence from occupying forces.

Dahr’s book Beyond The Green Zone is released next month.

See also John Pilger’s address at the same conference, and the documentary The Bases Are Loaded.

Israel’s Secret Weapons

At a time when the US and UK prepared to level Iraq based on spurious hints at secret weapons programmes, the BBC aired this documentary (44 mins) showing the absurd double standards that allowed another aggressive Middle Eastern country to secretly develop real weapons of mass destruction (h/t Fanonite).

It was a different corporation, then. After it dared question the intelligence that lead to war, its Director General was hounded out of office by a furious government. Critical journalism like this has become a thing of the past – but, on the bright side, now we have Doctor Who.