Ministry of Defence gags soldier's grieving mother
Liv Lewitschnik and Phil Turner | 17.10.2004 11:55 | Indymedia | Cambridge | London
She is the mother of soldier Gordon Gentle who was killed in Iraq. She is currently suing the Ministry of Defence over her son's death.
On 3 September, the Ministry of Defence issued a D notice about her case.
D notices are government orders which are issued to media outlets. They warning the media off reporting certain things.
On 3 September, the Ministry of Defence issued a D notice about her case.
D notices are government orders which are issued to media outlets. They warning the media off reporting certain things.
“THEY HAVE lied and lied and lied-and they are continuing to lie”.
This is what David Miller, the editor of Tell Me Lies, told the meeting on “The lies of war- exposing propaganda and fighting censorship”.
Miller also revealed that the government is trying to gag Rose Gentle.
She is the mother of soldier Gordon Gentle who was killed in Iraq. She is currently suing the Ministry of Defence over her son's death.
On 3 September, the Ministry of Defence issued a D notice about her case.
D notices are government orders which are issued to media outlets. They warning the media off reporting certain things.
The notices are voluntary, but in practice they are rarely breached. And, so far, they have not been breached in this case.
The D notice prevents the press reporting on security measures employed by the British army in Iraq.
The Gentle family had raised some of these issues in a press conference about their fight for justice.
Since the notice was issued, the press have not reported aspects of the case and the action itself has received little coverage.
The issuing of the D notice itself has been ignored, despite the fact that other aspects of Rose Gentle's campaign have received widespread press attention.
“This has been reported by how many? Absolute zero”, David Miller told the meeting.
“Four national newspapers have written the story up, but it has failed to appear.
“It highlights the need for an independent media.”
David Miller and the others speakers went on to discuss wider issues of media distortions and censorship.
Miller said,“Blair seems unable to tell the truth although his nose is rubbed in death and destruction in Iraq.”
He explained how the deliberate distortions have been put out to the public by the government.
He said, “They are promoting 'friendly' information and they are killing 'unfriendly' information-and that means journalists who get too close to the truth.”
“The mainstream media is following the government's lies both in Iraq and also here on the home front attacking asylum seekers and the Muslim community.”
“There is a deliberate campaign going on in the media against Muslims and against the anti-war movement.
“They want to intimidate us and undermine our demand to get the troops back home now”.
Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said that journalists were increasingly becoming victims, as shown by the bombings of Al Jazeera head quarters in Karbul, Baghdad and Basra.
He said, “54 journalists had been killed in Iraq as a way to control and manipulate the media in an ideological battle”
Calls for journalists to end the media's news black out about waht is really happening in Iraq were made at the meeting
Go to www.spinwatch.org
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=2931
This is what David Miller, the editor of Tell Me Lies, told the meeting on “The lies of war- exposing propaganda and fighting censorship”.
Miller also revealed that the government is trying to gag Rose Gentle.
She is the mother of soldier Gordon Gentle who was killed in Iraq. She is currently suing the Ministry of Defence over her son's death.
On 3 September, the Ministry of Defence issued a D notice about her case.
D notices are government orders which are issued to media outlets. They warning the media off reporting certain things.
The notices are voluntary, but in practice they are rarely breached. And, so far, they have not been breached in this case.
The D notice prevents the press reporting on security measures employed by the British army in Iraq.
The Gentle family had raised some of these issues in a press conference about their fight for justice.
Since the notice was issued, the press have not reported aspects of the case and the action itself has received little coverage.
The issuing of the D notice itself has been ignored, despite the fact that other aspects of Rose Gentle's campaign have received widespread press attention.
“This has been reported by how many? Absolute zero”, David Miller told the meeting.
“Four national newspapers have written the story up, but it has failed to appear.
“It highlights the need for an independent media.”
David Miller and the others speakers went on to discuss wider issues of media distortions and censorship.
Miller said,“Blair seems unable to tell the truth although his nose is rubbed in death and destruction in Iraq.”
He explained how the deliberate distortions have been put out to the public by the government.
He said, “They are promoting 'friendly' information and they are killing 'unfriendly' information-and that means journalists who get too close to the truth.”
“The mainstream media is following the government's lies both in Iraq and also here on the home front attacking asylum seekers and the Muslim community.”
“There is a deliberate campaign going on in the media against Muslims and against the anti-war movement.
“They want to intimidate us and undermine our demand to get the troops back home now”.
Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said that journalists were increasingly becoming victims, as shown by the bombings of Al Jazeera head quarters in Karbul, Baghdad and Basra.
He said, “54 journalists had been killed in Iraq as a way to control and manipulate the media in an ideological battle”
Calls for journalists to end the media's news black out about waht is really happening in Iraq were made at the meeting
Go to www.spinwatch.org
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=2931
Liv Lewitschnik and Phil Turner
Comments
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stop this nonsense
18.10.2004 06:29
This lad was not a conscript. He made a conscious choice to take a job which would likely involve killing people, and going places where people would try to kill him. Like most servicemen, he happily took the money for playing with the toys and doing exercises. The slightest investigation of the past would tell him that he was likely to be lead on unjust causes, by officers who made mistakes, with inadequate equipment and safety protection. That is how armies are. That is how he chose to earn his money. Maybe he didnt have many other desirable options, but he wasnt forced via the barrel of a gun.
Compare his case with the 10000-14000 innocent civilians killed in Iraq by his forces and their allies. Couldnt THEY sue us for not providing adequate protection before we aimed bombs next to (at?) them. They didn't volunteer, as this lad did. Or draw money for it. Many were little children.
And how about the Iraqi servicemen? Almost all conscripts, with no choice but to join. Forced via the barrel of a gun. About 40000 of them died. If they were forced, surely they were partly innocent too? Unlike our lad.
Could they sue us ?
And remember, for every person killed in war, between 5 and 10 are badly injured. Are there, say,
5x(10000+40000) = 250,000
people in Iraq dragging through semi-disabled lives without the medical attention we get?
This is forgetting the half million Iraqi children that Madeline Allbright agreed on television had been killed by sanctions, adding that she thought it was "worth it" ?
So please, no more sanctimonious self-worshipping hypocritical claptrap about this lad -
or Ken-I-risked-it-for-the-big-money-Bigley for that matter.
How many Iraqi lives equal one British in your mind ? Whats your figure ? 5000? 10000? Mine is 1.
caspar k