Dan Rather Bemoans "Patriotism Run Amok"

Jim Farmelant farmelantj at juno.com
Fri May 17 03:33:44 PDT 2002


Its funny to hear Dan Rather complain like that. In the wake of 9-11 didn't he go on to Letterman's show and say: "George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions and...wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where."

Doesn't Rather bare some of the responsibility for letting the Bush Administration avoid accountability for its actions in the so-called war on terrorism?

Jim F.

On Fri, 17 May 2002 04:09:00 -0500 / dave / <arouet at winternet.com> writes:
> [This little item was read over the BBC World Service as a "headline"
>
> story of sorts, but so far seems largely buried in the U.S., tucked
> in
> the Arts/Entertainment section or with other unplaced wire services
> stories. (Rather's complaints about the Bush administration come a
> day
> after he and his network, CBS, were taken to task by that same
> administration for showing 15 seconds of the Daniel Pearl video in a
>
> story about how that video was being used to recruit new
> converts...)]
>
> Newsman Rather Tells Americans Ask More Questions
> By REUTERS
>
> Filed at 7:47 p.m. ET
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran U.S. news anchor Dan Rather warned
> Americans
> on Thursday not to let patriotism in the wake of the September 11
> attacks stop them from asking tough questions of President Bush and
> his
> "war on terror."
>
> Speaking to the BBC's Newsnight current affairs program, Rather said
> the
> heightened sense of patriotism after September 11 risked getting out
> of
> control, and stopping the press from holding the government to
> account
> over its war in Afghanistan.
>
> "I worry that patriotism run amok, will trample the very values that
> the
> country seeks to defend," said the CBS newsman, whose steely manner
> and
> professionalism became a symbol of America's resilience in the dark
> days
> after September 11.
>
> "In a constitutional republic, based on the principles of democracy
> such
> as ours, you simply cannot sustain warfare without the people at
> large
> understanding why we fight, how we fight, and have a sense of
> accountability to the very top.''
>
> Rather admitted that journalists, himself included, often felt under
>
> pressure to pull their punches for fear of being branded unpatriotic
> --
> the equivalent of having a "flaming tire" hung around their neck.
>
> "One finds oneself saying "I know the right question, but you know
> what?
> This is not exactly the right time to ask it,'' he said.
>
> "What we are talking about here -- whether one wants to recognize it
> or
> not, or call it by its proper name or not -- is a form of
> self-censorship,'' said Rather.
>
> He also accused the Bush administration of giving news organizations
> too
> little access and information, which he said went directly against
> the
> Pentagon's stated policy of giving ''maximum information and maximum
>
> openness'' about the war.
>
> "There has never been an American war, small or large, in which
> access
> has been so limited as this one,'' he said.
>
> The news black-out was allowing those in charge, who were putting
> the
> lives of American servicemen and women at risk, to hide, he said.
>
> "Limiting access, limiting information to cover the backsides of
> those
> who are in charge of the war, is extremely dangerous and cannot and
> should not be accepted,'' he said.
>
> The more the American public swallowed the official line under the
> banner of patriotism, the more government accountability would
> suffer,
> Rather said.
>
> "I am sorry to say that...overwhelmingly it has been accepted by the
>
> American people. And the current administration revels in that, they
>
> relish that, and they take refuge in that.''
>
> He also panned the increasing "Hollywoodization of war'' that is
> sweeping across the U.S. media, with hit shows such as VH1's
> 'Military
> Diaries', featuring real soldiers talking frankly about their
> experiences on Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan.
>
> "I want to say quietly, but as forcefully as I can, that I hope this
>
> doesn't go any further. It has gone too far already. I am appalled
> by
> it, I do think it's an outrage,'' he said.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-attack-usa-rather.html
>
> --
>
> / dave /
>

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