The Only Truthful Media is the Internet

March 5, 2008
by Cliff Carson

Recently I heard Anthony H. Cordesman on Washington Journal (Week Ending Sunday 17th of February, 2008). He was a guest representing the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). His presentation was that he is a Non-Partisan critic of the Bush Administration. As the interview progressed, Cordesman seemed to favor the Bush Administration and its actions regarding Iraq.

He admitted mistakes in the "conduct" of the war but was basically a spokesman for the need to invade Iraq and the need to remain there. When several callers questioned his rationale and his defense of the Bush actions, he noted over and over again that his group was bi-partisan and was staffed by both Democrats and Republicans, roughly balanced.

But then a caller from Little Rock, Arkansas called and said to Cordesman "Mister you're nothing but a shill for the Bush Administration and the group you're representing here The Institute for Strategic International Studies, is actually an Israeli Think Tank with offices in Tel-Aviv and Washington. And the caller went on to say, " They were involved with PNAC and other initiatives such as " Project Clean Break" to subjugate the Middle East". Finally the caller asked the listening public to Google the Institute for Strategic International Studies and decide for themselves.

When Little Rock man was off the air, Cordesman began a tirade about how the man knew nothing, how he was a liar, how the CSIS has nothing to do with Israel, and finally how anyone who believes anything they read on the Internet is stupid. The host let him go on and never challenged any of his rhetoric.

Well being the way I am, the one he described as stupid, I immediately went to the Net and pulled up Anthony Cordesman, Institute for Strategic International Studies, Center for Strategic International Studies, burrowed into the sites to find who funds the CSIS and who else those contributors also finance, who comprises the Staff of the Think Tanks, and went to several sources to make my decision.

For the Record:

The Institute for Strategic International Studies is indeed an Israeli Think Tank with Locations in Tel-Aviv and Washington. They also have representatives known as advisors from both locations in both the United States Government and the Israeli Government. The Institute for Advanced and Strategic and Political Studies lists among their contributors the Scaife Foundation, as also does Cordesman's group, the CSIS ( The CSIS gets over 80% of its financing from groups such as Scaife, and Corporations, or Interest groups, 10% comes from public donations). CSIS, AISPS, PNAC, AEI, and other Right Wing groups share some of the Advisors, etc, and yes CSIS is affiliated with PNAC (Project for a New American Century - You might recall this group as the architects of the Iraqi war, initiated as they planned it back in 1996.

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All they needed was an excuse to invade Iraq. 9/11 gave them the excuse) and the CSIS shared Officers with PNAC and the American Enterprise Institute. Most interesting. Especially when reviewed with a recent article in the Washington Post by this same Anthony Cordesman, where he again calls for a long and protracted war in Iraq and Afghanistan, "beyond 2012 and often to 2020", to quote him from the article. And he closes the Washington Post Article with this paragraph:

"Any American political leader who cannot face these realities, now or in the future, will ensure defeat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Any Congress that insists on instant victory or success will do the same. We either need long-term commitments, effective long-term resources and strategic patience - or we do not need enemies. We will defeat ourselves."

Can I vote for we do not need enemies? Remember, our enemies in Iraq were created by invading and ravishing their country, by this same bunch that allied with Bush and his Administration who decided that the time was ripe to grab Iraq's Oil resources. You may remember the scenario: WMD, then when that lie was exposed, regime change, and when that was done, "Mission Accomplished", and on and on. It might be interesting to the reader to review the stated purpose of the CSIS, the IASPS, PNAC, the Scaife Foundation, the leaders of these organizations, and the result of their power grab. We created enemies. Innocent people don't like to be bombed, killed, and their national wealth raided. That causes them to become enemies.

I started out by stating the premise that the Internet was the most reliable media source of factual information. It is and will always be as long as we users can force "Net Neutrality" to continue. The FCC and the Bush Administration are pushing hard to get this net neutrality removed. And it is being eroded as you read this.

What makes the Internet such a supreme source of factual information are the users, that's you and me. Anyone who presents a lie to any media source can expect someone on the net to do some research like I did for this article, to expose the lie, or affirm it as the truth. Yes there is non-factual stuff out there on the net, also lies, and deliberate plants of misinformation. But there is a whole world of users and the truthful vastly outnumber the liars allowing the truth to always rise to the fore. All one has to do is look for several sources and separate the wheat from the chaff.

I thoroughly enjoy reading comments on stories. Yes there are the cranks that want to play games and raise mayhem, but as I said above, they are vastly outnumbered by those serious users who are looking for factual information. And reading through the threads, often I find references that set me off on a journey to find data to support or refute the argument and lead me to the truth. It can always be found with sufficient effort.

Why is the Mainstream Media not the most truthful? I don't know. But just to reflect on their "Top Stories" for today (whatever day that is), I do believe that it will be something like the Obama use of a speech authored by someone else, or maybe something about Brittany. You can be sure you won't read about the CSIS and who they are and what influence they have in our Government. But you will be able to read about the CSIS on the Internet, and also the Brittany, Obama, or any other story run by mainstream media. The day is coming when the mainstream media will become irrelevant unless they change their act.

Those that heard Cordesman and searched out his statements now know that he knowingly spoke misinformation as a minimum and a blatant lie at the other extreme, and is truly just a shill for Bush and the War Mongers.

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