Move over, Bob Laurence. Former Snohomish County, Wash., Democrat party official Mike Whitney has taken your place as anti-Fox News Channel scum of the week. From “uruknet.info,” a pro-terrorist propaganda outlet deemed a legitimate news source by Google News:

Are FOX employee’s innocent bystanders or an integral part of the American war machine? That may turn out to be an important question now that 2 FOX workers have been captured by a group of Palestinian militants.

It would be hard, if not impossible to draw a line of separation between the US military and FOX News. Their anchors may shun the camouflage fatigues and jack-boots, but that is where the difference ends. FOX is a fully-integrated cog in the corporate/state media apparatus; faithfully reiterating the official statements of Pentagon Big-wigs and administration powerbrokers. Their “embedded” news team provides the splashy graphics and right wing chatter which energize their base and marshal public support for American aggression. They carefully create a narrative which makes deliberate acts of unprovoked warfare appear necessary and (even) humanitarian.

No one has violated the basic standards of journalistic integrity more consistently than FOX News. Their unwavering support for the war in Iraq demonstrates their blatant disregard for professional evenhandedness and neutrality. Dissenting opinions are scrupulously scrubbed from their broadcasts while the vulgar displays of jingoism and xenophobia are presented as “Fair and Balanced” coverage. On some FOX web sites it’s still possible to find articles which claim that Weapons of Mass Destruction were actually found in Iraq. No wonder nearly 50% of the American people still believe that Saddam posed a threat to our national security and that Bush’s illegal invasion was justified.

If FOX is an essential part of the state propaganda-system which facilitates the war, then how can we absolve their employees from accountability? Doesn’t that make them legitimate targets for resistance organizations?

And, of course, Whitney ends with the requisite Ward Churchillian “chickens coming home to roost” flourish:

As long as Muslims are deprived of their rights and freedom, we can expect more random incidents of kidnapping and cruelty. These are the unavoidable consequences of injustice.

The Holy Jihad Brigades is the natural offspring of Bush’s “New Middle East”, a hotbed of animosity and violence. America has radicalized the region and is fueling the rage and bloodshed. The chickens will continue to come home to roost until America withdraws from Iraq, stops its blind support of Israel, and negotiates a comprehensive settlement to the Palestinian issue.

More at The National Ledger, where Cliff Kincaid (a frequent critic of Fox News from the right) nails down why this nutball’s rant matters:

Whitney is not an isolated crank. His columns have appeared on websites that go by the names of Information clearinghouse, Smirking Chimp, Counterpunch, dailymuslims.com, the online journal, axis of logic, Palestine Chronicle, and buzzflash.

His attack on Fox News represents the pathological hatred that exists on the left for the channel because it dares to give conservatives some airtime. By appealing to conservatives, who have not had a national television voice, the channel has become a tremendous success. In terms of international coverage, however, Fox News is not that significantly different from other news organizations. Whitney seems to forget that Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera was expelled from Iraq for allegedly divulging details of a future U.S. military operation.

At [Accuracy in Media], we have more recently been critical of Fox News correspondent Jonathan Hunt’s coverage of the war in Lebanon for taking an anti-Israeli slant. We previously were critical of a Saudi prince, who is a significant financial investor in News Corporation, the parent of Fox News, for claiming to have influenced the channel’s coverage of the Muslim riots in France.

For Whitney, however, Fox News has to be demonized. Not surprisingly, another one of his targets is President Bush. According to one biography of Whitney posted on the Internet, his interest in politics began with the “appointment” of Bush as president and he believes that “the Cabal that presently occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” poses “a threat that is as real and as far reaching as any we have seen since the rise of Fascism in 1930s Germany.”

Such remarks would be laughable were it not for the fact that they seem to reflect a significant percentage of the grass roots of the Democratic Party and his views get such wide circulation in this new media age. The newsworthy aspect of this controversy, of course, is that dissent has crossed the line into apparent support for those who kill Americans. That cannot be excused or condoned.

Or ignored.

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Allah’s got the latest developments on efforts to free Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig.

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