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Don't know if any of you heard this "report" yesterday. Really full press propaganda - stating Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq. Now I don't know, maybe they are, maybe they aren't - but this reporter was quoting three men the Iraqi's tortured into confessing as if their confessions were gospel truth and solid proof of Iran's misdeeds.... Anyhow - here's my letter to NPR:
This piece was more propaganda than news. The reporter was trying to convince people that Iran is indeed influencing violence in Iraq, but she failed to prove her point. The only "proof" she offered was the testimony of three men beaten so severely by the Iraqi's that they could not stand, and indeed had to be dragged into chairs. It is well recognized that torture generally convinces people to say whatever their torturer wants to hear, just to make the pain stop. Therefore it was very troubling to hear Anne Garrels quoting statements from victims of torture as "proof" of Iran's misdeeds in Iraq. She admitted that these men were brutalized, bleeding, and sobbing - but she apparently took their coerced statements as gospel truth. From her "reporting" you would never have known that torture doesn't produce TRUTH, or that tortured people will say almost anything just to make it stop. I was suprised and disappointed that NPR would produce such garbage.
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