AFRICOM: The Doom of Journalism
April 12, 2011 by Statesman Sentinel · Leave a Comment
By Robert F. Beaudine
STATESMAN SENTINEL
April 12, 2011
Our founders understood that a free press was vital for the nation to preserve its other freedoms. In the first Amendment of The Bill of Rights, they endowed the press with its freedom, a responsibility that could be used for both good and evil. Our forebears knew when used for good, our public press would balance and limit the powers of government.
The history of the press that has led to today’s brand of journalism is a long report. The result is apparent to all who search for truth, because there is very little in today’s mainstream media.
Today’s coverage of Libya is illustrative. The mainstream media parroted the slogans of the state when they wrote of a “kinetic action” in Libya. Later, they streamlined this into an “action” in Libya.
Initially, our journalists reported that these kinetic killings were part of a humanitarian effort that would eventually save lives. Nine days after our action began, our President claimed that our response was in our strategic interests. Some analysts called this response deceptive and our actions confusing.
When world events seem illogical, our journalists have a duty to dig deeper to get the truth. Instead, our popular journalists seem apathetic about the truth and prefer the prestige and acclaim they receive when they help drive the agenda of today’s progressive policies. Surprisingly, sometimes these policies support their supposed enemy, the military-industrial complex, as is the case in Libya. It seems strange that our most “progressive” President has engaged in the imperialism favored by our neo-conservatives. This illogical action needs more journalistic scrutiny.
Our citizens have a strategic interest in the ability of our news media to keep us informed. It is a conflict of our interests when the media is negligent in this duty. The mainstream media for the most part is content to influence the public. Their record shows they care little whether the public is informed or uninformed.
This is apparent in a number of major news stories that were not reported by our prestigious journalists. The military command initially in charge of the Libyan intervention was the United States African Command, also called AFRICOM. AFRICOM was established in 2007 by an executive order of President Bush. This was AFRICOM’s first operational action. A free press would have run this as a major news story.
Either the press is unaware of this, or they are deliberately deceptive. But their nondisclosure is major news to any seeker of truth. It should open avenues for further discoveries and close the doors on all the nonsensical offerings of the mainstream press.
According to their website and their leaders, AFRICOM is a military organization that partners with African nations and the African Union. It supports the policies of our State Department, our US Embassies, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, appropriately designated USAID. It aims to unify Africa and establish peace. Many times, peace requires war, as is the case today in Libya.
Perhaps if Libya had participated in AFRICOM, war would have been avoided. Either way, AFRICOM has not been mentioned by our media because that would create too many questions and require our reporters to investigate, something their corporate owners frown upon. It would lead to the news that Libya was one of only five African nations that refused to participate in AFRICOM’s agenda.
Another story left largely unreported, which offers another reason for war with Libya, is that Libya had refused to join the international banking community. They had a central bank but not one in the popular conception. Theirs was state-owned and operated, which gave them the flexibility, if they chose, to price their oil in another currency than the U.S. dollar. That’s worth fighting over. It is a vital U.S. strategic interest to maintain the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and pricing petrodollars in another currency undermines that status.
Another major news story should blazon: While the rebels were fighting for their lives and country, they had the financial acumen to form their own central bank, something more in line with the international concept. The Central Bank of Benghazi was established on March 29th to the cheers of freedom loving people everywhere. America also cheered as this helped their strategic interests in keeping their U.S. dollar in demand.
But there were no cheers because there was no story. And if the truth be told, there would have been jeers.
There are many related news stories, largely unreported, all across Africa. AFRICOM supports the International Military and Education Training, which training was set up for African government officials and their military. While America is indoctrinated in cultural Marxism, Africa is undergoing a form of cultural Americanism.
AFRICOM also sponsors the African Endeavor, a multinational initiative. The U.S. Africa Command Blog wrote, “Overall, the goal of the Africa Endeavor exercise series is to develop command, control and communication tactics, techniques and procedures that can be used by the African Union in support of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and peacekeeping missions. Yes, a peaceful and secure Africa supports U.S. interests.”
Is this a new imperialism as our empire crumbles within? More investigation is certainly needed. Daniel Volman, the director of African Security Research Project claims our intervention in Libya is minimal and our President has acted “under very specific circumstances and with an international consensus.” President Obama has been clear about not raising “expectations of U.S. action in Ivory Coast.”
Did he mention Ivory Coast because of our strategic interest in their cocoa? Many nations need our humanitarian assistance, so what’s the real scoop? Did they suffer the same international wrath as Libya because Ivory Coast is one of the five nations that refused the assistance of AFRICOM?
Fortunately, the Washington Times continues to investigate and has published the truth. On Monday, Josiah Cantrall wrote an article titled, “UN and France destroy Ivory Coast sovereignty.” It seems Ivory Coast suffered an unjust international intervention, but also their President, Laurent Gbagbo, endured the humiliating lies of the mainstream media for months as he was portrayed as “a murderous strongman who refuses to accept electoral defeat.” Cantrall then described the widespread voter fraud that unjustly robbed the ardent Christian leader of his rightful role. This would explain his hesitancy to abandon his country to the rapacious international community.
Throughout history, empires disintegrated when weaker generations arose and perpetuated their apathy and immorality. Our founders were realists regarding the survival of their experimental government. They knew it was the duty of each rising generation to preserve their own freedoms, including the freedom of their press.
As a result, the lack of integrity in our mainstream media cannot be blamed entirely on our journalists. Much of the blame rests with our apathetic citizenry, those who have little understanding of world geography, rarely consult a world map, and care little about the world they live in. If they didn’t consume this worthless product, it wouldn’t survive. These people prefer the bliss of ignorance. And when world events overrun their little world, they will learn the awful lesson that blissful ignorance is rarely guaranteed.
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Robert Beaudine is the author of the novel Based Upon a Lie, which you can purchase as an ebook. Visit his website, facebook page or email him at: robert@baseduponalie.com.
Copyright 2011 – Robert F. Beaudine. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
