Language

And the spin begins

Submitted March 23, 2004 - 4:26 am by Ron Smith
Narconews' favorite NYTimes reporter, Juan Forero, is up to his usual antics as Washington sets the spin machine on high to promote the increase in aid to Colombia.

Some highlights of the report;
Repeated citation of Colombian guerrillas for the trafficking of cocaine, with no mention of paramilitary drug connections.

Unchallenged claims of incredible success of fumigation with no discussion of harmful effects, going so far as to say they "eliminated" the "industrial" plantations of coca to focus on the smaller plantations. Here's some interesting logic. On my visits to Putumayo I never saw the industrial plantations the embassy described, only the small family plots struck with fumigant. Now they're claiming that since there's no evidence of these large industrial plantations, that they've eliminated them all and now can focus on the family plots.

No mention of the health and environmental effects of fumigating 300,000 acres of rainforest and jungle in one year.
There is some talk of terrorism, but not a single mention of the word "paramilitary" in the entire piece. The piece seems to suggest that more military aid would help the situation.

There can be no doubt we will see numerous additional puff pieces on US aid to Colombia in the coming days.

See for yourselves:
http://nytimes.com/2004/03/23/politics/23DRUG.html

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