Peter
Jennings' Unfortunate Legacy
by Debbie Schlussel
August
11,
2005
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It's
sad when anyone dies of cancer, but we can't
let the human side of the Peter Jennings story obscure his real
"achievements."
While
the rest of the world is blindly singing Jennings' praises, here's
a reality check: Peter Jennings did more for the cause of Islamic
terrorism than any media figure today. And that's nothing to
celebrate, honor, or even memorialize.
It
is no coincidence that al-Jazeera's chief Washington correspondent
praised ABC -- and Jennings, in particular -- for their
"objectivity." Before there was al-Jazeera, there was
Peter Jennings.
From
the beginning of Jennings' career until his death, his biased
coverage went beyond the pale, bending over backward in
"understanding" the terrorists who hate us -- from
seeing "their side" when he covered the seige and then
murder of innocent Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics to
honoring an al-Qaeda operative with a prized
"commentator" spot during Jennings coverage of the 9/11
attacks.
Throughout
Jennings' coverage of the attacks, he frequently featured a man
named Tariq Hamdi (whose commentary urged understanding for the
radical Moslem
world), identifying Hamdi only as "journalist."
But in fact
Jennings' friend Hamdi was no journalist at all. As I've
written, Hamdi was an accused Bin Laden associate and
employed by Sami
al-Arian, the head of "Palestinian"
[Arab] Islamic Jihad in the United States.
According
to prosecutors and documents in the 1998 trial of the Osama bin
Laden bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa (the 7th anniversary of
which was yesterday), Hamdi provided Bin Laden a satellite battery
instrumental in those bombings. He's also an unindicted
co-conspirator with Islamic Jihad financial head Sami al-Arian,
who employed him at his Islamic "charity" fronts at the
University of South Florida. Hamdi was also an employee of a
Saudi-funded charity raided by Customs agents for allegedly
laundering billions to al-Qaeda through the Isle of Man.
Jennings
mentioned absolutely nothing about Hamdi's disturbing activities,
but did note that Hamdi was his friend and repeatedly featured
Hamdi in post-9/11 ABC News broadcasts. This is the type of
"journalist" and "commentator" Jennings
frequently employed in his so-called newscast of which he was an
all-controlling editor.
Now the Washington
Post repeats what I've said about Hamdi, but adds more. Days
ago, Hamdi was indicted for immigration and mortgage-loan fraud.
While failing to mention Jennings, the Post also adds,
"ABC did not respond to a request for more information about
its relationship with Hamdi." The recently unsealed
indictment also mentions that Hamdi was the U.S. representative
for the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights in Saudi
Arabia, "a London-based organization that has embraced many
of bin Laden's views," according to the Post.
That's
a "journalist" in what was "The World According to
Peter Jennings."
(Hamdi
has now fled the U.S. Don't count on him coming back to face
justice. Question for ICE press flack, Dean Boyd: Why was Tariq
Hamdi allowed to leave the U.S.?)
I
always say
that
pillow talk is the most effective form of political speech. And it
apparently had its effect on Jennings early on. When developing
and heading up ABC's Beirut headquarters, Jennings had
a "relationship" with
"Palestinian"
[Arab]
Hanan
Ashrawi.
And it colored his insidious, anti-American, anti-Israel coverage
ever since.
[Right after 9-11, when other
journalists were interviewing experts on Islamic terrorism such as
Steven Emerson, Jennings featured an interview with Ashrawi -- and
even pretended that he had forgotten her name. - Ed.]
Then
there were the sneers, the sneers of a Canadian high school
drop-out for anything conservative, anything mainstream, anything
pro-Western, pro-America, pro-Israel, etc. Jennings' sneers and
snide comments were always evident for those who did not meet his
very left-of-center point of view. A great example was his
sneering during the 2000 vote recount, and after, when Bush was
declared President. Another was his sneering just after the 9/11
attacks when Bush delivered his speech to a joint session of
Congress. Then there was his sneering reaction and say-it-ain't-so
comments when conservative revolutionaries led Republicans to
capture the House of Representatives in 1994. And who can forget
Jennings' sneering ABC News Special in which he decried America's
bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, which saved American lives.
Jennings'
elitist sneers will NOT be missed.
During
ABC's Gulf War coverage, when ABC military expert Tony Cordesman
attributed much of the success of our military forces to Israeli
improvements to our weapons systems and as command and control
advised by the Israelis, Jennings became enraged and argued with
him.
While
Jenning's death is perhaps
a
human tragedy, it is sad that his despicable brand of advocacy
journalism -- parading as "news" -- wasn't laid to rest
along with him.
Unfortunately,
that will not happen. His version has spawned a thousand clones.
Sadly, the female, more personable, non-toup éed
version of Jennings -- Elizabeth Vargas -- is set to step into
Jennings' shoes. She got off to a great Jennings-esque start in
her first hosting duties at ABC's "20/20" last fall. She
delivered a very sympathetic profile and interview of Hamas
operative and fundraiser Cat Stevens. Expect more of this to come.
It's
sad when anyone dies of cancer. I won't dance on Jennings' grave,
even though he managed to justify the early graves of young,
innocent athletes slaughtered at the Munich Olympics -- the way he
blasphemed their murders with his shallow,
understand-the-Islamic-terrorists coverage. Unlike the murdered
Munich athletes he dishonored, Jennings died in peace and without
pain. He got to say good-bye to his loved ones. They did not.
I
will remember Peter Jennings for the less than honorable person he
was -- not the emperor with no clothing that is now being
memorialized.
Jennings
used to end his newscasts with, "And that's a look at our
world." No, it wasn't a look at our world, at all. It was
Peter Jennings' slanted world, and every day he acted as if he was
doing us a favor by giving
us his warped look at it.
Jennings'
legacy is helping advance the cause of Islamic terrorists on
broadcast television, parading it as news. He wrote his own
epitaph with it. Unfortunately, it came with a lot more tombstones
and epitaphs than just Jennings' -- and most of those buried
beneath are a whole lot more innocent.
They
are the victims of Islamic terrorism -- the brand Peter Jennings
helped build into a network news product. That cancer,
unfortunately, is still here. And it has metasticized.
(Read more
on the REAL
Peter Jennings.)
Debbie
Schlussel is a contributor to FrontPageMag
where this article first appeared. Author's website
and email.
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on this article.
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