Sunday, August 10, 2008

Trust

I read an article on the Time website. It reported about the consequence of the death of Abu Khabab al-Masr, a man who was the acknowledged expert on explosives and the use of poison gas of al-Qaeda. The article uses loaded phrases like "weapons of mass destruction" and is based on information provided by a former CIA officer.

I have a big problem with the information in the artice. I find that as a consequence of all the misinformation that has been provided by both US-American agencies and press agencies in the recent past, I no longer believe what is written. My first instinct is to suspect both sources as being too biased to be believable.

There has been ample proof that information as provided by the current American administration has been doctored to the point where it is a lie. The consequence is that I doubt almost all analysis that can be sourced to the US government and government agencies. I find it really sad because at some stage the US was the centre of the free world. I do not consider the world free when I find that we can no longer trust the information that is made available by our governments.
Thanks,
     GerardM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just as long as you don't extend that distrust of the current US government and its enablers in the American press, to be a distrust of all Americans and all American sources. It would be churlish to not recognise that there are many Americans working today to restore the trust and freedom that America once stood for. Hopefully a President Obama will be able to do that work.

GerardM said...

When Mr Obama becomes president Obama, he will inherit the existing bureaucracy. He will have to work hard to change its culture and it will take time before a sense of trust will return.

In the mean time the trust I used to have in the information that I got is damaged. Repairing such trust is hard.
Thanks,
GerardM

GerardM said...

It was an American government that fought a civil war to end slavery in the south. It was an American government that helped out Europe in recovering after the second world war. It was an American government that was instrumental in getting the UN started.
To fact that the US government did bad in the past cannot be denied. It cannot be denied either that the US government did good as well. My problem is that with the current practices ingrained not only in the government but also in its institutions, it will be hard for the US to improve its current reputation.
Thanks,
GerardM