We recently noted how Ethiopia and Eritrea, as they mutually demonize each other, are both engaging in a crackdown on their own media. Now the Committee to Protect Journalists, in their year-end report on imprisoned journalists worldwide, finds the two Horn of Africa rivals to be the worst offendors after China and Cuba. Uzbekistan was in fifth place, while the nasty and ostracized dictatorship of Burma was tied for sixth with the Leader of the Free World—that's right, none other than the good ol' US of A.

Alert Oliver Stone. But this piece by our frequent contributor Dr. Michael I. Niman (which originally appeared Nov. 10 in ArtVoice of Buffalo, NY, and is archived on Dr. Niman's website) makes a disturbing case.

Who Killed Pat Tillman?

by Michael I. Niman

The American mass media are like tired old dogs, dutifully fetching official lies on command, dropping them like bones at the feet of an unsuspecting public. We in turn reward them by buying both the products and the myths that they sell to us. Eventually, however, the products fail and the myths unravel. When, despite the support of a compliant press, the government’s popularity wanes sufficiently, however, even old dogs can come up with new tricks, reviving the lost art of investigative reporting.

Take the Pat Tillman case. Remember him? He was the star NFL Defensive Back who, after the 9/11 attacks, walked away from his $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist as an elite Army Ranger and go off to Afghanistan to whip some terrorist butt. No matter what your opinion on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, or your theory on who was ultimately responsible for the 9/11 attacks, Tillman was clearly acting as a selfless hero, in the traditional sense of the word. The media sang only one song at the time – dirtbags in Afghanistan did this to us, and “deterrence

The discovery of yet another clandestine torture center run by the Shi'ite-dominated Interior Ministry provides helpful propaganda to the Sunni jihadis. Around it goes. From Newsday, Dec. 13:

BAGHDAD - Five Islamic extremist groups denounced Iraq's parliamentary elections this week as a "satanic project" but stopped short of an explicit threat yesterday to attack polling stations.

Despite ongoing violence that killed at least 15 people, soldiers, patients and prisoners began voting yesterday, three days ahead of the general population.

From the Committee to Protect Journalists:

New York, December 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assassination today in Beirut of Gebran Tueni, a journalist and member of parliament who was a fierce critic of Syria and its policies in Lebanon. Tueni, 48, was managing director of Lebanon's leading daily Al-Nahar.

A parked car exploded as Tueni's armored vehicle drove past, international news agencies reported. The blast killed three other people and injured 32.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to Gebran Tueni's family, friends, and colleagues," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "This attack is an assault on free expression and freedom of the press. We call on the Lebanese authorities and the international community to work swiftly to put an end to these attacks on the media and the impunity with which they have been carried out."

Predictably, even as tensions rise between the two Horn of Africa rivals, Ethiopia and Eritrea are mirroring each other in a crackdown on the press. In a Dec. 12 press release, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists protests the use of "outdated and illegitimate charges" to imprison two journalists in Ethiopia:

Getachew Simie, former editor-in-chief of the defunct Amharic-language weekly Agere, was sentenced on December 7 to three months in prison for criminal defamation. Leykun Engeda, former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Amharic-language weekly Dagim Wonchif, was sentenced on December 9 to 15 months in prison for allegedly publishing false news.

From the New York Times, Dec. 12 (and apparently little-reported elsewhere):

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Dec. 11 - In the remote hamlet of Tamga, residents frustrated by corruption and the sorry legacy of a chemical spill did something that would have been unthinkable in Kyrygzstan not long ago: they rose up.

Declaration of the Left Worker-Communist Party of Iraq-LWPI Regarding the “Elections

From Reuters Dec. 9:

The founder of Argentina's leading human rights group was laid to rest yesterday, 28 years after she was abducted during the country's military dictatorship. Family and friends buried the ashes of Azucena Villaflor on a prominent Buenos Aires plaza that for many Argentines has come to symbolize the fight for justice by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. The group of mothers, often seen wearing white handkerchiefs, have pressed for a full accounting of their sons and daughters, who went missing during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship known as the ''Dirty War." ''Azucena rest in peace, this is your place," said Marta Vazquez, one of the mothers. Villaflor was kidnapped by state security agents in December 1977. Forensic experts identified her remains in July after they were unearthed in a cemetery on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.