[Peace-discuss] Racism the media won't trumpet

[C. G. ESTABROOK]

	How Will the Global and U.S. Media Deal with
	the Gaza Flotilla’s Encounter with the Israeli Navy?
	By: Edward Teller Saturday May 22, 2010 12:58 am	

I. Were I the commodore of the flotilla of eight or nine vessels preparing to 
head straight from Cypress to the Gaza coast near the end of May, I’d want Joe 
Meadors next to me on the bridge. He’s joining the flotilla. Joe’s one of the 
survivors of the brutal Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, for which Joe’s 
previous skipper won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Joe says "It’ll be like 
old home week."

I’d want Joe on the bridge of the MV Rachel Corrie with me. Along with every 
other living survivor of the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, Joe believes the 
Israelis meant to sink a U.S. ship and somehow cover up the evidence.

The MV Rachel Corrie is not a U.S. ship, but several U.S. citizens are joining 
the flotilla, including two former high-ranking State Department officials:

Ambassador Edward L. Peck, who served as a paratrooper during two tours of 
wartime active duty; spent 32 years in the Foreign Service; including stints as 
Chief of Mission in Iraq and Mauritania, Deputy Director of the Cabinet Task 
Force on Terrorism at the Reagan White House, and State Department Liaison 
Officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon; and after retirement was 
Executive Secretary of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

and:

Mary Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired official of 
the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. 
She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to 
publicly resign in direct protest of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Other Americans will be participating, along with hundreds of Europeans and some 
Turkish peace activists.

But none are as important as Joe Meador.

II. When it comes to that moment when, in international waters (as was the case 
with the Liberty) the flotilla, which will have been monitored since untying 
from Cypress by aircraft and helicopters, half the Israeli Navy and the flotilla 
come over opposite horizons and into view with each other, nobody can foresee 
what will happen next. The Israelis claim they have a right to intercept the 
convoy. The backers of the convoy are subject to whatever the skippers of the 
small flotilla deem to be most prudent as the scene rapidly unfolds. They are 
licensed mariners who have agreed to abide by certain rules to obtain and keep 
their professional credentials.

Essentially, they have to be as careful when the Israelis approach them as a 
similar flotilla might have to be should Somali pirates hail them on the high 
seas. Should the flotilla attempt to keep on steaming straight toward the Gaza 
wharves, the Israeli Navy has announced that it is in training for the encounter.

Will it try to pick them off one by one?

Should the large MV Rachel Corrie be used as a 21st Century ram at the head of a 
frantic charge, hoping that one of the Israeli torpedo or missile boats doesn’t 
have a projectile with the word "Caterpillar D-9" painted onto its dull, deadly 
metal?

III. I don’t know the answers. But I would like to see some of the media 
attention on this show that the reporters are informed enough about the context 
of the flotilla to give us some honest journalism.

As the flotilla passes Malta, a lot of pressure will be brought upon those 
responsible for the joining of vessels in the Eastern Mediterranean, to pursue 
some channeled plan or to disband. Will the U.S. take a role in this? The 
vessels are flagged at a lot of places, none of them in the USA.

The European media, which is sort of lurking around this story, will be onto it 
once the MV Rachel Corrie passes Gibraltar, which will be soon.

The US media will ignore it as long as possible.

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/49836

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