Christian Science Monitor: The Tale of the Tape (How ABC got it!)

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | October 29, 2004 | David S. Hauck

[Smogger]

• Tale of the Tape: Western journalists working in Pakistan rely heavily on locals to facilitate their reporting in volatile tribal areas, where foreigners are not allowed to travel, says correspondent Gretchen Peters. This is especially true when it comes to obtaining videotapes purportedly made by Al Qaeda and other militant groups

The militants can't pick up the phone and call us or they'd be picked up by authorities listening for them," says Gretchen. "And we are hardly going to go and meet them after what happened to Danny Pearl," the Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed in Pakistan in 2002.

Gretchen, also a producer for ABC News, worked with local journalists to obtain a tape from an English-speaking militant threatening attacks on the US (see story). She says that this kind of work often means paying people to transport material from these remote locations. "We did pay a courier $500 for bringing us the video," Gretchen says. "He wanted much more, but we bargained him way down. Normally I pay about $200 when people bring videotapes from tribal areas like Waziristan. These guys incur expenses; it takes several days to make the trip." She says that other news organizations also pay for delivery of material.

Still, Gretchen is confident that this didn't compromise the integrity of the information on the tape. While she hadn't worked with this particular courier before, most of the people she uses are local Pakistani journalists who work for reputable daily newspapers and radio stations. "Some people speculate that the tape is a hoax made by people who wanted the cash, but $500 would be a paltry sum to get for the amount of work that went into making that video," Gretchen says. "The speaker is fluent in English, is extremely articulate, the subtitling is in perfect Arabic, and he makes all the Al Qaeda arguments."

Gretchen agrees that ABC, which had not aired the tape by the time the Monitor went to press, must proceed with caution, especially in the wake of CBS News mistakenly using forged documents in a story critical of President Bush. The ABC tape features an anonymous speaker that the CIA can't identify. "We need to be 100 percent sure, but there are a lot of markings that indicate it is an Al Qaeda video," she says. "I feel it is the real deal. And I'm still hoping we can prove it."

David S. Hauck Staff editor

Let us hear from you.

[Smogger]

I sent an e-mail to the editor of the CSM asking them to explain thier correspondants relationship to the tape and voilla!

[dmw]

Good work freeper!

[mewzilla]

Gretchen agrees that ABC, which had not aired the tape by the time the Monitor went to press, must proceed with caution, especially in the wake of CBS News mistakenly using forged documents in a story critical of President Bush.

Gee, maybe Gretchen could explain her net's decision to withhold fiteeen minutes of footage from the Feds...

[ml1954]

The militants can't pick up the phone and call us...

militants ??????. Not terrorists????

[ml1954]

These guys incur expenses; it takes several days to make the trip.

What is $500 worth in Waziristan?

[Pointblank]

They still feel it is the real deal and HOPE they can prove it!?!... Any normal American hopes this is a fake and this retard is hoping she hasn't received a bogus tape. Damn, Is she praying an attack will happen to prove she's right? Forget the internment of muslims, the MSM is much more dangerous.

[gaspar]

Let's see. ABC paid money to our terrorist enemies to get a propaganda tape that our enemies wanted distributed to the world in the first place. I would take that journalist and charge her with trafficking with the enemy.

[ml1954]

Maybe she pocketed $499.

[maica]

Terrific point. If our enemies want to deliver a message, they should NOT be GETTING PAID to do it!!!! WOW!!!

I am gasping for air!! [Sorry, just a little pun]

This is a gem that should be spread to every talk show host in every state.

[prairiebreeze]

Perhaps just another illustration of getting what you pay for. Straight out of Warziristan MGM Studios. Convenient for ABC to air.

The tape is garbage.

Prairie

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

I agree, even Toyko Rose had to use her own transmitter.

[Diogenesis]

During the Battle for Iraq, ABC gave the enemy both
US troop movements and limitations of US weapons.

Jennings and ABC are traitors. Halperin and the rest work for Soros and the DNC.

---

Terrorism encouraged, aided, and supported by ABC and its evil antiAmerican anchors and owners.

In this setting, exactly how corrupt is ABC?

CASE STUDY

Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004

"It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high
for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave
I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today
- nor do I want to stifle one.
Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.
The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman
on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks
on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way
that goes beyond what Kerry has done.
Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his (ed. ABC-supported) efforts to win.
We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest,
but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides
"equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.
I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts
to complain about our coverage.
This is all part of their efforts to get away with as
much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts
to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course.
But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the
candidates are saying to serve the public interest.
Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right. "

---

And who is Halperin?

BREAKING:
Halperin's father is none other than Morton H. Halperin,
head of [Election manipulator] George Soros' Open Society Policy Center.

[the invisib1e hand]

CBS News mistakenly using forged documents in a story critical of President Bush

yeah. like planes mistakenly flying into the World Trade Center.

[the invisib1e hand]

I posted # 13 without having seen your #12 (despite the recorded time difference; I'm on a slow dial up).

[Starboard]

"Some people speculate that the tape is a hoax made by people who wanted the cash, but $500 would be a paltry sum to get for the amount of work that went into making that video,"

$500 is no paltry sum in that part of the world. In 2002-03, the per capita income in Pakistan was $492. Yet another example of more innacuracies from the MSM.

[maica]

My email to the CSM: -

Dear Editor:
Please explain why enemies of America who are hiding far from civilization are aided by Christian Science Monitor reporters in disseminating their message which promises "blood running in the streets."

I had always thought of AlJazeera as partisan, but beyond our control, when it publicizes similar videos of hate. But to have confirmation from Gretchen Peters that Americans are also helping people who are at war with America has just knocked me for a loop.

Whose side are you on in the war against AlQueda terrorists?
[maica]

[AFPhys]

The ABC tape features an anonymous speaker that the CIA can't identify. "We need to be 100 percent sure, but there are a lot of markings that indicate it is an Al Qaeda video," she says. "I feel it is the real deal. And I'm still hoping we can prove it."

BEGGING THE QUESTION: IF THIS IS FROM A KNOWN ALQ SOURCE, AND THIS IS THEIR ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE MOST IMPORTANT U.S. ELECTION IN THEIR HISTORY,

WHERE IS O.B.L.??? WHY IS HE NOT THE STAR OF THE TAPE???

NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH A SITUATION?

...
..
.

( He's Dead, Jim. )

[vox_freedom]

Well done Smogger.

[prairiebreeze]

have you seen this?

[Mo1]

While she hadn't worked with this particular courier before, most of the people she uses are local Pakistani journalists who work for reputable daily newspapers and radio stations.

Hmmmmmmmm