CNN wont show Qaida promotional video from Bosnia showing a severed human head rolling through grass

CNN correspondent Nic Robertson spoke with his wife on the phone from Afghanistan, but he didn't tell her about the secret video tapes he'd gotten his hands on.

He didn't want word to get out about what he had until he was safely out of the country.

Robertson left Afghanistan two weeks ago, and the tapes started airing on CNN on Sunday. They show what appears to be an inside view of al-Qaida, from lessons on how to pull off assassinations and urban attacks to a view of Osama bin Laden's followers -- some of whom the U.S. government may not have had pictures of before, Robertson said in an interview Monday.

Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House's Office of Homeland Security, called the videos "consistent with our previous information that [al-Qaida leaders] would use chemical weapons if they're able to obtain them." There was no credible information that the group had been successful in its effort to obtain weapons of mass destruction, he said.

Robertson said the most personally "shocking" of the 64 tapes he brought out of Afghanistan was a segment CNN began airing Monday of what appears to be a test of a chemical agent. It showed a cloudy liquid seeping across a floor toward a dog that whimpers, struggles and collapses.

"I've never seen a dog die before," Robertson noted. "When you see an animal suffer, you can't help but be affected."

CNN plans to air the tapes throughout the week. But not all of the footage will make it onto TV. Robertson said he doubts CNN will show what appears to be a promotional video out of Bosnia showing a severed human head rolling through grass. Among the segments CNN is scheduled to air is one showing how to make TNT as well as fuses and detonators. Other training tapes show that "out in the middle of the Afghan hillside they've built themselves a model town and a model bridge, and they go house to house and blow it up," Robertson said.

Some of the footage apparently mirrors what was in manuals and documents found last year in Afghanistan.

On Monday, Robertson was out of his usual field gear. In a business suit and dabbed with makeup, he rushed among CNN studios in Atlanta, reporting on the tapes for the main CNN network, CNN International and CNN Headline News.

He looked comfortable, although much of Robertson's tenure with CNN has been behind the camera. He was CNN's only engineer in Baghdad during the Gulf War and was a producer for CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour in Bosnia. He became a foreign correspondent in his own right in 1997, and he reported live from Afghanistan last Sept. 11.

A British citizen, Robertson, 40, is based in London with his wife. He was on assignment in Afghanistan when a source told him about a stash of tapes he should see.

Robertson wouldn't name his source or the town "hundreds of miles from Kabul" where he was shown the tapes.. Many of the tapes he left behind included on-air pieces from the BBC and CNN.

The problem with CNN showing the videos is that immediately people would be calling them up flaming them for 'taking advantage of the nefarious nature of the tapes to boost ratings!'

This has happened in the past (and usually revolves around CNN only) when if it breaks a story first (and usually for stories of profound magnitude it is usually CNN that breaks the story first due to its virtual global hegemony ....although when it comes to global news the BBC and SKY are kind of catching up, and domestically FOX, but overall CNN gets the scoops for the big stories). People start accusing CNN of using 'underhanded' means when it breaks the story, yet when other news channels do the same no one utters a peep!

A good example of this is when CNN aired the videos that showed Al Queda's stratagems and capabilities. Some were saying it was an unabated attempt to boost ratings, while others were even going as far as saying CNN might have paid money to Al Queda (CNN did pay money, but none of the 30K went to any 'dubious' sources).

So in this case i fully understand why CNN would not air the video showing the rolling head. Imagine the backlash that would happen if such a video was aired by a media company, and that media company was CNN! Their switchboards would be inundiated with calls and protests.

Hence i totally understand why CNN refused to air the shows.

It seems CNN can never do right! For example look at the following post:

You have to wonder about CNN's motives in not showing this particular picture. Concern for human dignity? Concern not to damage the reputation of their Arab friends? Who knows?

Had CNN shown the footage the opposite would have been posted by some other person. Probably something to the effect of: " CNN sees the public as a cesspool to dump film of executions without caring how it will affect the viewers." Or maybe: " This is another example of CNN executives chosing higher ratings over moral decency!"

In essence whatever CNN decided on this matter it would have been met with vitriol!

And i am not defending CNN! I think it is vastly left wing, but i also know it is the global leader in news, plus it is judged by a standard no other media company is subjected to! I love FOX, but it has done stuff CNN would have hanged for, yet no one said anything about that. Whatever CNN's faults are (and there are a number i can easily think of) i think it is judged with a standard no media company can achieve ...not even FOX.

And personally I prefer to watch CNN and MSNBC/CNBC (especially MSNBC/CNBC) for news and FOX for interesting commentary and Bill O'Reilly (although Bill and commentary are veritable synonyms).

And now for more Anathema: I think when it comes to spin no one spins stuff more than Mr. O'Reilly! And not only does he spin stuff, he changes his position depending on what the person he is verbally asaulting (oops, i meant interviewing) takes. If the person is for gay rights O'Reilly will take the opposite position. And if the person is against Gay Rights (like that guy on O'Reilly's show a few days ago) O'Reilly will take a pro-gay rights position and go as far as calling the poor fellow a 'Christian Fanatic.'

If CNN tried such stuff it would get chewed to tiny itty bitty pieces and spat out. However O'Reilly spins stuff at leisure and does not even take a solid stance. (With that said let me add that is the reason i watch O'Reilly ....whenever i have a boring evening i can count on him to provide an hour of mindless pleasure as i watch him grill some poor soul over a point he himself was in support of two weeks ago. He is a shrewd journalist but also an unapologetic spinner and manipulator .....and epitomizes everything people hate about CNN and much much more).

Flame retardent suit on!

“They need to show the most purchaseed and rented video from mosques and Islamic stores in Western Europe and North America, which shows Serbs being axed to death by mujahadeen monkeys.”

This is evidence of war crimes against Bosnian Serbs and should be put on the internet. The mainstream media mocked Serb reports of terrorism perpetrated against them during the war, and accused the Serbs of reacting to old fears dredged up from WWII stories. Never mind that Serbs were being murdered and beheaded from the very beginning of the wars.

There’s a picture on the following link of Serbs butchered by Albanians the summer BEFORE the Nato bombing. One of the man had his legs chopped off below the knees. Is that similar to what the mujahadeen does in the video from Bosnia?

http://compuserb.com/cossack/

”This Serb family, here in the picture, was hacked to death by the NATO sponsored KLA in the summer of 1998… The man in the right hand corner (her husband) had his legs chopped off with an ax at his knees, so before he died he was helplessly watching what savages were doing to his wife.”

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