Robert Fisk casts doubt on the arrest of 'Al-Queda No.3' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
'Of course, it may all turn out to be true. We may be provided with the proof the Taliban demand [that Mr Mohammed "is still with us and in our protection and we challenge the US to prove their claim"]. Or Mr Mohammed may be kept in Pakistani custody until another "mastermind" can be discovered. Or it may be that reports of the "arrest" of the likes of Mr Mohammed are very useful to General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's President, when he's just angered the Americans by criticizing any US military attack on Iraq, or when Pakistan's new regional government in the North West Frontier province has just instituted Taliban-style laws in Peshawar.'

In a Gulag system where persons are held or transferred to unknown locations without access to a lawyer, family, journalists, Parliamentary Committees or Ombudsman, it is not possible to confirm a person's location or even whether that person is in fact in custody. It is possible that Big Brother, purely for propaganda purposes, could announce the arrest of Emmanuel Goldstein and further announce successfully foiling a multitude of sabotage or terrorist operations. If it is possible that the 'Al-Quada No.3' is not in ISI/Pakistani/American custody at all, then that is important news which deserves the straightest and most thorough reporting. We look to people like Fisk to provide us which such reporting, which we can certainly not expect from the corporate media system, which is in a frenzy about the capture of the 'top' Al-Queda operative. The timing is certainly fortuitious. Either it will seriously hamper the expected terrorist attacks soon after the war on Iraq starts, or else it is excellent propaganda for the Bush gang right when their credibility is desperately low.

Robert Fisk casts doubt on the arrest of 'Al-Queda No.3' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
'Of course, it may all turn out to be true. We may be provided with the proof the Taliban demand [that Mr Mohammed "is still with us and in our protection and we challenge the US to prove their claim"]. Or Mr Mohammed may be kept in Pakistani custody until another "mastermind" can be discovered. Or it may be that reports of the "arrest" of the likes of Mr Mohammed are very useful to General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's President, when he's just angered the Americans by criticizing any US military attack on Iraq, or when Pakistan's new regional government in the North West Frontier province has just instituted Taliban-style laws in Peshawar.'

In a Gulag system where persons are held or transferred to unknown locations without access to a lawyer, family, journalists, Parliamentary Committees or Ombudsman, it is not possible to confirm a person's location or even whether that person is in fact in custody. It is possible that Big Brother, purely for propaganda purposes, could announce the arrest of Emmanuel Goldstein and further announce successfully foiling a multitude of sabotage or terrorist operations. If it is possible that the 'Al-Quada No.3' is not in ISI/Pakistani/American custody at all, then that is important news which deserves the straightest and most thorough reporting. We look to people like Fisk to provide us which such reporting, which we can certainly not expect from the corporate media system, which is in a frenzy about the capture of the 'top' Al-Queda operative. The timing is certainly fortuitious. Either it will seriously hamper the expected terrorist attacks soon after the war on Iraq starts, or else it is excellent propaganda for the Bush gang right when their credibility is desperately low.