Propaganda Alert
Topic: CNSNews.com
In a Jan. 30 column, CNSNews.com editor David Thibault has informed us that he and his news organization is fully in the tank for the Bush administration (as if we didn't know that already). CNS, he has declared, will be promoting the claims of Georges Sada, author of the new book "Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein." Why? Because Sada "demolishes the myth that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction and posed no international threat"; perhaps more importantly, Sada's claims "may or may not be giving Kerry and Pelosi heartburn."

Thibault writes: "It should not surprise any of our readers to learn that Gen. Sada is scheduled to meet on Monday, Jan. 30, with a member of my cracker-jack staff, Sherrie Gossett." Nope -- given the partisan nature of CNS, it doesn't surprise us at all.

What will suprise us, though, is if Gossett and CNS does something other than present Sada's claims at face value -- you know, conduct the interview like a real journalist. Daily Kos outlines some ways to challege Sada here. And while she's at it, Gossett might also want to think about explaining why Sada's book, osensibly dealing with national security issues, is being issued by a religious publisher. Or what Sada is doing hanging out with the same PR agency that handles the likes of Mona Charen, Star Parker, Kenneth Starr, Cal Thomas and Judge Roy Moore. (They call themselves "the oldest and most established Christian-based talent agency in the United States."

We'll be watching to see how CNS plays this.