Editorial

Here's Mark Mardell introducing the first item on today's The World This Weekend:

The body of General Qassem Soleimani has arrived back in Iran. Tens of thousands of mourners have packed the streets walking alongside the flag-draped coffin. Women sang a hymn to the fallen general. The depth of mourning for the infamous spymaster, Iran's chief foreign strategist, isn't in doubt. The consequences of the US assassination of him are still very uncertain. President Trump has announced in a tweet that if Iran carries out its threat to retaliate the United States is ready to hit 52 Iranian sites "very fast and very hard". He said they be at "a very high level and important to Iran and Iranian culture". Deliberately attacking cultural sites would be a war crime. The number of targets, 52, is rather bizarrely based on the number of US hostages taken by Iran some 40 years ago.

Be afraid!

Jim Muir.  This is not an example of egregious bias. Rather, the bias is almost subliminal, but in Jim Muir’s FOOC audio essay on the US’s recent assassination of “General Qassam Soleimani” he and Kate Adie seem to be taking impartiality to an absurd level. Jim Muir’s final summing up.

“…….There’s no doubt that Soleimani was an integral part of a proud regime. His only boss was the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and many saw him as the country’s second most powerful figure.

Having lived for a period in Iran, at times Muir speaks almost reverentially of the Ayatollahs and their repressive and vicious regime. His discernibly 'disinterested’ description of Qassam Soleimani’s career encapsulates the BBC’s value-judgement-free attitude to this particular political and civilisational issue. His last sentence warns us of the upcoming threat we now face. ‘Be very afraid’.

“We can only guess just now what they will be, but there will be consequences."

My thoughts are that if there is one issue over which a value judgement and a degree of partiality would actually be appropriate for a British broadcasting corporation to express without restraint or equivocation, this is it. On this occasion, the BBC’s conspicuous ‘impartiality’ stands out like a sore thumb. British values, eh.

Contrast this with Kate Adie’s next introduction, in which she uses far from impartial language to describe the Catholic church.

“In Ireland the power and the prejudice of the Catholic Church, combined with the state, insured that a grim regime of retribution was waged against unmarried mothers and so-called wayward girls and sometimes unwanted troublesome daughters. For over two centuries they were sent to institutions where scandals of cruelty and neglect were common, but mainly ignored by the authorities. Even today a government commission is looking into allegations regarding some former homes, and one where hundreds of babies and young children were buried in the grounds. Its report is due next month and Deirdre Finnerty has been talking to a former inmate:

The mother and (illegitimate) baby scenario of less enlightened, more pious times certainly deserve harsh words, but, as they say, the past is a foreign country, while the Mullahs are operating their 'foreign' evil practices in the here and now. 

What time is it?

The BBC isn’t the only broadcasting arena that can propel one to the off-switch with that special, panic-propelled urgency.

The word ‘James O’Brien’ triggers such a response; faster than a missile from a catapult. But as he himself puts it, ‘Even a stopped clock is right once, nay, twice a day.”

Now, there’s something very disturbing about James’s mannerisms and tics. He must have chewed the inside of his mouth to ribbons during that conversation, but on this occasion, the clock has stopped at just the right point.

This little example shows that listening to an interviewee and letting the speaker set out and develop his case can benefit the listener, the interviewee and ultimately, the interviewer himself. By not interrupting, not trying to score some sort of Twitter-friendly gotcha, the audience gets to learn something, and the BBC could learn something too.

I doubt that I’ll be an O’Brien convert from now on, but as time ticks on, you never know. That rigid old clock might coincide with events once again.

Hawks and Doves

Oz Katerji 

No man has more civilian blood on his hands in the Middle East than Qassem Soleimani.

His assassination is an era-defining moment for the region, and will have massive and unforeseen repercussions.

Tonight the only people I keep in my thoughts are the families of his victims.

— Oz Katerji (@OzKaterji) January 3, 2020

Melanie Phillips  (extracts)

"Soleimani has been described by some outlets as a terrorist leader. This is vastly to underestimate his importance. The al Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is part of Iran’s hugely powerful proxy army, and Soleimani was the regime’s key military strategist and military commander. 

He launched countless military operations against US, Israel and others. He was responsible for hundreds of American deaths in Iraq. He was the invaluable architect of Iran’s territorial drive for regional incursion and hegemony.

President Trump, who ordered the strike against Soleimani, has already weakened the regime through reimposing sanctions. That in itself has helped inspire the immensely brave Iranian protesters who, despite suffering in their thousands murder, jailing and torture, have continued with their demonstrations aimed at bringing down the regime that has so oppressed them and ruined their country.

Even a mortally wounded serpent, however, can still cause death and destruction through the thrashing of its tail. America and Israel are now braced for Iran to retaliate. Since the middle of last year it has been escalating its aggression in the region, firing rockets at US bases, attacking oil tankers in regional waters and crippling Saudi Arabia’s most critical oil installation through a multiple missile strike

President Jimmy Carter was paralysed by the 444-day Iran hostage crisis. President Clinton vacillated between sanctions against Iran and appeasement. 

Most infamously, President Obama did a deal with the regime which would have allowed it to develop nuclear weapons after at best a ten-year delay, and which opened the way for millions of dollars to be funnelled into Iran to finance its continuing terrorist attacks, regional aggression and genocidal agenda against Israel. 

Faced with attacks on American assets, Carter ran away, Clinton prevaricated, Obama actually helped fund them – but Trump ruthlessly and decisively killed the attacker. America is now back as a force to be reckoned with.

@NikkiHaley

Qassem Soleimani was an arch-terrorist with American blood on his hands.  His demise should be applauded by all who seek peace and justice.  Proud of President Trump for doing the strong and right thing. @realDonaldTrump 🇺🇸

*************

@Keir_Starmer

This is an extremely serious situation. There’s a clear danger of further violence and escalation in the Middle East. We need to engage, not isolate Iran. All sides need to de-escalate tensions and prevent further conflict.

@lisanandy

This is a very dangerous moment. 17 years after the catastrophic decision to go to war in Iraq violence still rages every day. World leaders must stand up to Trump. The last thing we need is another all-out war.

Qasem Soleimani: 'This will escalate an already volatile situation’

The US assassination of Qasem Soleimani is an extremely serious and dangerous escalation of conflict with global significance. The UK government should urge restraint on the part of both Iran and the US, and stand up to the belligerent actions and rhetoric coming from the US.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) January 3, 202

Update: I swear I hadn't looked at Lucy Lips's post on Harry's Place when I chose these tweets and  quotes.  I haven't been plagiarising, honest.