ON JOHN PILGER

Having just watched all the documentaries by Pilger I purchased the other day I have reached the conclusion:

if he is not a bona fide independent agent then he is one of their best.

I cannot give him a stamp of 100% bona fide independence. The best is 95%, but more like 90%.

And it is that missing 10% of confidence that really worries me.

One documentary looks at the Israel/Palestine conflict. Pilger is the most anti-Israel commentator I have seen, yet he could destroy Israel but does not do so, instead citing the Holocaust as an excuse as a reason as to why Israel is so barbaric.

In another he looks at the NATO invasion of Afghanistan but never mentions the opium.

And in another, although questioning the War on Terror, he is a gatekeeper in that although very briefly mentioning PNAC's Rebuilding America's Defenses he does not mention A Clean Break and gives the likes of Douglas Feith and John Bolton a very easy ride.

On the other hand, one of the documentaries looked at the brutal treatment by the British of the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands to make way for the United States Air Force base of Diego Garcia.

Let me put it this way: Pilger is closer to the mark than most, could he could be a lot closer.

But nobody is perfect.

Not even me.