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Good night & good luck
By Anjum Niaz
10/17/2007
Before I begin my story of the film whose title I have borrowed above, a more pressing horror story cries for notice: President Musharraf is already talking of a third term! He says the constitution can be changed to accommodate his wish. Ten more years of the president and the army diarchy is a nightmare that Italy faced when its king became the head of state, and became Mussolini the fascist. Now, Musharraf together with the 800 pound guerilla (army) can lord over us forever?
Have mercy!
Now to the nub of this story: The ghost of US Senator Joseph McCarthy got resurrected last year. Academy Award winner George Clooney wrote, directed and acted in the film Good Night, and Good Luck. He revisited the notorious McCarthy era dominated by communist phobia and demagoguery of the 50s. I thought it was a good time to raise the idea of using fear to stifle political debate, said the handsome actor who majored in journalism. His father was a television journalist.
McCarthy took a perverse delight in branding anyone daring to speak against the government a communist. He personally oversaw the death and destruction of many successful Americans hauled up like rats and thrown into prison. The McCarthy scourge is difficult to delete from the annals of American savagery against its own citizens. Many committed suicide rather than have their patriotism questioned.
In a nation terrorized by its own government, one man dared to tell the truth. The film is based upon a real life story of a news anchor called Edward R. Murrow. This was the time when broadcast journalism was just flowering. Its a harrowing tale of conflict between the CBS news reporter and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Good Night, and Good Luck is the line that Murrow would say to his viewers as he signed off each night.
Murrow dared to show the truth in utter defiance of the political correctness dictated by McCarthy. His cigarette toting hoods in rolled up sleeves, black felt hats and knuckledusters showed up whenever anyone crossed the line.
The witch-hunt got ugly as Murrow continued to defy McCarthy. Finally he took on the news anchor publicly and accused him of being a communist. Undeterred and unshaken, the courageous CBS crew, even at the cost of defying its owners and corporate sponsors, carried on their crusade against the scare tactics and dirty tricks perpetrated by the crazed senator.
These men took on the government with nothing but the truth. The result: Victory was theirs in the end. They not only exposed the senators abuses but eventually brought about his downfall. When President Eisenhower got elected he set up a Senate committee to investigate Senator McCarthys zeal to uncover subversion and espionage with disturbing excesses and freewheeling style.
McCarthy got kicked out; took to the bottle; and ended his life at age 47.
These hearings are a part of our national past that we can neither afford to forget nor permit to reoccur, said the congressional committee before whom McCarthy appeared. It was the triumph of journalism because there were men like Murrow who said: We will not walk in fear of one another
General Musharraf should be given credit for making journalism in Pakistan come of age. He has allowed open criticism of his government and his policies. To put it another way, he has been an officer and a gentleman. Why then does he and his army draw blood when they hear the name Ayesha Siddiqa? Why do they panic and spread feckless propaganda against this 40-year-old academic who won international recognition for her book Military Inc: inside Pakistans Military Economy? Last June when I interviewed her in Islamabad, Ayesha was already being hounded and harassed by the secret agencies. That evening she fled to London.
In an interview on a private TV channel the president ritualistically stated that he perceived Ayeshas book as a mala fide assault on the armed forces. He says he has never met me and that my book was sponsored by India and was written during my brief stay in India, Ayesha, who recently returned to Islamabad after a successful book tour abroad, tells me. The president second-guessed as to the real reason for her writing the book and told his interviewer that she wrote the book because of the harsh treatment meted out to her when she was a public servant.
Such comments made by the president make it necessary that I bring my perspective on record. I personally take a sympathetic view of the way the General feels about my book. I fully appreciate the fact that at the position that the General is occupying, he would not have had the time to go through my book and is therefore relying on the briefing given to him by some of his advisors who have not read the book, argues Ayesha.
She remembers meeting Musharraf when he was DG military operations and had interviewed him for her first book on military decision-making. In Military Inc, she says she has presented objective facts and figures to conclude that the involvement of military in private business is actually undermining the capacity, efficiency, professionalism and image of this prestigious institution.
While dismissing the harsh condemnation of being called an Indian agent she says that her research interests are rooted in academic rigour and not in any perceived maltreatment on the part of any government department where I have served in the past.
I vigorously disagree with any person who would like to impose his or her own definition of patriotism or supreme national interest upon the people of Pakistan and assert my right to define the interest of the prestigious armed forces of Pakistan in my capacity as a widely published academic on the topic, she says while challenging the president on questioning her patriotism.
She firmly believes that Pakistan needs to protect the organizational integrity of its armed forces which can only be ensured through confining it strictly to the role assigned in the constitution. Ayesha has received praise from Lee H. Hamilton, President and Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars: This bold book explains why it will be so difficult to persuade the Pakistani military to renounce political power and return to the barracks. It is a must read for anyone who cares about Pakistan or its future.
Stephen P. Cohen, senior fellow, foreign policy studies at Brookings and an acclaimed military expert on Pakistan calls her book Complex, riveting, absorbing, Siddiqa has written a vitally important book which enhances our understanding of the army on the front line in the war on terror.
This courageous book will not please Pakistans generals. But no Pakistani, civilian or military, can afford to ignore its sobering analysis, says, Robert M. Hathaway, director, Asia programme, Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
Who will be eventually on the losing side of history is not difficult to answer. A general who gives shamnesty to politicians, bureaucrats and others for looting Pakistan can hardly afford to throw stones at others like Ayesha Siddiqa while sitting in his own glass house.
Voices of dissent are on the rise; a new chapter is ready to begin and one hopes it opens with the ruling of the Supreme Court that can still save Pakistan from dictators.
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting. Email: [email protected]
By Anjum Niaz
10/17/2007
Before I begin my story of the film whose title I have borrowed above, a more pressing horror story cries for notice: President Musharraf is already talking of a third term! He says the constitution can be changed to accommodate his wish. Ten more years of the president and the army diarchy is a nightmare that Italy faced when its king became the head of state, and became Mussolini the fascist. Now, Musharraf together with the 800 pound guerilla (army) can lord over us forever?
Have mercy!
Now to the nub of this story: The ghost of US Senator Joseph McCarthy got resurrected last year. Academy Award winner George Clooney wrote, directed and acted in the film Good Night, and Good Luck. He revisited the notorious McCarthy era dominated by communist phobia and demagoguery of the 50s. I thought it was a good time to raise the idea of using fear to stifle political debate, said the handsome actor who majored in journalism. His father was a television journalist.
McCarthy took a perverse delight in branding anyone daring to speak against the government a communist. He personally oversaw the death and destruction of many successful Americans hauled up like rats and thrown into prison. The McCarthy scourge is difficult to delete from the annals of American savagery against its own citizens. Many committed suicide rather than have their patriotism questioned.
In a nation terrorized by its own government, one man dared to tell the truth. The film is based upon a real life story of a news anchor called Edward R. Murrow. This was the time when broadcast journalism was just flowering. Its a harrowing tale of conflict between the CBS news reporter and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Good Night, and Good Luck is the line that Murrow would say to his viewers as he signed off each night.
Murrow dared to show the truth in utter defiance of the political correctness dictated by McCarthy. His cigarette toting hoods in rolled up sleeves, black felt hats and knuckledusters showed up whenever anyone crossed the line.
The witch-hunt got ugly as Murrow continued to defy McCarthy. Finally he took on the news anchor publicly and accused him of being a communist. Undeterred and unshaken, the courageous CBS crew, even at the cost of defying its owners and corporate sponsors, carried on their crusade against the scare tactics and dirty tricks perpetrated by the crazed senator.
These men took on the government with nothing but the truth. The result: Victory was theirs in the end. They not only exposed the senators abuses but eventually brought about his downfall. When President Eisenhower got elected he set up a Senate committee to investigate Senator McCarthys zeal to uncover subversion and espionage with disturbing excesses and freewheeling style.
McCarthy got kicked out; took to the bottle; and ended his life at age 47.
These hearings are a part of our national past that we can neither afford to forget nor permit to reoccur, said the congressional committee before whom McCarthy appeared. It was the triumph of journalism because there were men like Murrow who said: We will not walk in fear of one another
General Musharraf should be given credit for making journalism in Pakistan come of age. He has allowed open criticism of his government and his policies. To put it another way, he has been an officer and a gentleman. Why then does he and his army draw blood when they hear the name Ayesha Siddiqa? Why do they panic and spread feckless propaganda against this 40-year-old academic who won international recognition for her book Military Inc: inside Pakistans Military Economy? Last June when I interviewed her in Islamabad, Ayesha was already being hounded and harassed by the secret agencies. That evening she fled to London.
In an interview on a private TV channel the president ritualistically stated that he perceived Ayeshas book as a mala fide assault on the armed forces. He says he has never met me and that my book was sponsored by India and was written during my brief stay in India, Ayesha, who recently returned to Islamabad after a successful book tour abroad, tells me. The president second-guessed as to the real reason for her writing the book and told his interviewer that she wrote the book because of the harsh treatment meted out to her when she was a public servant.
Such comments made by the president make it necessary that I bring my perspective on record. I personally take a sympathetic view of the way the General feels about my book. I fully appreciate the fact that at the position that the General is occupying, he would not have had the time to go through my book and is therefore relying on the briefing given to him by some of his advisors who have not read the book, argues Ayesha.
She remembers meeting Musharraf when he was DG military operations and had interviewed him for her first book on military decision-making. In Military Inc, she says she has presented objective facts and figures to conclude that the involvement of military in private business is actually undermining the capacity, efficiency, professionalism and image of this prestigious institution.
While dismissing the harsh condemnation of being called an Indian agent she says that her research interests are rooted in academic rigour and not in any perceived maltreatment on the part of any government department where I have served in the past.
I vigorously disagree with any person who would like to impose his or her own definition of patriotism or supreme national interest upon the people of Pakistan and assert my right to define the interest of the prestigious armed forces of Pakistan in my capacity as a widely published academic on the topic, she says while challenging the president on questioning her patriotism.
She firmly believes that Pakistan needs to protect the organizational integrity of its armed forces which can only be ensured through confining it strictly to the role assigned in the constitution. Ayesha has received praise from Lee H. Hamilton, President and Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars: This bold book explains why it will be so difficult to persuade the Pakistani military to renounce political power and return to the barracks. It is a must read for anyone who cares about Pakistan or its future.
Stephen P. Cohen, senior fellow, foreign policy studies at Brookings and an acclaimed military expert on Pakistan calls her book Complex, riveting, absorbing, Siddiqa has written a vitally important book which enhances our understanding of the army on the front line in the war on terror.
This courageous book will not please Pakistans generals. But no Pakistani, civilian or military, can afford to ignore its sobering analysis, says, Robert M. Hathaway, director, Asia programme, Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
Who will be eventually on the losing side of history is not difficult to answer. A general who gives shamnesty to politicians, bureaucrats and others for looting Pakistan can hardly afford to throw stones at others like Ayesha Siddiqa while sitting in his own glass house.
Voices of dissent are on the rise; a new chapter is ready to begin and one hopes it opens with the ruling of the Supreme Court that can still save Pakistan from dictators.
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting. Email: [email protected]
