Thanks Kris, very good! Stauber and Rampton are pretty near my top of the pops.
More below on their "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq". Best Keith http://www.prwatch.org/books/wmd.html Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber [publishing and sales details] "No more bed-time stories ... these guys are here to wake you up." --Greg Palast "A major contribution for those who want to take control of their own future, not be passive subjects of manipulation and control." --Noam Chomsky It was a day for the history books. On April 9th, 2003, millions of Americans sat glued to their television sets as U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens joined together to topple the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdos Square. Like the fall of the Berlin wall, the fall of Saddam's statue appeared to be one of those iconic moments that proved - spontaneously and undeniably - that democracy would always triumph over totalitarianism, that freedom was the great equalizer. "If you don't have goose bumps now," said Fox News anchor David Asman as the extraordinary footage rolled, "you will never have them in your life." "Jubilant Iraqis Swarm the Streets of Capital," read the New York Times headline. Or did they? In their eye-opening new expos, Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, Rampton and Stauber take no prisoners as they reveal - headline by headline, news show by news show, press conference by press conference - the deliberate, aggressive, and highly successful public relations campaign that sold the Iraqi war to the American public. April 9th seemed to confirm what Washington and pro-war pundits had been saying for months: that the Iraqi people would eventually come to see America as their liberator, not their enemy. Yet the American media chose to focus on headlines such as "Iraqis Celebrate in Baghdad" (Washington Post) rather than on a Reuters long-shot photo of Firdos Square showing it to be nearly empty, or the Muslim cleric who was assassinated by an angry crowd in Najaf for being too friendly to the Americans, or the 20,000 Iraqis in Nasiriyah rallying to oppose the U.S. military presence. We've always known what good PR and advertising could do for a new line of sneakers, cosmetics, or weight-loss products. In Weapons of Mass Deception, Rampton and Stauber show us a brave new shocking world where savvy marketers, "information warriors," and "perception managers" can sell an entire war to consumers. Indeed, Washington successfully brought together the world's top ad agencies and media empires to create "Operation: Iraqi Freedom" - a product no decent, patriotic citizen could possibly object to. With meticulous research and documentation, Rampton and Stauber deconstruct this and other "true lies" behind the war: * Top Bush officials advocated the invasion of Iraq even before he took office, but waited until September 2002 to inform the public, through what the White House termed a "product launch." * White House officials used repetition and misinformation - the "big lie" tactic - to create the false impression that Iraq was behind the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States, especially in the case of the alleged meeting in Prague five months earlier between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and Iraqi intelligence officials. * The "big lie" tactic was also employed in the first Iraq war when a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl named Nayirah told the horrific - but fabricated - story of Iraqi soldiers wrenching hundreds of premature Kuwaiti babies from their incubators and leaving them to die. Her testimony was printed in a press kit prepared by Citizens for a Free Kuwait, a PR front group created by Hill and Knowlton, then the world's largest PR firm. * In order to achieve "third party authenticity" in the Muslim world, a group called the Council of American Muslims for Understanding launched its own web site, called OpenDialogue.com. However, its chairman admitted that the idea began with the State Department, and that the group was funded by the U.S. government. * Forged documents were used to "prove" that Iraq possessed huge stockpiles of banned weapons. * A secretive PR firm working for the Pentagon helped create the Iraqi National Congress (INC), which became one of the driving forces behind the decision to go to war. Weapons of Mass Deception is the first book to expose the aggressive public relations campaign used to sell the American public on the war with Iraq. It is a must-read for those who want to know how and why they bought this war. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION: Liberation Day CHAPTER 1: Branding America CHAPTER 2: War Is Sell CHAPTER 3: True Lies CHAPTER 4: Doublespeak CHAPTER 5: The Uses of Fear CHAPTER 6: The Air War CHAPTER 7: As Others See Us INDEX >Forwarded from another list. I can't be sure that this is >true but, it sure makes more sense to me than any >mainstream media news I can find. I believe that both the >Left and the Right are crooked as a dog's hind leg and that >all politicans are crooks if they stay around long to be >important to some special interest greoup. I do leave an >allowance for an occasional honest politician but, I don't >know of one that has been honest for the long haul. I also >believe that those at the top of the corporate rule ladder >ignore people like me, because they are sure that they have >enough mindless boobs under their propaganda umbrella to >continue the Status Quo indefinitely. > >kris > > > > > Ah - I didn't even notice until just now WHO the author > > of this > > wonderful article is. Eno remains at the top of my pops > > ;) > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > >http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1020303,00.html > > >_________________________________________________________________ > > > > The problem is not propaganda but the relentless control > > of the kind of > > things we think about > > > > COMMENT - The Observer (London) Sunday August 17, 2003 > > Brian Eno > > >_________________________________________________________________ > > > > When I first visited Russia, in 1986, I made friends with > > a musician > > whose father had been Brezhnev's personal doctor. One day > > we were > > talking about life during 'the period of stagnation' - > > the Brezhnev > > era. 'It must have been strange being so completely > > immersed in > > propaganda,' I said. > > > > 'Ah, but there is the difference. We knew it was > > propaganda,' replied > > Sacha. > > > > That is the difference. Russian propaganda was so obvious > > that most > > Russians were able to ignore it. They took it for granted > > that the > > government operated in its own interests and any message > > coming from it > > was probably slanted - and they discounted it. > > > > In the West the calculated manipulation of public opinion > > to serve > > political and ideological interests is much more covert > > and therefore > > much more effective. Its greatest triumph is that we > > generally don't > > notice it - or laugh at the notion it even exists. We > > watch the > > democratic process taking place - heated debates in which > > we feel > > we could have a voice - and think that, because we have > > 'free' media, it > > would be hard for the Government to get away with > > anything very devious > > without someone calling them on it. > > > > It takes something as dramatic as the invasion of Iraq to > > make us look a > > bit more closely and ask: 'How did we get here?' How > > exactly did it come > > about that, in a world of Aids, global warming, 30-plus > > active wars, > > several famines, cloning, genetic engineering, and two > > billion people in > > poverty, practically the only thing we all talked about > > for a year was > > Iraq and Saddam Hussein? Was it really that big a > > problem? Or were we > > somehow manipulated into believing the Iraq issue was > > important and had > > to be fixed right now - even though a few months before > > few had > > mentioned it, and nothing had changed in the interim. > > > > In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now > > seems clear that > > the shock of the attacks was exploited in America. > > According to Sheldon > > Rampton and John Stauber in their new book Weapons of > > Mass Deception , > > it was used to engineer a state of emergency that would > > justify an > > invasion of Iraq. Rampton and Stauber expose how news was > > fabricated and > > made to seem real. But they also demonstrate how a > > coalition of the > > willing - far-Right officials, neo-con think-tanks, > > insanely pugilistic > > media commentators and of course well-paid PR companies - > > worked > > together to pull off a sensational piece of intellectual > > dishonesty. > > Theirs is a study of modern propaganda. > > > > What occurs to me in reading their book is that the new > > American > > approach to social control is so much more sophisticated > > and pervasive > > that it really deserves a new name. It isn't just > > propaganda any more, > > it's 'prop-agenda '. It's not so much the control of what > > we think, but > > the control of what we think about. When our governments > > want to sell us > > a course of action, they do it by making sure it's the > > only thing on the > > agenda, the only thing everyone's talking about. And they > > pre-load the > > ensuing discussion with highly selected images, devious > > and prejudicial > > language, dubious linkages, weak or false 'intelligence' > > and selected > > 'leaks'. (What else can the spat between the BBC and > > Alastair Campbell > > be but a prime example of this?) > > > > With the ground thus prepared, governments are happy if > > you then 'use > > the democratic process' to agree or disagree - for, after > > all, their > > intention is to mobilise enough headlines and > > conversation to make the > > whole thing seem real and urgent. The more emotional the > > debate, the > > better. Emotion creates reality, reality demands action. > > > > An example of this process is one highlighted by Rampton > > and Stauber > > which, more than any other, consolidated public and > > congressional > > approval for the 1991 Gulf war. We recall the horrifying > > stories, > > incessantly repeated, of babies in Kuwaiti hospitals > > ripped out of > > their incubators and left to die while the Iraqis shipped > > the > > incubators back to Baghdad - 312 babies, we were told. > > > > The story was brought to public attention by Nayirah, a > > 15-year-old > > 'nurse' who, it turned out later, was the daughter of the > > Kuwaiti > > ambassador to the US and a member of the Kuwaiti royal > > family. Nayirah > > had been tutored and rehearsed by the Hill & Knowlton PR > > agency (which > > in turn received $14 million from the American government > > for their work > > in promoting the war). Her story was entirely discredited > > within weeks > > but by then its purpose had been served: it had created > > an outraged and > > emotional mindset within America which overwhelmed > > rational discussion. > > > > As we are seeing now, the most recent Gulf war entailed > > many similar > > deceits: false linkages made between Saddam, al-Qaeda and > > 9/11, stories > > of ready-to-launch weapons that didn't exist, of nuclear > > programmes > > never embarked upon. As Rampton and Stauber show, many of > > these > > allegations were discredited as they were being made, not > > least by this > > newspaper, but nevertheless were retold. > > > > Throughout all this, the hired-gun PR companies were > > busy, > > preconditioning the emotional landscape. Their marketing > > talents were > > particularly useful in the large-scale manipulation of > > language that the > > campaign entailed. The Bushites realised, as all > > ideologues do, that > > words create realities, and that the right words can over > > whelm any > > chance of balanced discussion. Guided by the overtly > > imperial vision of > > the Project for a New American Century (whose members > > now form the core of the American administration), the PR > > companies > > helped finesse the language to create an atmosphere of > > simmering > > panic where American imperialism would come to seem not > > only > > acceptable but right, obvious, inevitable and even > > somehow kind. > > > > Aside from the incessant 'weapons of mass destruction', > > there were > > 'regime change' (military invasion), 'pre-emptive > > defence' (attacking a > > country that is not attacking you), 'critical regions' > > (countries we > > want to control), the 'axis of evil' (countries we want > > to attack), > > 'shock and awe' (massive obliteration) and 'the war on > > terror' (a > > hold-all excuse for projecting American military force > > anywhere). > > > > Meanwhile, US federal employees and military personnel > > were told to > > refer to the invasion as 'a war of liberation' and to the > > Iraqi > > paramilitaries as 'death squads', while the reliably > > sycophantic > > American TV networks spoke of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' - > > just as the > > Pentagon asked them to - thus consolidating the > > supposition that Iraqi > > freedom was the point of the war. Anybody questioning the > > invasion was > > 'soft on terror' (liberal) or, in the case of the UN, 'in > > danger of > > losing its relevance' > > > > When I was young, an eccentric uncle decided to teach me > > how to lie. > > Not, he explained, because he wanted me to lie, but > > because he thought I > > should know how it's done so I would recognise when I was > > being lied to. > > I hope writers such as Rampton and Stauber and others may > > have the same > > effect and help to emasculate the culture of spin and > > dissembling that > > is overtaking our political establishments. > > > > > > A longer version of this article will appear in the new > > literary > > magazine, Zembla. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. 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