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December 21, 2003
Review: Propaganda weapon
THE American president’s strident justifications for the invasion of Iraq become decreasingly credible as the absence of proof of the supposed massed weapons and Al Qaeda links becomes more evident each day. The American public, for whose benefit and safety the costly adventure was launched, now questions the barrage of “terror” propaganda that led them to acquiesce in a war against the tyrannical Saddam when dissenters on principle went along in the name of unity or patriotism, finding rationalizations for not clearly opposing an action that the majority world opinion was unequivocally against.
Some fearless souls, however, dare to speak out, and they must be blessed and cherished for courage in exposing the manner in which the hawks in control of the White House manipulated the information media. Thus they deceive the world into believing that war on Iraq was not only necessary but somehow just and moral as well.
The Centre for Media and Democracy based in Wisconsin was founded by John Stauber, its director, who with his colleague, Sheldon Rampton, monitors the public relations industry. The two have co-authored Weapons of Mass Deception. This freshly minted publication makes one chillingly aware of the lengths to which “spin” was employed by the present US administration. This is by no means the only study of its kind, almost daily published articles highlight the same theme.
The purveyor of untruths is doomed to contradict himself at some point. In this book such contradictions in statements by Mr George Bush and his Secretary of Defence, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, have been incontrovertibly documented. “How interesting,” is Rumsfeld’s dismissive comment when challenged during a press conference by reporters on his conflicting statements.
The symbolic significance of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad on April 9, 2003 was hyped up by Western TV channels but it was an event hardly attended by Iraqis “liberated” on that day. The authors give examples of how public relations consultants are employed by the Pentagon and the CIA for image building of this kind.
The book provides plentiful examples of lop-sided news projection made palatable for American audiences. They did not see the dead children, the dysfunctional hospitals, the destruction of Iraqi homes as the victors occupied the country. The authors of Weapons of Mass Deception deride the attempt to “market” America to win the goodwill of other nations, even to the extent of giving funds to journals that are willing to peddle an approved line. It used to be anti-Soviet, it is now anti “terror”.
In the second chapter “War is sell” it is narrated how the intention to attack Iraq was accompanied by an orchestrated publicity campaign. The White House Office of Global Communication (OGC) was poised to spend $200 million on a “PR blitz against Saddam Hussein”. Citing the names of the actors and the big business strategy employed, the authors have done exhaustive homework to inform readers just how the impending war was advertised. The chapter must be read in all its minute detail. It is impossible to summarize for purposes of a review.
The chapter “True lies” continues in the same vein, presenting case after case in which the machinery of state uses “lies” to achieve strategic objectives; “black” information for disinformation and “white” when truthful reporting serves the purpose. These operations with strange names such as the Office of Strategic Information of course command their own budgets.
On the much trumpeted bomb programme of Baghdad, the inconclusive knowledge on the subject is contrasted with the much clearer evidence of North Korea’s programme which did not evoke similar hysteria in the Bush government. A great “gap between rhetoric and reality” exists on the possession of lethal weapons by Iraq. “The total number of banned weapons used by Iraq during the entire war appears to be zero,” comment Rampton and Stauber. They record that by the end of the war the US and the British forces had fired 800 Tomahawk missiles, over 14,000 precision guided munitions and an unspecified number of cluster bombs into Iraq.
The history of the notorious and discredited Iraq dossier on which Britain’s collusion in the attack on Iraq was based is also painstakingly traced and must be read sentence by sentence to grasp the cynical “doctoring” of evidence that takes place in the higher reaches of government. And this in societies that tout transparency and democracy.
When it is recalled that the majority of the 9/11 suicide terrorists were Saudi citizens the selective pinpointing of Iraq as a hotbed of terrorism and intrigue is ironic. The authors name prominent Americans who have cashed in on their Saudi connections. Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, former President George H.W. Bush have earned millions from conducting business with the Saudi kingdom. Again it is ironical that the family members of Osama bin Laden were business partners with leading American firms such as Carlyle till the 9/11 disaster.
A Bushism quoted in the book “that war in Iraq is really about peace” is a beautiful specimen of what has come to be called doublespeak, the use of language to camouflage and obfuscate. To instil fear into the enemy is a historic means of psychologically weakening him. To create fear of attack in the general public is a device used by leaders to subdue criticism.
The authors describe how the current craze for ownership of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) is the outcome of advertising campaigns for “aggressive”and “assault” vehicles; these in fact are heavy fuel consumers. The mounting prejudice against Muslims and the irrational assumption of their “terrorist” proclivities has been fanned by some media outlets. This only brings reaction from Muslim groups who begin to feel threatened.
The book is enough to make the educated person pause and question the trustworthiness of all the conventional sources of information one takes for granted. Even the big names in the media have their own way of “filtering” news and “dramatizing” events. This is especially the case with television. A description of the stage-managed shots of Bush’s announcement at the end of the war aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln would be amusing if one forgot the horrendous human and financial cost of the conflict. The Democrats estimated “that it had cost $1 million to orchestrate all the details that made the picture look so perfect”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International reported separately on Iraqi civilian deaths caused by American cluster bombs. This news was overlooked by the mass media that fed the world on daily happenings. As a reaction Arab information networks promoted anti-Americanism, showing “harrowing scenes” of mutilated Iraqi bodies.
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber believe that the avalanche of American propaganda relating to the Iraq war may not be the answer to the fight against terrorism.
Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq
By Sheldon Rampton and John C. Stauber J. P. Tarcher
ISBN 1585422762
248pp. $11.95
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