Monday, April 28, 2008
And the truth shall set you free...
The New York Times published a detailed report which reveals the huge scale of the propaganda machinery that has been selling false information about the successes and failures of the American invasion of Iraq.
Donald Rumsfeld as the defence minister, a year before the invasion, authorized the formation of an expert team for propaganda which was led by 75 retired military officers whose basic aim was to “offer good news from Iraq, even when there was no good news”.
The administration touched the bottom when they decided to hire professional or less professional actors who presented themselves and were hired as journalists and expert advisers. This occurred before and after the invasion, whilst the Pentagon made sure there was an uninterrupted flow of unfounded and/or false news, disinformation that first of all changed public perception, and then promoted “success or prepared the public for failure on the battlefield”. The investigative journalist for the Times, David Barstow, reveals the typical wage an “expert for propaganda” earned. One of the conservative commentators earned an envious 240,000 dollars per year for his services.
This practice, that was being carried out by Bush’s team for national security in cooperation with a large number of Pentagon officials, lasted until April 20 this year, when the American military chiefs were concerned about the latest headlines, and informed the public via their spokesperson Robert Hastings that the program has been frozen.
Barstow dedicated a full two years to the investigation, during which via attorneys and the Freedom of Information Act, forced the Bush administration to release 8,000 pages of documentation that recorded the propaganda that was enabled and supported by the ongoing war in Iraq. Even though his first report was very detailed, it is expected that the NYT will continue to reveal details about the ways that the Pentagon occupied the American media and then created a false picture of reality.
See the video about it Here
.
Donald Rumsfeld as the defence minister, a year before the invasion, authorized the formation of an expert team for propaganda which was led by 75 retired military officers whose basic aim was to “offer good news from Iraq, even when there was no good news”.
The administration touched the bottom when they decided to hire professional or less professional actors who presented themselves and were hired as journalists and expert advisers. This occurred before and after the invasion, whilst the Pentagon made sure there was an uninterrupted flow of unfounded and/or false news, disinformation that first of all changed public perception, and then promoted “success or prepared the public for failure on the battlefield”. The investigative journalist for the Times, David Barstow, reveals the typical wage an “expert for propaganda” earned. One of the conservative commentators earned an envious 240,000 dollars per year for his services.
This practice, that was being carried out by Bush’s team for national security in cooperation with a large number of Pentagon officials, lasted until April 20 this year, when the American military chiefs were concerned about the latest headlines, and informed the public via their spokesperson Robert Hastings that the program has been frozen.
Barstow dedicated a full two years to the investigation, during which via attorneys and the Freedom of Information Act, forced the Bush administration to release 8,000 pages of documentation that recorded the propaganda that was enabled and supported by the ongoing war in Iraq. Even though his first report was very detailed, it is expected that the NYT will continue to reveal details about the ways that the Pentagon occupied the American media and then created a false picture of reality.
See the video about it Here
.
Karl Bodmer
Swiss artist (1809-1893)
Confluence of the Fox River and the Wabash, watercolor on paper
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Assignment: Think of a story and then conclude its moral.
Little Suzy:
"My dad owns a farm and every Sunday we load the chicken eggs on the truck and drive into town to sell them at the market. Well, one Sunday we hit a big bump and all the eggs flew out of the basket and onto the road."
Moral of the story: "Don't keep all your eggs in one basket."
Little Lucy:
"Well my dad owns a farm too and every weekend we take the chicken eggs and put them in the incubator. Last weekend only 8 of the 12 eggs hatched."
Moral of the story:"Don't count your eggs before they're hatched."
Little Johnny:
"My uncle Ted fought in the Vietnam war; his plane was shot down over enemy territory. He jumped out before it crashed with only a case of beer, a machine gun and a machete. On the way down he drank the case of beer. Unfortunately, he landed right in the middle of 100 Vietnamese soldiers. He shot 70 with his machine gun, but ran out of bullets, so he pulled out his machete and killed 20 more. The blade on his machete broke, so he killed the last ten with his bare hands".
Moral of the story: "If you mess with uncle Ted when he's been drinking - you asked for it!"
.
Little Suzy:
"My dad owns a farm and every Sunday we load the chicken eggs on the truck and drive into town to sell them at the market. Well, one Sunday we hit a big bump and all the eggs flew out of the basket and onto the road."
Moral of the story: "Don't keep all your eggs in one basket."
Little Lucy:
"Well my dad owns a farm too and every weekend we take the chicken eggs and put them in the incubator. Last weekend only 8 of the 12 eggs hatched."
Moral of the story:"Don't count your eggs before they're hatched."
Little Johnny:
"My uncle Ted fought in the Vietnam war; his plane was shot down over enemy territory. He jumped out before it crashed with only a case of beer, a machine gun and a machete. On the way down he drank the case of beer. Unfortunately, he landed right in the middle of 100 Vietnamese soldiers. He shot 70 with his machine gun, but ran out of bullets, so he pulled out his machete and killed 20 more. The blade on his machete broke, so he killed the last ten with his bare hands".
Moral of the story: "If you mess with uncle Ted when he's been drinking - you asked for it!"
.
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