IRAQ War - History of Lies, Deception and Mis-Information by US Propaganda
by Mickey Z; February 25, 2003
Hermann Goering, Hitler's deputy, said at his 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes trial:
"Why of course the people don't want war. Naturally. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Seven examples of media disinformation.
1. The US and UK are about to start a war against Iraq.
Reality Check: Firstly, it's not a war; it's a slaughter. Second, no matter what you call it, this "war" began when the Security Council imposed comprehensive sanctions against Iraq on August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait...and has continued unabated since then. The US and Britain bombed Iraq 62 times in 2002 and 13 times in January 2003. The ostensible reason for this bombing is Iraqi "violations" of the "no-fly zone." However, no UN resolution mentions the creation of no-fly zones, let alone military enforcement of any such zone. The war has also continued unabated since August 6, 1990 because sanctions kill 5000 Iraqi children per month. That's 166 per day...about 1 every 10 minutes.
Former Secretary of State Madelaine Albright, when asked to comment on the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children as a result of the US sanctions, answered: "
We think the price is worth it."
2. This non-stop war is, in part, possible through dehumanization.
The dehumanization of Iraq began with a report that Iraqi soldiers had ripped Kuwaiti babies out of incubators when they invaded Kuwait in August 1990. In October 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti "refugee" named Nayirah tearfully described witnessing Iraqi troops stealing incubators from a hospital, leaving 312 babies "on the cold floor to die." When the Senate voted to give support Daddy Bush's war-by a margin of only five votes-seven senators recounted Nayirah's story in justifying their "yes" vote.
Reality Check: Of course, it wasn't true.
Nayirah's false testimony was part of a $10 million Kuwait government propaganda campaign managed by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton. Rather than working as a volunteer at a hospital,
Nayirah was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington. "We didn't know it wasn't true at the time," claims Brent Scowcroft, Bush's national security adviser. But, he added, "It was useful in mobilizing public opinion."
3.
Endless stories about the Iraqi government deliberately withholding and stockpiling food and medicine...and using money intended for humanitarian purposes to build palaces and enrich themselves.
Reality Check: While it is hardly beyond any State to cheat its populace in the name of self-interest, this is an easy case to investigate since funds from Iraqi oil sales are not at the discretion of Saddam Hussein, but are kept in a UN escrow account with the Bank of Paris in New York. In addition, the UN conducts frequent inventories and heavily monitors food and medicine stored in Iraq Tun Myat, humanitarian coordinator and head of the UN's "oil-for-food" program in Baghdad from 2000-2002, told the New York Times:
"I think the Iraqi food-distribution system is probably second to none anywhere in the world. It gets to everybody whom it's supposed to get to in the country."
4. Iraq is hiding WMD and kicked out inspectors in December 1998
Reality Check:UNSCOM director Richard Butler, prior to the December 1998 US/UK bombardment of Iraq, removed inspectors. Furthermore, the US government admitted that it had been using UNSCOM to spy on Iraq. Since Iraq pays for the entire UN operation through oil revenues, Iraq was (and probably still is) financing UN workers to spy under US cover.
As for WMD, who has them, and who might use them, it's instructive to recall that
the US used WMD on Iraq: 940,000 small depleted uranium (DU) armor-piercing shells from planes and 14,000 larger shells from tanks in 1991.
For those unfamiliar with DU, consider this: When fired, the uranium bursts into flame and sears through steel armor. The heat of the shell causes any diesel fuel vapors in the enemy tank to explode, and the crew inside is burned alive. DU burns on contact, creating tiny aerosolized particles of radiation less than five microns in diameter, small enough to be inhaled. These minute particles can travel long distances when airborne.
The widespread use of DU in the Gulf War has be linked to the Gulf War Syndrome: A 1994 study found that 67 percent of the children conceived by Gulf War veterans in Mississippi since the end of the war were born with severe illnesses or birth defects. DU was also used by the US in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. In other words, the US has conducted 4 nuclear wars: Japan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan but is trying to convince the world that Saddam Hussein is a danger to the world.
5. US and UK plans to attack Iraq have nothing to do with oil interests.
Reality Check: Four quick points to ponder:
(a)Iraq possesses the world's second largest proven oil reserves, currently estimated at 112.5 billion barrels, about 11 percent of the world total
(b)Iraq may have additional undiscovered oil reserves, which might equal that of Saudi Arabia.
(c)President-Select Bush, VP Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and others all have strong ties to oil companies.
(d)Chevron once named a tanker after Rice as a gesture of thanks.
6. Hussein has used chemical weapons and even gassed "his own people."
Reality Check: The current debate ignores some relevant points:
(a) On March 5, 1984, State Department spokesperson John Hughes addressed Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran: "The United States strongly condemns the prohibited use of chemical weapons wherever it occurs." By year's end, the US had established full diplomatic relations with Iraq for the first time since 1967. Six months after that, the Reagan administration authorized the sale to Iraq of 45 dual-use, US-made Bell helicopters.
(b) Former Iraqi officer, General al-Shamari, told Newsweek that he was in charge of firing chemical weapons from howitzers against Iranian troops, and that US satellite information provided the targeting information. A former CIA official confirmed to Newsweek that the US provided military intelligence to Iraq, including on chemical warfare. General al-Shamari now lives safely in the U.S., running a restaurant outside of Washington DC.
(c) The US and UK continued support for Hussein after the gassing of the Kurds at Halabja in 1988.One possible reason for this support: 24 US corporations supplied Iraq with nuclear, chemical, biological, and missile technology, prior to 1991. The list includes Honeywell, Rockwell, Hewlett Packard, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, and Bechtel.
(d) If the Kurds are Hussein's people, the Tibetans are Hu Jintao's people; the Zapatistas are Vicente Fox's people; the Chechens are Putin's people; the Palestinians are Sharon's people; the Seminoles were Andrew Jackson's people; and the Puerto Ricans being bombed and radiated with DU in Vieques are Bush's people.
(e) There is documented proof that one nation has used WMD on its own people. In late 1993, then-Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary released documents about secret nuclear experiments by the US government on US citizens. Immediately after the "success" of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear researchers wanted to study the effects of plutonium on the human body. They performed two kinds of experiments: (i)The first targeted some 800 African-American prisoners, mentally retarded children, and others who were induced, by money or by verbal subterfuge, to submit to irradiation. (ii)The second test exposed large civilian populations to intentional releases of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere. These experiments were not a momentary lapse in judgment: The declassified documents on US radiation experiments stretch three miles long.
IRAQ War - History of Lies, Deception and Mis-Information by US Propaganda
by Mickey Z; February 25, 2003
Hermann Goering, Hitler's deputy, said at his 1946 Nuremberg War Crimes trial:
"Why of course the people don't want war. Naturally. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Seven examples of media disinformation.
1. The US and UK are about to start a war against Iraq.
Reality Check: Firstly, it's not a war; it's a slaughter. Second, no matter what you call it, this "war" began when the Security Council imposed comprehensive sanctions against Iraq on August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait...and has continued unabated since then. The US and Britain bombed Iraq 62 times in 2002 and 13 times in January 2003. The ostensible reason for this bombing is Iraqi "violations" of the "no-fly zone." However, no UN resolution mentions the creation of no-fly zones, let alone military enforcement of any such zone. The war has also continued unabated since August 6, 1990 because sanctions kill 5000 Iraqi children per month. That's 166 per day...about 1 every 10 minutes.
Former Secretary of State Madelaine Albright, when asked to comment on the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children as a result of the US sanctions, answered: "
We think the price is worth it."
2. This non-stop war is, in part, possible through dehumanization.
The dehumanization of Iraq began with a report that Iraqi soldiers had ripped Kuwaiti babies out of incubators when they invaded Kuwait in August 1990. In October 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti "refugee" named Nayirah tearfully described witnessing Iraqi troops stealing incubators from a hospital, leaving 312 babies "on the cold floor to die." When the Senate voted to give support Daddy Bush's war-by a margin of only five votes-seven senators recounted Nayirah's story in justifying their "yes" vote.
Reality Check: Of course, it wasn't true.
Nayirah's false testimony was part of a $10 million Kuwait government propaganda campaign managed by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton. Rather than working as a volunteer at a hospital,
Nayirah was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington. "We didn't know it wasn't true at the time," claims Brent Scowcroft, Bush's national security adviser. But, he added, "It was useful in mobilizing public opinion."
3.
Endless stories about the Iraqi government deliberately withholding and stockpiling food and medicine...and using money intended for humanitarian purposes to build palaces and enrich themselves.
Reality Check: While it is hardly beyond any State to cheat its populace in the name of self-interest, this is an easy case to investigate since funds from Iraqi oil sales are not at the discretion of Saddam Hussein, but are kept in a UN escrow account with the Bank of Paris in New York. In addition, the UN conducts frequent inventories and heavily monitors food and medicine stored in Iraq Tun Myat, humanitarian coordinator and head of the UN's "oil-for-food" program in Baghdad from 2000-2002, told the New York Times:
"I think the Iraqi food-distribution system is probably second to none anywhere in the world. It gets to everybody whom it's supposed to get to in the country."
4. Iraq is hiding WMD and kicked out inspectors in December 1998
Reality Check:UNSCOM director Richard Butler, prior to the December 1998 US/UK bombardment of Iraq, removed inspectors. Furthermore, the US government admitted that it had been using UNSCOM to spy on Iraq. Since Iraq pays for the entire UN operation through oil revenues, Iraq was (and probably still is) financing UN workers to spy under US cover.
As for WMD, who has them, and who might use them, it's instructive to recall that
the US used WMD on Iraq: 940,000 small depleted uranium (DU) armor-piercing shells from planes and 14,000 larger shells from tanks in 1991.
For those unfamiliar with DU, consider this: When fired, the uranium bursts into flame and sears through steel armor. The heat of the shell causes any diesel fuel vapors in the enemy tank to explode, and the crew inside is burned alive. DU burns on contact, creating tiny aerosolized particles of radiation less than five microns in diameter, small enough to be inhaled. These minute particles can travel long distances when airborne.
The widespread use of DU in the Gulf War has be linked to the Gulf War Syndrome: A 1994 study found that 67 percent of the children conceived by Gulf War veterans in Mississippi since the end of the war were born with severe illnesses or birth defects. DU was also used by the US in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. In other words, the US has conducted 4 nuclear wars: Japan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan but is trying to convince the world that Saddam Hussein is a danger to the world.
5. US and UK plans to attack Iraq have nothing to do with oil interests.
Reality Check: Four quick points to ponder:
(a)Iraq possesses the world's second largest proven oil reserves, currently estimated at 112.5 billion barrels, about 11 percent of the world total
(b)Iraq may have additional undiscovered oil reserves, which might equal that of Saudi Arabia.
(c)President-Select Bush, VP Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and others all have strong ties to oil companies.
(d)Chevron once named a tanker after Rice as a gesture of thanks.
6. Hussein has used chemical weapons and even gassed "his own people."
Reality Check: The current debate ignores some relevant points:
(a) On March 5, 1984, State Department spokesperson John Hughes addressed Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran: "The United States strongly condemns the prohibited use of chemical weapons wherever it occurs." By year's end, the US had established full diplomatic relations with Iraq for the first time since 1967. Six months after that, the Reagan administration authorized the sale to Iraq of 45 dual-use, US-made Bell helicopters.
(b) Former Iraqi officer, General al-Shamari, told Newsweek that he was in charge of firing chemical weapons from howitzers against Iranian troops, and that US satellite information provided the targeting information. A former CIA official confirmed to Newsweek that the US provided military intelligence to Iraq, including on chemical warfare. General al-Shamari now lives safely in the U.S., running a restaurant outside of Washington DC.
(c) The US and UK continued support for Hussein after the gassing of the Kurds at Halabja in 1988.One possible reason for this support: 24 US corporations supplied Iraq with nuclear, chemical, biological, and missile technology, prior to 1991. The list includes Honeywell, Rockwell, Hewlett Packard, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, and Bechtel.
(d) If the Kurds are Hussein's people, the Tibetans are Hu Jintao's people; the Zapatistas are Vicente Fox's people; the Chechens are Putin's people; the Palestinians are Sharon's people; the Seminoles were Andrew Jackson's people; and the Puerto Ricans being bombed and radiated with DU in Vieques are Bush's people.
(e) There is documented proof that one nation has used WMD on its own people. In late 1993, then-Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary released documents about secret nuclear experiments by the US government on US citizens. Immediately after the "success" of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear researchers wanted to study the effects of plutonium on the human body. They performed two kinds of experiments: (i)The first targeted some 800 African-American prisoners, mentally retarded children, and others who were induced, by money or by verbal subterfuge, to submit to irradiation. (ii)The second test exposed large civilian populations to intentional releases of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere. These experiments were not a momentary lapse in judgment: The declassified documents on US radiation experiments stretch three miles long.
