Propaganda 14

Voordat we allemaal ten onder gaan in de propagandabrij die via de commerciele massamedia dagelijks over ons heen wordt gestort, maar weer eens wat feiten zoals beschreven door de gezaghebbende Amerikaanse geleerde Chalmers Johnson in zijn onthullende boek 'The Sorrows of Empire': 'Official lying increases exponentially as imperialism and militarism take over. Our military sees propaganda as one of its major new functions. During the autumn of 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld created within the Pentagon an "Office of Strategic Influence" with the function of carrying out what defense planners call "information warfare" - disinformation and propaganda against foreign enemies as well as domestic critics who do not support presidential policies. Only when it became clear that the new office's operations would include funneling false stories to the American news media did Rumsfeld say that perhaps it was all a mistake and officially shut the operation down. Nonetheless, the idea did not go away. In the autumn of 2002, Rumsfeld created a new position, deputy undersecretary of defense for "special plans" (a euphemism for "deception operations")... Deception operations include managing (and restricting) public information, controlling news sources, and manipulating public opinion. As the air force explained, the military must prevent "the news media going to other sources [such as an adversary or critic] for information... U.S. and friendly forces must strive to become the favored source of information." "Information warfare," writes military analyst William M. Arkin, "includes controlling as much as possible what the American people sees and reads." In january 2003, the White House followed up by forming its own version of Rumsfeld's Pentagon propaganda agency, the "Offcice for Global Communications." (let ook op de namen. svh) It's offcials seem to spend their time auditioning generals to give media briefings and booking administration stars on foreign and domestic news shows. It's stated purpose is to see that "any war commentary by a U.S. official is approved in advance by the White House." Typical information-warfare operations range from the trivial to major projects like inventing pretexts for war.' Zoals het verzinnen van voorwendsels om Iran te bombarderen. Daarbij let het leger propagandisten, dat onze commerciele media met desinformatie voedt, op de kleinste details. Een voorbeeld daarvan gebeurde op 27 januari 2003 'when the government arranged to have a large blue curtain placed over a tapestry reproduction of Pablo Picasso's Guernica hanging near the entrance to the United Nations Security Council. Guernica, a small Basque village in northern Spain, was the site Adolf Hitler chose on April 27, 1937, to demonstrate his air force's new high-explosive and incendiary bombs. He was then allied with the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. The hamlet burned for three days, and sixteen hundred civilians were killed or wounded. Picasso's famous depiction of this atrocity is perhaps modern art's most powerful antiwar statement. The [American svh] government decided that the carnage wrought by aerial bombing was an inappropriate background for its secretary of state and its ambassador to the United Nation when they made televised statements that might lead to the bombing of Iraqi cities.' Het is goed dit niet te vergeten wanneer men de berichten in de commerciele massamedia leest of hoort, of dit nu het NOS-Journaal of de NRC is. Geen van de Nederlanse massamedia heeft tot nu toe geanalyseerd waarom ze de propaganda voorafgaand aan de Irak-oorlog zo gewillig slikten. En dat terwijl nu is gebleken dat alle officiele redenen om Irak aan te vallen niet op de waarheid berustten. Desondanks hebben de Nederlandse commerciele media nog steeds niet diepgravend onderzocht wat de ware redenen dan wel waren. Een serie artikelen over het belang van de Amerikanen bij de oliehandel zou toch het minste moeten zijn. Maar nee dus, men is nu te druk bezig met het doorgeven van de Amerikaanse propaganda over Iran. En dat doen ze bewust en met open ogen.