The Big Lie

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

SpectrEzine

War Propaganda

Michel Chossudovsky looks at "the blatant distortion of truth and the 
systematic manipulation of all sources of information" which is lying the 
ground for devastating war.

Military planners in the Pentagon are acutely aware of the central role of 
war propaganda. Waged from the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA, 
a fear and disinformation campaign (FDC) has been launched. The blatant 
distortion of the truth and the systematic manipulation of all sources of 
information is an integral part of war planning. In the wake of 9/11, 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld created to the Office of Strategic 
Influence (OSI), or "Office of Disinformation" as it was labeled by its 
critics:

"The Department of Defense said they needed to do this, and they were going 
to actually plant stories that were false in foreign countries to -- as an 
effort to influence public opinion across the world.1

And, all of a sudden, the OSI was formally disbanded following political 
pressures and "troublesome" media stories that "its purpose was to 
deliberately lie to advance American interests."2 "Rumsfeld backed off and 
said this is embarrassing."3 Yet despite this apparent about-turn, the 
Pentagon?s Orwellian disinformation campaign remains functionally intact: 
"[T]he secretary of defense is not being particularly candid here. 
Disinformation in military propaganda is part of war."4

Rumsfeld later confirmed in a press interview that while the OSI no longer 
exists in name, the "Office?s intended functions are being carried out" 5 
(Rumsfeld?s precise words can be consulted at this website

A number of government agencies and intelligence units --with links to the 
Pentagon-- are involved in various components of the propaganda campaign. 
Realities are turned upside down. Acts of war are heralded as "humanitarian 
interventions" geared towards "regime change" and "the restoration of 
democracy". Military occupation and the killing of civilians are presented 
as "peace-keeping". The derogation of civil liberties --in the context of 
the so-called "anti-terrorist legislation"-- is portrayed as a means to 
providing "domestic security" and upholding civil liberties. And underlying 
these manipulated realties, "Osama bin Laden" and "Weapons of Mass 
Destruction" statements, which circulate profusely in the news chain, are 
upheld as the basis for an understanding of World events.

In the critical "planning stages" leading up to an invasion of Iraq, the 
twisting of public opinion at home and around the World, is an integral 
part of the War agenda, War propaganda is pursued at all stages: before, 
during the military operation as well as in its cruel aftermath. War 
propaganda serves to drown the real causes and consequences of war.

A few months after the OSI was disbanded amidst controversy (February 
2002), The New York Times confirmed that the disinformation campaign was 
running strong and that the Pentagon was:

"?considering issuing a secret directive to American military to conduct 
covert operations aimed at influencing public opinion and policymakers in 
friendly and neutral nations ?The proposal has ignited a fierce battle 
throughout the Bush administration over whether the military should carry 
out secret propaganda missions in friendly nations like Germany? The fight, 
one Pentagon official said, is over ?the strategic communications for our 
nation, the message we want to send for long-term influence, and how we do 
it?.?We have the assets and the capabilities and the training to go into 
friendly and neutral nations to influence public opinion. We could do it 
and get away with it. That doesn't mean we should.?6

full: http://www.spectrezine.org/war/Chossudovsky.htm

Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org


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