Cheryl Seal
keep on top of the latest mainstream media propaganda
Wed Sep 18 17:48:55 2002
208.152.73.10

Hi,
'
Here was an interesting interchange between me and Ted K., a friend who tries
to keep on top of the latest mainstream media propaganda trends. He forwarded
me a letter he wrote to two other activists.
Cheryl Seal

Peter and Mike:
>
>Last night, Nightline actually reopened Iraqgate. They did this way back in
'92. Still there were a lot of "experts" on trying to put the best face on
it, since it has been coming out more and more, first in the Guardian, now
Newsweek.
>
>
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/us_iraq_history_1_020917.html
>
>Maybe there will be a transcript available.
>
>Key criticisms: They neglected to mention that we were also arming Iran
under Iran-Contra. Instead, the program tried to emphasize that the "tilt"
policy to Iraq was in favor of the "lesser evil". They had on this Iraq
historian (Phebe Something) who said that she "tends to think" that the US
was taken by surprise about the Kuwait invasion. Hey, hasn't she heard of our
Ambassador April Glaspie telling Hussein that we "took no position" on the
Iraq's conflict with Kuwait, since Kuwait was slant-drilling at the border.
Hussein took it as a greenlight by his partners that it was okay to invade?
So that historian is a liar. She looked like a ghoul, btw.
>
>The report also relied on that former (?) CIA agent Robert Baer to say that
Clinton backed off on going after Hussein in the mid-90's. Baer is also the
one who came out with that book that mostly shifted the blame to Clinton for
not pursuing bin Laden. He also neglected to mention Iran-Contra and Iraqgate
in his book.
>
>They also went into Clinton's policy towards Iraq. The program muddied the
issue by mentioning that Clinton said on the campaign trail that he thought
that relations with Iraq could possibly be improved, that "he believed in
deathbed conversions." But the Nightline program failed to mention that
Clinton and especially Gore went after Bush Sr. over his "coddling of a
dictator" -- i.e. Hussein as Iraqgate was exposed at that time. Clinton and
Gore said they would investigate Iraqgate. But ultimately they swept it under
the carpet, some say as a deal with Bush Sr., if he wouldn't criticize
Clinton in the first year. Look what that got Clinton and Gore -- accused of
any and everything under the Sun by Bush's allies and the Right Wing -- and
then the election was stolen from Gore by Bush Jr. Obviously, Clinton-Gore
had no clue that you have to "get Capone."
>
>Also, Newsweek exposes Iraqgate this week.
>
>http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/09.18A.neswk.us.iraq.htm
>
>Ted
>
>P.S. For more background on Iraqgate, including links to an excellent '93
Columbia Journalism Review article, with excerpts from the '92 Nightline
report, see my article I wrote a year and a half ago, published by
Democrats.com and American Politics Journal.
>
> http://www.geocities.com/alanjpakula/iraqgate.html  
>


Hi, Ted,
After reading your overview of the Nightline coverage, I conclude that what
it amounted to was an unusually sophisticated form of propaganda. With the
mounting evidence against Bush starting to appear in reliable news sources
and more questions being asked, the war engineers are having to put more
effort into their propaganda, instead of just the usual heavy-handed spin
jobs.
This seems like the old tactic - admit to lesser charges, then distort,
coverup, or rewrite the rest of the story. By appearing to reopen Iraqqate,
the show gets the attention of people who are starting to question the gov.
Then, they use their forum to dilute the truth, confuse the issue (targeting
secondary or tertiary issues) and redirect attention away from Bush & Co
(bringing in Clinton). I have seen this form of spin popping up increasingly
in various places, including Libertarian sites that have grown more hostile
to Bush (the Bush folks are mucho intimidated by the Libertarians because
they are the most likely right now to put up a SERIOUS fight). Provocateurs
are now trying to draw their fire away, back to the Clintons again...who have
nothing whatsoever to do with the present crisis (Bush's insistence on war).
I think I may do a commentary on this - "propaganda efforts bumped up to
next level of sophistication as stakes grow higher and questions tougher." I
think the arrogant Goebbels brigade in the White House has assumed everyone
in America but them is an idiot and are a little stunned to find we aren't.

:>) Cheryl Seal
CHERDAV44@aol.com