Post by buksh26 on Jan 4, 2005 19:13:40 GMT -5
Iraq: Covering up US war crimes
James Petras
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary, a journalist's account of Nazi
political propaganda during the 1930s, as I watch the US "news" reports of
the violent assault on Fallujah.
The US mass media "reports", the style, content and especially the
language, echo their Nazi predecessors of 70 years ago to an uncanny
degree. Coincidence? Of course! In both instances we have imperialist
armies conquering countries, levelling cities and slaughtering civilians ?
and the mass media, private in form, state appendages in practice,
disseminate the most outrageous lies, in defense and praise of the
conquering "storm troopers" ? call them SS or marines.
Both in Nazi Germany and contemporary US, we are told by the mass media
that the invading armies are "freeing the country" of "foreign fighters"
and "armed terrorists", who are preventing "the people" from going about
their everyday lives. Yet we know that of the 1000 prisoners there are only
four foreigners (three Iranians and one Arab); Iraqi hospitals report less
than 10% of casualties are foreign fighters. In other words, over 90% of
the fighters are Iraqis ? most of whom were born, educated and raised
families in the cities in which they are fighting.
Like the Nazi media, the major US radio and TV networks only report what
they call "military casualties" ? failing to report the civilians killed
since the war started and the thousands of women and children killed and
wounded since the assault on Fallujah began.
Like in Nazi Germany, the US mass media feature unconfirmed reports by the
US military of the bloody murders, beheadings and kidnappings "by the
foreign terrorists". The unconditional support of Nazi/US mass media for
the killing fields is best captured in their reports of the massive bombing
of densely populated city districts. For the US network NBC, the dropping
of 500-pound bombs in the city of Fallujah is described as targeting an
"insurgent tunnel network in the city". And the houses, markets, stores ?
the mothers and children above those tunnels ? vaporised into "pink mist",
their existence never acknowledged by the leading reporters and
broadcasters.
Almost the entire population of non-Kurdish Iraq is opposed to the US
military and its puppet regime ? yet the media refer to the patriots
defending their country from the imperial invaders as "insurgents",
minimising the significance of a nationwide patriotic liberation movement.
One of the most surreal euphemisms is the constant reference to the
"coalition forces" ? meaning the US colonial conquerors and the mercenaries
and satraps that they direct and control.
The terror bombing of homes, hospitals and religious buildings by hundreds
of airplanes and helicopter gunships is described by the media as "securing
the city for free elections".
"Freeing the city of insurgents" includes the systematic murder of friends,
neighbours and relatives of every Iraqi living in the city of Fallujah.
"Surrounding the insurgents" means cutting off water, electricity and
medical aid for 200,000 civilians in the city and putting tens of thousands
who fled under threat of a typhoid epidemic. "Pacifying the city" involves
turning it to absolute desolate poisoned rubble.
Why do Washington and the mass media resort to gross, systematic lying and
euphemisms? Basically to reinforce mass support at home for mass murder in
Iraq. The mass media fabricates a web of lies to secure a gloss of
legitimacy for totalitarian methods in order that the US armed forces can
continue to destroy cities with impunity.
The technique perfected by Goebbels in Germany and practiced in the US is
to repeat lies and euphemisms until they become accepted "truths", and
embedded in everyday language. The mass media by effectively routinising a
common language implicates the listeners. The tactical concerns of the
generals, the commanders directing the slaughter (pacification), and the
soldiers murdering civilians are explained (and consumed by the millions
listening and watching) by the unchallenged authorities to the compliant
journalists and famous news anchors.
The unity of purpose between the agents of mass murder and everyday US
public is established via "news reports": The soldiers "paint the names" of
their wives and sweethearts on the tanks and armoured vehicles that destroy
Iraqi families and turn Fallujah into ruins. Returning soldiers from Iraq
are "interviewed" who want to return to "be with their platoon" and "wipe
out the terrorists".
Not all of US combat forces experienced the joys of shooting civilians.
Medical studies report that one out of five returning soldiers are
suffering from severe psychological trauma, no doubt from witnessing or
participating in the mass killing of civilians. The family of one returned
soldier, who recently committed suicide, reported that he constantly
referred to his killing of an unarmed child in the streets of Iraq ?
calling himself a "murderer".
Aside from these notable exceptions, the mass propaganda media practise
several techniques, which assuage the "conscience" of US soldiers and
civilians. One technique is "role reversal" to attribute the crimes of the
invading force to the victims: It is not the soldiers who cause destruction
of cities and murder, but the Iraqi families who 'protect the terrorists'
and "bring upon themselves the savage bombardment".
The second technique is to only report US casualties from "terrorist bombs"
? to omit any mention of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed by US bombs
and artillery. Both Nazi and US propaganda glorify the "heroism", "success"
of their elite forces (the SS and the Marines) ? in killing "terrorists" or
"insurgents" ? every dead civilian is counted as a "suspected terrorist
sympathiser".
The US and German military have declared every civilian building a
"storehouse" or "hiding place" for "terrorists'?hence the absolutely total
disregard of all the Geneva laws of warfare. The US and Nazi practice of
'total war' in which whole communities, neighbourhoods and entire cities
are collectively guilty of shielding 'wanted terrorists'?is of course the
standard operating military procedure of the Israeli government.
The US publicises the cruel and unusual punishment of Iraqi "suspects" (any
male between 14 and 60 years old) taken prisoner: photos appear in Time and
Newsweek of barefoot, blindfolded and bound young men led from their homes
and pushed into trucks to be taken to "exploitation centres" for
interrogation. For many in the US public these pictures are part of the
success story ? they are told these are the "terrorists" who would blow up
US homes.
For the majority who voted for US President George Bush, the mass
propaganda media has taught them to believe that the extermination of
scores of thousands of Iraqi citizens is in their best interests: they can
sleep sound, as long as "our boys" kill them "over there".
Above all the mass propaganda media has done everything possible to deny
Iraqi national consciousness. Every day in every way the reference is to
religious loyalties, ethnic identities, past political labels, "tribal" and
family clans. The purpose is to divide and conquer, and to present the
world with a "chaotic" Iraq in which the only coherent, stable force is the
US colonial regime. The purpose of the savage colonial assaults and the
political labelling is to destroy the idea of the Iraqi nation ? and in its
place to substitute a series of mini-entities run by imperial satraps
obedient to Washington.
Sunday morning: November 14. Today Fallujah is being raped and razed,
captured. Wounded prisoners are shot in the mosques. In New York, the
mega-malls are crowded with shoppers.
Sunday afternoon: the Marines have blocked food, water and medicine from
entering Fallujah. Throughout the US millions of men sit in front of the
television watching football.
Shirer reported that, while the Nazis invaded and ravaged Belgium and
bombed Rotterdam, in Berlin the cafes were full, the symphony played and
people walked their dogs in the park on sunny Sunday afternoons.
Yes, there are differences between Shirer's account of Nazi propaganda in
defense of the conquest of Europe and the US media's apology for the
invasion of Iraq and Israel's slaughter of the Palestinians: One is
committed in the name of the Fuehrer and the Fatherland, the other in the
name of Freedom and Democracy. Go tell that to the bloated corpses gnawed by
dogs in the ruins of Fallujah.
[James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser to
the landless and jobless in Brazil and Argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked. He can be reached at: <
http://www.jpetras@binghamton.edu>.]
James Petras
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary, a journalist's account of Nazi
political propaganda during the 1930s, as I watch the US "news" reports of
the violent assault on Fallujah.
The US mass media "reports", the style, content and especially the
language, echo their Nazi predecessors of 70 years ago to an uncanny
degree. Coincidence? Of course! In both instances we have imperialist
armies conquering countries, levelling cities and slaughtering civilians ?
and the mass media, private in form, state appendages in practice,
disseminate the most outrageous lies, in defense and praise of the
conquering "storm troopers" ? call them SS or marines.
Both in Nazi Germany and contemporary US, we are told by the mass media
that the invading armies are "freeing the country" of "foreign fighters"
and "armed terrorists", who are preventing "the people" from going about
their everyday lives. Yet we know that of the 1000 prisoners there are only
four foreigners (three Iranians and one Arab); Iraqi hospitals report less
than 10% of casualties are foreign fighters. In other words, over 90% of
the fighters are Iraqis ? most of whom were born, educated and raised
families in the cities in which they are fighting.
Like the Nazi media, the major US radio and TV networks only report what
they call "military casualties" ? failing to report the civilians killed
since the war started and the thousands of women and children killed and
wounded since the assault on Fallujah began.
Like in Nazi Germany, the US mass media feature unconfirmed reports by the
US military of the bloody murders, beheadings and kidnappings "by the
foreign terrorists". The unconditional support of Nazi/US mass media for
the killing fields is best captured in their reports of the massive bombing
of densely populated city districts. For the US network NBC, the dropping
of 500-pound bombs in the city of Fallujah is described as targeting an
"insurgent tunnel network in the city". And the houses, markets, stores ?
the mothers and children above those tunnels ? vaporised into "pink mist",
their existence never acknowledged by the leading reporters and
broadcasters.
Almost the entire population of non-Kurdish Iraq is opposed to the US
military and its puppet regime ? yet the media refer to the patriots
defending their country from the imperial invaders as "insurgents",
minimising the significance of a nationwide patriotic liberation movement.
One of the most surreal euphemisms is the constant reference to the
"coalition forces" ? meaning the US colonial conquerors and the mercenaries
and satraps that they direct and control.
The terror bombing of homes, hospitals and religious buildings by hundreds
of airplanes and helicopter gunships is described by the media as "securing
the city for free elections".
"Freeing the city of insurgents" includes the systematic murder of friends,
neighbours and relatives of every Iraqi living in the city of Fallujah.
"Surrounding the insurgents" means cutting off water, electricity and
medical aid for 200,000 civilians in the city and putting tens of thousands
who fled under threat of a typhoid epidemic. "Pacifying the city" involves
turning it to absolute desolate poisoned rubble.
Why do Washington and the mass media resort to gross, systematic lying and
euphemisms? Basically to reinforce mass support at home for mass murder in
Iraq. The mass media fabricates a web of lies to secure a gloss of
legitimacy for totalitarian methods in order that the US armed forces can
continue to destroy cities with impunity.
The technique perfected by Goebbels in Germany and practiced in the US is
to repeat lies and euphemisms until they become accepted "truths", and
embedded in everyday language. The mass media by effectively routinising a
common language implicates the listeners. The tactical concerns of the
generals, the commanders directing the slaughter (pacification), and the
soldiers murdering civilians are explained (and consumed by the millions
listening and watching) by the unchallenged authorities to the compliant
journalists and famous news anchors.
The unity of purpose between the agents of mass murder and everyday US
public is established via "news reports": The soldiers "paint the names" of
their wives and sweethearts on the tanks and armoured vehicles that destroy
Iraqi families and turn Fallujah into ruins. Returning soldiers from Iraq
are "interviewed" who want to return to "be with their platoon" and "wipe
out the terrorists".
Not all of US combat forces experienced the joys of shooting civilians.
Medical studies report that one out of five returning soldiers are
suffering from severe psychological trauma, no doubt from witnessing or
participating in the mass killing of civilians. The family of one returned
soldier, who recently committed suicide, reported that he constantly
referred to his killing of an unarmed child in the streets of Iraq ?
calling himself a "murderer".
Aside from these notable exceptions, the mass propaganda media practise
several techniques, which assuage the "conscience" of US soldiers and
civilians. One technique is "role reversal" to attribute the crimes of the
invading force to the victims: It is not the soldiers who cause destruction
of cities and murder, but the Iraqi families who 'protect the terrorists'
and "bring upon themselves the savage bombardment".
The second technique is to only report US casualties from "terrorist bombs"
? to omit any mention of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed by US bombs
and artillery. Both Nazi and US propaganda glorify the "heroism", "success"
of their elite forces (the SS and the Marines) ? in killing "terrorists" or
"insurgents" ? every dead civilian is counted as a "suspected terrorist
sympathiser".
The US and German military have declared every civilian building a
"storehouse" or "hiding place" for "terrorists'?hence the absolutely total
disregard of all the Geneva laws of warfare. The US and Nazi practice of
'total war' in which whole communities, neighbourhoods and entire cities
are collectively guilty of shielding 'wanted terrorists'?is of course the
standard operating military procedure of the Israeli government.
The US publicises the cruel and unusual punishment of Iraqi "suspects" (any
male between 14 and 60 years old) taken prisoner: photos appear in Time and
Newsweek of barefoot, blindfolded and bound young men led from their homes
and pushed into trucks to be taken to "exploitation centres" for
interrogation. For many in the US public these pictures are part of the
success story ? they are told these are the "terrorists" who would blow up
US homes.
For the majority who voted for US President George Bush, the mass
propaganda media has taught them to believe that the extermination of
scores of thousands of Iraqi citizens is in their best interests: they can
sleep sound, as long as "our boys" kill them "over there".
Above all the mass propaganda media has done everything possible to deny
Iraqi national consciousness. Every day in every way the reference is to
religious loyalties, ethnic identities, past political labels, "tribal" and
family clans. The purpose is to divide and conquer, and to present the
world with a "chaotic" Iraq in which the only coherent, stable force is the
US colonial regime. The purpose of the savage colonial assaults and the
political labelling is to destroy the idea of the Iraqi nation ? and in its
place to substitute a series of mini-entities run by imperial satraps
obedient to Washington.
Sunday morning: November 14. Today Fallujah is being raped and razed,
captured. Wounded prisoners are shot in the mosques. In New York, the
mega-malls are crowded with shoppers.
Sunday afternoon: the Marines have blocked food, water and medicine from
entering Fallujah. Throughout the US millions of men sit in front of the
television watching football.
Shirer reported that, while the Nazis invaded and ravaged Belgium and
bombed Rotterdam, in Berlin the cafes were full, the symphony played and
people walked their dogs in the park on sunny Sunday afternoons.
Yes, there are differences between Shirer's account of Nazi propaganda in
defense of the conquest of Europe and the US media's apology for the
invasion of Iraq and Israel's slaughter of the Palestinians: One is
committed in the name of the Fuehrer and the Fatherland, the other in the
name of Freedom and Democracy. Go tell that to the bloated corpses gnawed by
dogs in the ruins of Fallujah.
[James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser to
the landless and jobless in Brazil and Argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked. He can be reached at: <
http://www.jpetras@binghamton.edu>.]