MANIPULATION RESULTS

[Guest guest]

" Arlene Montemarano " <mikarl

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:58:00 -0500

MANIPULATION RESULTS

 

 

 

 

 

Fighting for Their Lies: The Deadly Delusions of America's Troops

Chris Floyd

 

March 8, 2006

 

While much has been made of the recent poll showing that a majority of

U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq think we should get out – heartening

news for all those who oppose Bush's bloodsoaked war crime – the poll

contained another revelation that should disturb anyone – anti-war or

pro-war – who still believes in American democracy: the fact that some

85 percent of US forces in Iraq believe they are fighting to avenge

Saddam Hussein's role in the September 11 attacks. (Alex Sabbeth at

Consortiumnews.com has more on this, and on Bush's broader propaganda

war, in America Anesthetized.)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/030406a.html

 

Saddam Hussein played no role in the September 11 attacks, of course;

even the Warmonger-in-Chief has been forced to admit this indisputable

fact, in public. It has also been confirmed by multiple investigations

by the intelligence services, and even by the whitewashing, Bush-run,

see-no-evil-unless-it-speaks-Arabic 9/11 Commission. Yet American

troops have been thoroughly inculcated with this false notion – no

doubt deliberately.

 

The dangers of infecting the armed forces with such partisan

propaganda are immense. First, think of how this notion has skewed the

reaction of American soldiers to the Iraqi people, especially anyone

accused or suspected – for whatever reason, or none at all – of being

an insurgent, or a " Baathist diehard, " etc. To an American soldier

blinded by the deliberate Bush lies, such people would appear to be

nothing but evil terrorists complicit in the murder of thousands of

innocent Americans. And in fact, all Iraqis would be tarred by this

brush: for how could a soldier out on patrol distinguish which of the

seething mass of foreigners surrounding him had been a supporter of

the man who (supposedly) attacked America?

 

Putting deluded soldiers in such a position, fed with such lies, is a

formula certain to produce atrocities and abuse. No wonder we have

seen so many cases of American soldiers being quick on the trigger,

quick with the boot and the fist, belligerent and brutal in tumultuous

house searches,

http://www.chris-floyd.com/fallujah/flv/player.php?url=AMERICA.flv

eager to " soften up " prisoners for CIA interrogators, and so on. Most

of them believe they are there to avenge murdered Americans, and that

anyone who opposes their presence – or even looks at them wrong – must

be part of the system that (supposedly) produced 9/11.

 

The evil of this deliberate policy is great in itself; but the broader

implications are perhaps even worse. For consider this: if American

troops can be propagandized to believe such a transparent lie about

Iraq's non-existent connection to 9/11 – what can't they be

manipulated into believing?

 

And remember, this mass military delusion has been manufactured in an

age when soldiers have far more access to outside information than

ever before (despite the Pentagon's strenuous efforts to clamp down on

anything Don Rumsfeld doesn't want them to hear). Can they be made to

believe that, say, the government of Hugo Chavez is directly tied to

al Qaeda and must be overthrown? Can they be made to believe that

Saddam's non-existent weapons of mass destruction are actually parked

in Damascus and must be seized by force? Can they be made to believe

that Iran is sending agents across the Iraqi border to kill them and

is about to nuke their loved ones in the Homeland as well?

 

(The latter is in fact the latest propaganda campaign from the

Bushists: Rumsfeld rolled out the Iranian infiltration line just

yesterday, despite its utter and transparent foolishness: why would

the Iranians seek to destabilize an Iraqi regime that, thanks to Bush,

is now dominated by Shiite factions that were nurtured, armed, trained

and financed by Tehran itself? And of course, this week both Dick

Cheney and John " I'm Not Foaming at the Mouth, It's a Moustache "

Bolton were pounding the war drums over the Iranian nuclear " threat " –

at about the same time their boss was rewarding India for its own

secret nuclear arms program, with a deal that guarantees the dangerous

proliferation of nuclear weapons in one of the world's most volatile

regions.)

 

But why stop with new foreign aggression? If American soldiers can be

manipulated into believing the non-existent connection between Saddam

and al Qaeda – why not a non-existent connection between some domestic

faction and terrorism? What if you convinced the troops that, say,

some Democratic leader was a traitor in league with terrorists? Or the

anti-war movement in general? Or environmentalists? Or Muslims? Or

Mexicans? Or Jews? Or any other group that some president down the

line – armed with the dictatorial powers seized by Bush under the rule

of the " unitary executive " – decides to eliminate?

 

We have, once again, crossed a dangerous Rubicon. If American soldiers

can now be deliberately manipulated into fighting a war based on a

transparent and publicly proven lie, in the service of the political

ambitions and personal fortunes of a partisan faction, then we are

well and truly through the looking-glass. We have reached the same

pitch of civic degradation as the late Roman Republic, where the

legions became the tools of ruthless warlords, jockeying for

dominance, despoiling whole peoples and slaughtering thousands in the

process. Once unlimbered, this weapon will be used again and again.

With each passing day, the Bush Factionists – and all their many

sycophants and enablers, in both parties, throughout the Establishment

– are sowing a monstrous future for America, and the world. .

 

Fighting for Their Lies: The Deadly Delusions of America's Troops

uruknet.info - Italy

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m21359 & l=i & size=1 & hd=0

.... any other group that some president down the line – armed with the

dictatorial powers seized by Bush under the rule of the " unitary

executive " – decides to ...