The constant use of fear to further political agendas has been a recurring problem of epidemic proportions, used intentionally to badger Congress and American citizens into what amounts to a totalitarian police state, while the vast majority of corporate media complicitly sat by and allowed it to happen.
In case you missed it, a tell-all book written by Scott McClellan comes out June 1, 2008, and it reiterates what has been known for some time — propaganda and manipulated data was used illicitly by the Bush administration to garner public support for a war with Iraq. It also accuses the media of being complicit, not asking tough enough questions. Scott McClellan is a former press secretary for the Bush administration.
While it has been known for years that corporate media was in bed with the president, corporate media never talked about or acknowledged it — relying instead on trying to discredit those who dared question their loyalties. McClellan’s book has succeeded in forcing corporate media to finally acknowledge those facts.
While ‘rightwing’ pundits and Bush Co. flunkies continue trying to smear McClellan’s reputation, they also continue, for the most part, not to deny the allegations made in the book. McClellan is the latest former employee of the Bush administration to admit what has been known to some for a long time.
Colluded Federal Stats on Terrorism
A report from Newsweek reveals the findings of a well-researched, independent analysis of the data relating to terrorism from Simon Fraser University in Canada. Despite the fact that President Bush has used terrorism against the United States, as well as other parts of the world, things aren’t as scary as he would have you believe.
The report from Simon Fraser University explains why we’re ‘scared.’ 3 government agencies show dramatic increases in government-funded studies on terror:
— The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), responsible for tracking terrorist attacks reported a 41 percent increase from 2005 to 2006, and equally high levels in 2007.
— The Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terror (MIPT) says the annual toll of fatalities from terrorism grew 450 percent between 1998 and 2006.
— The Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) recorded a 75 percent jump in 2004, the most recent year available for the data is uses.
All three reports have one common problem: They count civilian casualties from the war in Iraq as deaths caused by terrorism, and they omit casualties from other selective wars. Albeit illegally, Iraq is a war zone and many of those killed are civilians.
The analysis is skewed when Iraq is included. The NCTC and the MIPT data included 80 percent of all deaths. Without Iraq, terrorism has gone way down over the past five years — by more than 40 percent since 2001.
Noted by the Simon Fraser University study is that the decline in terrorism appears to be caused by many factors, most significantly, “extraordinary drop in support for Islamist terror organizations in the Muslim world over the past five years.”
The University of Maryland’s Center for International Development and Conflict Management released another study documenting a 54 percent decline in the number of organizations using violence across the Middle East and North Africa between 1985 and 2004. It points out that the real rise is the number of groups employing nonviolent means of protest which tripled during the same period.
“Why have you not heard about studies like this or the one from Simon Fraser, which was done by highly regarded scholars, released at the United Nations and widely discussed in many countries around the world-from Canada to Australia? Because it does not fit into the narrative of fear that we have all accepted far too easily.”
Media Became ‘Deferential Complicit Enablers’
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan wrote a book titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.” In the book, McClellan writes about his experiences at the White House, making what some call ‘startling revelations,’ some of which are about to be confirmed by The Department of Defense. Actually, the vast majority of what he writes about has been known for some time. For details on the revelations from Scott McClellan, see Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Nukes & Spooks Blog.
One of the ‘startling revelations’ made by McClellan is that the media became ‘deferential, complicit enablers’ for the Bush Administration, pushing his propaganda — basically by not questioning anything they were told by the Bush administration. That information has been available in the blogosphere for some time. McClellan’s revelations did succeed in causing the deferential, complicit enablers to respond and acknowledge it.
Ashleigh Banfield Landon, once a highly respected journalist, told the truth about the War in Iraq, Corporate greed and how the media was forced to cover events, not report on them. Executives were more concerned about ratings and profits than reporting the truth and informing the public about what was really going on — which continues to this day. It was a very powerful speech that ended up costing her career in journalism. The text from her speech in 2003 is available from Kansas State University. More information can also be found from Digby’s Blog. She was fired for telling the truth.
Katie Couric referred to coverage of the War in Iraq as almost fawning and one of the most embarrassing chapters in American journalism. Jessica Yellin basically admitted the same thing. Other news stars defend themselves with the usual story about no one doubted the Iraq weapons of mass destruction. Opposers to the war such as Phil Donahue and Jesse Ventura were terminated and paid millions not to appear. There are several who deny everything while trying to smear McClellan too.
As usual, it’s rather comical — in a pathetic sort of way — when you see who some of the media players are making all the noise to deny the accusations while smearing McClellan. The White House received a copy of the book in April. The den of thieves and liars who lied us into the illegal occupation of Iraq continue showing their true colors. A lot more information regarding all the slandering and denial, see Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, Truthout.org, Salon News, The Washington Post, United Press International, The World Socialist Web Site, USA Today, Nieman Watchdog, CommonDreams.org and Below Ground Surface.
Date Manipulation and Propaganda Continue
CNN has resumed using one of the Pentagon shills that was outed when The New York Times reported on the Pentagon propaganda used to continue support for the Iraq war. The Bush Administration is busy spreading more propaganda and lies, possibly to help John McCain’s presidential run, trying to make people believe that the U.S. is making “a big and continual push” to capture or kill Osama bin Laden — despite the fact that he’s reportedly dead. Some Marines say al-Qa’aida’s growing stronger. Hayden has been another one of Bush’s loyal stooges who lost all credibility long ago.
ABC News claims Osama bin Laden is still alive, but ABC has been known to conveniently fudge the truth more than once. Osama bin Laden has been reported dead many times — in 2001 and again in 2006 by a French newspaper, but the Bush administration has constantly used phony bin Laden propaganda to further their illicit activities.
If a Democrat takes over the White House next year, there could be hell to pay for everyone in the Bush administration. Keep a sharp eye out for voter fraud, since that’s the most likely way a Republican could remain in the White House.
The closer it gets to election time, the more the Bush administration pulls out all stops and has his cohorts lie for him and the party. CIA Director Michael Hayden gave an upbeat assessment of how the U.S. is beating Al-Qaeda while Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff downplays nuclear threats while further attempting to turn America into Israel.
The Bush administration has colluded with some large corporations which has resulted in one majorly illegal cluster-you-know-what. As I’ve said numerous times, corporate media executives have nobody to blame but themselves for once again getting caught in treacherous lies and losing credibility with readers and viewers. Corporate media can continue shooting itself down in flames with the Bush administration, or they can start telling the truth and stop misinforming the public. Until then the public has to learn to sort through the B.S. and the truth while waiting for the corruption of the past seven plus years to come to an end and waiting for justice to be served.
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