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13 de Febrero, 2008
Better Red Than Dead
Categorized under Guerra , Once de Septiembre , Violencia | Tags: propaganda, September 11
On the morning of 9 February 2004, The New York Times carried an exclusive and alarming story. The paper's Baghdad correspondent, Dexter Filkins, reported that US officials had obtained a 17-page letter, believed to have been written by the notorious terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi to the "inner circle" of al-Qa'ida's leadership, urging them to accept that the best way to beat US forces in Iraq was effectively to start a civil war.The letter argued that al-Qa'ida, which is a Sunni network, should attack the Shia population of Iraq: "It is the only way to prolong the duration of the fight between the infidels and us. If we succeed in dragging them into a sectarian war, this will awaken the sleepy Sunnis."
Later that day, at a regular US press briefing in Baghdad, US General Mark Kimmitt dealt with a string of questions about The New York Times report: "We believe the report and the document is credible, and we take the report seriously... It is clearly a plan on the part of outsiders to come in to this country and spark civil war, create sectarian violence, try to expose fissures in this society." The story went on to news agency wires and, within 24 hours, it was running around the world.
There is very good reason to believe that that letter was a fake - and a significant one because there is equally good reason to believe that it was one product among many from a new machinery of propaganda which has been created by the United States and its allies since the terrorist attacks of September 2001.
HERE'S THE THING. Not one of the stories proven to be government lies or propaganda or coverup has yet fooled me. They've all felt immediately wrong. Not saying I'm better than anyone in this. Just saying...when something is an untruth, it has a very definite aura/vibe/feeling to it. Part of the Decider's Great Devilry has been to act in such a way that many people are afraid to trust their own intuition anymore—as if we gave it much weight in the West to begin with! But I was not raised entirely on Western thought, and I greatly value and nurture and nourish my intuition. And when you do that, you wake it up, I find. And you hear it more clearly. And it is a great help in surviving and thriving. As it should be. It is a hugely important tool that each human is given by birth.
Let's not give the official story so much room on the event that "started" all this. From then to now, the Official Stories have been issued in the service of contining the purpose of the original Big Lie. And if one day I'm proven wrong on that, you know I'll say so. Meanwhile, let's remember why a Big Lie works in the first place...
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Comentarios (7)
Deoridhe dijo:
I wish I could say the same... I have no idea if I would have believed the propeganda if I'd heard it, but I've been so disconnected from mainstream media for so long that I observed almost the entire last seven years through blogs and British news.
I was, and remain, livid when the military action machine (This isn't a war. Congress hasn't fucking DECLARED war since WW2. The idea that the President can beocme commander and cheif without Congress' express authorization is one of the many things that pisses me off about US citizen's understanding of US law andwhat US patriotism should be) moved from Afghanistan to Iraq. I predicted, when it happened, that Afghanistan would end up back in the hands of unscrupulous people. Of course, when I predicted that, I still thought the US might be scrupulous. 8/
We make dictators to support us, then take them down years later and claim it as a win for democracy. I used to think the US was founded on sound priciples - and I still believe many of the principles are good - but the gap between ideal and reality is so very, very, very wide, and the people who are murdered in its name... is it unrealistic to think even one life is too much? Even lives I don't like?
Palabras por Deoridhe spat forth on el 13 de Febrero, 2008 at 10:09 AM
deoridhe dijo:
Gah, sorry for babbling in your comments. I'm just SO ANGRY that blind obedience is called "patriotism" in the US - of all places! We wouldn't exist if a bunch of (racist, privileged) white guys hadn't refused to obey!
Palabras por deoridhe spat forth on el 13 de Febrero, 2008 at 10:20 AM
nezua
dijo:
i like that you feel free to explore your feelings and thoughts here.
Palabras por nezua
spat forth on el 13 de Febrero, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Deoridhe dijo:
You have made a very welcoming place. It is a gift, I think. ^_^
Palabras por Deoridhe spat forth on el 13 de Febrero, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Tom dijo:
Yeah, more bullshit. The US, both the military and the media, seemed to be trying to get us ready for a civil war long before they had any evidence that one was going on.
Palabras por Tom spat forth on el 13 de Febrero, 2008 at 07:40 PM
peasant dijo:
WTF?
When Upton Sinclair (1920) penned "Journalism in America is the business and practice of presenting the news of the day in the interest of economic privilege." he had no idea that the economic and war engines of this country would become so intertwined. War, now more than just a mere profit center, is also a tool of the economic privileged. Why invest and buy out a rival corporation, and why buy or invest in the natural resources of a recalcitrant seller when you can create a war and simply take them? Corporations have merely broadened the definition of "Hostile Takeover." The currency is supplied by the taxpayer in funds and blood. This is not a unique time in history, or a unique motive for our corporatocracy. What is different is that more people, thanks to greater communication opportunities, are saying WTF?
Palabras por peasant spat forth on el 14 de Febrero, 2008 at 05:44 AM
R. Mildred dijo:
BWAHAHA, oh yes, because as anyone who knows anything about iraq knew, Iraq was a really homogenous country who's people in no way shape or form kinda resented being mushed together as a side effect of the british colonial rule.
That's why there were never any independance groups (who hated each other) before the british left, and why there weren't any seccesationist groups when they did leave, and why saddam didn't need to be as violent as he was just to keep the kurds from fucking off during the first gulf war, and why we stood around and did nothing, even though our troops were just the other side of the border.
Okay okay, I admittedly predicted that the major side effect of an iraq war would be the succession of the kurdish north, followed by turkey invading the north because they really don't want a free kurdish state on their border.
No but seriously, the Wahhabist group called Al Qaeda had to come along and make a potential civil war between sunnis and shiites, because those two groups hadn't been sniping at each other all through the entire history of the two groups' existence in mesopotamia.
Iraq doesn't make sense as a country - it's a mish mash of about five different ethnic and geopolitical areas that have never liked trying to work as a homogenous whole - in no small part because they've been violently forced to be this strange unnatural critter called "iraq" for the past hundred years.
Which is why, when you topple a dictator who was acting as a CIA patsy to keep Iraq a single unified state, you better begin your preparations for the clean up with the notion of ensuring a non-violent and democratic break up fo the country into its constituent parts.
But, Oh no, Sorry, we couldn't do that, because if america had to ask several different democratic countries for oil they wouldn't be able to ensure that they can get a single, low low price for it dictated by the american controlled central government.
And how terrible would that be? And could you imagine the administrative costs? Tch tch...
Palabras por R. Mildred spat forth on el 18 de Febrero, 2008 at 06:33 AM