Lawmakers Seek Probe of ‘Media Generals’
NEW YORK - As U.S. television networks continue their silence about their use of retired military officers to ’sell’ progress in Iraq, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling on the Defence Department Inspector General to investigate the Pentagon-sponsored public relations effort.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, and 40 others members of Congress, want the Inspector General (IG) to investigate how high-ranking officials within the Defence Department were allowed to operate a programme ‘aimed at deceiving the American people’.
‘When the Department of Defence (DoD) misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts when in fact these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,’ the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter to DoD Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter.
‘Not only must the inspector general now account for what it did and did not know about this state-sponsored propaganda effort, but they must also explain why, if they knew about the propaganda campaign, it was allowed to proceed,’ DeLauro said.
‘Additionally, we are calling for the inspector general to launch an investigation to ensure no detail surrounding this programme remains hidden,’ she added. The House members also want to know if the inspector general considers the programme to be illegal.
Retired officers who acted as military analysts for major news outlets were given V.I.P. access to the Pentagon, with regular briefings by then-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a sponsored trip to the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.
The operation was abruptly halted after it was reported by The New York Times. The paper’s massive probe revealed that some 75 retired military officers, prepped by the Pentagon, served as paid television commentators since the run-up to the Iraq war — and many also have conflicting ties to defence contractors. These business links were seldom disclosed to viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks on which they appeared, the newspaper said.
The Times report said the officers got private briefings, trips and access to classified intelligence meant to influence their comments.
‘Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks,’ the newspaper wrote.
The Pentagon has since released 8,000 pages of documents related to the propaganda campaign, known as the Pentagon military analyst programme, at the website http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/milanalysts/. Officials continue to defend the programme, saying the analysts were given only accurate information. Ken Allard, a retired Army colonel, pointed out in the Times article that it was ’sometimes enough just for the Pentagon’s cynical commissars to make retirees feel important, to give them a sense that they were still players.’ For other so-called ‘talking heads’, pleasing the Pentagon was strictly mercenary. The Times’ revelations have sparked a serious backlash among many journalists and advocates of more transparency in government. Among them is Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists.
Aftergood told IPS, ‘It is unrealistic to expect the Pentagon to do anything other than to advance its own institutional interests in the media and elsewhere. Furthermore, it is not surprising when retired career military officers present a perspective that coincides with that of their former cohort.’
But he added, ‘Two things are disturbing, however. One is the secret, unacknowledged coordination between the Pentagon and the purportedly independent spokespersons. That stinks. But what’s worse is the failure of the media to come to terms with the way it was manipulated. Media organisations are supposed to be sceptical of authority, and evenhanded in their approach to public policy issues. This story illustrates how badly they failed to justify the public trust.’
Despite an avalanche of similar criticism throughout the blogosphere, and by a handful of journalism veterans and critics, the news chiefs and on-air hosts at CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS, have had little reaction to the revelations concerning the ‘Media Generals’. Most declined to comment publicly, but have ceased using the officers on-air. Some are reportedly tightening their guidelines for hiring military commentators.
This is not the first time the Pentagon has engaged in concealed efforts to influence public opinion. In December 2005, at the beginning of the insurgency in Iraq, media reports revealed that a contractor to the Defence Department was paying off Iraqi journalists to write ‘good news’ stories about U.S. progress there.
The Pentagon carried out the effort as part of an organised and well-funded programme, and did so in secret. The Los Angeles Times broke the story.
Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, also pointed out to IPS that ‘During the run-up to the war on Iraq, the Pentagon gave its ‘analysts’ talking points: Iraq has chemical and biological weapons; Iraq is developing nukes; Iraq could give its WMD to Al Qaeda; and an invasion would be quick and cheap. This disinformation campaign was designed to condition Congress and the American people to accept Bush’s illegal and unnecessary invasion of Iraq.’
Now, she warned, ‘we are seeing the same pattern as many in the Bush administration prepare for an attack on Iran. Petraeus, Crocker, Gates, Bush and Cheney are mouthing the mantra that Iran has nukes and is a danger to America. Watch for other ‘analysts’ to parrot this line. Since there appears to be a split in the administration about the wisdom of such an attack, public pressure could tilt the balance away from war.’
The Defence Department scheme to commission ‘good news’ from Iraq was being carried out at the same time the State Department’s exchange programme was working to teach foreign journalists about the role and responsibility of a free press.
Some critics saw this as the worst aspect of this situation because it added to the perception of U.S. hypocrisy — at a time when the government is spending millions of dollars trying to ‘win hearts and minds’ around the world.
Only one senior administration official commented on the ‘Iraq Payola’ scheme. Appearing on ABC’s ‘This Week’ programme, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley joined Iraqi journalists in the view that, if the Defence Department investigation supported the allegations, the idea was bad policy and should be stopped. It is unclear whether the programme remains in operation.
Earlier, the media uncovered another DOD programme known as ‘Total Information Awareness’. TIA was an advanced form of ‘data mining’, that would have effectively provided government officials immediate access to personal information such as phone calls, e-mails and Web searches, financial records, purchases, prescriptions, school and medical records and travel history.
Disclosure of the programme triggered a furor among the public and in Congress and it was shut down. But nobody was fired or reprimanded.
© 2008 Inter Press Service
Lets drop the pretense. This is undisclosed military propaganda. Those politicians, military, and media people who participated are unpatriotic. The tilt away from Democracy and toward Totalitarianism is clear. Severe punishment is called for but unfortunately off the table.
PROBE: Our CONgress looks in the mirror, “discovers” it’s the government at fault as usual…that they are their own enemy….”Oh well, nothing to see here…move on”.
Same type of effort is going to deceive the public about the true situation with the economy..
CNBC parades endless an list of pundits that get their every is fine talk before going on the air and are told to keep it postive..
These guys should also be hung out to dry for misleading the public!
The truth is that the elite view the general masses as too unstable and ignorant for self-rule. “Commoners,” who are viewed as factors of production at work and as consumers at home, must adhere to their proper roles in order to maintain social stability. So, all this propaganda is for their own good!
Can we use that same probe thats been used on the American people for the last 7 years!
When a society possesses a huge military, it eventually produces a society informed by military propaganda.
The military is state’s main tool for war-making. And as the old saw goes, “the first casualty of war is truth.”
However, when it comes to actual war-fighting, many times internal military commands and communication approximate reality.
In fact, when the US elite were involved in major war efforts (not colonial occupations), the major actions were against the designated enemy’s material infracture: manufacturing, farming, roads and transport, etc.
In fact, most modern wars are fought by politician’s and military leaders’ based on a materialist viewpoint -one very similar to Marx and Engel’s.
How’s that for irony!
Expect this one to be added to the long list of probes sought of the ruling class that will be ignored. Power is not investigated out of their place calling the shots. In fact, I thought it a waste of the New York Times’ ink and paper to report that these corporate TV generals were mouthpieces for the Pentagon. Goodness, that was news to somebody in America!
It comes down to more evidence that the petty bourgeois cannot defeat the capitalist ruling class! They are a timid and passive group who, in this time for warriors, gather at the gates of the palace to nag and complain essentially to each other. Outside of the corporate media there are scores of Internet websites, magazines, newspapers, radio programs and networks, and some small television networks where liberal, left, progressive, and other commentators show up to whine out loud. (Yes, we should know what we are here on Common Dreams too) They rail against the outrages and inhumanity of the U.S. government and the Bush Administration. They point out the duplicity, the corruption, the hypocrisy, the inhumanity, and the utter criminality loosed in the world today but to no useful end since capitalism will not be reformed nor shamed to death.
Pointing out the defects of capitalism has become as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. The ruling class brushes its liberal democratic critics off like gnats as long as they stay away from the third rail. But let one of these voices dare mention unity based on working class-consciousness and a mobilization to strike at profits and great danger would shortly thereafter visit. Ask yourself why that is and you’ll have a leg up on “what is to be done?”
I’m just as worried about all the “experts” in business and the economy in corporate media who are also selling a line for their bosses. Our Constitution, given to us to build a great country, is being used today to try and prop up a rapidly declining empire. Our elected politicians in D.C. have sold the Constitution.
Hoa binh
Throw the bums in jail! That’s what they deserve and that’s where they should be. Do people realize how many people have died or been permanently injured because of these dirty dogs? They worked hard to sell their country a war! They belong in prison.
what we are witnessing is the rise of Fascism in America. Corporate control of all aspects of government. A rise in a virulent form of nationalism. Militarization of the police, and the cancellation of “Posse comitatus.” The suspension of habeas corpus. An enemy “threat” from outside. Propaganda as news. We’ve already had our Reichstag fire-its called 9/11. They’ll probably need another false-flag operation to allow Herr Bush to announce martial law. Cancel elections.
There’s an old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Well, we got em.
funny - the military has been working the media since 1991 - under Clinton - and now during an election the politcos want to pontificate about an investigation?
What gives? Oh right - the election.
Hahahahahah - why would anybody even Listen - shame on us. The conflict of interest is so obvious as to be laughable. OK for selling Soap, but War…give me a break. War is not a commodity - it is Death and Destruction. Why is this so difficult to understand for Americans?
Of course the corporate media (TV) isn’t going to make an issue out of this. What are they going to say? “We’re outraged! We were fooled!” Hardly. Not only did they use these spoon-fed “retired” generals, they completely excluded well-qualified and articulate opponents of the war, and didn’t do even the most basic investigations of their own into the Bush gang’s lies.
The corporate media’s role as propagandists for war was obvious at the time to anyone paying attention, and to the extent it continues, it still is. The NY Times story adds little to what anybody with half a brain knew already.
The obvious question for me is, why doesn’t the House (and Senate) conduct its own investigation under the auspices of one of the many Committees that could justifiably claim jurisdiction in this matter (and so many, many others).
“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
“It’s good to trust others but, not to do so is much better.”
“Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.”
“War alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and imposes the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to make it.”
“The truth is that men are tired of liberty.”
“It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission and welds them into unity.”
“We become strong, I feel, when we have no friends upon whom to lean, or to look to for moral guidance.”
“Fascism is a religious concept.” - “Fascism is a religion. The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of Fascism.”
“All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
“The function of a citizen and a soldier are inseparable.”
“War is to man what maternity is to a woman. From a philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint, I do not believe in perpetual peace.”
“Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity, quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace.”
“The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative.”
Benito Mussolini
Any of this sound familiar?
Following is an article based on Ralph Forbes’ investigation and at or for American Free Press, and given what the article clearly states, U.S. lawmakers probing into Pentagon propaganda in U.S. news and/or views reporting seems like a big and sick joke; another one, again.
“War profits taint the greedy hands of more than 25% of members of the US House and Senate!
by Rev. Richard Skaff
Global Research, May 7, 2008″
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8920
A big yaaaaaawwwwwn….
Considering that the 2-party politicians and the mainstream media are in the same bed, and considering the Dem’s (our “opposition party”) track record of posturing vs. real action, this is worth nothing but a big yaaaawwwwwn…..
Remember the “anybody but Bush” campaign in 2004? Now I am on to “anybody but the 2-party”. Please join us.
Want proof that there has been cover ups for Political resaons from way back ? The News only reports what they are told to let us know . What they would have us believe.
This is a video about real truths, made by real Heros, then and especially now, because they are speaking up and uncovering the lies. Watch and learn one story of Lies .
“Loss of Liberty ” Loss of reality back in 6/8/1967.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/18.html
The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty
These are the same cover ups happening today so they can bomb Iran tomorrow.
FOR THE MOST PART, this IPS article by William Fisher is missing the crucial point to David Barstow’s New York Times article “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand”, that crucial point being that DEFENSE LOBBYISTS, disguised as “military analysts”, were being promoted and aired on NBC Fox et al, to sell the American People an invasion and occupation of Iraq…
Again, DEFENSE LOBBYISTS disguised as “military analysts” on NBC and Fox News Channel et al.
DEFENSE LOBBYISTS.
The only reference to this crucial point in the IPS article, is where it states of these “military analysts” that “many also have conflicting ties to defense contractors. These business links were seldom disclosed to viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks on which they appeared.”
As to these “military analysts”, and their “ties to defense contractors” and “business links”, as referred to in David Barstow’s article: above you have a composite screen-shot picture, showing 6 of these “military analysts” as they appeared on NBC Fox et al…
In the middle of the top row of 3 pictures, is “Gen. Wayne Downing, NBC News Military Analyst”…
From David Barstow’s NY Times article: “Two of NBC’s most prominent analysts, Barry R. McCaffrey and the late Wayne A. Downing, were on the advisory board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, an advocacy group created with White House encouragement in 2002 to help make the case for ousting Saddam Hussein.
Both men also had their own consulting firms and sat on the boards of major military contractors.”
Next to Downing’s picture above, as the last of the 3 in the top row, is “Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, Fox News Military Analyst”…
From Barstow’s article: “Still others held board positions with military firms that gave them responsibility for government business.
General McInerney, the Fox analyst, for example, sits on the boards of several military contractors, including Nortel Government Solutions, a supplier of communication networks.”
In the lower left of the picture, as the 1st of the 3 on the bottom row, is “Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, Fox News Military Analyst”…
From Barstow’s article:
“Robert H. Scales Jr., a retired Army general and analyst for Fox News and National Public Radio whose consulting company advises several military firms on weapons and tactics used in Iraq”
As you can see from David Barstow’s article, Wayne A. Downing and Tom McInerney and Bob Scales (all pictured in the composite screen-shot as “military analysts”) are variously MILITARY CONTRACTORS or the EMPLOYEES or BOARD MEMBERS thereof, or simply DEFENSE LOBBYISTS…
DEFENSE LOBBYISTS disguised as “military analysts”, on NBC and Fox News Channel et al, selling the American People an invasion and occupation of Iraq…
…and making millions upon millions of dollars in the process, as MILITARY CONTRACTORS and DEFENSE LOBBYISTS.
That’s the crucial point.
You’re being misled and drawn away from that crucial point, if you’re being drawn toward anything about “propaganda”…
It’s not about propaganda… propaganda is the far lesser charge they’re pleading to (so less a charge as to be nothing but persuasion, and the cheering on of optimistic “good news”)…
It’s about DEFENSE LOBBYISTS disguised as “military analysts”, on NBC and Fox News Channel et al, selling the American People an invasion and occupation of Iraq.
That’s the fact that NBC and Fox et al are ignoring, until it goes away… ignoring, and distracting you from, by floating the lesser charge of merely engaging in “propaganda”.
CITIZEN 1 You have it right! Yes the American people are being duped by the military industrial complex in complicity with media!
Read below:
The public rarely enjoins the true issues or the politicians the reasons are clear. Special interests and “free enterprise” capitalism it is what this country has devised as worth living and dying for. The basis for the consumer ideology is energy and its association with an auto centered economy closes the circle. It uses the media to direct the public flow of the so-called truth and we have a perfect example of it in this political campaign. It is why Exxon Mobile is out of control and the public is given platitudes rather than help.
The media is out of control this election has shown us just how far it has gone to dumb-down the public. The recent move by ABC to remove candidates from the debates was outrageous. They are trying to determine the fate of the country and the world being mouthpiece for special interests and the government and to silence dissent.
Media censure is unheard, the FCC should rule for the public but like the EPA its teeth are continually drawn. The media has no right to exclude any politician who is running for office as happened recently with the ABC debate. The only exclusion under the rules used by ABC should apply to a candidate not sitting in public office. The license of ABC would be lifted if the rules were changed but the congress, with the exception of a few pushes for more media conglomeration supported by special interests. I hope that someone picks up on this thought. We have seen the obsession by FOX and CNN, particularly in the form of Wolf Blitzer, and the FOX rabid journalists constantly referring to the Rev. Wright controversy.
Blitzer’s bias is clear. He is quick to use every possible negative he can against Obama from the Flag Pin to anything else he could get his mouth around. His support for Clinton has been clear and inappropriate, for CNN to call itself a “fair and balanced” news network. I quote Mr. Nichols: ” The media pretense of being a fly on the wall has often been preposterous. In the real world of politics — where power brokers and manipulators proceed with the cynical axiom that perception is reality — the fly on the wall is the wall. The political press corps is not observing reality as much as redefining it while obstructing outlooks and constraining public perceptions.”
As usual, few are able to see the stampede of the public sheep created by media. I support the change that Obama represents! He is intelligent and wants America once again to be looked upon as a great nation that it could still be and once was. The present “lack of experience” cry of Clinton is preposterous. Could anyone having been near the White house as long as Bush done as badly for the USA? There is experience! However, the discovery of a job approval rating for him at about 28% of the American people speaks volumes about experience. No one could have been as bad as the Bush team! There is experience!
A flight from entrenched American politics is necessary . . .it has ruined this country and made greed the single value of importance. The young people once again embrace hope as a result of the Obama campaign. The Hillary political group and entrenched politics have virtually destroyed America with its policies and exclusive power clubs. She has believed this form government is America.
Clinton recently morphed to the Obama populist message, it was called, “finding her voice” while at the beginning of her stump showing her Madeline Albright, bomb the children image. Can anyone truly think that change is unnecessary? I guess not since all the politicos have adopted his message including McCain? The mistakes that Obama may make as president cannot be greater than those of the past seven years. It is also necessary to give him a democratic congress to make certain that the programs that Americans want can be enacted.
Mr. Gore Vidal, has pointedly criticized mainstream media as one of the major problems, and what is wrong with the USA. The corporate media conglomerates control the message and that message is perversely distorted and panders to its advertising portfolio! Wolf Blitzer one of the glaring examples of this criticism and shows clearly those distorted ideas with his reporting, which is nothing more than partially factual opinion dictated by his bosses.
He is a person who has no right to shape public opinion far from being the “fly on the wall” he espouses to be. We must remember flies morph from maggots. He displays ignorance as a virtue for the entire world to see, an example of what is considered, by many in America to be news reporting. If Blitzer were billed as a CNN commentator, at least the public would not be hoodwinked to believe his reporting to be the truth, while it is lack of concern for accuracy, rectitude and fairness to be considered to be news rather than opinion.
Continue later if this is too long!
The people of the USA have been so ill informed as to what a change would really do and mean to this country and the change in leadership that is necessary, they have forgotten that no one could be worse than George Bush . . . No one, not even a dogcatcher, at least the dog catcher has compassion for
Animals!
The future leaders, Obama or McCain, should discuss the problems America and the world faces. The problem of public ignorance of the issues caused by the media is serious. In the heat of elections the media panders to voter ignorance. The emphasis, as we see on nightly, so-called news, is constant repetition of candidate’s miscues. The result of the media sensationalism becomes, the wrong problem and the wrong message at a crucial time in world history. The emphasis on having the politicians address a credible platform of ideas based on an American and global interaction in the world is critical.
There is not enough time left for civilization to focus on rubbish. The energy and environmental issues for example or food and health care are the problems the media should be focusing upon. But to use the Rev, Wright issue for one week, to try and hurt the candidacy of Obama is a travesty. The issues most pressing are once again avoided, those really important issues that must be put before the congress; the environment, continued funding of Iraq, energy issues, education, health care and so many others not dealt with, all impacting upon the economy, the failure of public dialog is outrageous!
The issue of this election will impact on the environment, economy and the future of the USA as no others. Still, if more than 50% of eligible voters cast their votes it will be a miracle, as a result of regressive US election laws and media obfuscation. It is compulsory for everyone to vote in Australia it should be so in the USA as well. Few of the candidates are really talking about the major points, even those who are the most erudite. The environment in association with the economy or health care and elections reform, to name some, are kept out of public dialog as a result of the nonsense punditry hours on end. The world looks at America and its “star struck reality” in wonder.
The political discussion rests on the complete lack of talking points in isolation, such as, Clinton’s health package or the nonsense gasoline tax rebate and it’s cost, rather than what is really at stake with energy issues, human survival. The candidates for the US presidency rarely talk about the complete interrelated package of the issues combined. Obama alludes to this deficiency in the media and public issues. When he asks for this to occur it lands on deaf ears because the media and special interests do not want this to occur.
The media reduces the public debate to its most simplistic level with pundits arguing about one inconsequential issue or another rather than the truly important issues of our time. The American people are kept from hearing and understanding the relationship of the entire package of issues, which a true leader must address and deal with for the very survival of America in the world within a global economy. The costs for the war would pay for every single need from health care to American infrastructure repair and education, as well as the alleviation of world hunger and energy research this is what is what is at stake.
The media deals with Rev. Wright and American Flag lapel pins instead.
The media keeps the public dumbed down for obvious reasons they represent the moneyed people. As a result the public becomes unable to talk about moving radically toward change and the related issues affecting their very life and the future. The issues of climate change, energy issues and the global economy not only American economy is the part of the mortgage crisis created by the “free market” system. All the other issues like people losing their homes as a result of Wall Street manipulation are tied to these fundamental problems. These is the first and major issue which affects all other issues and is completely related to the economic changes which must take place.
The media board rooms instruct their so-called journalists (news/opinion readers) to stay clear of those subjects that would attack advertising, consumption, tied together in the media collusion with special interests to maintain the consumer system killing the world. Media in collusion with government does not want the change that would result in the decline of their hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.
All environmental problems are in one way or another associated with the Western world’s consumption based lifestyle led by the USA. These issues are affected by consumer advertising much of it coming from the millions spent on advertising of irrelevant product and campaign advertising. The media should be dealing with true American and global issues in this campaign affecting the very basis of the so-called American Dream, fast becoming the global nightmare. This is what the next president of the USA must address!
Someone should look into how people are schedualed on the tv channels.
Not only were Pentagon spokespeople over represented but people who gave opposing views were not given air time.
The whole presntation about the war was distorted by the American news media.
Anyone who saw that and understood what was happening would be very very frightened. (and I was and I will never forget it. It has destroyed my faith and trust in the American system)
Ha ha ha ha ha! So the whores in congress are going to investigate the whores at the Pentagon. Ooo, Ooo, I know let’s get Vin Webber and MIcky Andrews from the House and Trent Lott and John Bro from the Senate to be co-chairs of a non-partisan comission to look into this thing. It’s nice to see in these difficult times that our elected representatives are still good for a laugh.
You Americans have it all wrong! Do you actually think you are living in a democracy where your vote and your votes count for something? Do you actually think that your lawmakers are accountable to you the electorate? Do you actually think that this is a recent happening? Get over your self delusional myopic outlook, stop believing your own propaganda and you might be able to bring some real change to what is happening to you. Many of your leaders and congress people are profiting from the war because of their conflict of interest financial holdings in companies supplying the war machine. Many of both parties are culpable, but Democrats more so than Republicans. Do you really think that they are interested in “bringing home the troops” and ending their stream of profits?
You have cast yourselves very nicely in the role as victims of a corrupt and callous administration, but it is really you the people who sit back and ring your hands. Get out into the streets and do something about it. None of your “elected” members are going to do anything until you protest en-masse and bring about change. It is the only thing that has worked in the past.
So let’s have the pentagon investigate the pentagon. That’ll be an honest investigation. That’s like having the white House investigate the missing e-mail situation. A bad joke.
How about let’s just start firing people, and the try them for fraud, and perjury… at least. This is the kind of shit that China does to its people.
Propaganda is a crime against democracy. I’m sure that Jefferson and Madison are rolling around in their graves at this point!
What should we expect from a congress & administration that kowtows to the demands of Isreali hard-line foreign policy? This administration adheres to the same philosphy as the motto of the Mossad (roughly equivalent to our rogue CIA), “By way of deception we will wage war”.
Since our media is controlled by Jewish people, many who wave the flag of Zionists (masters of deceptive false flag operations), why should we expect them to tell us truth ? Politicians won’t either since their campaigns now live or die depending on good or bad press coverage. Check this link and you will see why such mind control measures are so possible:
http://www.natvan.com/who-rules-america/wra.pdf
Frankly, I’m mad as hell about being so manipulated, and efforts by such a tiny minority of US & World population causing such discord, strife, & suffering throughout the world. Through efforts to eliminate net neutrality the same fascists are trying to keep even the 25% of people who find some truth through the internet from discovering their dirty deeds. Here is a link to their plan (see especially point #6), and numerous reference links to verify previous actions or intent:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
It’s time to STAND UP, or get STOOD ON. Check the links to see how close the jackboot is to our collective necks then come back & comment. Thanks for taking the time to be a REAL patriot.
If someone would have told me in 2000, that this kind of shit, that has been perpetrated on the american people by Bush and his henchmen would be allowed to get by your congress and senate, i would have laughed in their face. I am literally at a loss for words.
We here in Canada, are starting to experience the same thing with our present minority government.
Fortunately, from witnessing what has happened to our American friends, we have gained a little insight from your plight, and hopefully we can nip it in the bud.
Good luck to all. I hope you can get your country back on the right track. Us too.
Your neighbor to the north.
Malcom Martin is a very thoughtful guy indeed. We all mostly go to a job; some in a tie, some in overalls, but we are 97% working class. To the extent that we let 6 guys, CEO’s of Corporate-controlled TV networks, define our vocabulary, our interests, their parameters and their sifnificance,then an American unity based on a working-class consciousness wil not happen. To answer the question “what is to be done”?,the first thing to be done is to arrest Rupert Murdoch, boil him in hot oil and make the other 5 CEO’s watch the spectacle along with the American public. Then make some suggetions as to how the remaining fascist boot-lickers might better serve the interests of regular folks.
In his book, “Love is Letting go of Fear,” Gerald Jampolsky asks, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?” Thoughts and beliefs carry energy. Yesterday I noticed how many are already PREDICTING the war to expand more directly into Iran, and I suggested we NOT put our mental energy into that consensus.
It only takes a single CRACK to let LIGHT into a dark place. Marjorie Cohn’s fearless labors on behalf of truth and justice deserve to be applauded. By fully demonstrating the degree of premeditated obfuscation on the part of those that would profit by war, perhaps her work will make it all that more difficult to pull the same homocidal “stunt” on Iran. I PRAY this be so. The woman is a hero, and I wish there were more like her. Bravo, Ms. Cohn! And thank you on behalf of all citizens who recognize the importance of HUMANE values, the necessary cornerstone of any sane and just society.
You all might know Norman Finkelstein, the guy who was attacked by Dershowitz and denied tenure at DePaul because of his criticisms of Israel. Well, here he is debating Blitzer regarding Israel a number of years ago. Watch the clip and you’ll see where his bias lies, pretty eye opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-8aTGnjHnI
Tarassa.
You are totally correct. WE, the sheeple, have become fat and lazy and way too self-absorbed to stand up to these fascists. We’d rather wack off to porn or play some stupid video game. I’ve hit all the marches. I’ve done the boycotts,sat in at my Senator’s office, all the good stuff. the sheeple don’t care.
In this very forum I’ve asked people to just boycott Exxon, for Christ’s sake. Just to let them know we are alive. I get mocked.
Lazy, frightened and stupid. My poor country.
Americans don’t deserve a democracy. and Bushit and his killers are taking it as we speak.
the land of the free and the brave? Please…those people died generations ago.
Here’s part one of the debate, the other parts are within the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjfG8-teSc0
A plague o’ both your houses;
They have made worm’s meat of me.
Thanks, Grant, for the links. Very informative from the standpoint of the ideological history of past/current players in the present game, but not really news to anyone with the inquisitive nature (or REAL patriotism) taking time to become informed by other than MSM of what is really going on with/against us.
Controlled/slanted ‘infotainment’ pawned off as news, or valid commentary, needs to be squashed, investigated, and perpetrators prosecuted as a violation of federal law, with people responsible for deceiving the public (networks) having their license to broadcast over “our” airwaves rescinded. They must understand “You lie, you lose”.
I love this line,
“‘When the Department of Defence (DoD) misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts when in fact these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,’”.
WTF? A public too stupid and misinformed to not understand the magnitude of the military disparity… can’t be betrayed just .
Amazing how we don’t know what we are.
My Little League team against the Boston Red Sox.
And a big double “fu*k you” to our piss poor media for never bringing money and wealth into the picture. Never want to stir up the great divide, do they?
These ambitious men you see, got ahead in a system where toeing the Official line brought promotion and prestige but it most importantly brought access.
“maxa60 May 9th, 2008 9:24 pm
These ambitious men you see…”
Perhaps I should get my eyes checked, those pictures all look the same to me. They all have the same expression on their faces, and I’d bet they even sounded the same.
Or perhaps I should get reality checked.
Those ambitious men come in all shades, some have more honor than others, those here who look the same to you, have no honor.
I am starting up a movement to have Donald Duck elected President in November. It’s America’s only chance of survival.
Check my blog for details and keep away from all retired generals.
http://www.dangerouscreation.com
“The House members also want to know if the inspector general considers the programme to be illegal.”
Now that is the show stopper eh!
Congress can’t read the constitution with out an outside opinion. Are we at War? lets have the congress Ask somebody.
Tarassa,
Hitting the streets don’t work in America… we try it all the time and still the streets don’t feel a thing.
What country are you in where hitting the streets works? Don’t work here, we need to hit the politicians and throw out the incumbents who are afraid.
Lots of people will vote for people who can’t win because it is a two party winner take all system. The 3rd party candidates sound radical enough but they act like we have a different system so they get people to waste votes on them. They don’t even try to form Coalitions so even they end up splitting the few progressive and leftwing votes… It is a mess.
Only someone with charisma can win in this system but that makes the 3rd parties jealous and they attack everybody… we like to fight in America and we end up fighting the nearest targets…each other.
But, They can’t fool all the Sheeple all of the time because even they know when they are gettin fleeced!
Oh The Times they are a Changin
It’s time for General Mayhem and the rest of these military propaganda pushers to have their pensions revoked for treason. They can all retire to that nice rest home in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Impeach/remove or Congress is collaborating with the keep-us-in-the-occupation-by-continued-lying program. These actions are just more evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors on the part of Bush and Cheney. It’s been exposed. Now Congress has to impeach them or it is sanctioning high crimes and misdemeanors again. The media has raised the issue, but only Congress has the remedy.
whatfools, I like the retirement idea, but it seems to me another “sponsored trip to the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba” would be more appropriate. I think the American people would be willing to “sponsor” such a trip, don’t you?
If this story was dated 2002, I’d say, “Good job, journalists!” Alas.
Nothing illustrates the cowardice and complicity of the Democratic Party better than news like this. Headlines quickly fade, culprits slink back into the shadows, and life goes on as usual.
How many of these Generals were working for defense contractors, thus lying to benefit their own personal financial state? If this is not illegal it certainly should be , dontcha think?
We have, or should have by now, a laundry list of broken laws, broken promises and constitutional violations by administration figures, and right to the very top. Yet what do we see in the way of justice or integrity from our legislators? Allowing Cheney to leave office , personally enriched by tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars from his Halliburton stock options simply drags our democracy into the dirt and worse, assures that the next guy will readily do the same. Allowing Bush to return to Crawford without the stain of impeachment proceedings makes a mockery of our system of governance. Sitting idly by while those administration figures in charge of the agencies designed to protect consumers and children and workers leave their jobs having done no such thing is simply a crime in and of itself.
Continuing to believe that the answers to our problems lie with electing Democrats to office is nothing more or less than believing in the tooth fairy. We need a new broom, in the form of elected legislators pledged to accept no contributions from the corporations that have subverted this government with their money. We need, and desperately, a new mind set among the electorate and we need third party politics to carry this mind set to fruition.
Jim Glover May 10th, 2008 1:53 am — “Lots of people will vote for people who can’t win because it is a two party winner take all system.”
No, it’s a single-party winner take all system diguised to allow a dumbed-down electorate to believe that that they live in the “greatest democracy on earth”. If the establishment’s pre-selected candidates were Hitler and Stalin, USans would still argue against “wasting votes” on any third option.
“….the (DOD) department is clearly betraying the public trust,’ the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter to DoD Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter.”
Every legal or other dictionary I have seen describes betrayal of public trust as “treachery”! To add fuel to the fire, it’s our tax dollars paying for this!
When the pentagon runs psyops domestically, then it is framing the people as the enemy of the state. May someone should remind them of their Civics 101, where they shoul have learned that in the USA, the people is the sovereign power.
IMO: the words “and domestic” should be removed from that oath that your armed servicepersons take.
Nobody is going to investigate anything and nothing is going to happen to any one of them pictured in the rogue’s gallery.
As I read Ike kay and Tarassa comments I’m reminded of Benjamin Disraeli’s oft quoted condemnation of a fellow parliamentarian: “you are but a sophisticated rhetorician inebriated —-”. Jim Glover’s cynicism is spot on–words are but bleats of the sheeple.
OK smartie, what do you suggest? Well here ’tis, from a naive but very disgusted geezer:
- First there MUST be a cohesive and VIABLE group.
- That group must admit its limitations and must agree that its only real weapon is a targeted recall of a most powerful member of congress. Even if the group doesn’t successfully recall that congresman, the ripple effect will so focus minds of other pols that they’ll learn to fear, maybe even respect, electorate wrath. The fight would be bloody, monumental, and so cosquential that the term “sheeple” might be given a new meaning.
Such a strategy would bypass big media and campaign money. It might even attract attention of such organizations as The Concord Coalition, Union of Concerned Scientists, Common Cause and all the other supposedly altruistic money grubbers that infest D.C.
I invite your comments.
Amazingly you people have finally begun the long process toward seeing the TRUTH….
Unfortunately, you haven’t yet figured out that the Constitution itself, was a masterpiece of cunning & deception (propaganda) by a ruling Cabal to forever limit your freedom and control your behavior!
As I have said before. America is the Duperpower, because it is a duplicitous, deceptive and dangerous nation.
We don’t need duperpowers or superpowers any more. We need honest nations who set examples that demonstrate what words say, is what they mean. No spin. No twist. No agenda serving. No special interest serving.
When any nation’s leader says “There are WMD in that [other nation’s] deserts” then it’s because it’s the truth that he says that.
Words have to mean what they mean and not ’something else’ if this world is to get back on track and survive.
The professions that rely on words as their reason for service and existence, need to take a long hard look at using words correctly. This specifically means: the media, the politicians, the religious institutions, and others who depend upon the meaning of words to reflect reality so that the public are correctly and accurately informed.
the supposed “WMD” used to be i Iraq. WE SOLD THEM TO SADDAM. We blew them all up in the 1st Gulf War..so HOW COULD THERE BE ANY MORE?
I just knew this all along.
WAKE UP AMERICANS.WE CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER.
you wont like what is next
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNo0_klKzis
“..I invite your comments.”jbwestwood May 11th, 2008 2:57 pm
I agree with you. Please watch the above Americans are just fooling themselves. Is ignorance truly bliss?
Everyone needs to email this to everyone they know..let’s attempt to awaken them…