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Pranksters Distribute Fake New York Times Declaring 'Iraq War Over'
The Yes Men identified as the team behind the joke pages
The US defence department yesterday declared the end of the Iraq war and the immediate withdrawal of all troops, prompting an admission from Condoleezza Rice that the Bush administration knew all along that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, according to the New York Times.
Fake New York Times: the work of pranksters The Yes Men On second thought, that introductory paragraph needs
a little clarification. The New York Times proper didn't report the end
of the Iraq war. But a spoof 14-page "special edition" of the
newspaper, circulating free on the streets of Manhattan today, did
carry those items. It was printed in a form that was so high quality
and technically accurate that many New Yorkers were nonplussed, backed
up by an entire "New York Times" website that equally faithfully
mimicked the original.
Dated July 4 2009, and boasting the front-page motto: "All the news we hope to print" in a twist on the daily's famous phrase "All the news that's fit to print", the fake paper looks forward to the day the war ends, and envisages a chain of events that would be manna from heaven for American liberals.
In one story, ExxonMobil is taken into public ownership. In another, evangelical churches, the backbone of the Bush-supporting Christian right, open the doors of their mega-churches to Iraqi refugees.
The organisers of the high-quality and evidently expensive satire have cloaked themselves deliberately in a layer of mystery. They are connected at least to some degree to a group of activists calling themselves the Yes Men, a left-wing group that seeks to expose what it claims to be the "nastiness of powerful evildoers" through sophisticated pranks.
When the Guardian contacted the Yes Men, it received a swift response from a spokesman for the New York Times spoof going by the name of Wilfred Sassoon. He said that the Yes Men had helped with distribution, but that the paper itself had been produced by a number of anonymous writers from various New York dailies, including a couple from the New York Times itself.
"The idea behind it was to get people to exercise their imaginations," "Sassoon" said. "We have just elected a new president, and we have for the first time in eight years a chance to see real change happen. But it won't happen unless we keep the pressure up on politicians to do what they were elected to do."
The project, he said, had taken about six months and had been funded by a large number of small donors.
A main target of the prank is clearly the New York Times itself. The spoof contains an editorial apologising for the paper's "botched reporting" of the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and a column from Thomas Friedman in which he declares that he has repented of his earlier backing of the war and decided never again to write for this or any other paper.
The New York Times said it was "in the process of finding out more" about its imitation. That, at least, could be taken at face value.
New York Times Special Edition Video News Release - Nov. 12, 2008 from H Schweppes on Vimeo.
To visit the site, click here.
For the full pdf version of the Edition, click here.
22 Comments so far
Show AllThe illegal Iraq "War" ended in May 1 2003.
The illegal occupation and rape of the country has been ongoing since, with the complicity of the UN, which tried to legitimize this horror after the fact, under threat from the USA
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
The Yes Men's previous capers buying and selling votes over the internet were hilarious although considered close to the bone by "the authorities".
I think the next headline should be: BUSH AND CHENEY HEADED TO PRISON FOR WAR CRIMES.
Followed by: BUSH, CHENEY HUNG FOR WAR CRIMES IN THE HAGUE
Followed by: RUMSFELD, RICE, NEOCONS FLEE TO PARAGUAY, SEEK POLITICAL ASYLUM
Followed by: MOQTADA AL SADR SEIZES POWER IN IRAQ, DECLARES HIMSELF NEW SADDAM HUSSEIN
How dare they make a mockery of a mockery.
I expect one of the Yes men will be on DemocracyNow shortly, as there has been one there in the past. They are good at it.
OBAMA ESTABLISHES DIRECT DEMOCRACY!
OBAMA BUSTS MONEY MONOPOLIES!
OLIGARCHS HELD IN VIOLATION OF ANTI-TRUST LAWS!
I just came back from an exclusive interview with the writers of this edition of the New York Times. it is amazing the depth they went to illicit sources and the incredible effort that was done by their staff. Here is an ever so brief part of this interview( the whole interview will be posted at a future time):
Sevenpointman: What made you create this newspaper- I mean what motivated you to do it ?
Archimboldi: We felt that change was in the air-and we wanted to expose the last eight years for what it was. To many people are losing their dream. When Obama was elected we started to visualize a better world post-Bush-but we are very careful to not jump to conclusions. You know, he like, is part of the same system we try to expose in our Times edition.
Sevenpointman: So you are so fed up with what has gone down in our country-that you had to make a bold effort to expose it. An effort that aims at also exposing the media that has been complicate in the mess.
Archimboldi: You could say that ! But it goes deeper. We were into also exposing the whole process of communication in our capitialist society. The sham of stating lies as truth and getting away with it. We feel we need some radical honesty or things are going to get worse.
elicit and illicit - two very different words.
I commend their creativity and hope that it will be an on-going effort.
"A lie told often enough, eventually becomes the truth." The truth has to be hidden within humor.
For eight years, we ,The People of the United States, have been lied to: from the Election of 2000 to the collapse of Enron,from the collapse of World Trade Center#7 to the "Weapons of Mass Destruction", from the arrest of non combatants to the Torture within Guantanamo, from the immunization of murder to the bribary of the Sunni Insurgents who were responsible for most of the American Deaths, from an illegal invasion to the spying on every American living outside the United States including the soldiers in Iraq, and from the alleged murder of Pat Tillmon to the success of the insurgency. Each and every lie was fabricated by "Think Tanks" and the Executive Branch of the U.S.Government.
Right now, every American is watching the "Greatest Theft" in World History. Goldman Sachs Personnel are deciding who gets billions of dollars with no controls.
Goldman Sachs, like most of Wall Street, created this mess. Yet Henry Paulson, the Ex Director of Goldman Sachs in 2006, has not claimed a "Conflict of Interest" and nor have the people writing the Checks.
I received a note with my AIG statement of September 30,2008, "Effective May 1, 2008: A new global Real Estate Fund was added to Portfolio Director. The Sub-Advisers are Invesco Aim and Goldman Sachs." I would say there was definitely a "Sweetheart Deal" between Goldman Sachs and AIG. And, the Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson must have known about that deal. Jeffrey Williamson, Professor Emeritus, University of Harvard said of Henry Paulson,"He is not a very good economist and is less trustworthy than the President of the Federal Reserve."(El Pais, Sunday October 12, 2008)
The GAO should be supervising the "Bail Out" not Wall Street Insiders.
What a sin !
When legitimate non-violent protest or civil disobedience becomes outlawed...
Where one can be charged with aiding terrorism for exercising the constitutional right to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances...
or be assaulted with chemicals (pepperspray, tear gas, etc) and weapons and detained with no probable cause...
And free speech is relegated to a "zone"... it seems the sanest and safest way to express our first amendment rights is through humor, satire, sophisticated pranks, guerrilla theater, songs, and cartoons... Seems to reach more people when they can laugh and let their guard down...
Maybe Abbie Hoffman and George Carlin were onto something...
Brilliant!!!
Where can we get a copy of this faux NYT?
This thing is a real collector's item and will probably be selling on eBay for $250 in another six months.
The Iraq War will never be over. Look at America's existence in both Germany and Japan since 1945. Once they get a foothold, you can't get rid of them!
On another matter, American Media is still talking about Sarah! But I thought she was a loser! Since when do losers continue to get front page coverage?
My latest post offers a few thoughts. Where?
www.dangerouscreation.com
I absolutely LOVE the energy going on here! Bravo!
The video was really good. One man said he was actually shaking when he read it. All this energy whoooooo-hoooo! That certainly was a good burst to make this all a reality before we know it!
I bet a great deal of people reading that paper actually felt some sort of relief.
Good going! :)
To tell the honest truth I have been visioning these things myself for months. It truly is what America needs to do. Maybe people will finally recognize the power we have within ourselves!
ILMAO Bravo Yes Men, nicely done and congrats on a Mission Accomplished.
Those guys would make the perfect candidates to get the US back on track instead of Obummer and his fossilized interim team of do-nothings.
I hate to break it to you but until the president is sworn in there is not a darn thing Obama can do.
Wonderful News. Organizations across the Country could
Spoof other Corporate Contolled Newspapers.
Breaking News: President Barack Obama pardons Native Political prisoner Leonard Peltier and the Cuban 5.
Here in Canada a major media conglomerate has just dropped a lawsuit against some fellow for taking part in a parody of a major Vancouver paper. The parody was making fun of the media giant's prejudiced support for Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The headline ran;
STUDY SHOWS TRUTH BIASED AGAINST ISRAEL
Would that it were true.
This is really great -- the Thomas Friedman column is so dead-on!
A toast to those that are gone: singer-songwriter-activist Phil Ochs was the main creative force behind a protest against the Vietnam invasion/occupation where a march went down the streets declaring the war was over, signs at the park's rendezvous point said "Thank you President Johnson" "Johnson, our Peace President" and the like.
And Phil sang his incredible anthem: The War is Over.
--next to last verse and chorus:
So do your duty, boys, and join with pride
Serve your country in her suicide
Find a flag so you can wave goodbye
But just before the end even treason might be worth a try
This country is too young to die.
I declare the war is over
It's over, it's over.
Phil Ochs inspires us still.