Speeches Called Propaganda

[kskiska]

U.S. Team in Iraq Cites Western Journalism as Model

By Walter Pincus

For the past few weeks, Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer has appeared every Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. on IMN, the Pentagon-run television network, with a taped message to the Iraqi people about what is going on in their country.

The speeches, dubbed in Arabic, are much like President Bush's weekly Saturday radio address, according to Gary Thatcher, the former CBS producer who is head of strategic communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq. "We are here to set an example of journalism in the Western tradition," he said.

To many Iraqis, though, Bremer's prime-time addresses are more reminiscent of the regular television appearances of former president Saddam Hussein, according to both American and Iraqi media specialists who have studied IMN, the Iraqi Media Network. Iraqis see the station not as a vehicle for free speech but "as the mouthpiece of the CPA," the BBC World Service Trust reported after studying the stations this summer.

In last week's address just before the holy month of Ramadan, Bremer repeatedly referred to Hussein as "the evil one." "You must not lose hope, because you have seen the evil one go," Bremer said at one point. "You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to protect, he instead tortured, he instead murdered. You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to feed, he instead starved."

Flynt L. Leverett, a former CIA Middle East counterterrorism analyst who served on the Bush National Security Council and is now at the Brookings Institution, said: "He is using religious and cultural symbolism, but it is an obvious resort to propaganda. It is not inappropriate, there is a war going on, but he is doing it in so obvious a way."



more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31353-2003Oct28.html

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Astute people

Iraqis see the station not as a vehicle for free speech but "as the mouthpiece of the CPA."

[alcuno]

2. Good grief!

Bremer has gone off the deep end. That is unbelievable rhetoric from an official of the US government. He's apparently competing with *.

[bywho4who]

3. Propaganda? not the us gov?

B-) Im just glad we can change the station, to perhaps some music now there,s a plan:)

[Rose Siding]

4. Which American values are these?

"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now
trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that
man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should
therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The
most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is,
therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of
their actions." --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1804.

[dweller]

5. just wondering if

the Iraqis hear the propagandized broadcast, Bremer says 'evil one' and everytime they think of the *moron...and not Hussein?

living here in the US, it's hard enough to translate 'moronibabble' as it is, even after it's run through our mediawhore 'filter'.

dp

[alfredo]

6. this administration is so transparent.

It is as I heard one say, "Brooks Brothers Fascism."

[Rose Siding]

7. Oh, this is good

snip>
Lately, IMN is known as "psyops on steroids" in parts of the Pentagon, because there is an additional $100 million in the Iraq supplemental appropriation bill before Congress to pay the winner of a new contract, beginning in January, to create a "world-class" media operation.
end snip>

Can't wait to see who -MURDOCH- gets that contract.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Hey, cool! PSYOPS! What fun.

(snip) The fledgling IMN has taken over Hussein's 18 television stations, his government radio stations and al-Sabah, the 60,000-circulation national newspaper now published on what was the same site of the newspaper founded by Hussein's son Uday. Since this spring, management has been contracted out to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), a San Diego-based defense contractor with a $40 million-plus budget and no experience in media development. SAIC, in turn, has been overseen in Washington by the Defense Department's office that specializes in psychological warfare operations, or psyops.

Lately, IMN is known as "psyops on steroids" in parts of the Pentagon, because there is an additional $100 million in the Iraq supplemental appropriation bill before Congress to pay the winner of a new contract, beginning in January, to create a "world-class" media operation. Twenty-three bidders, including SAIC, and some U.S. and foreign journalistic organizations are to meet in Baghdad next month to discuss plans for turning the enterprise around.

At the heart of its difficulties is that IMN is supposed to promote U.S. goals and provide an alternative to often critical Arab-world media while evolving into Iraq's version of a free press.

"They need psyops to get their message across and at the same time allegedly want to create an indigenous, independent media . . . goals that are counterintuitive," said a senior congressional aide familiar with the program. (snip)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So U.S. and foreign media are going to be all together with psy-ops experts, working away on creating a great free press for Iraq?

You don't suppose the _Bush gummint would ever use those same psy-ops people to work against US with OUR OWN MEDIA, do you? Perish the thought. There's just no chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(snip) CNN AND PSYOPS
By Alexander Cockburn
Military personnel from the Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, have until recently been working in CNN's hq in Atlanta.

CNN is up in arms about our report in the last issue of CounterPunch concerning the findings of the Dutch journalist, Abe de Vries about the presence of US Army personnel at CNN, owned by Time-Warner. We cited an article by de Vries which appeared on February 21 in the reputable Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, originally translated into English and placed on the web by Emperor's Clothes. De Vries reported that a handful of military personnel from the Third Psychological Operations Battalion, part of the airmobile Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, had worked in CNN's hq in Atlanta.

De Vries quoted Major Thomas Collins of the US Army Information Service as having confirmed the presence of these Army psy-ops experts at CNN, saying, "Psy-ops personnel, soldiers and officers, have been working in CNN's headquarters in Atlanta through our program, 'Training with Industry'. They worked as regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in the production of news." (snip/...)
http://www.counterpunch.org/cnnpsyops.html

[0007]

21. CNN is a rat

It's hard not to laugh when CNN execs like Eason Jordan start spouting high-toned stuff about CNN's principles of objectivity and refusal to spout government or Pentagon propaganda. The relationship is most vividly summed up by the fact that Christiane Amanpour, CNN's leading foreign correspondent, and a woman whose reports about the fate of Kosovan refugees did much to fan public appetite for NATO's war, is literally and figuratively in bed with spokesman for the US State Department, and a leading propagandist for NATO during that war, her husband James Rubin.If CNN truly wanted to maintain the appearance of objectivity, it would have taken Amanpour off the story. Amanpour, by the way, is still a passionate advocate for NATO's crusade, most recently on the Charlie Rose show.

CNN lies and covers up and lives in a secret society much as this administration does. Dick Cheney is a joke with big buck going to Halliburton.

[w4rma]

9. Wow, they are alot more subtle here in the U.S.

I guess they suck at it where they have to deal with a totally different culture, though. :eyes:

These people must be removed from power.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. I guess I must have been missing the "subtle" part of broadcasting...

...in the U. S.

On which U. S. channel does "subtle" appear?

[Kinkistyle]

10. Help! Someone get me out of this Orwell/Vonnegut novel! (n/t)

[grasswire]

11. calling Bev Harris

Look at this:

"Since this spring, management has been contracted out to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), a San Diego-based defense contractor with a $40 million-plus budget and no experience in media development. SAIC, in turn, has been overseen in Washington by the Defense Department's office that specializes in psychological warfare operations, or psyops."

SAIC is the spook entity that Maryland tasked with reviewing the Diebold mess. How weird. They have no experience in media development and they get a $40 mil contract. Maybe they're being paid to do something else, something hidden from the budget?

[teryang]

22. Didn't they also have the anthrax through the mail drill?

...with Hatfield and Patrick? ("I am an American Patriot") Or was that Bagatelle? They seem to be in on everything.

[bpilgrim]

12. sounds like general BYOKIN wrote it

SAVING GENERAL BOYKIN (PART 2)! General Boykin’s oddest remarks have been airbrushed from major newspapers:

GOOD-BYE, MOGADISHU: Yes, it’s true—Lt. General Jerry Boykin seems to hold some unusual beliefs. In speeches to various religious assemblies, Boykin has said that, despite getting fewer votes than Gore, George W. Bush is in the White House because God intervened in his case. More oddly, he thinks that he has taken photos of the sky above Mogadishu which show “a demonic spirit over the city.” “Ladies and gentleman, that’s not a fake, that’s not a farce,” he has said (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 10/27/03).

Do Boykin’s photos really show such a presence? We don’t have the slightest idea how you would settle that question. Nor would Boykin’s views even matter, except for his high position. But alas! Boykin is a deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, with major responsibilities in the War on Terror. William Arkin describes his position in the Los Angeles Times:

more...
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh102803.shtml

peace

[R Hickey]

20. My dog doesn't move his lips, but I can hear his voice in my head.

I too saw Boykin's demonic spirit floating over Mogadishu. It was late at night, and after stairing at the apperition for a while, the demonic clouds turned into a flock of sheep jumping over a fence, and then I fell asleep.

When I awoke, all that was left was a static noise on the TV, a test pattern, and a wet spot in my underwear.

[paradisiac]

13. the evil one

"You must not lose hope, because you have seen the evil one go"

It sounds like they need new speechwriters, this stuff is too unrefined to be effective propaganda.
:P

[dudeness]

14. people of iraq ...hear me

you have been set free..liberated..saved from the clutches of your US backed dictator..free to live without power..water..sewerage
free to live in fear of collateral damage whilst undertaking your non-existant job..free to consume, if you had any money, in your oil rich country, all the corporate world has to offer..free to buy nike shoes , made by your brothers and sisters in $2 a day jobs in Indonesia and The Phillipines..ah yes liberation...NEXT!!!!

[radfringe]

15. Baghdad Bob or Baghdad Bush??

Scroll to bottom right corner

[TheLastMohican]

16. Saddam starving people? What about free food distribution?

And last time I checked it was US/UK-enforced policy of strangulating Iraq with sanctions after 1991 that killed more infants than any bombing raid in Gulf War I.
The program "Food for Oil" sounds as blasphemy to me. BushI denied Iraq children decent healthcare and nurturing and his son via a Baghdad mouthpiece claims that Saddam starved people! Weak propaganda.

I bet Iraqi people know for what Bremer is worth and are preparing a salvo rocket launcher for him as well just as they made the Werewolf run home to momma.

[qwertyMike]

17. There's 30,000 less Iraqi's to feed now

Men, women and children.

30,000 in six months.

Yes, they are better off.

[saigon68]

18. as they made the Werewolf run home to momma

He is a freaky looking human being.

I wonder what he tells his friends at cocktail parties of his--"Baghdad Experience".

[lumpy]

19. Goebel speak

Do you suppose the Iraqi people will buy this ? The US military has destroyed the Iraqi infrastructure/livelihoods, killed how many Iraqis (?) and continues to do so, indiscriminately (?). The UN was managing to do their job to cool things in Iraq, now all that remains is a broken country with fools trying to bring it back to some normalcy and the American people are paying a hefty price in American lives as well as bucks.

[sendero]

24. It's funny...

... but IHMO the flavor of propaganda that works well to keep Americans in the dark and placated is not going to fly in Iraq. To an Iraqi, this must sound like "same shit, different asshole", and the idea that they can ignore the reality they see every day in favor of a screed of clumsily assembled platitudes coming from their TV is ludicrous.

But why wouldn't the mis-adminstration try it? It has worked pretty well stateside.

[0007]

23. Tokyo Rose had the same message!

I even heard the rumor that she was an American?

[Say_What]

26. Sounds like the wacko religious channels we have here that US sheeple

take as fact.

From the article:

"You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to protect, he instead tortured, he instead murdered. You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to feed, he instead starved."