"I've never seen a President — I don't care who he is

What does Beckett know about ' War?' Nothing! / The BBC, has become one of the worst warmongers on earth! And we British supply its revenue!

"I've never seen a President — I don't care who he is — stand up to the Jews. They always get what they want. If the American people understood what a grip these people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms."
— Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1970-74

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and thus clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
— Henry L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Media & Government e-mail addresses
http://www.venusproject.com/ethics_in_action/Media_Email_Addresses.html

Beckett warns as MPs debate Iraq

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has warned the House of Commons "this is not the time" for an inquiry into Iraq.

MPs are debating a Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru call for a probe into what Plaid's Adam Price called the "monumental catastrophe" of the war.

What does Beckett know about ' War?' Nothing! U.K. Military Commanders say out of Iraq now, because Afghanistan is more pressing! In-action is causing twice the death rate! But the arrogant Jew is 'calling the tune' as ever!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6096098.stm

This all makes me want to weep! May I remind everybody and I mean everybody, that the concencus was that oil is much too important a commodity as to be in the hands of Muslims. And there you have it World; because some Jew ( Kissinger) came up with that, then the West has the green light to break International Law blatently and every other law and moral code there is in existance.

The West, controlled by the Zionist Jew are just common ' murdering 'thieves at the end of the day. M.P.'s are just 'tools' which their Masters use to work towards their objectives whilst keeping a low profile out of the picture, because they are not Men, just very yellow Cowards with a Capital 'C'. As for M.P.'s ? Let's just say you would find more 'Political Correctness' in any ' Fat-Bellied Pig !' GJ (UK)

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list (one email every few days) or to reply to this message, see end of email

This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/unconstitutionalcivillibertiesloss

Dear friends,

The most excellent video documentary Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties clearly depicts the rapid erosion and loss of civil liberties and civil rights in the U.S. since 9/11. Available for free viewing at the links below, this empowering video presents interviews with ranking members of Congress, top legal experts, and even a former CIA chief, all of whom describe many insidious efforts to take away privacy and freedoms guaranteed under the constitution for over 200 years. Compelling video footage depicts U.S. citizens—from law-abiding store clerks to a U.S. Olympian—who have suffered serious injustices as the result of unconstitutional policies established under the Patriot Act.

Even more astounding, members of Congress describe on camera the replacement of the previously agreed upon Patriot Act by another version quietly slipped into its place just hours before the final vote in Congress, leaving no one time to read the many devastating changes inserted at the last moment. Here is solid, verifiable evidence showing the serious, often-hidden erosion of the very foundation of the United States. Call your friends together to watch this engaging 60-minute video documentary and join in the growing movement to uphold democracy and the U.S. Constitution.

Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties is available for purchase ($9.95/DVD, $14.95/video):
http://publicinterestpictures.org/order_films/unconstitutional

Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties is available for free viewing:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3105519703637733227 or
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13176.htm

If you cannot find this highly educational video documentary by acclaimed producer Robert Greenwald at one of the above links, try a search using the term "Unconstitutional" or the full title "Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties" and look for the 68 minute version at Google Video or YouTube. Thanks for caring. Together, we can and will build a brighter future for us all.

With best wishes,
Fred Burks for PEERS and the WantToKnow.info Team
Former language interpreter for Presidents Bush and Clinton

Final Note: WantToKnow.info believes it is important to balance disturbing cover-up information with inspirational writings which call us to be all that we can be and to work together for positive change. Please visit our Inspiration Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/inspirational for an abundance of uplifting material.

See our archive of revealing news articles at http://www.WantToKnow.info/medianewsarticles

Your tax-deductible donations, however large or small, help greatly to support this important work.
To make a donation by credit card, check, or money order: http://www.WantToKnow.info/donationswtk

Explore these empowering websites coordinated by the nonprofit PEERS network:
http://www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart
http://www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups
http://www.inspiringcommunity.org - Building a Global Community for All
http://www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all
Educational websites promoting transformation through information and inspiration

To reply to this message, visit http://www.WantToKnow.info/contactus.php
To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the WantToKnow.info list (one email every few days):
http://www.WantToKnow.info/subscribe

Change email address / Leave mailing list
Hosting by YourMailingListProvider

Tidbits

Sir Peter Bonnell CJSJ

10/31/06

www.tidbitsnews.com

Bringing you the TRUTH since 1982.

“The only thing new to you in this world is what you do not already know. That’s why I write this column, so you will know whatever you may not already be aware of.” Sir Peter.

Please FWD. this column to those in your address book.

In this column: U.S. government has issued a multi-million dollar contract to control the news.

My past writing on Israel….our friend?

Plans are being made to combine Mexico the U.S. & Canada as one nation.

Israel to be in charge of our northern and southern borders.

FLASH JUST IN-BUSH MAY BE PLANNING TO DECLARE MARTIAL LAW IN U.S.

The U.S. Has Hired a Private Law Firm with a multi-million dollar contract paid for by taxpayer money to monitor news reports from Iran to be sure the reports are favorable to administration. The same firm paid Iraqi news companies to put out what they wanted them to say in order to brainwash the American public.

All who have read my past columns realize that Israel was the only gainer in 9/11. I give you all the reasons why and how Israel gained on my website. Four thousand Israelis were warned not to show up for work in the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11 and didn’t. Sharon was to speak to thousands of Zionists two blocks away from the World Trade Centers on 9/11, his speech was cancelled two days before 9/11.One Hundred and Sixty Five Israeli Mossad agents were picked up on 9/11 and the next day (some had plans of the Sears Tower also) some were quietly returned to Israel and SOME STAYED HERE.

Osama bin Laden had no more power than you or I to keep the entire U.S. Air Force on the ground for two hours after three buildings were hit

If you haven’t in the past please go to my Home Page and Index www.tidbitsnews.com .There you will find my complete investigation of the World Trade Center disaster and all the tie-ins to Israel.

You might want to also read about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty killing and wounding our sailors in an attempt to blame it on Egypt. Also their “False Flag” operation to get us into the war with Lebanon years ago, and the U.S. conspiracy with Israel recently to attack Lebanon as an act of genocide six months before the two Israeli troops were kidnapped. Also, Israel tapping the entire White House phone system two months before Clinton left office.

Sharon said “we the Jews control America and the Americans know it”. Most of the Presidents closest advisors are Jewish (Pharisees/Zionist) and the Jewish (Pharisee/Zionist) lobby runs the United States and decides who will be on the ballot in most cases. These are the people. who want a one world government with them in control to enslave all others; as they did when they controlled the Soviet Union and all other communist countries. They started communism, spread it, and controlled/control it all over the world. Without them there would never have been communism in the world, this is an historic fact.

Now there is a plan to make Mexico the U.S. and Canada ONE NATION.

With Israel in control of our borders they will determine who can come in and who can GO OUT.

Anyone who has been reading the reports on the web knows that perhaps as many as THREE MILLION trained communist troops with automatic weapons have already entered our country from the southern border. CNN-Lou Dobbs reported that 155,000 people OTHER THAN Mexicans are known to have crossed the border.

Also it is the Jewish Mafia that runs the drug trade in the U.S. and you can bet the Israelis will let them in with the military troops. These troops have been buying up Police and Sheriff patches in the U.S….. Why?

I believe they will pull off another 9/11 blame it on the Arabs or someone else, declare Martial Law have the Israeli Military in charge of our Military and Police and with all the ATF records pick up all the arms of the American Citizens. They know they can never take over an armed country; we can’t do it in Iraq or Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union couldn’t before us in Afghanistan the 80’s. Realize, with one million trained troops you can take over any nation in the world especially if they are disarmed. That’s most likely why they have let the communist troops in thru our southern border to be spread out throughout the country with one English speaking person to each group of raiders to search homes. REMEMBER they did this in what I think was a trial run in New Orleans during Katrina …in the million dollar neighborhoods. They handcuffed the residents took their weapons and then released them unarmed while the people from the 9^th ward (the welfare area) were shooting the rescue workers, raping and stealing.

. *Note-From TIDSBITS- the National Security Agency turned over all the surveillance of the American people, phone, email, Fax, taps collection of personal information of all kinds that everyone has been up in arms about to ISRAEL and it is ISRAEL that has been doing it since it was started.

The following was sent to me by Mr. Bollyn

Israelis Win Contract to Operate on U.S. Borders *By Christopher Bollyn, American Free Press, 10/09/06*
On Sept. 21, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced that a consortium headed by the Chicago-based Boeing Company had won a multi-billion dollar contract to install sensors and radar along the U.S. border. The
deal, the first part of a multibillion-dollar government plan designed to reduce illegal
entry along the Canadian and Mexican borders calls for cameras, sensors and even unmanned planes.

When Chertoff was asked why DHS had chosen the Boeing-led group he declined to comment. The reason for Chertoff's silence, however, is telling: the Boeing team includes an Israeli military subcontractor which will play a key role in "securing" the U.S. border.
Of interest is the fact that Chertoff's Israeli mother played a key role in creating that country in its infancy.

The Boeing team, which will implement the DH Sprogram called the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) along the northern and southern borders of the United States, includes a Merrimack, N.H.-based surveillance technology firm called Kollsman Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd. of Haifa, Israel.

The Israeli-American team includes Unisys Corp., DRS Technologies Inc., L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., Perot Systems Corp. and the Israeli-owned Kollsman, which makes the thermo-imaging cameras used to monitor Israel's borders.

As Chertoff announced the awarding of the contract, estimated to be worth some $2.5 billion, he was giving a very lucrative and sensitive contract to an Israeli company with close ties to the Israeli military. The contract reportedly does not have a set value. Payments will be announced as parts for the system are ordered.

The work will be done in phases, with the first piece being a 28-mile stretch near Tucson, Ariz., Chertoff said. This first phase will cost $67 million, he said. Boeing's proposal includes some 1,800 towers along the borders with cameras developed by Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd. which can reportedly spot people up to 9 miles away.

Elbit Systems says it is "the prime contractor and systems integrator for the Israel Police Border Control System, a computerized system for registration and control deployed at every Israeli border crossing.

"Elbit Systems has developed and integrated multi-layered solutions incorporating cutting-edge biometrics, optical ID and RFID [radio frequency identification] technologies. Our perimeter security solutions have also been adapted for energy infrastructures and offshore installations," the company's web site says.

"We are looking at a technology that is advanced and can pick a face in the crowd," Wayne Esser, capture team leader of the Boeing team, told /Washington Technology/.

Elbit provides Israel's military with a border security surveillance system with integrated sensors, radars, a "smart fence" and cameras.

*TIES TO ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE*

Kollsman is not the only player on the Boeing team with ties to Israeli military intelligence. As AFP has reported previously, Unisys Corp., chaired by Lawrence A. Weinbach, has integrated Israeli security software into the computer products it sells to the U.S. government and other clients. Software from Check Point Software Technologies of Ramat Gan, Israel, for example, is integrated into Unisys
products.

Elbit Systems is directed by a high-level board that is comprised of former Israeli major generals, colonels, ambassadors, and former chiefs of Israel's largest banks and companies. The company's only non-Israeli director on its board of 18 members is Timothy Taylor, the British-born president and CEO of Elbit Systems of America. Taylor speaks to the U.S. media for the Israeli-owned company while the former Israeli fighter pilots and generals run the company from Haifa.

SBI is a Chertoff initiative that is meant to be "a comprehensive plan to control our borders and stem the flow of illegal immigration.”What we are looking to do is build a virtual fence," Chertoff said. "We want to know when anybody or anything is crossing the border."

While the Israeli press was quick to report that an Israeli company was part of the SBI border security program, Chertoff failed to mention it. "Elbit System's subsidiary Kollsman announced it would supply technology to identify threats, deter and prevent crossings, and apprehend intruders along U.S. borders," Israeli daily /Ha'aretz /reported.

Huntleigh U.S.A., another Israeli-owned security company, provided passenger screening at Boston's Logan Airport on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Huntleigh, which is wholly owned by the Israeli company International Consultants on Targeted Security
(ICTS) apparently failed to intercept the Arab terrorists who hijacked the two planes that hit the World Trade Center, according to the government version. Now, the same administration that failed to stop the terror attacks of 9-11 is hiring an Israeli-owned company to help protect the entire U.S. land border.

**

*/Christopher Bollyn /*/is a much-traveled international journalist currently based in Chicago, serving as Midwest bureau chief for American Free Press. He has written extensively on a wide variety of subjects including the controversy surrounding computerized voting systems, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the many unanswered questions surrounding the 9-11 terrorist attacks./
http://www.uruknet.biz/?p=m27769&hd=0&size=1&l=e

Bush Moves Toward Martial Law

Frank Morales

October 26, 2006

In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."

President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."

Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is entitled, "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies." Section 333, "Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law" states that "the President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of ("refuse" or "fail" in) maintaining public order, "in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy."

For the current President, "enforcement of the laws to restore public order" means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against "disorderly" citizenry - protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event.

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

An article on "recent contract awards" in a recent issue of the slick, insider "Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International" reported that "global engineering and technical services powerhouse KBR [Kellog, Brown & Root] announced in January 2006 that its Government and Infrastructure division was awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency." "With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five year term," the report notes, "the contract is to be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," "for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) - in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs." The report points out that "KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton." (3) So, in addition to authorizing another $532.8 billion for the Pentagon, including a $70-billion "supplemental provision" which covers the cost of the ongoing, mad military maneuvers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, the new law, signed by the president in a private White House ceremony, further collapses the historic divide between the police and the military: a tell-tale sign of a rapidly consolidating police state in America, all accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions of global domination, sold to an "emergency managed" and seemingly willfully gullible public as a "global war on terrorism."

Make no mistake about it: the de-facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) is an ominous assault on American democratic tradition and jurisprudence. The 1878 Act, which reads, "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," is the only U.S. criminal statute that outlaws military operations directed against the American people under the cover of 'law enforcement.' As such, it has been the best protection we've had against the power-hungry intentions of an unscrupulous and reckless executive, an executive intent on using force to enforce its will.

Unfortunately, this past week, the president dealt posse comitatus, along with American democracy, a near fatal blow. Consequently, it will take an aroused citizenry to undo the damage wrought by this horrendous act, part and parcel, as we have seen, of a long train of abuses and outrages perpetrated by this authoritarian administration.

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007's Defense Authorization Act contained a "widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the nation's governors."

Senator Leahy went on to stress that, "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. One can easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never visited their communities gives the orders."

A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had "grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report," the language of which, he said, "subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military's involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law." This had been "slipped in," Leahy said, "as a rider with little study," while "other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."

In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty."

Senator Leahy's final ruminations: "Since hearing word a couple of weeks ago that this outcome was likely, I have wondered how Congress could have gotten to this point. It seems the changes to the Insurrection Act have survived the Conference because the Pentagon and the White House want it."

The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.

The Pentagon, as one might expect, plays an even more direct role in martial law operations. Title XIV of the new law, entitled, "Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Legislative Provisions," authorizes "the Secretary of Defense to create a Homeland Defense Technology Transfer Consortium to improve the effectiveness of the Department of Defense (DOD) processes for identifying and deploying relevant DOD technology to federal, State, and local first responders."

In other words, the law facilitates the "transfer" of the newest in so-called "crowd control" technology and other weaponry designed to suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. The new law builds on and further codifies earlier "technology transfer" agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime.(4)

It has become clear in recent months that a critical mass of the American people have seen through the lies of the Bush administration; with the president's polls at an historic low, growing resistance to the war Iraq, and the Democrats likely to take back the Congress in mid-term elections, the Bush administration is on the ropes. And so it is particularly worrying that President Bush has seen fit, at this juncture to, in effect, declare himself dictator.

Source:

(1) http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/091906a.html and http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/092906b.html See also, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, "The Use of Federal Troops for Disaster Assistance: Legal Issues," by Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorney, August 14, 2006

(2) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill+h109-5122

(3) Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International, "Recent Contract Awards", Summer 2006, Vol.12, No.2, pg.8; See also, Peter Dale Scott, "Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps," New American Media, January 31, 2006.

(4) "Technology Transfer from defense: Concealed Weapons Detection", National Institute of Justice Journal, No 229, August, 1995, pp.42-43.

:: Article nr. 27769 sent on 27-oct-2006 03:18 ECT

:: The address of this page is : www.uruknet.info?p=27769

:: The incoming address of this article is :
towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/911/

:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Uruknet .

*Sir Peter is an American and international news columnist Knighted for an "outstanding fight against world communism". He was promoted to Commander & Brig. Gen. in 1978, served as Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of St. John 1978-1980, appointed as Chairman of the Ohio Governor's Export Council to Central America in 1982. His political writings are sent to news services in the U.S. and other countries.

<Please forward this email column to a friend, group or organization.>

<You also may feel free to print this column and distribute it to others>

<Donation may be sent to Tidbits, P.O. Box 268, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44222>

< All donations no matter how small help us to spread the TRUTH to an ever-increasing audience>.

<Please remember us in your will and in that way do your part to help save America and other free countries too stay that way>.

<If you wish to send a anonymous donation, you can purchase a Money Order at any convenient store, etc, and leave Sender blank, or write in Anonymous, make payable to: Tidbits>.

Unsubscribe: If you wish to "Unsubscribe" click on this email address: tidbitsnews@peoplepc.com and type in Subject line, "Unsubscribe", and you will be taken off our email mailing list.

WATCH IT! BECAUSE WE'RE WATCHING YOU...

It's another Pentagon assault on facts and reality, the state of denial getting worse. It's also a threat by those serial killers from Washington: watch it, because we're watching you...

LET'S HOPE WE CAN WATCH THEM SOON IN COURT, ACCUSED OF THEIR WAR CRIMES.

Pls keep in mind that the BBC is one of the worst war propaganda channels ever. They this far broadcasting on average two percent (2%) dissent concerning the illegal wars, which they daily advocate and justify. Their two percent is criminally less than even FOX, CNN or similar propaganda sewers spout. - HR

Maybe it's better to read MediaLens and others before - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/yngdbg

Personally I really dislike the BBC, which has become one of the worst warmongers on earth. I hope to see the responsible propagandists - who all are guilty of crimes against humanity - in court soon. - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/y9oahj

So when reading this war propaganda, we all know this is just the BBC, equal to Broadcasting Blair's Crap!

''Broadcasting Bush's Crap'' is OK too...

PENTAGON GEARS UP FOR NEW MEDIA WAR

By Paul Reynolds

World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

2006/10/31 - The Pentagon's new effort to influence media coverage of the war in Iraq is an example of how governments react when a war is not going too well.

They begin to think it is not the war that is the problem, but the presentation of it.

THE MEDIA, BEING THE MESSENGERS, GET THE BLAME, NOT THE MESSAGE ITSELF.

The plan, detailed in a memo seen by the Associated Press news agency, is for a rapid response unit that would "correct the record" in the 24/7 news cycle that exists today - including, crucially, on the internet. One aim, AP says, seems to be to deflect criticism of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld himself.

It is on the internet that blogs and other sites rapidly spread information, sometimes as fact and sometimes as rumour, and build up pressure points of opinion. These are then reflected in the mainstream media.

There would also be a list of favourite speakers or "surrogates" who would be offered to broadcast media, especially to the US talk shows, where fast appearances and faster opinions matter.

Whether this will make much difference is open to question.

INSURGENT VIDEOS

The insurgents in Iraq are brilliant at using the media, especially the internet, and it will not be easy for the Pentagon to counter the impact these videos can have.

[THAN HOW COME 99% OF ALL VIDEOS BY SO CALLED ''INSURGENTS' ETC. ARE ALL SHOT WITHOUT AUTO-FOCUS ETC.? 99% IS STUPID FAKES BY THE CIA AND OTHER CRIMINALS, TRYING TO SELL THEIR CRAP AND FEAR.]

An example of the way can be seen on a site run by Memri, the Middle East Media Research Institute. This is a pro-Israeli research group that specialises in showing extracts from Arab TV stations.

In this case, it has downloaded from a jihadist website an eight-minute video of a US ammunition dump on fire in Baghdad on 10 October. It is a spectacular display, well-packaged and accompanied by a commentary praising the fighters who carried out the attack.

Mr Rumsfeld signalled the Pentagon move in a speech to the Foreign Relations Council in New York in February. He said: "Our enemies have skilfully adapted to fighting wars in today's media age, but for the most part we, our country, our government, has not adapted.

"Today we're engaged in the first war in history - unconventional and irregular as it may be - in an era of e-mails, blogs, cell phones, Blackberries, instant messaging, digital cameras, a global internet with no inhibitions, cell phones, hand-held video cameras, talk radio, 24-hour news broadcasts, satellite television. There's never been a war fought in this environment before."

He returned to the theme of the media deficit in August: "That's the thing that keeps me up at night", he told an audience of naval personnel.

CRONKITE MOMENT

The Pentagon, however, has tried before to influence the media, especially the Iraqi media, and fell on its face.

In 2005, the New York Times revealed that the Department of Defense was paying a public relations company to write and place articles in Iraqi newspapers. One of these had the lyrical line that "the sands are blowing toward a democratic Iraq," dismissing sceptical Western views that democracy was not working in Iraq.

This latest effort is supposed to be more open, but also more fleet of foot, and the memo compared it to the kind of political operation run by Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election campaign, in which immediate responses were made to criticism from opponents.

A cautionary tale comes from the Vietnam War. There, the war was lost when viewers in the living room realised what was happening on the battlefield. No amount of spin could change it.

The turning point in the media war came when the veteran CBS News presenter, Walter Cronkite, went to Vietnam after the Tet offensive in 1968. He came back and declared that there was "stalemate".

This is how he ended his TV broadcast:

"To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.

"On the off-chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations.

"But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honourable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

"THIS IS WALTER CRONKITE. GOOD NIGHT."

-0-

RELATED REFERENCES & LINKS:

Story at BBC - Url.: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6103056.stm

The Pentagon and the US/Israeli war machine have been killing journalists for ages - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/yyvsns

* FOX: Video 49 min. - The example how viewers are brainwashed and 'outfoxed' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/b2zzl

* What Bush c.s. their collaborators and media propagandists are afraid of - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/95nk2

* Google search "Biggest threat to world peace" - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/dk2lj

* MSNBC - Live Vote: Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment? - Url.: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/

* "People do not forget. They do not forget the death of their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq

* The Nuremberg principles: "Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment." - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/byurp

* 'Crying Wolf' - Media Disinformation and Death Squads in Occupied Iraq - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/7ttx8

* Al Qaeda The Database - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/cqx69

*Read the Fightin' Cock Flyer - Url.: http://fightincockflyer.blogspot.com/

* 'Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one' ‹ A.J. Liebling - The merciless engine of propaganda has been turned on: The infamous US 'Lie Factory' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/8ncal

* He who travels far will often see things

Far removed from what he believed was the Truth.

When he talks about it in the fields at home,

He is often accused of lying,

For the obdurate people will not believe

Inexperience, I believe,

Will give little credence to my song.

'Journey to the East' - Hermann Hesse

* Help all the troops - of whatever nationality - to come back from abroad! - AND WITH ALL THEIR WEAPONS, WHICH WE ARE FORCED TO PAY FOR BY TAXES - [http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm] - We need them badly at home in many countries to fight with us against our so called 'governments' and their malignant managers - Url.: http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/

* The Dutch author this far has lived and worked abroad - never in an English speaking country - for more than 4 decades for international media as an independent foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the Arab World and the Middle East. Seeing worldwide that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism!

* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html

* It's very unlikely, but if you would prefer to unsubscribe from the FPF-list, pls. just send an email in return with the word 'unsubscribe'.

FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
FPF@Chello.nl