Weapons of Mass Deception

[leftchick]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/948E5112-0499-4D69-83DC-245CFDB610C6.htm

<snip>

According to Danny Schechter, a media veteran of almost 40 years who nicknamed himself the News Dissector, the 70% figure suggests US media failed their public and led them to believe a baseless claim.

As the invasion played out on television screens around the world, Schechter "self-embedded" in his living room and examined US media coverage of the war.

He turned his conclusions into Weapons of Mass Deception www.wmdthefilm.com, a documentary film that examines how the media covered the war.

In the post-September 11 nationalistic ardour, the film concludes the US mainstream media failed to challenge Washington over its reasons for going to war, shut out anti-war voices and blurred the lines between commentary and journalism.

[wookie294]

1. The CIA concluded Saddam did NOT gas the Kurds

The CIA officer in charge of watching the Iran-Iraq war said "accusing him (Saddam) of gassing his own people at Halabja as an act of genocide is not correct."

He also said "immediately after the battle the United States Defense Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report, which it circulated within the intelligence community on a need-to-know basis. That study asserted that it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds, not Iraqi gas."

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/a_war_crime_or_an_act_of_war.htm

[xchrom]

2. the media is another tool

of the united corporate dominion.

[0007]

3. Very good article. Sounds like Danny Schechter has got it right.

www.mediachannel.org
Is another very resourceful site to book mark.

[leftchick]

4. I agree..

(you can watch a trailer of his movie at the link!)This part really scares me. Iran here we come?

~snip~
If the US is involved in another war, how do you think it will be reported in the US media? Do you think the media have learned from some of the mistakes of the Iraq war.

The institutional practices have not changed. I feel like the coverage of the elections was very similar to the coverage of the war. The same templates are being used, the same approach, the lack of political scrutiny, the lack of other voices, the way things are being framed, the lack of investigative checking.

The American media reported the Iraqi elections as a great victory for democracy. Everyone else reported them and asked Iraqis why they were voting and they said to get the Americans out and to end the occupation. Their reasons are very different from the way it was presented on American televisions. So we still have this propaganda system, in effect, but its credibility is starting to be questioned. And I hope my film will contribute to that.

[0007]

5. Thank you leftchick for directing me to that (trailer) it is so easy

to overlook it. I noticed Tim Robbins directed this film. Which reminds me to inform you of "A Chill Wind is blowingin This Nation" Transcript of the speech given by actor Tim Robbins to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2003 Noticed that this was two years ago!

http://www.tim-robbins.com/achillwindisblowing.htm

[leftchick]

6. Thank YOU!

I love Tim! I wish he would run for Mayor of NYC! Or hell, Governor of NYS!

:loveya:

[G_j]

7. U.S. Weapons Inspector Finishes Iraq Work

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050426/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_weapons_hunt_3

U.S. Weapons Inspector Finishes Iraq Work

Mon Apr 25, 8:28 PM ET Middle East - AP

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - In his final word, the CIA's top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has "gone as far as feasible" and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion.

"After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted," wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall.

"As matters now stand, the WMD investigation has gone as far as feasible."

In 92 pages posted online Monday evening, Duelfer provides a final look at an investigation that occupied over 1,000 military and civilian translators, weapons specialists and other experts at its peak. His latest addenda conclude a roughly 1,500-page report released last fall.
..more..

[leftchick]

8. Didn't they finish last winter?

oh yeah, and the RW/Rovian talking point about the WMD gone missing to Syria? False as well. Who would have ever guessed?

:banghead:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. Saddam WAS the WMD!!

See this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1423215

:rofl:

Apparently shrubby was right all along..
:crazy:

:banghead:

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. Rate it up!

It's being freeped.

[renaissanceguy]

9. But but but...

Look at all the freedom they're enjoying over there... several dying every day!


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/588704

[Gregorian]

12. Brilliant effort.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened with the drug war. The american people were dupped in the same way. A media template. Propaganda. Bullshit, basically. But the people bit. Hook, line, and sinker. Televised media is what he is focused on, and it's the most dense of the media. Very fruitful for it's manipulators. How are we going to make the changes that are needed? It's obvious corporate owned stations have an agenda. And gov't owned would be even worse. It's almost like Kucinich said, we need a (or was that Orwell?) department of truth. It all gets back to the love of money. There may be nothing that can be done.