- The Bush team's campaign for war on Iraq would have made
Nazi master propagandist Joseph Goebbels proud.
-
- Fabrications are announced as facts. Lies are repeated
until they displace the truth. Deception is the order of the day.[1]
-
- And demagoguery supplants democracy.
-
- Sadly, this deceit has born fruit: At least 60 percent
of Americans think Iraq is close to having, or already has, nuclear weapons,[2]
and more than half believe Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the
September 11 atrocities,[3] although there's no significant evidence for
either proposition.
-
- Even proof of the Bush team's duplicity doesn't derail
the propaganda train.
-
- Case in point: Administration spokespeople have characterized
testimony by Hussein Kamal, the director of Iraq's weapons program prior
to his 1995 defection, as proving that Iraq still possesses chemical and
biological weapons.[4]
-
- Now a transcript of Kamal's testimony has surfaced, and
he actually said exactly the opposite--that he had personally ordered the
destruction of all of Iraq's nonconventional weapons.[5]
-
- But Bush, Powell and the rest didn't miss a beat.
-
- Our government's propaganda began with the first Gulf
War. Americans were told that Iraqi soldiers were pulling Kuwaiti babies
from incubators to die, and that Iraq was massing hundreds of thousands
of troops to invade Saudi Arabia.
-
- Both stories were fabrications.
-
- The "incubator babies" ruse, in particular,
galvanized America. In October 1990 a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, identified
only as "Nayirah" and described as a "refugee," appeared
at a congressional hearing. She claimed that Iraqi soldiers had pulled
hundreds of babies from hospital incubators and left them "on the
cold floor to die."
-
- It was all a lie cooked up by public relations powerhouse
Hill & Knowlton under a $12 million contract with the Kuwaiti aristocracy.
"Nayirah" was actually the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to
the U.S. She had never been to the hospital she described.[6]
-
- (Of course, real babies died during the Gulf War when
U.S. bombing knocked out Iraqi electrical supplies.[7] And real babies
die today in Iraq because U.N. sanctions prohibit importing necessary medical
equipment.[8])
-
- And as for the first Bush administration's dire warnings
that Iraq had massed 250,000 troops preparing to invade Saudi Arabia?
-
- Another lie. Jean Heller, an enterprising reporter for
the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, persuaded her employer to buy two photographs
from a Russian commercial satellite.
-
- Massed Iraqi troops were notably absent from the photos'
panoramic expanse.
-
- The "intelligence photographs" allegedly showing
the Iraqi formations remain "classified" to this day.[9]
-
- Now, fast forward to the present.
-
- (Pause briefly, though, to recall the "leaks"
suggesting September 11 mastermind Mohammed Atta met an Iraqi agent in
Prague.[10] Richard Perle, now deeply entrenched in Bush's circle, even
claimed that Atta met Saddam Hussein himself in Baghdad: "We have
proof of that, and we are sure he wasn't just there for a holiday."[11])
-
- Today, the administration's torrent of deceit flows unabated.
-
- Bush claims Iraq presents a nuclear threat, yet according
to head U.N. nuclear weapons inspector Mohamed ElBaradei, three months
of intrusive inspections have found "no evidence or plausible indication"
of an Iraqi nuclear program--and documents allegedly describing Iraqi attempts
to buy uranium in Niger were fabricated.[12]
-
- Bush calls Iraq's disarmament a "charade,"
but Hans Blix, the chief chemical and biological weapons inspector who
has found no evidence of either, insists that Iraq has undertaken "a
substantial measure of disarmament."[13]
-
- And South African disarmament experts visiting Iraq maintain
it's doing its best.[14]
-
- Bush asks America to go to war based on secret evidence,
but weapons inspectors complain that the "intelligence" given
them by the U.S. has been "garbage after garbage after garbage."[15]
-
- Insisting that Resolution 1441 gives the U.S. authority
to attack Iraq unilaterally, Bush seems to feel he can wish away the historical
record: After that measure was adopted, the U.N. ambassador of every Security
Council member--including the U.S. and U.K.--affirmed that it didn't provide
for "automaticity"--the resort to force without a further vote.[16]
-
- Nor does 1441 authorize member states to use "all
necessary means," the accepted language for military force.[17]
-
- (It should be unnecessary to observe that neither 1441
nor any prior resolution authorizes, or could authorize, forcible "regime
change" in any country.)
-
- Bush continues to link Saddam with al Qaeda, even though
the CIA, FBI and Britain's MI6 all disagree.[18]
-
- Bush invokes the U.N.'s failure to prevent genocide in
Rwanda while concealing the reason for that failure: Washington's own opposition.
-
- (During his 2000 campaign, Bush expressly rejected the
use of U.S. troops in Rwanda, even "to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide.")[19]
-
- The "terrorist poison and explosive factory"
denounced by Colin Powell turns out to be a dilapidated video studio.[20]
-
- Iraq's "deadly" drone has wings held together
with tin foil and duct tape, and two wooden propellers bolted to engines
far smaller than those of a lawn mower.[21]
-
- Iraq's Al Rafah missile testing site, called "top
secret" by Powell, has in fact been inspected five times.[22]
-
- U.N. inspectors have rejected administration claims that
Iraq's fabled aluminum tubes were linked to nuclear weapons,[23] that Iraqi
agents have impersonated scientists,[24] that Iraq has spirited weapons
away as inspectors arrive,[25] and that Iraq has mobile biological weapons
laboratories[26] or hidden underground research facilities.[27]
-
- Even today, the administration has no "specific
information" about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, according
to the Washington Post.[28]
-
- It's true that one party to this conflict has been playing
a shell game.
-
- And it's clear that the only limits on the administration's
litany of lies are those imposed by the imagination.[29]
-
- What's less clear is why Americans continue to believe
them.
-
-
-
- Robin Miller, a contributing writer for Liberal Slant,
lives in New Orleans and is interested in breaking through the mainstream
media's blockade against progressive commentary.
-
-
- NOTES
-
-
-
-
-
- 1. For more commentary on the administration's propaganda
on Iraq, see:
-
- The "Lies and Evasions" section of the Crisis
Papers website.
-
- John Donnelly and Elizabeth Neuffer, "Dubious Claims
Erode US Credibility," Boston Globe, March 16, 2003. This appears
to be the first article in the mainstream press acknowledging even partially
the administration's string of deceptions on Iraq.
-
- Haroon Siddiqui, "We Should Sit Out This War; U.S.
Credibility on Iraq Has Eroded to an Extent That It Is Becoming Hard to
Believe Anything from the Bush Administration," Toronto Star, March
13, 2003. This is slso available on Common Dreams.
-
- Dennis Hans, "Lying Us Into War: Exposing Bush and
His 'Techniques of Deceit,'" Scoop, February 10, 2003.
-
- Maggie O'Kane, "This Time I'm Scared; US Propaganda
Fueled the First Gulf War. It Will Fuel This One Too--And the Risks Are
Even Greater," The Guardian, December 5, 2002. This is also available
on Common Dreams.
-
- John R. MacArthur, "To Drum Up Rage Against Iraq,
Bush Senior and Junior Have Been Known to Tell Tall Tales," The Globe
and Mail [Toronto], October 28, 2002.
-
- Bush Iraq Evidence Lies Return to text
-
-
-
- 2. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released on February
6 reports that 61% of Americans believe that Iraq "is trying to develop
nuclear weapons." See "Washingtonpost.com - ABC News Poll: Powell's
U.N. Address," February 6, 2003.
-
- An October 2002 poll from The Pew Research Center for
the People and the Press pegged the figure at 79%. See "Americans
Thinking About Iraq, But Focused on the Economy," The Pew Research
Center for the People and the Press, October 10, 2002 Return to text
-
-
-
- 3. A poll released February 20 by The Pew Research Center
for the People and the Press found 57% agreed with this proposition. See
"U.S. Needs More International Backing," The Pew Research Center
for the People and the Press, February 20, 2003.
-
- The question asked in the poll was "And what's your
opinion, based on what you've heard or read: Do you believe that Saddam
Hussein helped the terrorists in the September 11th attacks, or don't you
think he was involved?"
-
- However, a New York Times poll released on March 11 puts
the figure at 45%. See Adam Nagourney and Janet Elder, "Growing Number
in U.S. Back War, Survey Finds" ["The poll found that 45 percent
of Americans said Mr. Hussein was 'personally involved' in the attacks,
a number essentially unchanged from a month ago."] Return to text
-
-
-
- 4. See the statements collected in Glen Rangwala, "The
Interview with Hussein Kamel." Return to text
-
-
-
- 5. News of the transcript's existence was broken in John
Barry, "The Defector's Secrets," Newsweek (March 3 issue).
-
- For analysis, see Glen Rangwala, "The Interview
with Hussein Kamel."
-
- See also:
-
- Tim Cornwell, "Allies Hushed Up Weapons' Destruction,"
The Scotsman, February 24, 2003.
-
- Julian Borger, "Iraqi Defector's Testimony Confuses
Case against Iraq," The Guardian, March 1, 2003. Return to text
-
-
-
- 6. On the "incubator babies" story, see:
-
- Maggie O'Kane, "No Casus Belli? Invent One!"
The Guardian, February 5, 2003.
-
- Mitchel Cohen, "How the War Party Sold the 1991
Bombing of Iraq to US," antiwar.com, December 30, 2002.
-
- Lucy Komisar, "HBO Recycles the Incubator Hoax,"
Pacific News Service, December 3, 2002.
-
- Tom Regan, "When Contemplating War, Beware of Babies
in Incubators," Christian Science Monitor, September 6, 2002.
-
- The most detailed analysis of this episode can be found
in John R. MacArthur, Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf
War, N.Y.: Hill and Wang, 1992, pp. 37-77. Return to text
-
-
-
- 7. Suzanne Goldenberg, "Iraq's Vital Services Balance
on a Knife Edge ... Even Without a War," The Guardian, February 11,
2003 ("During the last Gulf war, when hospitals went dark, patients
died on the operating table, or in intensive care units when the electricity
ran out."). Return to text
-
-
-
- 8. Kathy Kelly, "What About the Incubators?"
Voices in the Wilderness, April 13, 2000. Return to text
-
-
-
- 9. On the "massed troops" hoax, see:
-
- Interview with Jean Heller, CounterSpin, February 14,
2003 (RealAudio).
-
- Maggie O'Kane, "No Casus Belli? Invent One!"
The Guardian, February 5, 2003.
-
- Maggie O'Kane, "This Time I'm Scared; US Propaganda
Fueled the First Gulf War. It Will Fuel This One Too--And the Risks Are
Even Greater," The Guardian, December 5, 2002. Also available on Common
Dreams.
-
- Scott Peterson, "In War, Some Facts Less Factual;
Some US Assertions From the Last War on Iraq Still Appear Dubious,"
The Christian Science Monitor, September 6, 2002.
-
- Jon Basil Utley, "Questions About the Supposed Iraqi
Threat to Saudi Arabia in l990--Aerial Photos Were Never Released,"
Americans Against World Empire, undated. Return to text
-
-
-
- 10. See the "Mohammed Atta in Prague FAQ."
-
- Right-wing columnists devoured this story; see, for example,
William Safire, "Mr. Atta Goes to Prague," New York Times, May
8, 2002. Return to text
-
-
-
- 11. Perle's claim was reported by the Agence France-Presse
in a story distributed on September 8, 2002:
-
- Mohammed Atta met Saddam prior to September 11: US official
- Sunday, 08-Sep-2002 4:40AM
-
- MILAN, Sept 8 (AFP) - Mohammed Atta consulted Saddam
Hussein prior to leading the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center
on September 11, according to Richard Perle, an advisor to the US defense
secretary.
-
- "Mohammed Atta met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad prior
to September 11. We have proof of that, and we are sure he wasn`t just
there for a holiday," Perle told Italy's business daily "Il Sole
24 Ore".
-
- "The meeting is one of the motives for an American
attack on Iraq," added Perle, who is chairman of the Defense Policy
Board and consultant to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a leading
advocate of an attack on Iraq.
-
- "The main objective of the American administration
is to avoid weapons of mass destruction falling into the wrong hands,"
said Perle. Return to text
-
- A copy of the AFP story is available here.
-
- For commentary, see:
-
- Gary Leupp, "Perle's Bombshell in Milan," CounterPunch,
September 10, 2002.
-
- Bush Iraq Evidence Lies (scroll down to "Atta Consulted
Saddam...We Have Proof") Return to text
-
-
-
- 12. For a transcript of Dr. ElBaradei's March 7 report
to the Security Council, see Mohamed ElBaradei, "Statement to the
United Nations Security Council; The Status of Nuclear Inspections in Iraq:
An Update," March 7, 2003. For other documents concerning his mission
in Iraq, see the IAEA Website. Return to text
-
- Dr. ElBaradei reached the same conclusion in his prior
reports. See:
-
- Mohamed ElBaradei, "The Status of Nuclear Inspections
in Iraq: 14 February 2003 Update." ["We have to date found no
evidence of ongoing prohibited nuclear or nuclear related activities in
Iraq."]
-
- Mohamed ElBaradei, "The Status of Nuclear Inspections
in Iraq," January 27, 2003. ["To conclude: we have to date found
no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear weapons programme since the
elimination of the programme in the 1990s."]
-
- As to the latter report, see Colum Lynch, "U.N.
Finds No Proof of Nuclear Program; IAEA Unable to Verify U.S. Claims,"
Washington Post, January 29, 2003.
-
- For more on the faked uranium purchase documents, see:
-
- Ian Traynor, "UK Nuclear Evidence a Fake,"
The Guardian, March 8, 2003.
-
- Felicity Barringer, "Forensic Experts Uncovered
Forgery on Iraq, an Inspector Says," New York Times, March 9, 2003.
-
- Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt, "FBI Probes Fake
Evidence of Iraqi Nuclear Plans," Washington Post, March 13, 2003.
-
- The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) apparently
was given the fabricated documents in early February, as in his February
14 oral report Dr. ElBaradei stated "The IAEA recently received some
additional information relevant to this issue, which will be further pursued,"
while in his January 27 oral report he had said that "A fourth focal
point has been the investigation of reports of Iraqi efforts to import
uranium after 1991. The Iraqi authorities have denied any such attempts.
The IAEA will continue to pursue this issue. At this stage, however, we
do not have enough information, and we would appreciate receiving more."
Return to text
-
-
-
- 13. For a transcript of Dr. Blix's testimony, see Hans
Blix, "Oral Introduction of the 12th Quarterly Report of UNMOVIC,"
March 7, 2003.
-
- All of Dr. Blix's statements, and much other related
information, may be accessed at the UNMOVIC website. Return to text
-
-
-
- 14. Niko Price, "Experts Say Iraq Doing Best to
Disarm," Associated Press, February 27, 2003. Return to text
-
-
-
- 15. See the following, which appear to be two versions
of the same story:
-
- Richard Wallace, "Angry Arms Inspectors Hit Out,"
The Mirror, February 22, 2003.
-
- Richard Wallace, "U.N. Inspectors Trash Bush's Evidence,"
The Mirror, February 22, 2003. Return to text
-
-
-
- 16. On Resolution 1441, see:
-
- "SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS IRAQ IN `MATERIAL BREACH'
OF DISARMAMENT OBLIGATIONS, OFFERS FINAL CHANCE TO COMPLY, UNANIMOUSLY
ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1441 (2002)," November 8, 2002. Return to
text
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