Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, January 22, 2006
"We think the price is worth it"
Sir Peter Ustinov sez: “Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.”
It was fifteen years ago today...
At the behest of the United States, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq four days after its invasion of Kuwait. Journalist Thomas J. Nagy has explained how a U.S. document, dated January 22, 1991, entitled, “Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities,” details “how sanctions will prevent Iraq from supplying clean water to its citizens.”
“In cold language,” Nagy says, “the document spells out what is in store.” Clearly, the U.S. had an idea what war and sanctions could lead to. The document reads, in part: “Iraq depends on importing specialized equipment and some chemicals to purify its water supply, most of which is heavily mineralized and frequently brackish to saline. With no domestic sources of both water treatment replacement parts and some essential chemicals, Iraq will continue attempts to circumvent United Nations Sanctions to import these vital commodities. Failing to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much of the population. This could lead to increased incidences, if not epidemics, of disease. Iraq will suffer increasing shortages of purified water because of the lack of required chemicals and desalination membranes. Incidences of disease, including possible epidemics, will become probable unless the population were careful to boil water.”
One year after the ostensible end of the first Gulf War, those same sanctions were killing 300 Iraqi children a day. On the May 12, 1996 edition of 60 Minutes, then U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright had the following exchange about the effects of U.S.-enforced sanctions on Iraq:
Leslie Stahl: “We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And-and you know, is the price worth it?”
Madeleine Albright: “I think this is a very hard choice but the price—we think the price is worth it.”
Shortly afterwards, Albright was named U.S. Secretary of State.
As they say in South Florida:
Excerpted from The Seven Deadly Spins. For more about the spinning of war propaganda, please click “more” below to read, uh...well, more. So, go ahead and…
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The Seven Deadly Spins
(originally written during the 2004 campaign)
Despite the current “war on terror” façade, not much about American war propaganda has changed since September 11, 2001. Beneath the posturing and pontificating, it remains true that U.S. wars and interventions are skillfully packaged and sold to a wary populace and the official history of those conflicts is subject to spin and distortion. These realities exist to portray our leaders as moral, garner support for those leaders, and lay the foundation for future military interventions. Consider the words of Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John F. Kerry: “Americans deserve a principled diplomacy...backed by undoubted military might...based on enlightened self-interest.” Selling this message requires the Seven Deadly Spins:
Spin #1: The Sleeping Giant
It’s an excuse we all learn in childhood: “He started it” or “She hit me first.” From this rudimentary alibi grows the myth of the “sleeping giant.” By portraying oneself as the target of an unprovoked sneak attack; all bases are covered. When George W. Bush talks about “a fanaticism that was not caused by any action of ours,” not only is he claiming innocence and the role of a victim, he might even be excused for responding overzealously.
Spin #2: Good Wars
Once forced into war, the U.S. only does so in the name of justice. Bush again: “Our agenda...is freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people.” History books tell tales of past glory; televisions blare news of current humanitarianism. Inundated with such hyperbole, we are conditioned to reflexively assume the best when told “our” military is about to invade yet another small Third World nation.
Spin #3: U.S. vs. Them
By portraying all our enemies as savages, gooks, chinks, butchers, terrorists, evildoers, godless communists, or the never-ending parade of thugs auditioning for a starring role as the “next Hitler,” Spin #3 plays into our worst fears. “The War on Terror is not a clash of civilizations,” explains Kerry. “It is a clash of civilization against chaos.”
Spin #4: Support the Troops
No matter what we think or how we may individually, once the fighting begins, all Americans must unite behind our troops to insure their safety through victory. As Kerry reminds us, “America’s greatest military strength has always been the courageous, talented men and women whose love of country and devotion to service lead them to attempt and achieve the impossible everyday.”
Spin #5: The Devil Made U.S. Do It
Like the reluctant parent who informs their bare-bottomed offspring that the ensuing spanking will hurt them more than the child, the U.S. is sometimes forced to break out the belt. As a result, even America has to sometimes play a little rough and sometimes the good guys get their hands a little dirty in the name of freedom. Kerry again: “I committed the same kinds of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages.”
Spin #6: Surgical Strikes
We have good intentions and smart bombs. Those billion-dollar weapons can differentiate between the guilty and the innocent. Bush: “Our soldiers have treated religious sites with respect, while systematically dismantling the illegal militia.”
Spin #7: Only Losers Commit War Crimes
War crime tribunals have replaced scalps and mounted animal heads as *the* post-battle trophy. By bringing the vanquished to trial, the victors stamp their actions into closure with a moral seal of approval. That fierce-looking creature staring at us from behind bars is proof that the actions taken were dangerous but honorable and the end justifies the means. “At every stage,” says Bush, “the United States has gone to the United Nations - to confront Saddam Hussein, to promise serious consequences for his actions.”
“The struggle of man against power,” declares novelist Milan Kundera, “is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Making us forget is what spin is all about.
To order The Seven Deadly Spins, please click here: http://tinyurl.com/77jo4
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
