Asherman wrote:Neither President Taft, nor Hoover deserve these slurs on their reputations.
It is rather telling that, when comparing Bush to Taft and Hoover, it is the latter two who suffer by the comparison.
Rolling Stone National Affairs Daily feed Apr 11, 2006 4:07 PM
by Tim Dickinson
Hyping Zarqawi
"The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date." -- Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, in an internal 2004 memo praising the propaganda campaign to hype the threat of Iraq's "terrorist mastermind" Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
I'm frankly amazed this Washington Post story from Monday hasn't gotten more play.
What it exposes is that Bush administration never stopped lying to the American people about the threats faced in Iraq. Just as it did with WMD before the war, the administration hyped the threat posed by Zarqawi during the occupation -- this time to make it seem as though Iraq were a vital part of the battle with Al Qaeda.
Today, we know Zarqawi as the mastermind of the insurgency, Al Qaeda's main man in Iraq, the diabolical plotter behind all of those suicide and roadside bombs. The administration spun this line, and the American media, myself included, swallowed hook, line and sinker. But it turns out that Zarqawi's role in Iraq has been shamelessly hyped in a "psychological operations" propaganda effort -- aimed both at Iraqis and, in apparent contravention of Pentagon policy, at the American public.
Last summer, Col. Derek Harvey -- a top military intelligence officer in Iraq and who handled Iraq intel for the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- told a gathering of Army brass that Zarqawi's violence represented "a very small part of the actual numbers . . . The long-term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but these former regime types and their friends."
Harvey continued, "Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will -- made him more important than he really is."
As outlined in documents obtained by the Post, the propaganda effort to hype Zarqawi had two intended effects: To unify Iraqis, who would blame this meddling outsider for the violence in their country, and to make Zarqawi an enduring symbol stateside -- one that justified continued U.S. presence in Iraq.
These Power Point slides prepared for top U.S. commander in Iraq, General Casey, are startling, in that they show just how naked and calculating this deception of the American people was, listing the "home audience" as a major target of the propaganda effort.
This text describes the "results" of operation "Villainize Zarqawi."
Through aggressive Strategic Communications Abu Musab al-Zarqawi now represents:
-- Terrorism in Iraq
-- Foreign Fighters in Iraq
-- Suffering of Iraqi People (Infrastructure Attacks)
-- Denial of Aspirations (Disrupting Transfer of Sovereignty)
blueflame1 wrote:Rolling Stone National Affairs Daily feed Apr 11, 2006 4:07 PM
by Tim Dickinson
Hyping Zarqawi
"The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date." -- Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, in an internal 2004 memo praising the propaganda campaign to hype the threat of Iraq's "terrorist mastermind" Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
I'm frankly amazed this Washington Post story from Monday hasn't gotten more play.
What it exposes is that Bush administration never stopped lying to the American people about the threats faced in Iraq. Just as it did with WMD before the war, the administration hyped the threat posed by Zarqawi during the occupation -- this time to make it seem as though Iraq were a vital part of the battle with Al Qaeda.
Today, we know Zarqawi as the mastermind of the insurgency, Al Qaeda's main man in Iraq, the diabolical plotter behind all of those suicide and roadside bombs. The administration spun this line, and the American media, myself included, swallowed hook, line and sinker. But it turns out that Zarqawi's role in Iraq has been shamelessly hyped in a "psychological operations" propaganda effort -- aimed both at Iraqis and, in apparent contravention of Pentagon policy, at the American public.
Last summer, Col. Derek Harvey -- a top military intelligence officer in Iraq and who handled Iraq intel for the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- told a gathering of Army brass that Zarqawi's violence represented "a very small part of the actual numbers . . . The long-term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but these former regime types and their friends."
Harvey continued, "Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will -- made him more important than he really is."
As outlined in documents obtained by the Post, the propaganda effort to hype Zarqawi had two intended effects: To unify Iraqis, who would blame this meddling outsider for the violence in their country, and to make Zarqawi an enduring symbol stateside -- one that justified continued U.S. presence in Iraq.
These Power Point slides prepared for top U.S. commander in Iraq, General Casey, are startling, in that they show just how naked and calculating this deception of the American people was, listing the "home audience" as a major target of the propaganda effort.
This text describes the "results" of operation "Villainize Zarqawi."
Through aggressive Strategic Communications Abu Musab al-Zarqawi now represents:
-- Terrorism in Iraq
-- Foreign Fighters in Iraq
-- Suffering of Iraqi People (Infrastructure Attacks)
-- Denial of Aspirations (Disrupting Transfer of Sovereignty)
And now he's dead! YAY!!!!!!
McGentrix, "And now he's dead! YAY!!!!!!" hahaha. Well that's what I said years ago when he was first reported dead. But psyops aimed at manipulating a domestic audience is still very much alive. That's very disturbing to those who dont like mass manipulation and lying the world into war. I'm not surprised you failed to address the psyops issue.
blueflame1 wrote:McGentrix, "And now he's dead! YAY!!!!!!" hahaha. Well that's what I said years ago when he was first reported dead. But psyops aimed at manipulating a domestic audience is still very much alive. That's very disturbing to those who dont like mass manipulation and lying the world into war. I'm not surprised you failed to address the psyops issue.
Really? I was surpirsed at my self actually. I had sort of made a policy to not respond to post dealing with conspriracy theories.
So you are denying what Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt and Col. Harvey are saying? You deny the existence of the Zarqawi psyops program? "These Power Point slides prepared for top U.S. commander in Iraq, General Casey, are startling, in that they show just how naked and calculating this deception of the American people was, listing the "home audience" as a major target of the propaganda effort." The Washington Post is lying about the propaganda effort"
A voice of sanity among the insane.
The gentleman referred to in the linked article in the above post, Mr. Michael Berg, is being interviewed on CBC as i type this. He states that his son was killed by Zarquawi because of the Abu Ghraib scanal, and that he considers Bush to be just as responsible for Nicholas Berg's death as he does Zarquawi.
Makes me wonder how many he trained to commit suicide.
Quote:Cheer up you liberals, this is a happy day!
That it isn't, for them, is the whole problem in a small nutshell. Liberal hate, starting with their loathing of Reagan and continuing unabated since, makes discourse impossible. They don't know what they believe anymore, but they know what they hate. Sick.
paull wrote:Quote:Cheer up you liberals, this is a happy day!
That it isn't, for them, is the whole problem in a small nutshell. Liberal hate, starting with their loathing of Reagan and continuing unabated since, makes discourse impossible. They don't know what they believe anymore, but they know what they hate. Sick.
It's not hate, Paull. It's a profoundly deep amazement that seeks to understand why conservatives always seem to vote in presidents that are more than a few jelly beans short of a jarful.
Are the ranks really that shallow?
One can certainly understand the overwhelming, paralyzing grief of a bereaved parent, and even forgive irrational statements made at the height of that grief.
paull wrote:Quote:Cheer up you liberals, this is a happy day!
That it isn't, for them, is the whole problem in a small nutshell. Liberal hate, starting with their loathing of Reagan and continuing unabated since, makes discourse impossible. They don't know what they believe anymore, but they know what they hate. Sick.
I thought it was great that the entire Iraqi press corps stood up and applauded when they heard the news. If only our press corps could be as patriotic.
SierraSong wrote:One can certainly understand the overwhelming, paralyzing grief of a bereaved parent, and even forgive irrational statements made at the height of that grief.
You obviously neither read the linked article, nor heard the CBC interview. I can think of few statements
more rational than that the Shrub is responsible for all the grief in Iraq.
Setanta wrote:SierraSong wrote:One can certainly understand the overwhelming, paralyzing grief of a bereaved parent, and even forgive irrational statements made at the height of that grief.
You obviously neither read the linked article, nor heard the CBC interview. I can think of few statements
more rational than that the Shrub is responsible for all the grief in Iraq.
I wasn't referring to any 'linked' article. I saw Mr. Berg interviewed this morning before I left for work, when he was saying that the FBI rigged the video to make it
appear that Zarqaqi beheaded his son.
Among other things.
The Zarqawi campaign is discussed in several of the internal military documents. "Villainize Zarqawi/leverage xenophobia response," one U.S. military briefing from 2004 stated. It listed three methods: "Media operations," "Special Ops (626)" (a reference to Task Force 626, an elite U.S. military unit assigned primarily to hunt in Iraq for senior officials in Hussein's government) and "PSYOP," the U.S. military term for propaganda work.
One internal briefing, produced by the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, said that Kimmitt had concluded that, "The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date."
Link
I wonder who the new boogie man will be?
Not Bin Laden. He's inconveniently out of reach -- good boogiemen should be killable.
Let's try a comment.
Zarqawi is dead. Good.
He was likely betrayed or ratted out.
Even better.
