Good, hopefully Bush will listen
Fear Factor Flimflam
VIEW FROM THE LEFT
Harley Sorensen, Special to SF Gate Monday, February 17, 2003
-Americans will breathe a huge sigh of relief some day soon, perhaps before this column is posted.
Our bombs and rockets will start slamming into Iraq, and we can take comfort that finally -- finally! -- something is being done about Sept. 11.
Finally, we'll be getting our revenge.
And the clear message will be: Don't mess with America!
If what I've just written makes sense to you, if this is what you expect to happen, if you think you'll react with satisfaction, if you think you'll feel better when the bombs start dropping, then our government's wonderfully effective propaganda machine has worked with you.
In other words, you've been conned.
Folks, they're playing psychological games with us. We're the victims of scientifically arranged lies designed to raise our level of anxiety and to give us a sense of relief and satisfaction when we finally go to war.
Before continuing on this topic, I feel obliged to insert the usual caveats. No, I do not like Saddam Hussein. Yes, I think he is an evil man. Yes, I think he might be hiding weapons of mass destruction. Yes, I think we have an obligation to find these weapons, if they exist, and take them away from him.
Yes, I believe there are radical Muslim extremists, and others, who will do whatever they can to harm us. Yes, I think we have an absolute responsibility to protect ourselves from these people. No, I am not a communist or pinko, whatever those terms mean to you. No, I'm not a senile old man, though with any luck I will be soon enough.
Yes, I am a loyal patriotic American who fought in foreign lands for my country. (I've never considered it a big deal. Who wouldn't fight for one's country?) Yes, every eligible male in my extended family fought in World War II, and none waited to be drafted. No, they didn't all come home.
Yes, I believe in the words of "America, the Beautiful," which say, about America, "God mend thine every flaw." Even when Katherine Lee Bates wrote those words in 1893, it was obvious we are not perfect and that we need to work hard to make our country even better.
I also believe that distrust of public officials is the trademark of all loyal Americans, who understand intuitively that those who seek power are liable to abuse it. (In American Revolutionary times, those sheep who trusted public officials opposed the Revolution. If they had had their way, we'd still be part of the United Kingdom.)
Getting back to the subject of psychological warfare, the recent "high" (orange) alert status is a sham. The Bush administration wants us to feel we're in grave danger to justify the upcoming war with Iraq.
Can I offer you documentary proof that it's a sham? No, but common sense leads to that conclusion. The original justification for the "high" alert was what officials called "a high level of chatter."
What in the Sam Hill is a "high level of chatter," and what does it mean to national security? Nobody has ever explained that. Most of us have just accepted "high level of chatter" as something ominous that perhaps we shouldn't ask about.
And then they told us there was "credible evidence" of a forthcoming attack. Attack on what? Where? When? Well, they couldn't tell us any of that, because they said they didn't know. Just "credible evidence" of some sort of attack somewhere soon. Maybe on a "soft" target, like a synagogue or a shopping mall.
How credible is that?
Our government tells us it gets some of its threat information from terrorist suspects in custody. OK, fine, so where are the suspects in custody getting their information? We don't even allow these guys to have lawyers or visitors, so who's bringing them the information? Do they have phone privileges at Guantanamo? Smoke signals, perhaps?
Then, last week, the government ratcheted up the fear level a couple notches by urging us to go out and buy duct tape and plastic sheeting with which to construct gas-proof rooms in our houses.
(There was no report on whether George W. Bush and his closest friends bought stock in duct-tape and plastic-sheeting companies before that suggestion was put forth.)
Folks, there is definitely a possibility that our nation will be hit by more than one terrorist attack in the future, but I absolutely guarantee you that, if that happens, not one life is going to be saved by duct tape and plastic sheeting.
Stop being silly. Our government only wants to scare you so you'll feel better when our bombs start dropping on Iraq.
They lie to us.
Remember the Office of Strategic Influence? Probably not. It was formed at the Pentagon shortly after Sept. 11 and exposed a little more than a year later. Its purpose, we were told, was to advance America's points of view around the world by planting news items, true or false, in the foreign press.
After word leaked out about the OSI's existence, cynics suggested it also would leak false items to the American press. There was such a hullabaloo over OSI that the Department of Defense quickly jettisoned it.
Or maybe it didn't. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the disbanding of the OSI on Feb. 26, 2002. However, on Nov. 18, 2002, Rumsfeld gave every indication that the only thing gone about the agency was its name.
Speaking with reporters aboard an airplane bound for Peru, Rumsfeld said, "And then there was the Office of Strategic Influence. You may recall that. And, 'Oh, my goodness gracious, isn't that terrible? Henny Penny, the sky is going to fall.' I went down the next day and said, 'Fine, if you want to savage this thing, fine, I'll give you the corpse. There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm going to keep doing every single thing that needs to be done, and I have.'"
(The source for that quote is press-briefing transcripts at the Department of Defense's Web site.)
So, out of one side of his mouth, Rumsfeld says the OSI is dead. Out of the other side, several months later, he indicates it's still doing its job, but perhaps under another name.
The OSI was (or is), by definition, a propaganda tool. To help develop that tool, Defense hired the Rendon Group, an international communications firm. A look at the Rendon Group's Web site reveals that it is still under contract to the Department of Defense.
Doing what? The site doesn't say. It could be operating the OSI under another name, it could be helping with the psychological manipulation now under way or it could be doing something entirely different.
Last week, oddly, Osama bin Laden resurfaced. His "give the infidels hell" rant was odd in two respects: Donald Rumsfeld had a transcript of the voice recording hours before its owner, the Arab TV network Al Jazeera, acknowledged to CNN that it existed. And, unlike on previous occasions, our government never expressed the slightest doubt that the recording was authentic.
Could the recording be used to "prove" a tie-in between Osama and Saddam? Surprise, surprise! It was used for that very purpose. It turns out, according to Donald Rumsfeld's logic, that Osama and Saddam are best buds. So doesn't that mean we have a right to attack Iraq because of Sept. 11?
It doesn't matter, I suppose, that Rumsfeld's "logic" is as compelling as that of the man who said he could prove his dog climbed a tree by showing us the tree.
They're trying to get us worried. They're trying to get us scared. Then, one day, they'll come riding in on their white chargers and rescue us, and we'll be grateful forever.
But only if we fall for their malarkey.
sfgate.com |
