Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq

This book makes me think, "Why bother." WMD was written by two experts on the use of propaganda. They do a thorough job of exposing the lies and manipulation used by the Bush administration to "sell" the war against Iraq. The authors chronicle every thing from the administration's intent to conduct a regime change when Bush first took office to the administration's ignoring critical evidence that tended to show that Iraq was not a threat to the US. The authors are careful in this book not to take sides or claim that the US should not have gone to war. All they do is point out the evidence that was in existence and how it was used (including the fabrication of evidence). This book presents a balanced look at the pre-war media campaign; however, if you were a staunch supporter of the war, then you'll probably think this book is just a bunch of liberal crap.

In this extremely well researched book, authors Sheldon Rempton and John Stauber argue that the Bush Regime generated public support for the invasion of Iraq by using a calculated public relations campaign and a series of flagrant lies. The authors base their argument on easily verifiable documents from the media, the PR industry, and a variety of respected government and research organizations. Whether or not you agree with the invasion or Iraq it is important that you understand that the Bush Regime felt the only way it could get support for this policy was to lie. There is simply no question, as this book proves, that the Bush Regime deliberately set out to lie to the American people and to the world about why it wanted to invade and occupy Iraq.BRANDING AMERICAThe first chapter of this book explains how the Bush Regime set out to change public opinion about the America in the Middle East by running a brand campaign. The regime hired a PR specialist essentially to brand America and to promote that brand in the Middle East the same way one might promote Budweiser or KFC. The problem with Brand promotion strategies, however is that they are more about manipulation and forceful persuasion than about understanding and working with your target audience. Is it any wonder that this policy failed so spectacularly?WAR IS SELLThe book's second chapter describes the numerous mechanisms of persuasion the Bush Regime employed to convince you and me that the war on Iraq was necessary. These included timing the drive to war like a product launch, publicizing the invasion-friendly views of right-wing think tanks that were recast as foreign policy experts, promoting the CIA funded Iraqi National Congress as liberators. Funny how none of these strategies had anything to do with telling the truth.TRUE LIESAs it's title implies, the book's third chapter provides the nuts and bolts of Rempton's and Stauber's argument. Here the authors demonstrate how the Bush Regime falsely claimed that Saddam Hussein had direct ties to al Quaeda (he and bin Laden are sworn enemies), lied about Iraq's weapons capability, and created the false impression that Iraq is a major sponsor of global terrorism. Oddly enough our principal Middle Eastern ally, Saudi Arabia provides much more sponsorship for global terrorism than Iraq. Fifteen of the nineteen September 11th hijackers were Saudi and none were Iraqi. Let me repeat that for you: none were Iraqi.THE USES OF FEARPerhaps the most important part of this book is it's fifth chapter entitled "The Uses of Fear." Here, the authors argue that the mass media, PR industry and advertising-all of which were used by the Bush Regime to promote the war in Iraq-and terrorism all share a common mindset best described as "the propaganda model." This model, according the authors aims to indoctrinate the audience with a pre-defined set of beliefs rather than to engage in the kind of critical thinking and communication that characterize a democracy. P

Should the United States promote dialog and democracy around the world? Or should it support dictators and repressive regimes -- then use public relations techniques to convince Americans and the world that we support dialog and democracy?PR Watch staffmembers, Rampton and Stauber demonstrate, in this well-reasoned and well-documented analysis, that the United States has, unfortunately, often chosen the second path. Was Saddam Hussein's Iraq an imminent threat to the United States and other countries? Or was the perception of a threat just another successful public relations campaign by an unprincipled president and his skillful PR squad? Rampton and Stauber describe how the Bush Administration sold to the American public the idea that Iraq was an imminent threat -- beginning with the "product launch" in September 2002. Writing in a very calm, understated tone, they meticulously document how the Bush Administration used PR techniques to sell "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to the public and how the US news media uncritically repeated these messages. Now, months later, the reality is clear. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, like many other Middle East governments, was undeniably repressive, but clearly it was not a threat to the United States or any other country. Every item in the "thick intelligence file" used to justify the invasion of Iraq turns out not to be true. We were duped.Rampton and Stauber argue that what we need is more truth and less public relations spin. Their book goes a long way toward showing us how to spot doublespeak and PR manipulation.

In French academic Jacques Ellul's classic tome on the nature and uses of propaganda, Ellul warns against the arrogant and misguided assumption in most social democracies to discount the use of such unobtrusive means of political persuasion in their societies. According to Ellul, all of the Western democracies are every bit as vulnerable to propaganda's sinister anti-democratic effects as any other sort of `less sophisticated' (read "totalitarian" here) culture. As Ellul persuasively argues, no such invulnerability pertains. Indeed, in a modern society characterized by a powerful, affluent, and resourceful central government, one that is highly influenced by the predominant voices of industry and the economically powerful, the means of such `friendly persuasion' are both more prevalent and more dangerous than anywhere else. In this book, "Weapons Of Mass Deception", we have a literal case study of how the authors, Sheldon Rampton and John C. Stauber, have observed the current Bush administration blatantly attempt to subvert the democratic process by foisting such a propaganda campaign in support of a war of aggression against the Iraqis. Indeed, shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, members of the current administration hired advertising executives to direct a media campaign to convince the populace of the need to conduct a preemptive attack of Iraq in pursuit of eventual security against perceived potential terrorist threats. President Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice was quoted as pointedly requesting position papers from her White House staffers as to how the administration could immediately begin using the events of 911 to further the administration's domestic and foreign policy goals. Other public relation advisors were brought in to help construct the Bush administration's on-point approach toward justifying and selling the idea of the preemptive strike to a public both disoriented and frightened by the terrorist attack on 911. A variety of different attempts to forward this action were taken and `floated' in various ploys to judge what specific combinations of reasons and justifications would best `play' to sell the war to the aggravated and anxious populace. Thus we had an initial attempt by the organs of government to use the realtively straightforward idea of simple `regime change' as a justification for moving against Iraq, which clearly failed to elicit the desired positive effect on public opinion. Next on the sheet of potential arguments that the Bush administration was auditioning was a rather tortured attempt to use the United Nations as a forum to drag out old unresolved charges against Iraq involving international inspections, an issue which had both they and the Clinton administration hasd allowed to lay fallow for the previous four years. When this argument also failed as the rest of the civilized world reacted in horror to the procoative notion of immedaitely attacking Iraq, the Bush administration b