>Subject: Occupation Watch Bulletin - Dec. 29, 2003 >To: magma2@???
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>Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 13:54:15 -0800 (PST)
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>Occupation Watch Bulletin
>December 29, 2003
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>Below we highlight several important articles posted recently on the www.occupationwatch.org website. Please help us spread the word about the Occupation Watch Center and our website by forwarding this bulletin to friends, family, email lists, and so on. Instructions for people who want to join the mailing list are at the bottom of the bulletin.
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>"The First Casualty of war is Truth"--a statement attributed to several sources, including former U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson (1918), Arthur Ponsonby (1928), and even Samuel Johnson (1758)-- might seem trivialized by its overuse but is ever more apt when directed at the current U.S. mainstream media coverage of the Iraqi war/occupation. The staff of the Occupation Watch website has become increasingly concerned with the difficulties in discovering the truth about the Iraqi occupation; indeed even reports about the deaths of U.S. forces have disappeared from the front pages of mainstream media (which in themselves never offered much aid to an analysis of the actual situation in Iraq). Hence, in this bulletin, we seek to call your attention to the problem of media distortion of the Iraqi occupation.
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>Laura Rozen elaborates on this theme in her analysis of the control exercised over the media by military forces, the Pentagon and the White House: "When US Central Command has good news to report in Iraq, as it did after troops from the Fourth Infantry Division captured Saddam Hussein on December 13, it adores the media. But journalists say that when there's bad news--a helicopter crash, a mortar attack--they are increasingly being blocked from covering the story by US soldiers, who frequently confiscate and destroy their film disks and videotapes... [In addition] Journalists covering the home front complain that their job is becoming more politicized and is being made more difficult by Pentagon red tape."
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2313 >
>Just as pernicious is the current U.S. administration's use of the media for psychological purposes. According to Air Force Colonel, Sam Gardiner (Ret.): "We are seeing an orchestrated media campaign by the administration and a psychological operation aimed at the insurgents in Iraq. The success of this campaign can be measured by recent articles in The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor." Gardiner goes on to state that "[l]ooking at the nearly 100 other press reports in the five days since Saddam's capture, one theme is clear: Saddam Hussein was captured, and the United States is on the verge of breaking the Iraqi insurgency." However, elaborating on the administration's current "Psyops" campaign, Gardiner seriously questions what exactly the U.S. is on the verge of accomplishing.
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2296 >
>Clearly we don't want to let the media off the hook and attribute all of our current problems in discovering "truth" to external manipulation. By perusing the "Media" pieces on the Occupation Website, readers will gain some idea of the evolution of media coverage (and distortion) of the war and occupation:
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=14&&offset=0 >
>And although not listed on the occupation watch website, we want to call your attention to two websites that, in their end of the year wrap-ups, highlight media oversights/distortions/evasions (including Iraqi events) that occurred during the current year: Project Censored has listed the top 25 censored media stories of 2002-2003 at http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/index.html while Alertnet has published the P.U.-litzer prizes, awards given to the stinkiest media performances of the year at http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17433 >
>As in the past, we give Robert Fisk the last word on the relationship between media reporting and the truth: "So let's get this right. Insurgents are civilians. Truck bombs and tanks that crush civilians are traffic accidents. And the 'liberated' civilians who live in villages surrounded by razor wire should endure 'a heavy dose of fear and violence' to keep them on the straight and narrow.î
>http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2311 >
>Not being entirely oblivious to other events in the world around us, the Occupation Watch staff wishes our readers and all others a peaceful new year and thanks everyone for your support. If you can aid us in exposing the truth about Iraq and can suggest additional English-language sources for us to scan, please send your suggestions to info@???.
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