Weapons of Mass Deception

303 Pages·2003·1.3 MB·English

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DECEPTION
DANNY SCHECHTER
NEWS DISSECTOR / MEDIACHANNEL.ORG
ColdType
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
This is the best book to date about how the media covered the second Gulf War or maybe
miscovered the second war. Mr. Schecchter on a day to day basis analysed media coverage. He
found the most arresting, interesting , controversial, stupid reports and has got them all in this
book for an excellent assessment of the media performance of this war. He is very negative
about the media coverage and you read this book and you see why he is so negative about it. I
recommend it." – Peter Arnett
“In this compelling inquiry, Danny Schechter vividly captures two wars: the one observed by
embedded journalists and some who chose not to follow that path, and the “carefully planned,
tightly controlled and brilliantly executed media war that was fought alongside it,” a war that was
scarcely covered or explained, he rightly reminds us. That crucial failure is addressed with great
skill and insight in this careful and comprehensive study, which teaches lessons we ignore at our
peril.” – Noam Chomsky.
“Once again, Danny Schechter, has the goods on the Powers The Be. This time, he’s caught
America’s press puppies in delecto, “embed” with the Pentagon. Schechter tells the tawdry tale of
the affair between officialdom and the news boys – who, instead of covering the war, covered it
up. How was it that in the reporting on the ‘liberation’ of the people of Iraq, we saw the
liberatees only from the gunhole of a moving Abrams tank? Schechter explains this later,
lubricious twist, in the creation of the frightening new Military-Entertainment Complex.”
– Greg Palast, BBC reporter and author, “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”
"I'm your biggest fan in Iraq. Your book is amazing. Amazing. I started reading it last night and I
haven't been able to stop reading. I spent the night sitting up in front of the computer, reading
page after page. I only stopped when the electricity went off and then I tried sleeping- but sleep
wouldn't come because I kept thinking of some of the things you had written – especially about
the embedded journalists. ... I hope it sells 3 million copies and that it becomes required reading
everywhere. Not for your sake, for our sake and the sake of all the ignorant people out there. I
don't know how many fans you have- or how many you will eventually have but I mean every
single word. I lived through that incredible lie." – "Rivervend", an Iraqi woman blogger who
writes "Baghdad Blogging"
EMBEDDED
BOOKS BY DANNY SCHECHTER
Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror, Rowman & Littlefield, USA 2003.
Inovatio Books, Bonn, Germany 2002.
The More You Watch The Less You Know,Seven Stories Press, l997, l999.
News Dissector: Passions Pieces and Polemics 2000, Akashic Books (2000), Electronbooks.com
(l999)
Falun Gong’s Challenge to China, Akashic Books, 1999, 2000.
Hail to the Thief, How the Media "Stole" the 2000 Presidential Election (Ed. with Roland Schatz),
Inovatio, 2000, Germany, Electronpress.com. U.S.A.
EMBEDDED: WEAPONS
OF MASS DISTRACTION
HOW THE MEDIA FAILED TO COVER
THE WAR ON IRAQ
DANNY SCHECHTER
NEWS DISSECTOR / MEDIACHANNEL.ORG
WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
Published in Canada by COLDTYPE.NET, a division of News Design Associates Inc.
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In association with MEDIACHANNEL.ORG
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All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrievable system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
except for reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Copyright ©2003 Danny Schechter
DEDICATION
To all who fought and the many who died to penetrate the "fog" of war in search of truths hidden
in the sands of Iraq, the files of government agencies and the studios of media companies.
And to my colleagues at Globalvision and Mediachannel.org for giving me a platform for these
dissections. And to Tony Sutton of ColdType.net for believing that others should have access to
them.
And, as in all my earlier books, to my daughter Sarah Debs Schechter who knew that there was
something horribly flawed in what she was seeing, hearing and reading about this "war."
Hopefully, this work will help her understand why and how.

CONTENTS
BOOKS BY DANNY SCHECHTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OF GERALDO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 WORDS OF THE WISE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
PROLOGUE TO A POST LOG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CCHHAAPPTTEERR SSEEVVEENN:: WWAARR KKIILLLLSS JJOOUURRNNAALLIISSTTSS
IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN JOURNALISTS BECOME THE STORY;
BLOGGING THE WAR AWAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 WAR PRIORITIES SHIFT; NOAM CHOMSKY’S
VIEW; RIP; KELLY AND BLOOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
CCHHAAPPTTEERR OONNEE:: WWIINNNNEERRSS AANNDD LLOOSSEERRSS
ANOTHER WAR OF WORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
TRAINING THE MEDIA FOR WAR: A PENTAGON
PRESS REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 CCHHAAPPTTEERR EEIIGGHHTT:: SSOO TTHHIISS IISS VVIICCTTOORRYY??
REPORTS ON THE POST-WAR WAR: ASSESSING THE LOOTING OF BAGHDAD; WAS THIS EVEN
THE AFTERMATH AS A WAY OF SEEING HOW
A WAR? WERE JOURNALISTS MURDERED?
WELL THE MEDIA PREPARED US FOR
WAS BBC BIASED? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
THE OUTCOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
THE STATUE SPECTACLE: WE WANTED IT TO BE
CCHHAAPPTTEERR TTWWOO:: PPRROODDUUCCIINNGG TTHHEE WWAARR TRUE BUT IT WASN’T, BY TED RALL . . . . . . . . . . . 228
HOW A MEDIA-MILITARY MERGER PRODUCED
CCHHAAPPTTEERR NNIINNEE:: RREEMMEEMMBBEERRIINNGG TTHHEE FFAALLLLEENN
THE WAR AND PREPARED US TO WANT TO SEE IT . 51
CALL FOR MEDIA CRIMES TRIBUNAL;
WORDS FROM THE WISE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS REPORT;
CCHHAAPPTTEERR TTHHRREEEE:: CCOOUUNNTTDDOOWWNN TTOO WWAARR ROSTER OF THE DEAD AND THE MISSING . . . . . . . 233
DISCREDITING THE U.N.; DENIGRATING THE FACTS FROM FAIR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
INSPECTORS; PREACHING TO THE COUNTRY. . . . . . 77
CCHHAAPPTTEERR 1100:: WWHHAATT CCAANN YYOOUU DDOO AABBOOUUTT IITT??
CCHHAAPPTTEERR FFOOUURR:: MMOOBBIILLIIZZIINNGG OOPPIINNIIOONN
A CALL FOR MEDIA ACTIVISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES; RIGHTWING
AFTERMATH: THE SUMMER OF SUMMING UP . . . . 243
LIBERATION THEOLOGY; MEDIA DEBATES;
PREPARING THE COVERAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 MANHUNTS AND MEDIA MYOPIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
15 BUNGLED STORIES (EDITOR AND PUBLISHER) . . 107 LETTER TO ED MURROW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
THE NETWORKS AND NEWS MANAGEMENT. . . . . . 262
CCHHAAPPTTEERR FFIIVVEE:: BBAATTTTLLEEFFIIEELLDD BBLLUUEESS
THE QUAGMIRE DEBATE; TV GENERALS DISSENT; CCHHAAPPTTEERR 1111:: IINNTTEERRNNAATTIIOONNAALL PPEERRSSPPEECCTTIIVVEESS
TALKING ENDLESSLY ABOUT “THE PLAN;” EMBEDS THE IRAQ WAR ON TV: A SPLIT REALITY
ON PARADE; CENTCOM NEWS NETWORK . . . . . . . 111 (FROM MEDIA TENOR IN BONN). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
WAR AS ONE BIG JOKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 LAST WORDS: DECEPTION AS POLICY . . . . . . . . . . 279
CCHHAAPPTTEERR SSIIXX:: SSUURRRROOUUNNDDIINNGG BBAAGGHHDDAADD CCRREEDDIITTSS
INVASION ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE; THE FALL ABOUT THE AUTHOR: DANNY SCHECHTER . . . . . . 283
AND RISE OF PETER ARNETT; THE DEBEDDING ABOUT COLDTYPE.NET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
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