1. Oktober 2014 - The Trews, Russel Brand:
Questions to Obama and Cameron:
War - What is it good for?
Russell Brand's reaction to news that the UK Parliament has voted by a majority in favour of government plans to join air strikes against ISIS in Iraq.
[ Analysis ]
26. September 2013 - The Guardian, Ben Quinn:
Ministry of Defense study sets out how to sell wars
to the public
Families angry at proposal to lower profile of repatriation ceremoniesy
The armed forces should seek to make British involvement in future wars more palatable to the public by reducing the public profile of repatriation ceremonies for casualties, according to a Ministry of Defence unit that formulates strategy.
Other suggestions made by the MoD thinktank in a discussion paper examining how to assuage "casualty averse" public opinion include the greater use of mercenaries and unmanned vehicles, as well as the SAS and other special forces, because it says losses sustained by the the elite soldiers do not have the same impact on the public and press.
16. September 2014 - The Trews, Russel Brand:
Will Obama's bombs stop the ISIS beheadings?
Comedian Russell Brand's brilliant demolition of the US-UK strategy to wage more war to defeat ISIS, when it was endless US-UK wars that created ISIS in the first place. A must-watch.
[ Analysis ]
7. September 2013 - ConsortiumNews:
Is War on Syria Veering Off-Script?
When the U.S. government readies for war, there is a well-worn script. A “bad” guy is defined; some act of perfidy is alleged despite murky evidence; politicians and journalists express righteous outrage; a confused public is dragged along. Except that the war on Syria may be veering off-script, says Norman Solomon.
28. August 2013 - News Unspun:
Attacking Syria: the UK media and Western opportunism
Since the reported chemical attacks in Ghoutta, outside Damascus on Wednesday 21 August, Western government officials have repeatedly attributed blame to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
[ ] [ bei Conterfire ]
22. Mai 2913 - Katie Miranda:
6. Februar 2009 - The Huffington Post:
AP CEO:
Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine
The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday.
5. Februar 2009 - Associated Press:
Pentagon sets sights on public opinion
Money spent on winning hearts and minds at least $4.7 billion this year
The Pentagon employs more than 27,000 people to shape public
opinion around the world. As it fights two wars, the Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing the money it spends to win what it calls "the human terrain" of world public opinion.
20. April 2008 - The New York Times:
Message Machine
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.
11. Dezember 2005 - The New York Times:
Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive
The media center in Fayetteville, N.C., would be the envy of any global communications company.
In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis.
The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden.
29. September 2003 - The New York Times:
Agency Belittles Information Given by Iraq Defectors
An internal assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that most of the information provided by Iraqi defectors who were made available by the Iraqi National Congress was of little or no value, according to federal officials briefed on the arrangement.
27. Februar 2002 - The New York Times:
A NATION CHALLENGED: HEARTS AND MINDS
A 'Damaged' Information Office Is Declared Closed by Rumsfeld
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disbanded the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Influence today, ending a short-lived plan to provide news items, possibly even false ones, to unwitting foreign journalists to influence public sentiment abroad.
26. Januar 2006 - National Security Archive:
Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda
Secret Pentagon "roadmap" calls for "boundaries" between "information operations" abroad and at home but provides no actual limits as long as US doesn't "target" Americans.