(Updated below) (Update II) (Update III)
While being assaulted by the continuous exposures of scandalous abuses of power, politicizing of the apparels of government and erasing the separation of church and state (one more example here), along with an increasing crescendo of calls for impeachment proceedings, the besieged Puppet Presidency and Unitary Regency have unleashed in recent weeks their true "surge" plans: unrelenting blitzkrieg-like, coordinated propaganda counter-strikes to sell the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while making the case for more war in the Middle-East, through it all playing on the fear and insecurity of Americans. Why? Either to support a rush to establish a de facto American Empire, or to hasten a Second Coming-like Armageddon. Or both.
The Empire-to-be strikes back.
Not unlike the failing, inept and incompetent Roman emperors of old, the Bushies, their neoconservative supporters and their far-right fundamentalist Christian allies continue displaying an exaggerated sense of self-importance and destiny for the U.S.A., coupled with a myopic view of the world, for the sake of the advent of the Holy American Empire - the cherished grail of neoconservatives and evangelical fundamentalists alike.
Naturally, their demonstrated incompetence and the inherent near-impossibility of controlling a complex environment such as today's world has left them little choice but to fall back upon the ages old, illusory comforting stance of keeping the reigns of power firmly in hand while seeking to control the increasingly malcontent populace.
Hence their current Operation Enduring Propaganda, which is of course all about the politics of fear and ignorance.
Let us review how it has been playing out so far, shall we?
Step One - Keep reminding them of the threat posed by the Bogey Man: The convenient specter of terrorism has proven to be the perfect tool to keep the public cowed in fear - the motus oprandi here being "all we have to fear, we must". Consequently, the Puppet President warns America again of the ever-present threat of al-Qaeda, conflating Iraqi and Afghani insurgents, Sunnis and Shiites, and all Islamic terrorist groups, together under the (very) large bin Laden umbrella. Have an N.I.E. be released "coincidentally" in support of these warnings. Rinse and repeat, while friends, allies and/or other like-minded enablers, including the MSM, enhance the warning with outright disinformation and simple fearmongering - all in order to sustain, if not actually increase, the fear and insecurity of the populace.
Step Two - Spin your current disastrous wars into successes: We have growing and unshakable evidence that the state of affairs are turning for the worse in Iraq - with the reports of al-Maliki/Petraeus mésentente and of the Iraqi government inching closer toward complete disintegration, as well as Oxfam's assessment that Iraq is facing an alarming humanitarian crisis, constituting three recent, additional elements to this effect. The solution? Use Step One to keep justifying the Iraq War, while parading false experts all over the MSM to sell its "growing successes" and the "steady progress" in rebuilding Iraq, falsely branding said "experts" as "Bush critics" or "war critics" in the process so as to enhance their (non-existent) credibility - and make sure to hide the fact that they contradict their own research while dishing out the propaganda. Do the same thing with regards to Afghanistan - it is as much a part of the War against Global Terrorism(TM) and therefore must be sustained at all costs, those who beg to differ be damned. After all, facts do not matter here: it is the maintenance of the fear and ignorance of the populace which is of prime concern (see Steps Four and Five).
Step Three - Ignore, attack or ridicule all those who hold up the truth of the matter: Experts are contradicting your decisions or your arguments against pulling out your troops? They are saying that your actions have made things worse or that your strategies are not working? Ignore them, attack them, smear them, make them retire, dismiss them, punish them or simply fire them. Better yet, blame them for the failures - it is, after all, their choice of having enlisted and thus should stop complaining and do their job. And what about all those other, "regular" citizens who are likewise criticizing your wars of choice? Ridicule, demonize and/or attack them - anything that will marginalize them in the eyes of the fearful and ignorant public at large.
Step Four - Call for more wars: Because the Enemy is all encompassing, spreading his evil tentacles everywhere (at least, that is how the mantra goes), keep rattling the war sabers to include nearby "unfriendly" countries as collaborators of the Enemy - use anything and everything to support/justify potential war with those "Enemy collaborators", the facts be damned of course. Iran and Syria are two striking examples of this - after all, this is a War on Global Terrorism(TM) and you are "either with us, or against us". Keep the pressure long enough and maybe these countries will indulge you by striking first - no better justification for war, is there? At the same time, complain about the uselessness of your Middle Eastern allies (namely Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) - floating the possibility of launching attacks within their territory or securing their increased help with weapon sales. If these don't work ... then let them become the Enemy as well - in the end, what matters is the fall of Islam and of the Middle East in order to establish the Holy American Empire, while (again) keeping the public fearful (and thus under control) with perpetual war.
Step Five - Ask for increases in intelligence and military means to fight the Enemy: To have full control and wage war in the struggle to establish empire, you need all the tools you can get. The Patriot Act, the Military Commission's Act are but two examples. Keep clamoring and asking for more. On the military side of things, you have to keep the "surge" going while preparing/readying for more war (see Step Four). Supporting my previous conclusion that war with Iran (or even with Syria) will involve nuclear weaponry, the Puppet President asked Congress to fund the revamping of the nuclear arsenal of the U.S.A. After all, barring the re-establishment of a draft (which remains a possibility), there are not enough troops to wage a ground war all over the Middle East - which in turn becomes the roundabout/circular justification for the use of nuclear weaponry.
Step Six - Recycle through Steps One to Five: This one is self-explanatory.
In short: "We are good, they are evil. We must lead the world into embracing democracy as we must remain the sole super-power. This struggle is a clash of civilizations which will go on for generations to come. Sacrifices must be made. The Enemy understands nothing but war, and war He will have - with any and all means at our disposal. We must not falter, we must stay strong and resolute. Our cause is just and we cannot, must not, help the Enemy by questioning the righteous task which we have courageously accepted to undertake. Our faith in our Leaders is paramount if we are to achieve ultimate victory. It is our destiny. God bless America."
Thanks to Operation Enduring Propaganda, everything is being done in order to fool the public while an empire is slowly and clumsily being established. For most of the neoconservatives out there, the establishment of an American Empire is all about Manifest Destiny. But for some of them, and especially where their fundamentalist Christian right allies are concerned, this is about establishing a Holy American Empire - if not actually about rushing the advent of some sort of Armageddon in an insane, self-fulfilling prophetic desire to see the Second Coming of Christ become their fantasy wish made reality.
Which brings me back to this: "It never ceases to amaze me to what levels of utter irrationality the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are willing to descend into. They lie, they misrepresent, they use decoy arguments and make ad hominem attacks. For them, the use of duplicity, of secrecy, of arguments of (non-existent) conspiracy, of fact (and non-fact) selectivity/cherry-picking, of quacks/fake experts, as well as putting forth logical fallacies, are simply means to an end. And this "end" is the following: to promulgate, support and defend their beliefs or their ideologies. Truth be told: these are the only things that truly matter to them."
More than ever, the Bushies, their neoconservative supporters and their far-right fundamentalist Christian allies constitute a veritable "dark mirror" of all that is right and humane in democratic principles. Their deluded, frantic wishes for the accomplishment of a glorious destiny override all sane and reality-based considerations.
More than ever, I am convinced that they are projecting the fear and loathing prevalent in their closed, primitive minds onto the whole of society, ever remaining oblivious or unmindful of the gradual erosion of democracy caused by their policies at home, as well as the chaos and mayhem their actions are causing abroad.
And more than ever, I suspect that History in the end will have no choice but to judge the Bushies, their neoconservative supporters and their far-right fundamentalist Christian allies "not guilty for reasons of insanity" - with ourselves and the rest of the world nonetheless left to heal critically wounded democracies amidst the ashes and ruins of war, wondering forevermore how it was that they were entrusted with the stewardship of power to begin with.
Such is the way I envision the state of affairs to be in the decades to come - unless, that is, Operation Enduring Propaganda gets to be roundly and permanently defeated here and now.
As always, it will be up to us to meet the challenge ... or not.
Update: 07/31/2007 - Tonight on CNN, Regent Cheney used the typical “don’t take it from me” sleight-of-hand routine to support his contention that the escalation in Iraq is working, citing the same (administration-fed) fake experts mentioned above, individuals whom he furthermore called “strong critics of the war”: "Look at the piece that appeared yesterday in The New York Times — not exactly a friendly publication — but a piece by Mr. O’Hanlon and Mr. Pollack on the situation in Iraq. They’re just back from visiting over there. They both have been strong critics of the war, both worked in the prior administration; but now saying that they think there’s a possibility, indeed, that we could be successful."
Here's a blast from the past: September 8, 2002 - Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller co-author the article "U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts" on the front page of the New York Times. The story relies heavily on claims made by Bush administration officials regarding Iraq's "worldwide hunt" to acquire aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment. The article would come to be entirely discredited. Same day - Dick Cheney appears on Meet the Press and contends that Iraq has "reconstituted" its nuclear weapons program, citing mainly the Gordon and Miller NYT article as support for his contention.
Talk about déjà vu ... but within the mission parameters of Operation Enduring Propaganda, if something worked once, it must surely be able to work again and again.
Right?
Update II: 01/08/2007 - Interestingly, Glenn Greenwald today made the same connection as I did yesterday (see previous update) between Regent Cheney's "performance" of last night with what he did back in September 8, 2002. Mr. Greenwald concludes: "From the administration's mouths, to the pens of obedient journalists and pundits, back into the administration's mouths." Thus Operation Enduring Propaganda goes ...
Update III: 08/03/2007 - Here's an interesting look at how Operation Enduring Propaganda is working and how right-wingers are loving it.
(Cross-posted at DKos, at Suzie-Q, at Diatribune, and at Progressive Historians)
While being assaulted by the continuous exposures of scandalous abuses of power, politicizing of the apparels of government and erasing the separation of church and state (one more example here), along with an increasing crescendo of calls for impeachment proceedings, the besieged Puppet Presidency and Unitary Regency have unleashed in recent weeks their true "surge" plans: unrelenting blitzkrieg-like, coordinated propaganda counter-strikes to sell the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while making the case for more war in the Middle-East, through it all playing on the fear and insecurity of Americans. Why? Either to support a rush to establish a de facto American Empire, or to hasten a Second Coming-like Armageddon. Or both.
The Empire-to-be strikes back.
Not unlike the failing, inept and incompetent Roman emperors of old, the Bushies, their neoconservative supporters and their far-right fundamentalist Christian allies continue displaying an exaggerated sense of self-importance and destiny for the U.S.A., coupled with a myopic view of the world, for the sake of the advent of the Holy American Empire - the cherished grail of neoconservatives and evangelical fundamentalists alike.
Naturally, their demonstrated incompetence and the inherent near-impossibility of controlling a complex environment such as today's world has left them little choice but to fall back upon the ages old, illusory comforting stance of keeping the reigns of power firmly in hand while seeking to control the increasingly malcontent populace.
Hence their current Operation Enduring Propaganda, which is of course all about the politics of fear and ignorance.
Let us review how it has been playing out so far, shall we?
Step One - Keep reminding them of the threat posed by the Bogey Man: The convenient specter of terrorism has proven to be the perfect tool to keep the public cowed in fear - the motus oprandi here being "all we have to fear, we must". Consequently, the Puppet President warns America again of the ever-present threat of al-Qaeda, conflating Iraqi and Afghani insurgents, Sunnis and Shiites, and all Islamic terrorist groups, together under the (very) large bin Laden umbrella. Have an N.I.E. be released "coincidentally" in support of these warnings. Rinse and repeat, while friends, allies and/or other like-minded enablers, including the MSM, enhance the warning with outright disinformation and simple fearmongering - all in order to sustain, if not actually increase, the fear and insecurity of the populace.
Step Two - Spin your current disastrous wars into successes: We have growing and unshakable evidence that the state of affairs are turning for the worse in Iraq - with the reports of al-Maliki/Petraeus mésentente and of the Iraqi government inching closer toward complete disintegration, as well as Oxfam's assessment that Iraq is facing an alarming humanitarian crisis, constituting three recent, additional elements to this effect. The solution? Use Step One to keep justifying the Iraq War, while parading false experts all over the MSM to sell its "growing successes" and the "steady progress" in rebuilding Iraq, falsely branding said "experts" as "Bush critics" or "war critics" in the process so as to enhance their (non-existent) credibility - and make sure to hide the fact that they contradict their own research while dishing out the propaganda. Do the same thing with regards to Afghanistan - it is as much a part of the War against Global Terrorism(TM) and therefore must be sustained at all costs, those who beg to differ be damned. After all, facts do not matter here: it is the maintenance of the fear and ignorance of the populace which is of prime concern (see Steps Four and Five).
Step Three - Ignore, attack or ridicule all those who hold up the truth of the matter: Experts are contradicting your decisions or your arguments against pulling out your troops? They are saying that your actions have made things worse or that your strategies are not working? Ignore them, attack them, smear them, make them retire, dismiss them, punish them or simply fire them. Better yet, blame them for the failures - it is, after all, their choice of having enlisted and thus should stop complaining and do their job. And what about all those other, "regular" citizens who are likewise criticizing your wars of choice? Ridicule, demonize and/or attack them - anything that will marginalize them in the eyes of the fearful and ignorant public at large.
Step Four - Call for more wars: Because the Enemy is all encompassing, spreading his evil tentacles everywhere (at least, that is how the mantra goes), keep rattling the war sabers to include nearby "unfriendly" countries as collaborators of the Enemy - use anything and everything to support/justify potential war with those "Enemy collaborators", the facts be damned of course. Iran and Syria are two striking examples of this - after all, this is a War on Global Terrorism(TM) and you are "either with us, or against us". Keep the pressure long enough and maybe these countries will indulge you by striking first - no better justification for war, is there? At the same time, complain about the uselessness of your Middle Eastern allies (namely Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) - floating the possibility of launching attacks within their territory or securing their increased help with weapon sales. If these don't work ... then let them become the Enemy as well - in the end, what matters is the fall of Islam and of the Middle East in order to establish the Holy American Empire, while (again) keeping the public fearful (and thus under control) with perpetual war.
Step Five - Ask for increases in intelligence and military means to fight the Enemy: To have full control and wage war in the struggle to establish empire, you need all the tools you can get. The Patriot Act, the Military Commission's Act are but two examples. Keep clamoring and asking for more. On the military side of things, you have to keep the "surge" going while preparing/readying for more war (see Step Four). Supporting my previous conclusion that war with Iran (or even with Syria) will involve nuclear weaponry, the Puppet President asked Congress to fund the revamping of the nuclear arsenal of the U.S.A. After all, barring the re-establishment of a draft (which remains a possibility), there are not enough troops to wage a ground war all over the Middle East - which in turn becomes the roundabout/circular justification for the use of nuclear weaponry.
Step Six - Recycle through Steps One to Five: This one is self-explanatory.
In short: "We are good, they are evil. We must lead the world into embracing democracy as we must remain the sole super-power. This struggle is a clash of civilizations which will go on for generations to come. Sacrifices must be made. The Enemy understands nothing but war, and war He will have - with any and all means at our disposal. We must not falter, we must stay strong and resolute. Our cause is just and we cannot, must not, help the Enemy by questioning the righteous task which we have courageously accepted to undertake. Our faith in our Leaders is paramount if we are to achieve ultimate victory. It is our destiny. God bless America."
Thanks to Operation Enduring Propaganda, everything is being done in order to fool the public while an empire is slowly and clumsily being established. For most of the neoconservatives out there, the establishment of an American Empire is all about Manifest Destiny. But for some of them, and especially where their fundamentalist Christian right allies are concerned, this is about establishing a Holy American Empire - if not actually about rushing the advent of some sort of Armageddon in an insane, self-fulfilling prophetic desire to see the Second Coming of Christ become their fantasy wish made reality.
Which brings me back to this: "It never ceases to amaze me to what levels of utter irrationality the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are willing to descend into. They lie, they misrepresent, they use decoy arguments and make ad hominem attacks. For them, the use of duplicity, of secrecy, of arguments of (non-existent) conspiracy, of fact (and non-fact) selectivity/cherry-picking, of quacks/fake experts, as well as putting forth logical fallacies, are simply means to an end. And this "end" is the following: to promulgate, support and defend their beliefs or their ideologies. Truth be told: these are the only things that truly matter to them."
More than ever, the Bushies, their neoconservative supporters and their far-right fundamentalist Christian allies constitute a veritable "dark mirror" of all that is right and humane in democratic principles. Their deluded, frantic wishes for the accomplishment of a glorious destiny override all sane and reality-based considerations.
More than ever, I am convinced that they are projecting the fear and loathing prevalent in their closed, primitive minds onto the whole of society, ever remaining oblivious or unmindful of the gradual erosion of democracy caused by their policies at home, as well as the chaos and mayhem their actions are causing abroad.
And more than ever, I suspect that History in the end will have no choice but to judge the Bushies, their neoconservative supporters and their far-right fundamentalist Christian allies "not guilty for reasons of insanity" - with ourselves and the rest of the world nonetheless left to heal critically wounded democracies amidst the ashes and ruins of war, wondering forevermore how it was that they were entrusted with the stewardship of power to begin with.
Such is the way I envision the state of affairs to be in the decades to come - unless, that is, Operation Enduring Propaganda gets to be roundly and permanently defeated here and now.
As always, it will be up to us to meet the challenge ... or not.
Update: 07/31/2007 - Tonight on CNN, Regent Cheney used the typical “don’t take it from me” sleight-of-hand routine to support his contention that the escalation in Iraq is working, citing the same (administration-fed) fake experts mentioned above, individuals whom he furthermore called “strong critics of the war”: "Look at the piece that appeared yesterday in The New York Times — not exactly a friendly publication — but a piece by Mr. O’Hanlon and Mr. Pollack on the situation in Iraq. They’re just back from visiting over there. They both have been strong critics of the war, both worked in the prior administration; but now saying that they think there’s a possibility, indeed, that we could be successful."
Here's a blast from the past: September 8, 2002 - Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller co-author the article "U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts" on the front page of the New York Times. The story relies heavily on claims made by Bush administration officials regarding Iraq's "worldwide hunt" to acquire aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment. The article would come to be entirely discredited. Same day - Dick Cheney appears on Meet the Press and contends that Iraq has "reconstituted" its nuclear weapons program, citing mainly the Gordon and Miller NYT article as support for his contention.
Talk about déjà vu ... but within the mission parameters of Operation Enduring Propaganda, if something worked once, it must surely be able to work again and again.
Right?
Update II: 01/08/2007 - Interestingly, Glenn Greenwald today made the same connection as I did yesterday (see previous update) between Regent Cheney's "performance" of last night with what he did back in September 8, 2002. Mr. Greenwald concludes: "From the administration's mouths, to the pens of obedient journalists and pundits, back into the administration's mouths." Thus Operation Enduring Propaganda goes ...
Update III: 08/03/2007 - Here's an interesting look at how Operation Enduring Propaganda is working and how right-wingers are loving it.
(Cross-posted at DKos, at Suzie-Q, at Diatribune, and at Progressive Historians)
