The Jessica Lynch story and US government propaganda

[quinnox]

A reminder of how our government can be deceptive to the American people in order to stir up the general population in patriotic fervor, especially during war time.

Some people unfortunately in our country, even those on the left, tend to believe whatever the "official" sources tell them. Its as if they can't believe that the powers that be could be dishonest. And many times its because they have great patriotism, so it would never cross their mind that the US government would deliberately lie to the people.

The Jessica Lynch story is a case in point that shows the power of propaganda. Supposedly, she heroically fought the Iraqis after being injured and was captured. But the truth was she was knocked unconscious immediately. Its a rather elaborate story that I won't go into here. Later on, she blamed the Pentagon for the deception and said it was part of the propaganda effort of the US military.

Its a fascinating case, worth looking into, and it clearly shows the ways that the population can be taken in by a good story.

[jaxx]

1. It was looked into, and she set it straight.

Odd you'd bring it up.

[Codeine]

2. He's got a bug in his ass about Gaddafi being killed. nt

[zappaman]

3. Maybe he will google and tell us Saddam wasn't found in a hole

and then he won't post his links.
that would be cool.

[pintobean]

5. He's pissed - Saddam thread moved to 9-11

[quinnox]

4. a discussion earlier brought it to mind

It made me think of how many people will believe whatever those in authority tell them.

[jaxx]

9. Makes me think some stir the pot.

[PETRUS]

6. It is good to be alert to propaganda.

Have we forgotten the big lies that got us into Iraq?

Do people know how deeply embedded the Pentagon is in our news and entertainment? For example, how many of you know the taxpayer foots the bill for the military hardware used in movies if the Pentagon approves of the script?

[quinnox]

7. exactly

And its unfortunate, but even a Democratic administration is not above using propaganda to advance its political interests.

I always take whatever the "official" sources tell me with a grain of salt.

[court jester]

14. many people think that propaganda only comes from the "other" party

which is why we are so f&cked today

Divide and Conquer

and make no mistake about it, we are a conquered people. Spending $>2,000/second on just the middle eastern wars http://costofwar.com

pay $20,000 in Fed Tax last year? The RULERS spent it (rather borrowed it but that is a whole 'nother thread) in TEN SECONDS

IF YOU PAID THE FEDS $20,000 last year in taxes IT WAS SPENT IN 10 SECONDS

most people don't get it which is why it continues, but their children will LOL

[court jester]

8. kick and recommend "it's not propaganda when we do it"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lynch

Initial media reports on Lynch's recovery in Iraq were incorrect. Lynch, along with major media outlets, faults the U.S. government for creating the story as part of the Pentagon's propaganda effort.<1><2><3><4> Jim Wilkinson is credited for fabricating the government narrative.

Al Rehaief's story has been disputed by doctors working at the hospital, who claim that Lynch was shielded and protected from Iraqi military personnel by hospital staff and was treated well throughout her stay at the hospital.<13> Lynch's own story concurs with these accounts, claiming that she was treated humanely, with a nurse even singing to her.<13><14>

Moreover, according to reports, on March 30, Al-Houssona reportedly attempted to have Lynch delivered to the U.S. forces, an attempt which had to be abandoned when the Americans fired on the Iraqi ambulance carrying her.<10>

***GET THAT? AMERICANS ALMOST KILLED JESSICA LYNCH****



*****
The truth about Jessica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/15/iraq.usa2

Her Iraqi guards had long fled, she was being well cared for - and doctors had already tried to free her. John Kampfner discovers the real story behind a modern American war myth

There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Al-Houssona had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance. "I told her I will try and help you escape to the American Army but I will do this very secretly because I could lose my life." He put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire. They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch...

"...None of the details that the doctors provided Correspondent with made it to the video or to any subsequent explanations or clarifications by US authorities. I asked the Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Bryan Whitman, to release the full tape of the rescue, rather than its edited version, to clear up any discrepancies. He declined. Whitman would not talk about what kind of Iraqi resistance the American forces faced. Nor would he comment on the injuries Lynch actually sustained. "I understand there is some conflicting information out there and in due time the full story will be told, I'm sure," he told me.

***

many people will willingly believe the next lie told to them. Why is that?


***trivia: Pat Tillman's first job was to save Jessica Lynch: New Krakauer book, 'Where Men Win Glory'

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-09-12/news/17932432_1_pat-tillman-jessica-lynch-men-win-glory

[quinnox]

11. thanks for that detailing

Yep, its amazing how if our side does it then its something to be ignored or forgotten.

[justiceischeap]

10. Let's not forget Pat Tillman and how the government used the friendly fire incident

to cheerlead the war.

[quinnox]

12. great point, there are too many examples

of deliberate deception by the US government to the people they supposedly serve.

[Owlet]

13. U.S. MILITARY Propaganda

Not, to my mind, at least, identical to U.S. Government propaganda

[MADem]

15. DOD is a branch of the federal government. The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is

the President of the United States.

It's not a separate entity, and with the exception of a few meglomaniacal idiots (the Tillman kicker-overs, Ollie North, Gen. MacArthur, etc.) they are generally following orders, not charting their own courses. Of course, like anywhere, it's the idiots who screw up and make disgraces of themselves who get all the attention....but the job of the Armed Forces is to preserve the peace, and most importantly to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Unfortunately, the ones who do their job and do it right don't get the attention that the fuckups do.

[Owlet]

19. Not the way many of us see it

"they are generally following orders, not charting their own courses." Mr. Panetta seems to be making policy on pretty much a daily basis, and there is always the question of who is calling the shots in the Pentagon - those truly dedicated to protect and defend the Constitution, or those dedicated to promote the interests of the Military Industrial Complex.

You're right - the majority of those in uniform are there for noble reasons. No one is making light of their dedication and sacrifice. The original poster referenced the Jessica Lynch story as an example of Government propaganda. I appreciate the civics lecture about the DOD being a part of the government, but the point of my reply to the OP was that the Lynch story was a pure fiction of some less-than-truthful military PR types.

Just as you took exception to my using the term Military Propaganda as painting with too broad a brush, so I reacted to the use of Government Propaganda as lumping everyone drawing a Federal paycheck into the same bin.

We're basically on the same side in this, just approaching the semantic issue from different perspectives. Nothing to fight about. Have a good day. :)

[MADem]

21. Panetta may be taking the heat as the visible face of the policy, but

he is subservient to, and reports to, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, a gentleman by the name of Obama.

The Jessica Lynch thing was HORRIBLE. Plenty of us who served hoisted the bullshit flag the minute they started in with the "Rambolina" storyline. I'm not suggesting a gender bias, either--my disbelief was centered on a "line of work" (driver) bias. When it sounds too good to be true, it often is.

I didn't take exception to you using the term "Military Propaganda" and I said nothing at all about a broad brush--you are confusing me with someone else, maybe?

I'm not arguing with anyone, just adding a bit of perspective to the discussion. Not all military people are assholes. In fact, most aren't. Most postal workers don't murder their co-workers with automatic weapons, either. But like any other line of work, it's the jerks who get the notice and the huge press coverage, and make the rest of the pack look bad.

[robdogbucky]

16. Pentagon Deceit on Media Manipulation Confirmed

Pentagon Deceit on Media Manipulation Confirmed
Big Brass Bull: Pentagon Deceit on Media Manipulation Confirmed

A few days ago, we noted the revelations by Stars and Stripes that the Pentagon was using a shadowy PR firm to identify the political leanings of journalists trying to cover the "Good War" in Afghanistan (as well as the "Forgotten War" in Iraq). The idea, clearly, was to encourage and reward "pro-war" reporters while planting a big red flag on the backs of any writers considered less than gung-ho about the imperial bloodshed in Muslim lands.

Naturally, the Pentagon denied that the vetting program operated by the Rendon Group – which was hired by the Bush gang to help instigate the mass murder in Iraq – was in any way a sinister, slimy attempt to manipulate the news in order to make the endless slaughter of the Terror War more palatable for the folks back home. Perish the thought! declared the brass. Why, goodness mercy me, the only aim of the program is to help reporters tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may. As Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman put it after S&S first broke the story: "It’s a good article if it’s accurate. It’s a bad article if it’s inaccurate. That’s the only measurement that we use here at the Defense Department." Makes you want to puddle up, don't it?

Well, Stars and Stripes has done something almost unheard-of in modern journalism – followed up on a story with a skeptical stance toward the bland assurances of authority – and guess what they found? Go ahead, try – you'll never guess. They found that the Pentagon was lying! From S&S:

Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters’ coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.” Moreover, the documents — recent confidential profiles of the work of individual reporters prepared by a Pentagon contractor — indicate that the ratings are intended to help Pentagon image-makers manipulate the types of stories that reporters produce while they are embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan...


http://chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-late...





DOD Spends More on Domestic PsyOps Than On Foreign PsyOps
By: emptywheel Friday February 6, 2009 1:16 pm

The AP just did a great investigation on how much money DOD is spending on PR and outreach (via Noah Shachtman). There are lots of nausea-inducing details in the story: that PR funds have grown 63% in the last five years, that DOD has almost as many people working in PR as the State Department employs altogether.

But what gets me is that DOD is spending more for Domestic PsyOps (otherwise known as Public Affairs) than it spends on Foreign PsyOps.

The biggest chunk of funds — about $1.6 billion — goes into recruitment and advertising. Another $547 million goes into public affairs, which reaches American audiences. And about $489 million more goes into what is known as psychological operations, which targets foreign audiences...

...Recruitment and advertising are the only two areas where Congress has authorized the military to influence the American public. Far more controversial is public affairs, because of the prohibition on propaganda to the American public.

"It's not up to the Pentagon to sell policy to the American people," says Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., who sponsored legislation in Congress last year reinforcing the ban...




Questions?

[gratuitous]

17. I remember watching ABC's evening news

When the daring "rescue" of Private Lynch from the e-e-e-e-evil hospital was accomplished by a crack team of military special forces so talented they'd make a ninja envious. They had the whole story, complete with computer generated graphics, of the helicopter landing in the middle of the night under heavy fire from (presumably) the hospital staff below. The special forces guys leaping out of the helicopter door, trading bullets with the defenders and never being nicked themselves. The ward-by-ward hand-to-hand combat to find Private Lynch heroically strapped to a gurney awaiting God only knows what unspeakable torments. Then the fighting retreat as they rushed the gurney back onto the helicopter and vanished into the night sky.

It was, of course, complete and utter nonsense. But it occupied a pretty fair segment of the evening news on a major network, not to mention the time and trouble it took to cobble together the CGI video of the entire affair.

What and when will we know about the truth surrounding the execution of Gaddafi? Six months, at least. Did we have a hand in it? If we did, and I think we probably did based on our lawless behavior in the last decade, we'll never get the straight story.

[chrisa]

18. Wasn't the hospital actually abandoned?

There's even allegations that the "special ops" team used blanks to simulate a fierce firefight.

[Missy Vixen]

20. The Tillman Story is showing on The Movie Channel this month

for those who might have a dish or cable. It's well-worth watching.

Interestingly enough, Pat Tillman was one of the troops sent in to "rescue" Ms. Lynch.