Key Statements:
Those in a position of power often control our realities through the political narrative/stories they tell. The information they provide and conceal, the images and the language/words/slogans they use shape and colour our emotional and intellectual responses.
In Wag the Dog, the fake war becomes a real and welcome distraction for the American people thanks to the superior Hollywood special effects and the excellent skill of spin doctor, Conrad Bream and Hollywood director Stanley Motss.
In this case, the public can quite easily be convinced that it is necessary to wage a war to persevere the American way of life. As Bream says to the CIA Agent Charlie Young, ‘Cause there ain’t no war but ours.” In response to Motss’ questions about the truth, Bream states, “how the fuck do we know? You take my point?”
Motss creates a narrative around the Albanian conflict based on the girl fleeing from the “terrorist” attack. The “untrustable” Albanians become convenient enemies.
The Hollywood studio manufactures the sound effects, the burning bridge, the running stream, the white kitten and the burnt-out buildings in the background, buildings of just one-tenth of the real scale, to create the authenticity of war.
Bream uses subtle psychological powers of persuasion to influence, control and define the terms of the debate. He plants the seeds and nurtures them. Does the government have a B3-bomber?
Parallels are also evident with the Bush Administration’s representation of the war in Iraq as an attempt at overthrowing a dictator who supposedly possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Few in the media questioned the lack of WMDs. Why? Perhaps, because as Bream would say, the truth simply didn’t make as interesting a story as the heroics of a bunch of American soldiers who were fighting for the “American way of life” and an end to terrorism.
In an article published before the war, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa”, (2002) American diplomat, Joseph Wilson, states that on the basis of his “experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war”, he has “little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.”
President Bush has since apologized to the American people for the fact that when they could not find weapons of mass destruction, they “fabricated the evidence” and “misoverexaggerated” the threat” because the information about the lack of access to Nigeria’s yellowcake/uranium was inconvenient.
George Bush: “In the run up to the war my administration made claims that turned out not to be factual. Personally, I truly believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. But when we couldn’t find the evidence, we fabricated it.”
Slogans and pictures influence the message/the reality
Conrad Bream loves a slogan and engages the services of the songwriter to spin the message and influence the public’s reception of the looming war. Bream knows that people remember slogans and pictures. They can’t remember the wars. “Cause its show business. That’s why I’m here. Naked girl, covered in Napalm. Five marines Raising the Flag, Mount Suribachi. V for Victory.
Parallel:
The story of the conqueror, those in positions of power, always takes priority. As Naomi Klein asserts in her book, Shock Doctrine, the American Government’s anti-Marshall Plan formed the basis of the war against Iraq in 2002, and the theme of the conquest was the rise of corporate America. She says, “The US federal government contracts commissioned a kind of country-in-a-box, designed in Virginia and Texas, to be assembled in Iraq.” All Iraqis needed to do was to “unwrap” the “gift”. However, in the unwrapping process, foreign labourers employed by the major U.S. contractors were used. Iraqi workers were cast in the role of “awed spectators”. Klein concludes that just about all key Iraqi governmental functions in Iraq were handed over to U.S. private contractors and Iraqis themselves were excluded from the gold rush.
Also Soldier stories: different narrative after first-hand experience
Going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan (2002 – 2014) the soldiers are told that they are spreading “democracy” throughout the Middle East and that they are fighting terrorists such as al-Qaeda and that they are preserving the “American way of life”. However, the soldiers fighting in Iraq soon discovered that it was very much ‘democracy” when it suited America and its allies. Soldiers such as Sapper Tom Williams said that he was shocked that the war ended up creating a worse group of terrorists (ISIS) than before and that these terrorists were born in the dungeons of the prisons in Iraq. As Mr Williams said, in order to defeat ISIS in Syria, they will need to align with members of the Free Syrian Army, many of whom have links with al-Qaeda, who was the original enemy in Iraq. He said he was shocked by the misinformation that was circulated by western governments. He was particularly shocked by ex President Bush’s comments that (see above).
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