Hermit
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Meme Manufactury
« on: 2003-04-12 11:24:10 » |
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[Hermit] I've been avoiding comment for fear of triggering a return flood, but this story is too "on topic" for me to resist.
[Hermit] For sheer chutzpah the meme of a popular Iraqui uprising, created as we see here, from whole cloth by the neocons in the Likkud on the Potomac, currently sweeping the world (or at least the "Toxic Meme" section of our BBS (mistakenly labeled "Serious Business") has to take the cake. As a study in how little it takes to make such stories happen (at least for those who like Sculley, "want to believe"), the following is instructive.
The photographs tell the story...
Source: NYC IndyMedia (via informationclearinghouse.com)
Dated: 2003-04-10
Is This Media manipulation on a grand scale?
Yes, the occupation has begun.
April 6th: Iraqi National Congress founder, Ahmed Chalabi is flown into the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah by the Pentagon. Chalabi, along with 700 fighters of his "Free Iraqi Forces" are airlifted aboard four massive C17 military transport planes. Chalabi and the INC are Washington favorites to head the new Iraqi government. A photograph is taken of Chalabi and members of his Free Iraqi Forces militia as they arrive in Nasiriyah.
April 9th: One of the "most memorable images of the war" is created when U.S. troops pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Fardus Square. Oddly enough... a photograph is taken of a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to one of Chalabi's militia members... he is near Fardus Square to greet the Marines. How many members of the pro-American Free Iraqi Forces were in and around Fardus Square as the statue of Saddam came tumbling down?
The up close action video of the statue being destroyed is broadcast around the world as proof of a massive uprising. Still photos grabbed off of Reuters show a long-shot view of Fardus Square... it's empty save for the U.S. Marines, the International Press, and a small handful of Iraqis. There are no more than 200 people in the square at best. The Marines have the square sealed off and guarded by tanks. A U.S. mechanized vehicle is used to pull the statue of Saddam from it's base. The entire event is being hailed as an equivalent of the Berlin Wall falling... but even a quick glance of the long-shot photo shows something more akin to a carefully constructed media event tailored for the television cameras.
A tale of two photos
Source: NYC IndyMedia (via informationclearinghouse.com)
Authors: Fozzy
Dated: 2003-04-09
You have probably seen the photos of the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled, and TV footage of jubilant Iraqis rolling the bronze head around, bringing back memories of so many previous popular uprisings – 1989, 1956, 1953...
If there is one thing this war has taught us all, it's that we can't believe what we're told. For Donald Rumsfeld these were "breathtaking". For the British Army they were "historic". For BBC Radio they were "amazing".
A wide angle shot [Hermit: The site of this story has the shot in question, which forms the basis for the large image in the attached photo analysis] in which you can see the whole of Fardus Square (conveniently located just opposite the Palestine Hotel where the international media are based), and the presence of at most around 200 people – most of them US troops (note the tanks and armored vehicles) and assembled journalists.
The BBC website had the honesty to say that "dozens" of Iraqis were involved, but this grain of truth was swamped by the overwhelming impression of mass joy. The radio and TV were even worse.
The masses are no doubt glad to see the back of Saddam Hussein, but this was a US Army propaganda coup, staged for the benefit of the same journalists it had bombed the day previously, and which the British media have swallowed hook line and sinker. Shame on them.
Does Bush, "called by God to defend America", get his news from TV?
"I don't think I'll ever forget -- I'm sure a lot of other people will never forget -- the statue of Saddam Hussein falling in Baghdad, and then seeing the jubilation on the faces of ordinary Iraqis as they realized that the grip of fear that had them by the throat had been released," Bush said, adding, "the first signs of freedom."
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