Skirmishes in the Information Wars
By Mike Whitney
Online Journal Contributing Writer
onlinejournal.com
There
are only two weapons in the imperial tool chest: force and deception.
The brutal colonial occupation of Iraq has provided us with a lavish
example of the former, but the twin-axel of deception is more abstruse
and difficult to pin down. Sure, there's the flagrant propaganda that
floods right-wing radio and political talk shows, but that tells us
little about the state-sponsored disinformation-programs that permeate
every area of American life.
We now
know that the Bush administration authorized massive illegal spying
operations and is actively engaged in planting pro-American stories in
the foreign press. These suggest that the administration's overall
theory of information management is much more extensive then originally
imagined. In fact, news and information manipulation is at the
forefront of Bush's war on terror, a comprehensive strategy to control
of every bit of information a citizen hears, sees or reads from cradle
to grave. It is information warfare on a scale that would make George
Orwell cringe.
It is
only in this context that we can see that the threats made by George
Bush to bomb Al Jazeera are completely consistent with the
administration's overall approach. Controlling information is seen as a
military necessity and those who fashion an alternate narrative are
Washington's sworn enemies. In this respect, we can understand how Al
Jazeera would have to be destroyed to pave the way for greater
democracy.
When we
observe the isolated incidents of the Bush information strategy it
seems disjointed and incoherent. How does the killing of journalists in
Iraq connect to the “Swift-boating” of Dan Rather or Richard Clarke in
the American press?
How does
Condi Rice's new Edward R. Murrow Journalism Program for aspiring
American propagandists relate to blowing up of Al Jazeera facilities in
Kabul and Baghdad?
How does
the dissemination of false stories in the foreign press connect to the
massive surveillance operations being carried out home and abroad?
Until we
are able to combine the many disparate parts of the Bush information
strategy, we are at risk of seeing these illegal activities as mere
aberrations and not as vital cogs in the machinery of the police state.
There is
nothing arbitrary about the massive cloud of secrecy that has settled
on the Bush administration. The government has built an impervious wall
around itself that conceals the venality of the principle characters
and avoids the transparency required for a healthy democracy.
Conversely,
the administration has defended its use of the various investigative
agencies; including the CIA, the Defense Dept., the NSA, and the FBI,
to probe every area of American life. In fact, the USAPATRIOT Act's new
provisions (National Security Letters and “lone wolf” clause)
completely dispose of the 4th Amendment's right to privacy (or
“probable cause”), allowing the government to spy on anyone it sees
fit. The recent revelations that government organizations have been
spying on antiwar activists, Quakers and environmentalists, strongly
suggests that Bush is now vacuuming up every bit of available
information on political enemies real or imagined.
Is anyone really surprised?
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