propaganda, speculation - 2.19.03
Appearances
Appearances can deceive, the news never tells the whole story, and it's a fine line between information and propaganda.
These are all good things to keep in mind as we head into propaganda prime-time: the critical two or three weeks before the time apparently slated for the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq. Here's a couple of timely examples:
First, consider the western peace activists who've gone to Baghdad to serve as voluntary 'human shields'. How many of them are, in fact, US intelligence agents? Wouldn't this be a great scam to get in there to identify prime targets? It might just get the Iraqis to tip their hands as to the location of some really top secret stuff. I'm guessing the voluntary human shields will find themselves hanging around 'baby milk factories', 'agricultural research facilities', and 'biology schools'. While there, they'd be well advised to steer clear of white powdery substances.
Now, the Iraqis have thought of the potential security implications of using westerners as voluntary 'human shields' too, I'm sure. The most obvious way for them to identify potential spooks among the doves would be to check their track record for peace activism, but that would hardly be foolproof. If you think the CIA hasn't thoroughly infiltrated the peace movement you need to go back and read some 1970s history. Next question: what happens to the actual peace people when the Iraqis find out that one of their entourage is wearing shoe phones? The lamb lays down next to the lion. Next scene: the lion dines on lamb chops. It's a cruel world.
Here's another one. Is war inevitable, or are we seeing a 'good cop, bad cop' routine between the US and France? I'd like to think the later, but it seems too good to be true. I suppose that's because it would require simultaneous, coordinated and rational behavior on the parts of both the US and the French governments. Fat chance!
One more: Did Colin Powell really change his mind about the wisdom of an Iraq invasion, or did he trade his support (or, at least the appearance of support) for the administration's highly uncharacteristic African AIDS initiative. Shocking idea? Consider the timing; Mr. Powell became more supportive of the administration's Iraq posture right around the time of the State of Union address, during which the African AIDS initiative was announced. Consider also Mr. Powell's alternative might well have been, 'it's either that or your resignation' - think of it as 'Colin's Choice'. What would you do?
Now I'm not suggesting that any of these tall tales are true, after all I'm just a big dumb Hoosier. These scenarios are, however, more fun to think about than WW-III. It's definitely a good idea to read between the lines as the powers that be try to woe, buy or con their way into the heart and minds of us, the drooling masses.
