THE GULF WAR AND THE U.S. CENSORSHIP MACHINE-1
REMZI CIRIT
Fwd by Remzi Cirit
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THE GULF WAR AND THE U.S. CENSORSHIP MACHINE
Revolutionary Worker, October 20, 1991
Recently the Pentagon admitted that during the February ground
war in the Persian Gulf, US troops had buried Iraqi soldiers
alive. Tanks plowed up over 70 miles of desert trenches,
suffocating hundreds, perhaps thousands of soldiers who had
been unable or unwilling to surrender under tons of sand. US
officials kept this brutal atrocity hushed up for over seven
months. Reports of the time filed by journalists assigned to
this operation didn't even mention the live burials and
claimed that only "a few" Iraqi dead could be seen in the
trenches. How many other war crimes remain buried, covered up
by layers of lies and censorship?
Pro-government lies, censorship and propaganda blitz played a
major role in shaping public opinion in support of the war.
Many people watched this massive coverup and were outraged.
Some were shocked that this could happen in a country that
boasts of "the world's freest press." The hard truth is that
in a capitalist/imperialist country like the US the "free
press" is a myth actively pushed by the ruling class and
institutions. It is a myth during "normal times" and is all
the more so during wartime. The mass media is used as a tool
for shaping opinion on the "home front". The causes and goals,
the strategy and tactics, the results and long-term
consequences of imperialist wars are systematically hidden
from public knowledge and discussion.
According to Harvard scholar William Kovach, serious planning
for military control of the press during wartime began in 1970
during the Vietnam War. New elements have been added with each
military aggression since then. But not until the Gulf War
were all the elements combined in one coordinated effort, in a
way that took many people by surprise. In the Gulf War, the US
tested not only a generation of high-tech weaponry, but also a
new generation of high-tech propaganda machinery.
It is important to know how this war propaganda machine
operated and the techniques and strategies used.
HIGH LEVEL PLANNING AND DIRECTION
The control of media coverage of the war was planned and
directed by the highest levels of government and military.
According to a May 4 _New York Times_ article by Jason de
Parle, "early in the troop buildup" President Bush met with
his top military advisors to review past mistakes in policy on
media coverage of war stories. Secretary of Defense Dick
Cheney was given overall command of press policy at this
meeting. The President and his advisors reviewed the
performance of every military briefer who appeared on TV. (Air
Force generals now take a course in "briefing style," in which
they are videotaped and their performance critiqued.)
Cheney was blunt: "Military needs had to take precedence over
journalistic rights." According to one source who attended the
White House meeting, there was a quick decission to set up a
mechanism to control battlefield reporting: "Nobody dwelled on
it. The sense was, `Set it up over here, pay attention to it--
don't have things happen by accident, take control of it'."
Through a request under the Freedom of Information Act, the RW
recently obtained several documents from the U.S. Department
of Defence (Dod) concerning procedures and guidelines for war
reporters in Saudi Arabia. These documents indicate, among
other things, that the Pentagon began plans for a higher
degree of military control over battlefield reporting many
months before the Persian Gulf War--in fact, before Iraqi
forces had entered Kuwait. One memo, dated Jan.9, 1991, from
the U.S. Army colonel heading the Joint Information Bureau
(JIB) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, stresses that the "seven-
member quick reaction pools" of journalists must be strictly
enforced as the only way that reporters could report from the
battlefield. It also mentions that planning along these lines
began back in May 1990 "with significant input and compromise
from both the media and the military."
Other DoD documents received by the RW detail how "pool
products (news stories and images) will be subject to review
release to determine if they contain sensitive information
about military plans, capabilities, operations, or
vulnerabilities." Some 12 categories of information were
labeled "nonreleaseable"--in other words, banned from news
reports--and dozens of other rules were set down governing the
conduct of reporters in the conflict.
To be continued
David Morning
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>Fwd by Remzi Cirit
>==================================================================
> THE GULF WAR AND THE U.S. CENSORSHIP MACHINE
> Revolutionary Worker, October 20, 1991
>
>
> Recently the Pentagon admitted that during the February ground
> war in the Persian Gulf, US troops had buried Iraqi soldiers
> alive. Tanks plowed up over 70 miles of desert trenches,
> suffocating hundreds, perhaps thousands of soldiers who had
> been unable or unwilling to surrender under tons of sand. US
Err...they were shooting at the US troops who were attacking the emplacements.
Have you got evidence that they had surrendered?
> officials kept this brutal atrocity hushed up for over seven
> months.
I presume that you'd have preferred the traditional method of clearing
trenches and foxholes of enemy troops firing at you as you launched an
attack, popular since WW2?
Roasting them alive with flamethrowers?
> trenches. How many other war crimes remain buried, covered up
> by layers of lies and censorship?
That depends on whether you read pooled reports or not doesn't it?
[Long article on how polled repots restricted accurate reporting]
Yes, but you're forgetting one thing, as a reporter you had a choice, pooled
or unpooled. There were *plenty* of unpooled free-lance reporters operating
outside the pool system and being published. One reporter for the Sunday Times
reported the massive movement of troops away from the decoy group and further
north. It was published too, all in advance.
The essential difference was that if you were a pooled reporter, you got a
military escort who kept you safe but restricted where you went. If you were
unpooled, you got no escort, no assistance and your safety couldn't be
guaranteed. One US film crew operating outside the pool were captured by the
Iraqi's.
Shouldn't this be in alt.desert-storm?
Dave
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