The supposedly explosive memoirs of former White House press bitch Scott McClellan make for interesting reading, but it’s a little hard to take them entirely seriously considering he was one of the key figures leading the propaganda arm of the Bush administration. CNN’s Jessica Yellin said this week that news executives pushed her not to…
Showing all posts tagged Bush administration
What Americans believe
A snapshot of Americans from recent studies indicate: 22 percent believe President Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance. 30 percent believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. 23 percent believe they’ve been in the presence of a ghost. 18 percent believe the sun revolves around the Earth.
The opposite of Bush?
Joshua Landis, founder of Syria Comment blog, tells the American Conservative what hardline Zionists are currently fretting about: The anxiety on the part of the Jewish Right is that Obama is the Manchurian candidate, that he has secret sympathy with Muslims, and the whole war of terror which relies on demonizing Islam isn’t going to…
The shocking economic future
Professor Joseph Stiglitz, US economist and former senior vice-president of the World Bank asks Naomi Klein, author, a question at the recent Hay literary festival: Q In The Shock Doctrine, you talk about how free-market fundamentalists use economic crises to impose policies they would not normally be able to put into place. What do you…
How to speak to journalists for dummies
After the recent revelations of a Pentagon-led plan to twist US media coverage of the “war on terror”, Wikileaks uncovers a 2006 document titled, “Media is the Battlefield: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures“. Produced for those in the US military, typical statements include: You do not have to regurgitate the Secretary of Defense’s responses, but you…
Time to find new friends
How Bush and his mates are increasingly irrelevant in the Middle East. (Though this doesn’t stop many Western NGOs still supporting the worst aspects of Israeli occupation policies.)
Ditching politeness
Ken Silverstein, Harpers, May 23: Mark Slouka has a terrific piece in the June issue of the magazine that convincingly argues against political politeness. “In the long term, it is [the] tilt toward deference, this willingness to hold our tongues and sit on our principles, that truly threatens us, even more than the manifold abuses…
US soldiers are starving
Behold the crumbling American occupation of Iraq: Shiite Cleric al-Sistani forbids Iraqis from selling food to Americans. Trouble is brewing, according to Juan Cole: Last I knew, the US military in Iraq does not buy its food from Iraqis but rather imports it, for fear that Iraqi nationalists might poison it. But I’m told US…
Black is the new white
US Official: Cluster Bomb Ban Could Hurt ”˜Cooperation’ and ”˜Humanitarian Work’.
Please bomb us immediately
Headline on a leading conservative, American website on May 20: Iranians Would Welcome Airstrikes, Sources Say. The Iranian people will supposedly welcome being attacked by Freedom Bombs and feel liberated just like the Iraqis.