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NEWSLETTER #32
March 20, 2003
Special Bulletin: Fox News Goes to War
The attack on Iraq has begun as I sit down to write this, and there is
wall-to-wall war coverage on the television. There are different
talking-heads on every station, but they are all telling the same lies.
And everyone is fawning over the Pentagon's arsenal of military
hardware.
It's all very "smart," you see. Everyone says so. They are all gushing
over how 90% of the bombs used this time around will be "smart" bombs,
whereas only 10% of those used the last time were of the "smart"
variety. Everyone is just thrilled with how far we've come in the last
12 years. Having all these smart bombs, you see, will allow us to place
them with flawless precision, all but eliminating civilian casualties.
One supposed 'military analyst' can barely contain himself while
discussing how amazing these "smart" bombs are. He says that during the
Korean War, it could take hundreds of bombs to take out a single bridge,
while one "smart" bomb will now do the trick.
That was the problem with those old "dumb" bombs -- once they left the
plane they had no idea where to go. They could end up anywhere.
None of the people pretending to be journalists ask any of the Pentagon
employees posing as independent military analysts any of the obvious
questions, such as:
* If there were hundreds of misses for every hit during the Korean War,
what exactly did all those hundreds of thousands of bombs that we
dropped hit?
* You are now saying that only 10% of the bombs used during Desert Storm
were "smart" bombs, yet at the time of that war, you and others like you
stood right where you stand today and told America that almost all of
the bombs that we were dropping then were "smart" bombs. So were you
lying then, or are you lying now, or both?
* If only 10% of the massive amount of bombs that we dumped on Iraq last
time were "smart" bombs, then obviously 90% of them were "dumb" bombs
that were dropped largely indiscriminately; how many Iraqi civilians do
you estimate were slaughtered by those bombs?
After flipping around the dial sampling all the 'news' coverage, I
finally settle on Fox News. They're going to report, and I'm going to
decide.
Fox is very big on graphics. The Fox News logo is prominently displayed.
A "TERROR ALERT: HIGH" graphic remains on the screen at all times. Stock
quotes tick by, as do sensationalized headlines. A "WAR ALERT" graphic
remains up at all times as well. Everything is colored in red, white and
blue. This isn't the way Walter Cronkite used to deliver the news.
Early on, we are advised that the Pentagon is claiming that this will be
a short war, but that the American people should be prepared for loss of
life. Presumably, this means the loss of American life, since there is
no indication that the Pentagon, or Fox News, has any interest at all in
the loss of Iraqi life.
That the American people have to be advised to expect the loss of
American lives in a war is a most remarkable fact, though no one at Fox
finds anything unusual about it. Is there anywhere else in the world
where people have to be cautioned that the waging of war may involve the
loss of life? This, I suppose, stands as stark proof of the
effectiveness of U.S. propaganda from other recent 'wars,' which taught
us that wars can be entirely bloodless affairs.
The folks over at Fox appear to be in something of a panic. "This isn't
'shock and awe'" is the constant refrain. There is clearly
disappointment among the Fox crowd that Iraqis are not being slaughtered
quickly enough. One gets the distinct feeling that nothing would make
these guys happier than seeing Iraq turned into a field of mushroom
clouds.
After fretting over the lack of 'shock and awe' for quite some time, the
Fox team calms down a bit and the refrain becomes "wow, we're really
kicking some ass over there ... and this isn't even 'shock and awe'
yet!" It is now being claimed that what we are doing is "preparing the
battlefield." The Fox people have no shortage of euphemisms to describe
mass murder. And they offer no hint of the fact that the "battlefield"
has been being "prepared" for a full twelve years now.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of "shock and awe," by the way, it
is the same strategy that was known in Nazi Germany as the "blitzkrieg,"
and at Nuremberg as "war crimes."
It is now being claimed that what has been launched is a limited strike
on 'targets of opportunity.' The targets, it will soon be revealed, are
a group of senior Iraqi officials, allegedly including Saddam Hussein.
Hussein though soon appears to deliver a televised address, much to the
consternation of the Fox Follies gang.
Fox isn't buying the Hussein videotape, however. The Osama bin Laden
tapes? Sure, those were legit ... but this Hussein tape is obviously a
fake. Much hot air is blown pondering whether it is really Hussein, and
whether it is a pre-taped appearance. Clearly the Fox fascisti are
hoping that Hussein has been assassinated. Just as clearly, the Fox boys
are huge fans of war crimes.
One talking-head ponders whether it is legal for the U.S. to target
heads-of-state for assassination. Another responds that it isn't,
technically speaking, since it is prohibited by both domestic and
international law. But, he adds with a bit of a snicker, there isn't any
court that's going to enforce those laws.
The exchange might as well have gone as follows:
"What about the law?
"The law? We are the fucking law!"
Anyway, it seems pretty clear that the 'targets of opportunity' story is
a nonsensical cover story that the U.S. will later point to as proof
that it made a concerted effort to avert war by 'surgically removing'
the Iraqi leadership, thus eliminating the need for a full-scale
invasion, as well as a psychological warfare operation aimed at trying
to convince the Iraqi people that they are without leadership.
One of the many interchangeable talking-heads on Fox is explaining how
reporters have been given unprecedented access to the battlefield, so
that the American people will be able to see for themselves how humanely
this war will be waged. This, of course, directly contradicts the
publicized fact that information flowing from the battlefield will be
more tightly controlled than at any time in history.
Another talking-head is now explaining that what are referred to as
"embedded" reporters - who are reporters that have been hand-picked by
the Pentagon to cover the war, precisely because they can be trusted to
refrain from any actual reporting - are "scouts" not just for the media,
but for the Pentagon as well.
By doing so, Fox has completely erased the line between journalists and
combatants, placing the lives of every reporter covering the war in
danger, which is only fair, I suppose, since they pretty much are all
spooks anyway. And for any that might be legit, Fox has essentially just
signaled to the Iraqis that any journalist who gets an independent hair
up his ass and ventures out on his own is fair game.
Reports are coming in of some type of projectiles being launched towards
U.S. troops stationed in Kuwait. The Fox crowd is thoroughly bewildered
by these reports. They can't fathom the possibility that Iraqi military
forces are actually launching defensive strikes. It is clear from the
looks on everyone's faces that the notion that the Iraqis would do
anything other than toss down their weapons and make a mad dash for the
border is simply incomprehensible.
Now some other talking-head is explaining that the rockets or missiles
lobbed into Kuwait were targeted at U.S. military forces, and not
Kuwaiti cities/population centers. This is even more perplexing to the
Fox gang. They are, quite literally, stunned into a brief silence.
Someone starts stammering about how the Iraqis are apparently attacking
U.S. military forces, rather then Kuwaiti civilians, because they are
trying to hold on to the international support "that, somehow, they have
been able to gather." It doesn't occur to anyone on the network that the
Iraqis might be attacking U.S. military forces as part of some bizarre
strategy to actually defend themselves.
A particularly hilarious spectacle is now playing out as some
correspondent in Kuwait is delivering his report from the field wearing
a gas mask. He spends a considerable amount of time nervously adjusting
the straps on his mask, as air raid sirens scream in the background.
While those in the studio express grave concerns for his safety, the
masked correspondent stands his ground and delivers his report, which
includes informing viewers that the air raid sirens go off fairly
regularly, and don't really signify much of anything. There is, he says,
a second-stage alarm that would sound if there was an actual imminent
threat.
Nevertheless, the correspondent continues to deliver his report in Darth
Vader mode, as though he could be engulfed in a cloud of toxic gas at
any second. At one point, he looks around and is bewildered to find that
others around him are walking about unprotected, going about their
business. Shortly thereafter, he terminates his report and heads for a
bomb shelter.
Now we have convicted felon Oliver North giving a report from the field,
and he is wearing not just a gas mask, but a full-blown biowarfare suit
and hood. He is completely unrecognizable, but we are assured that it is
Ollie. He is "embedded" with a Special Forces group foreward-deployed at
the Iraqi border. He is, as near as I can tell, pretending to be there
as a journalist. He soon heads for a shelter as well.
The story of the projectiles launched into Kuwait changes constantly. At
first, it is claimed that there were two such missiles, both of the Scud
variety, and that both were safely intercepted by our trusty Patriot
missiles. Just like the last time! Except that, of course, as even the
Pentagon has admitted, our trusty Patriot missiles didn't actually work
last time. At all.
Not to worry though. Another talking-head later informs us that, this
time, we are using new Patriot II and Patriot III missiles, which work
even better than the old Patriot missiles were supposed to work. Again,
no one at Fox notices that the talking-heads gushing over the
capabilities of the 'new' Patriot missiles are simultaneously
acknowledging that they lied their asses off twelve years ago when
gushing over the original Patriot missiles.
Later, it is claimed that only one of the missiles lobbed into Kuwait
was a Scud, and it was shot down. The other is now said to have been
another type of missile that flew too low to be shot down. That one, we
are told, simply flew safely off course. Those Iraqis can't do anything
right.
Still later, we are told that both missiles were indeed shot down, even
though one was of the type that one of Fox's 'military analysts' said
was impossible to shoot down. There are no reports of any further
missile strikes, though it stands to reason that the Iraqis didn't just
shoot off a couple of missiles and then call it a day.
For quite some time, the Fox boys have been harping on a completely
unverified story that 17 Iraqi troops have crossed the border and
surrendered. This story seems highly suspect, but even if it's true, it
doesn't really signify much of anything. It was earlier reported that
U.S. forces dropped millions of leaflets urging Iraqi troops to
surrender and giving them instructions on how to do so. Seventeen takers
on that offer hardly constitutes a major coup for the U.S.
But the Fox team is confident that that will change once we begin the
'shock and awe' phase of the operation. Then we will see the entire
country of Iraq raise a giant white flag.
Feeling confident that it will all be over by the time I awake, I decide
to go to bed and get some sleep. 'Shock and awe' is coming soon.
It's morning now, and as I click on the TV, I realize that it is still
tuned to Fox. And the Fox team is growing increasingly frustrated with
the delay in implementing 'shock and awe.' I find myself mentally trying
to calculate how many times that phrase must have been uttered in the
time I was asleep.
Nothing much has changed. A few helicopters have had "hard landings" due
to "mechanical problems." This, of course, is entirely different than
being shot down by enemy fire. Later in the day, another helicopter will
have such a hard landing that all 16 men aboard will die. That too will
be due to mechanical failure.
It will be claimed that those sixteen men are the war's first
casualties. After more than 24 hours of fighting, the only casualties
are from mechanical failure. There is no one, you see, resisting the
U.S. invasion. We know this because Fox has been showing live video
feeds all day directly from the front lines.
What these feeds show are grainy, close-in shots of military vehicles
lumbering across some nondescript terrain. There is no sign of combat.
There is no sign of anything other than sand. Most likely, these feeds
are from vehicles circling around Kuwait somewhere, far from the action,
with the "embedded" reporters riding inside shooting footage of other
circling vehicles carrying other "embedded" reporters.
While it appears that the attack isn't going all that well, Fox assures
us that "it is hard to imagine that this operation could be going any
better." We haven't lost a single man to hostile fire. And highly
suspect reports are now coming in that a large portion of Iraq's
Republican Guard troops are ready to surrender. And still to come, of
course, is 'shock and awe.'
(Permission is hereby granted for this material to be widely distributed
and reposted, provided that the content is not altered in any way.)
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