[CTRL] Fwd: [ctrl] Orwell's Ministry of Truth

[Kris Millegan]

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http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/AVE303B.html

Orwell's Ministry of Truth: "War is 
Peace", Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Power"
The Devil's 
Dictionary: 
Some more thoughts 
about the war
by Uri Avnery 



  
  www.globalresearch.ca  
  31 March 2003 
  The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/AVE303B.html 
  



  # The Coalition. 
  No name could be more appropriate to the 
  cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom against Iraq. In 
  "The Devil's Dictionary" of the American humorist Ambrose Bierce, published 
  some 100 years ago, "coalition" is defined as (I quote 
  from memory) the cooperation between two thieves who have their hands so deep 
  in each others pockets that they cannot rob a third person 
  separately.
  # Reconstructionists. 
  The problem of the Brits and the Americans is that 
  they are possessed by an unquenchable thirst for reconstructing. They 
  dream about it day and night. They cannot think and speak about anything else. 
  Trouble is, in order to rebuild something one has to demolish it first. No 
  destruction, no reconstruction. Therefore the British, together with the 
  Americans, are occupied with destroying Iraq systematically. Missile and 
  bombs, tanks and artillery, ships and infantry - everything is employed in 
  order to facilitate the reconstruction of the country. The main objective of 
  the urge for reconstruction is, of course, Baghdad. A city of five million 
  people, miles upon miles of buildings and streets, which can be reconstructed 
  after their demolition. If Baghdad becomes indeed the site of Stalingrad-style 
  street fighting, house after house, street after street, there will be indeed 
  a lot to reconstruct.
  # The New Mongols. 
  The appetite for rebuilding separates the new 
  conquerors from their predecessors, the Mongols, who conquered Baghdad in 
  1258, killed the Caliph (who had already surrendered) and destroyed the city 
  completely, after butchering all the inhabitants, men, women and babies. They 
  did not bring with them reconstruction crews, but laid waste to Iraq. The 
  irrigation canals that had been built throughout thousands of years of 
  civilization were devastated. The event has gone down in history as one of the 
  biggest disasters ever to befall the Arab world. By the way, two years later 
  the Muslims annihilated the Mongol army in the battle of Ein-Jalud (today's 
  kibbutz Ein-Harod), a major chapter in Palestininian history. That was the end 
  of the Mongols in the Middle East, but the region never recovered from the 
  Mongol devastation to this very day.
  # Demolish and profit. 
  Apart from the idealist aim of helping the Iraqi 
  people, there is also a more material side to 
  reconstruction. It will be huge business. The big 
  American corporations - some of which are connected with the paladins 
  of the Bush administration - are already quarreling about 
  the spoils. They will, of course, allow no foreigners to come into 
  this. To quote an American saying: "To the victors belong the spoils". A 
  rather obnoxious sight: even before the Iraqi towns are destroyed, corporate 
  giants are dividing among themselves the profits of their 
  rebuilding.
  # Humanitarians. 
  The unquenchable idealism of the Anglo-Americans 
  finds its _expression_ also in the drive for humanitarian aid. This is becoming 
  quite an obsession. Humanitarian aid must be brought to the Iraqi people, 
  whether they want it or not. The inhabitants of Basra do not want the 
  promised aid? Ha, we'll see about that. We shall bomb them, starve them - 
  until they open their gates and allow the humanitarian aid in. After all, one 
  cannot aid people as long as the city is controlled by the evil Saddam, cursed 

[CTRL] The Ministry Of Truth

[William Shannon]

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http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modloadname=Newsfile=articlesid=420



The Ministry of "Truth" 
In George Orwell's 1984, control the news and revise history was the function of the Ministry of Truth; in George Bush's Administration, literary history has become political reality.
By Mick Youther

In George Orwells futuristic novel, 1984, a single organization, the Ministry of Truth, controlled the dissemination of all news and information. A recent ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has brought the United States one step closer to having a similar system. By a vote of 3-2, the FCC changed its rules, allowing the media giants to control even more of what we see, hear, and read. Almost no one thinks this is a good idea -- except the media giants and a slim majority of FCC commissioners who have been wined and dined to the tune of millions of dollars by the very corporations they are supposed to be regulating.

 Judging from our record, public opposition is nearly unanimous, from ultra-conservatives to ultra-liberals and virtually everyone in between. We have received about three-quarters of a million comments from the public in opposition to relaxing our ownership rules -- a new record -- and only a handful in support. 
--Jonathan Adelstein, FCC Commissioner

 In the hearing today, there was mention of some 750,000 comments that the commission received on this and Commissioner Copps said that 99.9 percent of those were opposed to it. 
--Terence Smith, media correspondent

 Seldom have I seen a regulatory agency cave in so completely to the big economic interests. That's exactly what happened today with the FCC rules. 
--Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D) ND

 Michael Powell [yes -- Colin Powells son], chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is supposed to protect civic discourse. Its threatened now -- just six companies own most print, radio, Internet and television media outlets. Mr. Powell thinks thats too much diversity, and hes pushing the FCC to adopt rules that will allow further ownership concentration. He thinks Americans can trust a few elite CEOs to tell us what we need to know to govern ourselves. 
--TomPaine.com

 This path surrenders to a handful of corporations awesome powers over our news, information, and entertainment. On this path, we endanger time-honored safeguards and time-proven values that have strengthened the country, as well as the media. 
--Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner 

Orwells Ministry of Truth not only controlled the news, it constantly revised history -- just like the Bush White House, where presidential transcripts are routinely altered to remove the president's gaffes, accounts of intelligence warnings prior to Sept. 11 continue to change, and Bush's past financial dealings have undergone repeated revisions.

In 1984, whenever a fact from the past became embarrassing to the party, it was simply dropped down the memory hole and deleted from all records. It was if it never happened. The Bush Administration does exactly the same thing. Whenever the truth proves inconvenient, there is no hesitation to make up new truths to take its place. Our government officials are capable of saying whatever is necessary to further their purposes because they come from the same corporate mindset that can say with a straight face that tobacco is not addictive, that DDT is safe, and global warming is a myth.

 "'Who controls the past', ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'" 
--George Orwell, 1984

 "The struggle of freedom against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting." 
--Milan Kundera, Czech writer

 Many journalists now are no more than channelers and echoers of what Orwell called the official truth. They simply cipher and transmit lies. 
--John Pilger, journalist and filmmaker

If we had had a truly independent media -- not owned by the same corporations that control our government -- it would have presented President Bushs push for war in a totally different way. Instead of presenting the conflict with Iraq as an exciting upcoming attraction, it would have reached down the memory hole and pulled out the words and pictures from the Reagan/Bush years, when the U.S. government actively supported Saddam and supplied him with materials to build his weapons of mass destruction. It would have exposed how Bush Senior allowed U.S. money destined for agriculture in Iraq to be used to develop chemical and biological weapons. This would have been the lead story on TV and in the newspapers -- topped off with a picture or video of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with his good buddy, Sadaam Hussein. 

Right now, the Bushs Ministry of Truth is working overtime to drop their main excuse for attacking Iraq down the memory hole. If they are successful, by Election Day no one will remember their lies about weapons of mass destruction, and the war with Iraq will be remembered as our finest hour.