Books reviews, current events, and other musings

Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq is the new book by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, authors of the excellent book Toxic Sludge Is Good for You!: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry. They analyze how the White House, the PR industry, and right-wing news organizations persuaded Americans to support the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Rampton and Stauber start by examining previous PR efforts regarding Middle East policy. For example, before the first Gulf War, a 15-year Kuwaiti girl, daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and coached by the Hill & Knowlton PR firm, falsely claimed that Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait removed hundred of babies from incubators, killing them. After that war, the Rendon Group PR firm helped establish the Iraqi National Congress, lead by Ahmed Chalabi, who the CIA and Pentagon continue to support as leader of Iraq.

The authors then examined the concerns that sold the recent Iraqi War: ties to anti-American terrorism and possession of weapons of mass destruction. They review the false and misleading Bush administration statements that convinced a majority of the population that Hussein was involved in the 9/11 and was on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Later chapters analyzed administration doublespeak, use of fear as a propaganda tool, and the Fox News treatment of the war. Regarding overseas perceptions, the Arab press viewed the war very harshly, a mirror image of the gung-ho US coverage, while the European media was somewhere in-between.

Weapons of Mass Deception is a well-written exploration of some important issues. However, anyone likely to read it would probably be familiar with much of its material.