Damning new evidence reveals how the UK media lied us all the way to war in Iraq

Evidence released as part of the Chilcot Inquiry has revealed that the government deliberately manipulated the news agenda in order to take the country to war in Iraq, and the mainstream media were happy to lap up its lies.
A letter, sent more than a year before war was declared, sets out the government’s media strategy and objectives for ensuring public support for the conflict. Penned by John Williams, the head of news for the Foreign Office, the document was sent to, amongst others, Alastair Campbell at No 10, all ministers and some diplomats.

The strategy starts with a very telling sentence:

The process of preparing media and public opinion for possible action in Iraq is under way.

The document recommends that the government should “exploit” interest by “feeding newspapers and broadcasters with information on WMD, diversion of imports for military use, and human rights abuses”.
However, Williams wasn’t content to just see papers such as The Sun and The Telegraph propagate the party line. He wanted to enforce the message across the mainstream media:

The outlets for this information should cross the spectrum, so that we can encourage support from sympathetic newspapers and carry the argument to those likely to criticse our policy. It is as important to force the reality of Saddam’s Iraq on papers like The Guardian, as it is to give papers like The Sun the chance to popularise our case.

This choice of words is key. It wasn’t enough for the media strategy to present the facts and let the media analyse them – the government’s plan was to “force” its pro-war agenda on all elements of the media, and therefore the public, a year before the conflict started.
Williams then reveals the extent to which the government was willing to go to plant articles in the sympathetic media:

I suggest we produce a list of ten facts about Saddam for The Sun based on our assessment of Saddam’s attempts to equip himself with weaponry and abuse the sanctions regime. And we should give some quality information, for example to The Sunday Telegraph, who have expressed an interest.

These papers all seemed happy to lap up this information without questioning or researching the validity of the “facts” they were reporting. Writing in 2004, George Monbiot commented that the press were “willing accomplices in the Pentagon’s campaign of disinformation”. However, it appears from this letter, that they also accomplices in Westminster’s “campaign of disinformation”.
Monbiot described The Sunday Telegraph as “by far the worst of these offenders”, and lists several stories the paper ran which “appear to be false”:

In September 2002 it reported that “Saddam Hussein is developing frightening new ways to deliver his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, including smallpox and the deadly VX nerve agent.”(15) Another report on the same day claimed that “Saddam is on the verge of possessing crude nuclear devices that could be “delivered” using “unorthodox” means such as on lorries or ships. … Saddam has the capability to assemble all the components required to make nuclear weapons.”(16) In February 2003, it claimed that “Iraq’s air force has advanced poison bombs”.(17)

These stories can all clearly be linked to the first objective of the media strategy:

To convince people of the real threat to their safety and security from Iraq’s biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes.

One of the main purposes of the document seems to be to lay the foundations for both domestic and international audiences for war. Again, this is very clear in the objectives:

To prepare public opinion in Britain and abroad (especially the Muslim world and Europe) for possible military action.

Under the “potential pitfalls” section, the memo outlines how the Muslim world needed to be prepped for the conflict:

The public opinion, especially in the Arab and Muslim worlds, will be overwhelmingly opposed to military action unless we start preparing for it now.

As part of an effort to convince Muslim populations that war was a good idea, the government planned to:

Launch a ‘contract with the Iraqi people’ – a restatement of our commitment to helping the Iraqi people before, during and after any military action.

However, as the Chilcot Report has shown, the preparations for rebuilding and stabilising Iraq after the conflict were “woefully inadequate”. Not only were people lied to, the consequences of these lies have been disastrous and deadly.
During the war:
The lies and manipulations did not end with this document – they carried on right through the war. The Sun, who this week ran headlines such as “PATH TO IRAQ AND RUIN Chilcot savages Blair for rushing into poorly planned and illegally dodgy Iraq War”, has conveniently forgotten the crucial role it played in supporting and encouraging that war.
For example, the Lib Dems, under Charles Kennedy, voted against the war. In response, The Sun ran the following headline:



Gordon Ridout ‏@GordonRidout
We should remember Charles Kennedy today, and how the press treated him. And how he has been vindicated. #Chilcot

In fact, The Sun’s coverage of the war led one of their feature writers, Katy Weitz, to resign. Weitz resigned on the first day of the war when the paper’s coverage screamed the headline “Show them no pity… they have stains on their souls”.
Meanwhile, journalists sympathetic to the government’s agenda were embedded among the troops on the ground, supposedly to give us a perspective from the frontlines. However, often this meant they were so close to the military, they were unable to report from a neutral position.
In Leading to the 2003 Iraq War: The Global Media Debate, edited by A. Nikolaev, E. Hakanen, a BBC journalist explained the reality on the ground:

BBC journalist Clive Myrie agreed that embedded journalists were spoon-fed information although he tried to check facts. He added, “I didn’t wear a uniform, but I lived in the same way as the marines, looking at the tiny window of life inside combat, in a prison provided by the marines”.

The book also reported that:

Another embedded journalist became so close to the troops that he even acted as a lookout for suspicious vehicles.

The Chilcot Report has been damning – concluding that Tony Blair manipulated the evidence which was presented as a case for war, and that there was a “far from satisfactory” legal basis for the conflict. Chilcot further found that there was “no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein” and that:

the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for [Iraq’s] disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.

Now we know the role the UK media played in delivering the government’s media strategy which, as can be seen from this document, was to start lying the public into war a year ahead of time. It should be the duty of every journalist, and every editor, to thoroughly review and challenge the lines fed them by government spin doctors – especially when the stakes are as high as war. Instead, the UK media collectively abdicated that responsibility, in favour of becoming cheerleaders-in-chief for a military folly which has resulted in continuing catastrophe for the country, and the region.
Moreover, this document shows how important it is to have media outlets that are independent of government agendas. Hopefully, thirteen years later, with the advent of social media, and the rise of new media outlets, we are in a better position to be able to expose the lies of governments.
Revealing the media’s complicity in trumpeting government propaganda in the Iraq War is as vital as finally revealing Blair’s manipulation of his “dodgy dossier”. Without this complicity, the shaky support for going to war would have been even weaker, and it is possible that the conflict could have been averted.
The mainstream media was instrumental in making this conflict happen, and anyone who believes we live in a country with a free press needs to seriously look at the wording of this document. Unfortunately, the manipulation exposed by the letter is unlikely to be an isolated incident – but it is a much-needed example of exactly how government departments manipulate the mainstream media to suit their political agendas.

http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/07/damning-new-evidence-reveals-uk-media-lied-us-way-war-iraq/



Of course the media are never used for manipulating the masses are they lol

The government manipulated the media into printing what it wanted the public to know?


Never!


Oh well I suppose they've done it on this occasion only and haven't done it since and won't ever do it again.

The Media didn't need any "manipulation".

MANY of the larger mass media organisations have been in bed with the major political parties for decades..

ANY major media outlet claiming that they were misled and lied to, is simply telling porkies.        

CNN's time line: display and well written depiction of the grooming that went on for Tony Blair's final stepping on board GWB's {war tribunal = Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Powell}
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/politics/chilcot-report-blair-bush-letters/index.html

I do believe that we {Americans} have to wait that obligatory 25 yr period prior to having access to those GWB POTUS era {if there's any left after all those 5+ millions were deleted by Karl Rove} >

Even for a Republican White House that was badly stumbling through George W. Bush's sixth year in office, the revelation on April 12, 2007 was shocking. Responding to congressional demands for emails in connection with its investigation into the partisan firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the White House announced that as many as five million emails, covering a two-year span, had been lost.
The emails had been run through private accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee and were only supposed to be used for dealing with non-administration political campaign work to avoid violating ethics laws. Yet congressional investigators already had evidence private emails had been used for government business, including to discuss the firing of one of the U.S. attorneys. The RNC accounts were used by 22 White House staffers, including then-Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who reportedly used his RNC email for 95 percent of his communications.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/03/10/flashback-when-millions-of-lost-bush-white-hous/202820 

But this 'mental grooming' and the methodical way that GWB had of using the insidious events of 9-11 to obtain his greatest desire for Iraq'i oil fields ...well that was just mind blowing and the ends didn't justify the means that he used to wound/kill thousands of Americans - murder millions of Iraq & Afghanistan citizens while profiteering greatly from the heinous business of War For Crude Oil. 

Tony Blair, kept putting the list of his priorities down in front of GWB, and that just enabled GWB and his war machine to work harder and longer to check them off; one by one until Tony had no reason to 'stand by America' in this her hour of REVENGE!

The same newspaper (The Scum) just helped lie us out of the EU. The brainless will read and roll over obediently.

Eilzel wrote:The same newspaper (The Scum) just helped lie us out of the EU. The brainless will read and roll over obediently.

Yup same old same old
They never learn

eddie wrote:

I DON'T actually believe in the conspiratorial/alternative concept of "brainwashing" by the popular press, all that much...

I RECKON that a lot of people want to believe what their chosen politician/stirrer/ preacher/bully_boy is going to tell them; and some people are simply looking for any excuse to pick a fight with anyone they consider different, or a threat to their view of the world..

THOSE media groups that are working hand-in-hand with political parties and the "establishment"/corporate-military cabals, are only too happy to oblige by supplying plenty of propaganda pieces -- "grist to the mill" to help those politicians and warmongers achieve their Machiavellan aims.

AND THEIR all-too-willing supporters and cheer squads lap it up, either too lazy to to think for themselves, incapable of clear and rational thought, or they think along the same bloody-minded lines..          

WYWolfie stated > AND THEIR all-too-willing supporters and cheer squads lap it up, either too lazy to think for themselves, incapable of clear and rational thought, or they think along the same bloody-minded lines.. 

 And that just encapsulated how the NRA/T-Baggers/GOP managed to spear head the paranoia that perpetrated the great 'fear mongering' lies behind many of the utter BS that just kept spinning around the USA about POTUS, Obama. 
And now those same "willing supporters/cheer squads/unable to think/to lazy to do their own research/run in like-minded packs" are the ground swell that have pushed 'cheeto-Jesus' to the forefront for the 2016 POTUS election year!

This damning report on the media brought to you by ... the media

Ben Reilly wrote:This damning report on the media brought to you by ...  the media

But that's the point isn't it? It's not the mainstream media.

The pictures in op are photoshopped...

How so?

Tommy Monk wrote:The pictures in op are photoshopped...

Ahhhh, Sherlock ...just 'Google/Bing/STFW' for the memo's from PM - Tony Blair and his decision to back GWB and the Iraq War ...you'll have 5+ pages of reading links to spend your time verifying the data

Zoom in on them and you can see the heavy pixelated areas around the words...


Also... look at how the text in one of the letter pics gets further away from edge of paper on left margin...

Tommy I am listening as I never completely dismiss things like others on here, but there are pages and pages of this letter.

The letters I see in op look photoshop edited...


Zoom in and have a look...


Either they are... or they aren't...

Perhaps it's a bad photo and that page is on top of another page?
I don't know

Look closely... you can even see the original writing on the paper faintly... and how it has been attempted to edit it out!!!





Enlarge the pictures and have a proper look!!!



And we know sassy has a history of posting up photoshop fakes...

eddie wrote:Perhaps it's a bad photo and that page is on top of another page?
I don't know

No, the photos are perfectly fine. He's reaching for straws on this one.

When you read the Sun, [and i don't know how you can comment on it if you don't read it] are you not intellegent enough to pick out the bullshit and ignore it?

nicko wrote:When you read the Sun,   [and i don't know how you can comment on it if you don't read it]   are you not intellegent enough to pick out the bullshit and ignore it?

The only thing that surprises me is others surprise to have to admit that they were taken in by the bulls*hit and I was one of them if honest.
I believed it as well at the time

Some prat give me a red.they didn't like the truth! Wanker.

Tommy Monk wrote:Look closely... you can even see the original writing on the paper faintly... and how it has been attempted to edit it out!!!





Enlarge the pictures and have a proper look!!!



And we know sassy has a history of posting up photoshop fakes...

Tommy, sometimes you are so stupid it's a wonder you can tie your shoe laces.   That is evidence from the Chilcot Report, I gave you the link to the report, I realise it's far to long for you to read.

And no I have not posted up any fakes, the fact you try and pretend they are does not make it true.   In fact, that you are the one saying it is proof of it's authenticity, you being the knob you are.

nicko wrote:Some prat give me a red.they didn't like the truth!      Wanker.

Dont worry Nicko...they STILL havnt worked out what a red does...

sassy wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Look closely... you can even see the original writing on the paper faintly... and how it has been attempted to edit it out!!!



Enlarge the pictures and have a proper look!!!
And we know sassy has a history of posting up photoshop fakes...

Tommy, sometimes you are so stupid it's a wonder you can tie your shoe laces.   That is evidence from the Chilcot Report, I gave you the link to the report, I realise it's far to long for you to read.

And no I have not posted up any fakes, the fact you try and pretend they are does not make it true.   In fact, that you are the one saying it is proof of it's authenticity, you being the knob you are.

And there is the CNN link time line link that I provided right below yours ...but actually reading - comprehending what he's read isn't nearly as much fun for our SUPER SLEUTH since he thinks he is now the expert on faked photo imagery!   
What Tommykins fails to completely understand {limited knowledge will always prove this to be the case} enlarging a copied image will destort the pixel arrangement ant that duplicated imaged now sure enlarged appears blurred in som e sections and smooth in others
Perhaps our Tommykins needs to quit trying to prove what an idiot he is - defaming members articles and images and go back to his equally foolish research of jumping out of a moving vehicle

sassy wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Look closely... you can even see the original writing on the paper faintly... and how it has been attempted to edit it out!!!





Enlarge the pictures and have a proper look!!!



And we know sassy has a history of posting up photoshop fakes...

Tommy, sometimes you are so stupid it's a wonder you can tie your shoe laces.   That is evidence from the Chilcot Report, I gave you the link to the report, I realise it's far to long for you to read.

And no I have not posted up any fakes, the fact you try and pretend they are does not make it true.   In fact, that you are the one saying it is proof of it's authenticity, you being the knob you are.

You have not provided any link to the actual Chilcot report.


The pictures in your op are clearly photoshop fakes.

4EVER2 wrote:CNN's time line: display and well written depiction of the grooming that went on for Tony Blair's final stepping on board GWB's {war tribunal = Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Powell}
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/politics/chilcot-report-blair-bush-letters/index.html

I do believe that we {Americans} have to wait that obligatory 25 yr period prior to having access to those GWB POTUS era {if there's any left after all those 5+ millions were deleted by Karl Rove} >

Even for a Republican White House that was badly stumbling through George W. Bush's sixth year in office, the revelation on April 12, 2007 was shocking. Responding to congressional demands for emails in connection with its investigation into the partisan firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the White House announced that as many as five million emails, covering a two-year span, had been lost.
The emails had been run through private accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee and were only supposed to be used for dealing with non-administration political campaign work to avoid violating ethics laws. Yet congressional investigators already had evidence private emails had been used for government business, including to discuss the firing of one of the U.S. attorneys. The RNC accounts were used by 22 White House staffers, including then-Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who reportedly used his RNC email for 95 percent of his communications.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/03/10/flashback-when-millions-of-lost-bush-white-hous/202820 

But this 'mental grooming' and the methodical way that GWB had of using the insidious events of 9-11 to obtain his greatest desire for Iraq'i oil fields ...well that was just mind blowing and the ends didn't justify the means that he used to wound/kill thousands of Americans - murder millions of Iraq & Afghanistan citizens while profiteering greatly from the heinous business of War For Crude Oil. 

Tony Blair, kept putting the list of his priorities down in front of GWB, and that just enabled GWB and his war machine to work harder and longer to check them off; one by one until Tony had no reason to 'stand by America' in this her hour of REVENGE!

And this is talking about a completely different set of letters that I already know about and are in the Chilcot report you senile old bat!!!


Are you that stupid that you don't know what you are even posting about...?


Or is it that you can't read very well and need new glasses...!?


Should have gone to Specsavers...

Oh, you and your like minded twin sister; just can't get off of that quaint little ass-swipe word for me ...yet you'd prefer me to NOT CALL YOU A FUCK-WIT!  LMAO

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/politics/chilcot-report-blair-bush-letters/index.html

Substantiation = follow up and proof for those memo's and specific items you {the super sleuth} are trying to falsely claim are 'FAKED IMAGES' ...but I'd need a chalk board and more stick figures and perhaps 3 more days to instruct you with the connection! 
Carry On, Sherlock ...your hysteria grows daily!

Totally different letters you twat!!!


Try reading!!!


And thinking!!!

Lord Foul wrote:

nicko wrote:Some prat give me a red.they didn't like the truth!      Wanker.

Dont worry Nicko...they STILL havnt worked out what a red does...

Anyone can figure that out: it does nothing except waste an opportunity under flood control.  It does not take away a rep point, nor effectively do anything.

Personally, I only give greenies, not only for that reason, but because I'm not trying to ruin anyone's day.  I'd rather debate the point.