BinZiad
03-12-2002, 16:15
Subject: Now, some brainwashing.
Having failed to achieve the total subjugation of the muslim world through
brutal measures, the USA & the UK are now embarking on a more subtle route.
Knowing full well that the majority of muslims are illiterate and / ignorant of
the historical connections between their pathetic state of affairs today, and
the part played by the European powers, they are now "offering" to be
friends.Hence, remember
The countryside in Afghanistan is only littered with cluster bombs because of
the US & UK concern for the welfare of Afghan women. It would be incorrect to
say that they wanted to put in charge a consultant of an American oil company.
The same oil company which had been trying to buy unsuccessfully, the previous
Taliban regime.
That 5000 Iraqi children had to die every month for the last 12 years
because Britain & America care for the human rights of the Iraqi people. It
would be unfair to point to the fact that Iraq has the 2nd largest oil reserves
in the world. Certainly, it would be wrong to state that they want every Arab
leader to kneel in front of the Israelis.
· Britain issues new dossier on Iraq's human rights record
· US cranks up propaganda machine
Ewen MacAskill and Brian Whitaker in Cairo
Saturday November 30, 2002
The Guardian
Britain is to step up its propaganda battle in the Arab and wider Muslim world
next week as part of preparations for the potentially decisive Iraqi declaration
on weapons of mass destruction.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, is to publish a Foreign Office dossier on
Monday setting out the brutal human rights record of the Iraqi president, Saddam
Hussein.
"In the Arab and Muslim world, we have just got to keep reminding people about
the nature of the person we are dealing with," a Foreign Office source said.
Various other initiatives are planned for next week, including a new station,
Radio Sawa ("together"), set up by Washington, which has begun to try to woo the
Arab world.
Combined with this, the US is dropping leaflets across southern Iraq in an
effort to demoralise the population.
Planes dropped 360,000 leaflets over the southern no-fly zone on Thursday
following US-led attacks on unmanned communication facilities between al-Kut and
Basra.
Iraq is required by a United Nations resolution to declare by December 8 all
biological, chemical or nuclear-related weapons or components in its possession,
if any. The British government is adamant that President Saddam is hiding such
weapons and that if he insists in the declaration that he is not, it will
provoke a crisis.
Mr Straw, who will visit Turkey on Tuesday, is planning an interview with Muslim
media outlets in the Arab world and in Britain next week to put across a message
that war is not inevitable and that a route to peace is open to Iraq if it
chooses to follow it.
A similar message will be conveyed in a signed article by the prime minister,
Tony Blair, today in Jang, an Urdu daily widely read in Britain as well as
Pakistan and south-east Asia.
The British government has been more energetic than the US since September 11 in
the pursuit of hearts and minds in the Muslim world.
Mr Blair, in the immediate aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks, succeeded in
persuading the US president, George Bush, and the state department to stress
that the "war on terrorism" was not a war against Islam.
The dossier, a follow-up to one published in September that was supposed to make
a case that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, pulls together
human rights abuses in Iraq over the last two decades and focuses on the
treatment of women and of prisoners.
For legal reasons, Britain, unlike the US, cannot justify an attack on Iraq on
the grounds of regime change. The Foreign Office source denied that the dossier
was designed to make such a case.
The source said President Saddam's behaviour towards his own people explained
why he could not be trusted with weapons of mass destruction. "His disregard for
human life is why we can't let him have these weapons," he said.
The Foreign Office is also making longer-term plans to try to encourage changes
in the Middle East through educational and cultural programmes, dealing
especially with democracy, human rights and freedom of women.
More generally throughout the Middle East, the US is attempting to win hearts,
if not minds, with Radio Sawa.
At a cost of $35m (£22.5m), it broadcasts almost non-stop music - a sugary
mixture of Arab and western pop, carefully researched to appeal to the
under-30s. There are also brief news bulletins in Arabic every half hour.
Radio Sawa is intended to replace Voice of America's Arabic service, which has
proved unpopular in the region.
The Public Broadcasting System of the US is planning to broadcast a two-hour
documentary on the life of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, on December 18 and a
day later rebroadcast a two-hour documentary on the diverse interpretations of
Islam around the world.
The documentaries are mainly for internal consumption within the US.
The American leaflet drop on Iraq on Thursday is the fifth such in the last two
months. It is designed to demoralise air defence forces and to discourage
workers from repairing equipment damaged in air raids.
One leaflet warned Iraqis in Arabic not to attempt to repair fibre-optic cables.
"You are risking your life," it said. "The cables are tools used to suppress the
Iraqi people by Saddam and his regime, they are targeted for destruction."
Another leaflet, addressed to Iraqi air defence forces, says: "The destruction
experienced by your colleagues in other air defence locations is a response to
your continuing aggression towards planes of the coalition forces.
"No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be tolerated. You could be next."
Special report
Having failed to achieve the total subjugation of the muslim world through
brutal measures, the USA & the UK are now embarking on a more subtle route.
Knowing full well that the majority of muslims are illiterate and / ignorant of
the historical connections between their pathetic state of affairs today, and
the part played by the European powers, they are now "offering" to be
friends.Hence, remember
The countryside in Afghanistan is only littered with cluster bombs because of
the US & UK concern for the welfare of Afghan women. It would be incorrect to
say that they wanted to put in charge a consultant of an American oil company.
The same oil company which had been trying to buy unsuccessfully, the previous
Taliban regime.
That 5000 Iraqi children had to die every month for the last 12 years
because Britain & America care for the human rights of the Iraqi people. It
would be unfair to point to the fact that Iraq has the 2nd largest oil reserves
in the world. Certainly, it would be wrong to state that they want every Arab
leader to kneel in front of the Israelis.
· Britain issues new dossier on Iraq's human rights record
· US cranks up propaganda machine
Ewen MacAskill and Brian Whitaker in Cairo
Saturday November 30, 2002
The Guardian
Britain is to step up its propaganda battle in the Arab and wider Muslim world
next week as part of preparations for the potentially decisive Iraqi declaration
on weapons of mass destruction.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, is to publish a Foreign Office dossier on
Monday setting out the brutal human rights record of the Iraqi president, Saddam
Hussein.
"In the Arab and Muslim world, we have just got to keep reminding people about
the nature of the person we are dealing with," a Foreign Office source said.
Various other initiatives are planned for next week, including a new station,
Radio Sawa ("together"), set up by Washington, which has begun to try to woo the
Arab world.
Combined with this, the US is dropping leaflets across southern Iraq in an
effort to demoralise the population.
Planes dropped 360,000 leaflets over the southern no-fly zone on Thursday
following US-led attacks on unmanned communication facilities between al-Kut and
Basra.
Iraq is required by a United Nations resolution to declare by December 8 all
biological, chemical or nuclear-related weapons or components in its possession,
if any. The British government is adamant that President Saddam is hiding such
weapons and that if he insists in the declaration that he is not, it will
provoke a crisis.
Mr Straw, who will visit Turkey on Tuesday, is planning an interview with Muslim
media outlets in the Arab world and in Britain next week to put across a message
that war is not inevitable and that a route to peace is open to Iraq if it
chooses to follow it.
A similar message will be conveyed in a signed article by the prime minister,
Tony Blair, today in Jang, an Urdu daily widely read in Britain as well as
Pakistan and south-east Asia.
The British government has been more energetic than the US since September 11 in
the pursuit of hearts and minds in the Muslim world.
Mr Blair, in the immediate aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks, succeeded in
persuading the US president, George Bush, and the state department to stress
that the "war on terrorism" was not a war against Islam.
The dossier, a follow-up to one published in September that was supposed to make
a case that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, pulls together
human rights abuses in Iraq over the last two decades and focuses on the
treatment of women and of prisoners.
For legal reasons, Britain, unlike the US, cannot justify an attack on Iraq on
the grounds of regime change. The Foreign Office source denied that the dossier
was designed to make such a case.
The source said President Saddam's behaviour towards his own people explained
why he could not be trusted with weapons of mass destruction. "His disregard for
human life is why we can't let him have these weapons," he said.
The Foreign Office is also making longer-term plans to try to encourage changes
in the Middle East through educational and cultural programmes, dealing
especially with democracy, human rights and freedom of women.
More generally throughout the Middle East, the US is attempting to win hearts,
if not minds, with Radio Sawa.
At a cost of $35m (£22.5m), it broadcasts almost non-stop music - a sugary
mixture of Arab and western pop, carefully researched to appeal to the
under-30s. There are also brief news bulletins in Arabic every half hour.
Radio Sawa is intended to replace Voice of America's Arabic service, which has
proved unpopular in the region.
The Public Broadcasting System of the US is planning to broadcast a two-hour
documentary on the life of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, on December 18 and a
day later rebroadcast a two-hour documentary on the diverse interpretations of
Islam around the world.
The documentaries are mainly for internal consumption within the US.
The American leaflet drop on Iraq on Thursday is the fifth such in the last two
months. It is designed to demoralise air defence forces and to discourage
workers from repairing equipment damaged in air raids.
One leaflet warned Iraqis in Arabic not to attempt to repair fibre-optic cables.
"You are risking your life," it said. "The cables are tools used to suppress the
Iraqi people by Saddam and his regime, they are targeted for destruction."
Another leaflet, addressed to Iraqi air defence forces, says: "The destruction
experienced by your colleagues in other air defence locations is a response to
your continuing aggression towards planes of the coalition forces.
"No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be tolerated. You could be next."
Special report