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Rumsfeld Zeros in on the Internet
By Mike Whitney
02/24/06 "ICH"
-- -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was
warmly greeted at the recent meeting of the Council on Foreign
Relations. The CFR is the hand-picked assemblage of western
elites from big-energy, corporate media, high-finance and the
weapons industry. These are the 4,000 or so members of the
American ruling class who determine the shape of policy and
ensure that the management of the global economic system remains
in the hands of U.S. bluebloods.
As the Pentagon’s chief-coordinator, Rumsfeld enjoys a prominent
place among American mandarins. He is the caretaker of their
most prized possession; the high-tech, taxpayer-funded,
laser-guided war machine. The US Military is the crown-jewel of
the American empire; a fully-operational security apparatus for
the protection of pilfered resources and the ongoing subjugation
of the developing world.
Rumsfeld’s speech alerted his audience to the threats facing
America in the new century.
He opined: “We meet today in the 6th year in what promises to be
a long struggle against an enemy that in many ways is unlike any
our country has ever faced. And, in this war, some of the most
critical battles may not be in the mountains in Afghanistan or
in the streets of Iraq, but in newsrooms—in places like New
York, London, Cairo, and elsewhere.”
“New York”?
“Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today’s
media age, but for the most part our country has not”.
Huh? Does Rummy mean those grainy, poorly-produced videos of Bin
Laden and co.?
“Consider that the violent extremists have established ‘media
relations committees’—and have proven to be highly-successful at
manipulating opinion-elites. They plan to design their
headline-grabbing attacks using every means of communications to
intimidate and break the collective will of free people”.
What gibberish.
It’s foolish to mention “intimidating and breaking the
collective will of free people” without entering Abu Ghraib,
Guantanomo and Falluja into the discussion. Rumsfeld is just
griping about the disgrace he’s heaped on America’s reputation
by his refusal to conform to even minimal standards of decency.
Instead, he insists that America’s declining stature in the
world is the result of a hostile media and “skillful enemies”;
in other words, anyone with a computer keyboard and a
rudimentary sense of moral judgment.
(Our enemies) “know that communications transcend borders…and
that a single news story , handled skillfully, can be as
damaging to our cause and as helpful to theirs, as any other
method of military attack”.
If the Pentagon is really so worried about “bad press coverage”
why not close down the torture-chambers and withdrawal from
Iraq? Instead, Rumsfeld is making the case for a
preemptive-assault on free speech.
“The growing number of media outlets in many parts of the
world….too often serve to inflame and distort, rather than
explain and inform. And while Al Qaida and extremist movements
have utilized this forum for many years, and have successfully
poisoned the Muslim public’s view of the West, we have barely
even begun to compete in reaching their audiences.”
“Inflame and distort”?
What distortion? Do cameras distort the photos of abused
prisoners, desperate people, or decimated cities?
Rumsfeld’s analysis borders on the delusional. Al Qaida doesn’t
have a well-oiled propaganda mechanism that provides a steady
stream of fabrications to whip the public into a frenzy. That’s
the American media’s assignment. And, they haven’t “poisoned
Muslim public opinion” against us. That has been entirely the
doing of the Pentagon warlords and their White House
compatriots.
“The standard US government public affairs operation was
designed primarily …to be reactive rather than
proactive…Government, however, is beginning to adapt”
“Proactive news”? In other words, propaganda.
Rumsfeld confirms his dedication to propaganda by defending the
bogus stories that were printed in Iraqi newspapers by Pentagon
contractors. (We) “sought non-traditional means to provide
accurate information to the Iraqi people in the face of an
aggressive campaign of disinformation….This has been deemed
inappropriate—for examples the allegations of ‘buying news’”.
A brazen defense of intentionally planted lies; how low can we
sink?
This has had a “chilling effect for those who are asked to serve
in the military public affairs field.”
Is it really that difficult to print the truth?
Rumsfeld boasts of the vast changes in “communications planning”
taking place at the Pentagon.
A “public affairs” strategy is at the heart of the new paradigm,
replete with “rapid response” teams to address the nagging
issues of bombed-out wedding parties, starving prisoners, and
devastated cities. No problem is so great that it can’t be
papered-over by a public relations team trained in the black-art
of deception, obfuscation, and slight-of-hand. Trickery now tops
the list of military priorities.
“US Central Command has launched an online communications effort
that includes electronic news updates and a links campaign that
has resulted in several hundred blogs receiving and publishing
CENTCOM content.”
The military plans to develop the “institutional capability” to
respond to critical news coverage within the same news cycle and
to develop a comprehensive scheme for infiltrating the internet.
The Pentagon’s strategy for taking over the internet and
controlling the free flow of information has already been
chronicled in a recently declassified report, “The Information
Operations Roadmap”; is a window into the minds of those who see
free speech as dangerous as an “enemy weapons-system”.
The Pentagon is aiming for “full spectrum dominance” of the
Internet. Their objective is to manipulate public perceptions,
quash competing points of view, and perpetuate a narrative of
American generosity and good-will.
Rumsfeld’s comments are intended to awaken his constituents to
the massive information war that is being waged to transform the
Internet into the progeny of the MSM; a reliable partner for the
dissemination of establishment-friendly news.
The Associated Press reported recently that the US government
conducted a massive simulated attack on the Internet called
“Cyber-Storm”. The wargame was designed, among other things, to
“respond to misinformation campaigns and activist calls by
internet bloggers, online diarists whose ‘Web logs” include
political rantings and musings about current events”.
Before Bush took office, “political rantings and musings about
current events” were protected under the 1st amendment.
No more.
The War Department is planning to insert itself into every area
of the Internet from blogs to chat rooms, from leftist web sites
to editorial commentary. Their rapid response team will be on
hair-trigger alert to dispute any tidbit of information that
challenges the official storyline.
We can expect to encounter, as the BBC notes, “psychological
operations (that) try to manipulate the thoughts and the beliefs
of the enemy (as well as) computer network specialists who seek
to destroy enemy networks.”
The enemy, of course, is anyone who refuses to accept their
servile role in the new world order or who disrupts the
smooth-operation of the Bush police-state.
The resolve to foreclose on free speech has never been greater.
As for Rumsfeld’s devotees at the CFR, the problem of savaging
civil liberties is never seriously raised. After all, these are
the primary beneficiaries of Washington’s global resource-war;
should it matter that other people’s freedom is sacrificed to
perpetuate the fundamental institutions of class and privilege?
Rumsfeld is right. The only way to prevail on the
information-battlefield is to “take no prisoners”; police the
Internet, uproot the troublemakers and activists who provide the
truth, and “catapult the propaganda” (Bush) from every bullhorn
and web site across the virtual-universe. Free speech is a
luxury we cannot afford if it threatens to undermine the basic
platforms of western white rule.
As Rumsfeld said, “We are fighting a battle where the survival
of our free way of life is at stake.”
Indeed, it is.
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