Eric Zuesse<\/p>\n
During the days of the Soviet Union, and in all dictatorial countries, the \u2018news\u2019 media were and are actually propaganda-media, which filter out information that the aristocracy (the people holding the real power, which in the Soviet Union were the Communist Party bosses) don\u2019t want the public to know. Is the United States like that now?<\/span><\/p>\n I first came to the conclusion that the U.S. is a dictatorship in 2002, when I found proof that George W. Bush was lying to claim that he possessed proof that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his WMD (weapons of mass destruction) stockpiles, and when the U.S. and UK \u2019news\u2019 media hid this crucial fact that their heads-of-state were lying. Bush and British Prime Minster Tony Blair were arguing in 2002 against sending IAEA inspectors back into Iraq in order to verify whether or not Saddam was rebuilding his WMD stockpiles; they alleged that they (Bush-Blair) already possessed proof that he was accumulating WMD.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here is how I found out that they were lying about that: On Saturday 7 September 2002, the White House issued\u00a0\u201cRemarks by the President and Prime Minister Tony Blair in Photo Opportunity Camp David\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(still googlable at\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>), with the following exchange between a journalist and Bush-Blair:<\/span><\/p>\n THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0AP lady.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Q\u00a0Mr. President, can you tell us what conclusive evidence of\u00a0any\u00a0nuclear\u00a0—\u00a0new evidence you have of nuclear weapons\u00a0capabilities of\u00a0Saddam Hussein?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0We just heard the Prime Minister talk about\u00a0the new\u00a0report.\u00a0I would remind you that when the inspectors\u00a0first went into\u00a0Iraq and were denied\u00a0—\u00a0finally denied access, a\u00a0report came out of\u00a0the Atomic —\u00a0the IAEA that they were six\u00a0months away from developing\u00a0a weapon.\u00a0I don’t know what\u00a0more evidence we need.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n PRIME MINISTER BLAIR:\u00a0Absolutely right.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Then, as soon as the weekend was over, on Monday 9 September 2002, was issued by the IAEA the\u00a0following:<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Related Coverage:\u00a0Director\u00a0General’s statement on Iraq to\u00a0the IAEA Board of Governors on 9\u00a0September 2002 <\/i>[this being a republication of their notice three days earlier, on 6 Sep.].<\/span><\/p>\n Vienna, 06 September, 2002\u00a0– With reference to an article\u00a0published today in the New York Times\u00a0<\/i>[which, as usual, stenographcally reported the Administration\u2019s false allegations, which the IAEA was trying to correct in a way that would minimally offend the NYT and the U.S. President], the International\u00a0Atomic\u00a0Energy Agency would like to state that it has no new\u00a0information\u00a0on Iraq’s nuclear programme since December\u00a01998 when its inspectors\u00a0left Iraq\u00a0<\/i>[and verified that no WMD remained there at that time]. Only through a resumption\u00a0of inspections in accordance\u00a0with Security Council Resolution\u00a0687 and other relevant resolutions\u00a0can the Agency draw any\u00a0conclusion with regard to Iraq’s compliance\u00a0with its obligations\u00a0under the above resolutions relating to its\u00a0nuclear activities.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Contact:\u00a0Mark Gwozdecky, Tel: (+43 1) 2600-21270, e-mail:\u00a0M.Gwozdecky@iaea.org.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n It even linked to the following statement from the IAEA Director General amplifying it:<\/span><\/p>\n Since December 1998 when our inspectors left\u00a0Iraq, we have no additional\u00a0information that can be directly linked without\u00a0inspection to Iraq\u2019s nuclear\u00a0activities. I should emphasize that it is\u00a0only through resumption of inspections\u00a0that the Agency can draw any conclusion\u00a0or provide any assurance regarding\u00a0Iraq\u2019s compliance with its obligations\u00a0under these resolutions.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n So, this was proof of the falsehood of Bush\u2019s and Blair\u2019s reference to the IAEA, in which Bush-Blair were saying that, upon the authority of the IAEA itself, there was \u201cthe new report \u2026 a report came out of the Atomic — the IAEA that they were six months away\u00a0from developing a weapon. I don’t know what more evidence we need.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bush invented \u201cthe new report\u201d; it didn\u2019t even exist, at all. And Blair, probably stunned that Bush possessed the gall to concoct things out of thin air that didn\u2019t exist \u2013 and Blair also being Bush\u2019s lapdog \u2013 confirmed Bush\u2019s brazen lie, which Bush further brazenly alleged came originally from Blair. Bush\u2019s entire brazenness likely shocked Blair. After all: Bush necessarily knew that his attributing his information \u201cabout the new report\u201d from the IAEA, to Blair, as if Blair had read such an IAEA report (which was non-existent), was, itself, known by Blair to be false \u2013 he\u2019s not so dumb. But Blair didn\u2019t object to that, at all. He didn\u2019t correct Bush; he didn\u2019t even say (which would have been a tactful way to put it) \u201cWell, perhaps I was misunderstood there by the President, but The New York Times does contain a rather alarming article about Iraq, which the President is referring to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, the American and British press simply ignored the IAEA\u2019s contradiction of the U.S. President and of the British Prime Minister. (I deal in more detail on that in my 2004\u00a0IRAQ WAR: The Truth<\/i>, pages 39-44.) <\/span><\/p>\n So: I knew, from this incident, that the U.S. and UK are dictatorships, and that the American and British publics were being lied into invading Iraq \u2013 into slaughtering and being slaughtered on the basis of dictators\u2019 lies and aristocrats\u2019 secret agendas. Though ultimately the inspectors did go back into Iraq, and they weren\u2019t finding anything to indicate that Saddam had any new stockpiles, Bush-Blair alleged themselves to know better, and launched the 20 March 2003 invasion though the inspectors found no evidence to support the two leaders\u2019 accusations.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are further documentations that the U.S. (and its lap-dog Britain) is a dictatorship, and that its (their) press is systematically controlled to block the public from knowing things that the aristocracy place their highest priority on keeping the public ignorant of:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCNN Journalist \u2018Governments Pay Us To Fake Stories\u2019, Shocking Expos\u00c3\u00a9\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “CNN News Stories Spoon Fed by the\u00a0Gov\u2019t”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “US Backs Honduras Death Squads\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “Leading German Journalist Admits\u00a0CIA \u2018Bribed\u2019 Him and Other Leaders\u00a0of the Western \u2018Press\u2019”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “The CIA and Other Government Agencies\u00a0Have Long Used Propaganda Against the\u00a0American People\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow Reliable Is Reuters?\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “Western Media Blackout on the Reality in\u00a0Ukraine”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “The Propaganda War About Ukraine\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Most-Censored News\u00a0Story of 2014 Was\u00a0____(What?)_____.\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur \u2018Enemies\u2019 in Ukraine Speak”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEven America\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Media\u00a0Watchdogs\u2019 Hide\u00a0U.S.\u2019s Ukrainian\u00a0Nazification &\u00a0Ethnic Cleansing”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNYT, Chrystia Freeland, on Ukraine: \u2018This is not a civil war.\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDid NBC Cover Up Role of U.S.-Backed Free Syrian Army in 2012 Kidnapping of Richard Engel?\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “Massive News-Suppression\u00a0That\u2019s Become\u00a0History-Suppression”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n And, finally, here is an article that I did for Huffington Post, and which they \u2018published\u2019 but buried so that virtually nobody saw it; and the reason why they \u2018published\u2019 it but hid it from the public is obvious, when you understand how this country\u2019s dictatorship works:<\/span><\/p>\n “Hillary Clinton’s Two\u00a0Foreign-Policy\u00a0Catastrophes”<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Now that story became \u2018old news,\u2019 even though it never had really been reported to the public as being news \u2013 and, so, it still actually is<\/i> news, though it\u2019s about events that occurred in 2009-2012, and so it\u2019s history that is also, tragically, still<\/i> news (because it\u2019s still hidden).<\/span><\/p>\n In conclusion, regarding the title-question here: any purported national-news medium in the United States makes a choice between honestly reporting the news and being and staying small and not getting the major financial backing from the American aristocracy that would enable them to grow large; or else to sell out to the aristocracy.<\/span><\/p>\n The present news-article, like all I do, is being submitted free-of-charge to virtually all U.S. & UK national news media, including to CNN, NYT, HuffPo and the others I\u2019ve mentioned here, so that they will be able to indicate now a desire to open up to the public as is done in an authentic democracy, just by their giving the present article prominent position, and so documenting that though the U.S., at present, is not a democracy, they really do<\/i> want it to become<\/i> a democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n The American and UK \u2019news\u2019 media were not held accountable for their having assisted their respective heads-of-state to deceive their public into supporting an invasion that would be based on lies, about Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Here, now, will be an opportunity for these media to turn the corner and choose to cease being \u2018news\u2019 (actually propaganda) media for a fascism, and for them to become instead news media for a democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n Because there really is a choice to make between fake \u2018choices\u2019 between Democratic and Republican politicians (or Labor and Tory politicians), versus real choices between democratic and fascist politicians; but there won\u2019t be any democrat who can even possibly come to lead this country unless the aristocracy\u2019s grip on the \u2018news\u2019 media becomes replaced by something else: control by the public. Because a government that\u2019s answerable to the owners<\/i> of the \u2018news\u2019 media, instead of to the public, might as well itself own all the \u2018news\u2019 media (especially in our post Citizens United<\/i> world, where the Government is controlled by the aristocracy). It\u2019s not an authentic democracy, at all. And neither control by the aristocracy who control the government, nor control by the government itself, will allow a democracy to exist. The third option \u2013 direct control of the news-media by<\/i> the public, non-profit in a way that depends neither upon the aristocracy nor upon the government that the aristocrats control \u2013 is fundamental to the existence of any authentic democracy. How this can best be done is, of course, subject to debate. But that it must be done is a given for anyone who supports authentic democracy, because it\u2019s essential to democracy, especially in a post-Citizens-United<\/i> world.<\/span><\/p>\n And here is the bottom line on the current reality, to show that the United States, in particular, is, indeed, a dictatorship: \u201cUS Is an Oligarchy Not a Democracy, says Scientific Study.\u201d<\/span><\/a> So, if anyone tells you that the U.S. is a democracy, then just ask him or her to explain those findings. Because, now, you can<\/i> explain them. Those findings have been explained, right here. All of the explanation is empirical; none of it is imaginary, at all. Everything does<\/i> make sense. But it\u2019s not necessarily the sense that has been publicized. On some matters, only the nonsense is being publicized. Because that\u2019s far more profitable, to the people who hold the real power, in a dictatorship.<\/span><\/p>\n ———-<\/span><\/p>\n Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i> and of\u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0of\u00a0Feudalism, Fascism, Libertarianism and Economics<\/i><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eric Zuesse During the days of the Soviet Union, and in all dictatorial countries, the \u2018news\u2019 media were and are actually propaganda-media, which filter out information that the aristocracy (the people holding the real power, which in the Soviet Union were the Communist Party bosses) don\u2019t want the public to know. Is the United States […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":281697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,1622],"tags":[115,30,27,32,96,535,38,59,526,524,523,49,76,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-145997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials","8":"category-featured","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-big-brother","11":"tag-bush","12":"tag-cia","13":"tag-cover-up","14":"tag-global-news","15":"tag-iraq","16":"tag-military","17":"tag-propaganda","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-ukraine","20":"tag-usa-news","21":"tag-warfare","22":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}