*Ø* Blogmanac April 9, 2003 | How they faked the toppling of Hussein's statue
2003 The US Military faked the tearing down of the statue of Saddam Hussein for the world's media.
For Donald Rumsfeld the scene was "breathtaking". For the British Army it was "historic". For BBC Radio it was "amazing". For people who discovered how they did it, it was a cynical exercise of the Bush administration in deceiving the people of the United States of America, and of the world.
On televisions around the world, the US government, with the complicity of media corporations and their 'embedded' journalists, told the lie that crowds of rapturous locals pulled down Hussein's statue in the main square of Baghdad. This, of course, was a utilisation of the time-tested archetype the world is familiar with, especially from the time of the fall of the Soviet Union when statues of Lenin came tumbling down in many places. Military public relations officers must have seen the significance and thus staged the Baghdad event. Here's how it was done:
What really happened
Photos from a hotel adjacent to the square, plainly show US military vehicles and tanks preventing access to the square, with only a small number of people assembled at the statue. Because the manipulated media showed the world close-up footage and adroitly cropped photos of the so-called 'crowd', it falsely appeared that jubilant Iraqis were tearing down the statue.
In fact, Rumsfeld's "breathtaking" crowd was basically just a few military and managed media personnel, and some Iraqis brought in for the photo opportunity, some of whom has just arrived from outside the country, it has been alleged. At the time, the true version of the events circulated widely on the Internet, including the Almanac, much to the anger of people worldwide.
Insult to injury
But wait, there's more. While Dubya scratches his head and asks "Why do they hate us?", the US military made yet another tactical blunder even bigger than this pretence that Iraq will now be happy and the US has finished its job there. To top off the charade, they clumsily revealed that they had not come on a spurious 'WMDs' mission but to gain control of some great oil-rich Middle Eastern real estate. This they did by draping a flag over the statue's head. An Iraqi people's flag? No, the good ol' stars 'n' stripes was unfurled, watched by simmering billions worldwide.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
2003 The US Military faked the tearing down of the statue of Saddam Hussein for the world's media.
For Donald Rumsfeld the scene was "breathtaking". For the British Army it was "historic". For BBC Radio it was "amazing". For people who discovered how they did it, it was a cynical exercise of the Bush administration in deceiving the people of the United States of America, and of the world.
On televisions around the world, the US government, with the complicity of media corporations and their 'embedded' journalists, told the lie that crowds of rapturous locals pulled down Hussein's statue in the main square of Baghdad. This, of course, was a utilisation of the time-tested archetype the world is familiar with, especially from the time of the fall of the Soviet Union when statues of Lenin came tumbling down in many places. Military public relations officers must have seen the significance and thus staged the Baghdad event. Here's how it was done:
What really happened
Photos from a hotel adjacent to the square, plainly show US military vehicles and tanks preventing access to the square, with only a small number of people assembled at the statue. Because the manipulated media showed the world close-up footage and adroitly cropped photos of the so-called 'crowd', it falsely appeared that jubilant Iraqis were tearing down the statue.
In fact, Rumsfeld's "breathtaking" crowd was basically just a few military and managed media personnel, and some Iraqis brought in for the photo opportunity, some of whom has just arrived from outside the country, it has been alleged. At the time, the true version of the events circulated widely on the Internet, including the Almanac, much to the anger of people worldwide.
Insult to injury
But wait, there's more. While Dubya scratches his head and asks "Why do they hate us?", the US military made yet another tactical blunder even bigger than this pretence that Iraq will now be happy and the US has finished its job there. To top off the charade, they clumsily revealed that they had not come on a spurious 'WMDs' mission but to gain control of some great oil-rich Middle Eastern real estate. This they did by draping a flag over the statue's head. An Iraqi people's flag? No, the good ol' stars 'n' stripes was unfurled, watched by simmering billions worldwide.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 11:07 PM | Permalink
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