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[OPIRG-EVENTS] Thur Apr 11: History of Deception to Rally the Public to War
"The Historical Use of Deception to Rally Public
Support for Wars"
a talk by Richard Sanders,
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
(COAT)
Thursday, April 11, 2002, 7:30 p.m.
Parkdale United Church
429 Parkdale Ave.
(at the corner of Parkdale and Gladstone Aves.)
Organized by Ploughshares Ottawa.
---------------------------------
BACKGROUND:
Throughout history, war planners have built
public consent for wars by fabricating,
manipulating
or exploiting tragic human events. For example,
every major war that the US has ever engaged in
was entered into following such an incident. The
incidents were then used as pretexts to stir up
support for the US to become involved in, or to
launch, these major wars. Such incidents are
also
used as pretexts to cover up the real, economic
reasons for engaging in these wars.
This strategy is also used to justify acts across
the entire spectrum of violence, right down to
school yard brawls. When bullies justify their
right to beat up their classmates, they are often
heard to say: "He hit me first!" Whether or not
the bully *was* hit first cannot always be known.
The bully might be lying so as to be able to
justify his brutality with the argument of
self-defence. (Those who deliberately inflict
violence on
others are likely willing to lie about it. Lying
is a form of violence against the truth.) Even
if the bully *was* hit first, it is not always
possible to know what preceeded that first blow.
Did the bully tease, taunt, threaten, harass or
otherwise provoke the other child to throw that
"first" punch?
At the other end of the spectrum of violence,
incidents are created as pretexts to spark war
hysteria and to ensure that governments give
their
support to war planners whose goal is to launch
major wars that may last many years and in which
millions may die. Every time the U.S. has entered
into a major war, it was reported by the
mainstream/corporate media that a dramatic
incident had
occured in which Americans or their allies were
unjustifiably attacked. These incidents are used
to
arouse widespread public sympathy and support for
US military action against the aggressor. The
media recounts the official version of events,
the
public unquestioningly accepts the event's
description at face value, politicians rally
behind the
cause and a war is publically born. In every
case, evidence later emerges that directly
contradicts the official account of the incident.
The
more one digs into these incidents that have been
used to spark wars, the more suspicious they
become.
In my talk I will focus on major examples from
U.S. military history. This is not to say that
the
US is the only military power to have fabricated,
provoked or manipulated tragic incidents and used
them as pretexts, or false excuses, for war. Such
trickery has probably been employed by every
military power that has ever existed. I will
focus
on US military history because:
(1) the US and Canada are geographic neighbours,
the world's closest economic trading partners and
close military allies integrated into military
pacts,
(2) Canada tends to support US wars, if not with
troops, then at least with weapons' supplies and
diplomatic support,
(3) Like Americans, Canadians are subject to
powerful US media influences, including those
which
rally the public to war,
(4) the US is the world's biggest military
spender, has engaged in numerous large overt wars
and
is now a rogue superpower engaged in what its
officials descibe as a "War on Terrorism" that --
like the Cold War -- may last generations.
I want to make it clear that the purpose of this
talk is *not* to argue that the September 11
attacks are an example of the type of incident
that I
am describing.
My purpose is to briefly review the histroical
phenomena of creating or manipulating false
incidents as pretexts for war and to cite some of
the
many specific examples that are well-documented
from U.S. history. For instance:
1846: Provocation in the Rio Grande --
Mexican-American War
1898: Sinking the USS Maine -- Spanish-American
War
1915: Sinking of the Lusitania - WWI
1941: Bombing Pearl Harbour -- WWII
1950: Provoking Attack - Korean War
1962: Operation Northwoods - Declassified plans
for pretexts to provoke war with Cuba
1964: Gulf of Tonkin - Vietnam War
1979: Arming the Mujahadeen - War in Afghanistan
1989: US soldier killed -- Invasion of Panama
1991: Greenlight for Invasion & Incubators -- War
Against Iraq
1999: Massacre in Racak - NATO War Against
Yugoslavia
I will attempt to:
(a) identify the recurring elements and patterns
that exist in these incidents,
(b) discuss how they have been used to legitimize
US entry into wars and
(c) show that they are used to mask the real
reasons why war planners wanted to get the US
involved in these wars.
Why is this important to peace activists?
We must assume that war planners will continue to
use such methods to deceive the public. False
pretexts for wars will again be manufactured to
cover up the fact that wars are largely fought
for
economic and geostrategic purposes. These real
reasons behind wars often remain hidden from
public
view. An important role for peace activists is
to make it as difficult as possible for war
planners to deceive the public into supporting
their
wars. This entails exposing the cleverly hidden,
usually economic, reasons for which wars are
really being fought. It means asking who benefits
from
war, repression and the suspension of civil
liberties. It means promoting a healthy
skepticism
about government postures and corporate media
stories which promote our societies' involvement
in
wars and war profiteering. It means helping
others
to learn about history so they will begin to take
official stories with a grain of salt. It means
fostering patterns of research that include the
careful examination of as many alternative,
independent sources of information as possible
before
deciding whether or not to believe that the
official story about such incidents is true.
Specifically, it means questioning the details
about
tragic incidents that are exploited as pretexts
to
rally people and governments to support wars.
If the public was told that our country should go
to war so a small group of multi-millionaires and
billionaires will be able to ruthlessly exploit,
plunder and profit from natural resources in far
away lands, people would say "no."
If the public was told to support a war because
our business leaders wanted to install or prop up
a friendly regime in a faraway land so that their
sweat shops and factories could continue to use
virtual slave labour, people would say "no."
If the public was told to support a war to
empower a foreign government's attacks against
unions,
human rights activists and advocates for strict
environmental laws, then the public here would
say
"no."
Because the war planners know that people will
NOT support their wars, if the truth were told
about why they are being fought, they have for
millenia invented deceptive pretexts for going to
war.
They have manipulated public opinion and used
countless forms of trickery to make people think
that wars are being fought for noble and
humanitarian purposes.
To be aware of this history of deception is
strengthen our guard against falling prey to such
trickery in the future.
Richard Sanders
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Richard Sanders, Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose
the Arms Trade (COAT)
(A network of individuals and NGOs across Canada
and around the world)
Tel: 613-231-3076 Email: ad207@ncf.ca Web:
http://www.ncf.ca/coat
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