An experienced British officer serving in Iraq has written to the BBC describing the invasion as “illegal, immoral and unwinnable” which, he says, is “the overwhelming feeling of many of my peers”. In a letter to the BBC’s Newsnight and Medialens.org he accuses the media’s “embedded coverage with the US Army” of failing to question “the intentions and continuing effects of the US-led invasion and occupation”. He says most British soldiers regard their tours as “loathsome”, during which they “reluctantly [provide] target practice for insurgents, senselessly haemorrhaging casualties and squandering soldiers’ lives, as part of Bush’s vain attempt to delay the inevitable Anglo-US rout until after the next US election.” He appeals to journalists not to swallow “the official line/ White House propaganda”. In 1970, I made a film in Vietnam called The Quiet Mutiny in which GIs spoke out about their hatred of that war and its “official line/White House propaganda”. The experiences in Iraq and Vietnam are both very different and strikingly similar. There was much less “embedded coverage” in Vietnam, although there was censorship by omission, which is standard practice today.
Kar je pri Iraku drugačno, je pripravljenost navadno poslušnih britanskih vojakov, da povedo svoje mnenje, od generala Richarda Dannatta, sedanjega poveljnika britanske vojske, ki je dejal, da prisotnost njegovih čet v Iraku "poslabuje varnostni problem", do generala Michaela Rosea, ki je pozval k obtožbi Tonyja Blaira, ker je Veliko Britanijo popeljal v vojno "na lažni podlagi" – pripombe, ki so blage v primerjavi z blogi odredov.
Drugače pa je tudi vse večja zavest britanskih sil in javnosti o tem, kako se "uradna linija" izvaja prek medijev. To je lahko precej grobo: na primer, ko je obrambni dopisnik BBC-ja v Iraku opisal cilj anglo-ameriške invazije kot "prinašanje demokracije in človekovih pravic" v Irak. Direktorica televizije BBC Helen Boaden ga je podkrepila s šopom Blairovih citatov, da je bil to res cilj, kar namiguje, da je Blairova razvpita beseda dovolj.
Pogosteje se uporablja cenzura z opustitvijo: na primer z opustitvijo dejstva, da je skoraj 80 odstotkov napadov usmerjenih proti okupacijskim silam (vir: Pentagon), da se ustvari vtis, da se okupatorji trudijo po svojih najboljših močeh. ločevati »vojskujoča se plemena« in so krizni menedžerji, ne pa vzrok krize.
There is a last-ditch sense about this kind of propaganda. Seymour Hersh said recently, “[In April, the Bush administration] made a decision that because of the totally dwindling support for the war in Iraq, they would go back to the al-Qaeda card, although there’s no empirical basis. Most of the pros will tell you the foreign fighters are a couple of per cent and they’re sort of leaderless . . . there’s no attempt to suggest there’s any significant co-ordination of these groups, but the press keeps going ga-ga about al-Qaeda . . . it’s just amazing to me.”
Ga-ga day at the London Guardian was 22 May. “Iran’s secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq”, said the front-page banner headline. “Iran is secretly forging ties with al Qaeda elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq,” wrote Simon Tisdall from Washington, “in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition int- ended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say.” The entire tale was based on anonymous US official sources. No attempt was made to substantiate their “firm evidence” or explain the illogic of their claims. No journalistic scepticism was even hinted, which is amazing considering the web of proven lies spun from Washington over Iraq. Moreover, it had a curious tone of something-must-be-done insistence, reminiscent of Judith Miller’s scandalous reports in the New York Times claiming that Saddam was about to launch his weapons of mass destruction and beckoning Bush to invade. Tisdall in effect offered the same invitation; I can remember few more irresponsible pieces of journalism. The British public and the people of Iran, deserve better. John Pilger’s new book, Freedom Next Time, is published by Nation Books in the US.