Media Manipulation 101....

Take a look at today's print copy of the N.Y. Times.

Front page, center, is a photo and below it a story about the rage of Iraqi citizens over the appointment of a senior Baath Party member to be minister of health, entitled, "Hussein Loyalists Rise Again, Enraging Iraqis." (Online here.)

In the right-hand column, traditionally reserved for the day's most important story, is a piece entitled, "New U.S. Concerns on Iran's Pursuit of Nuclear Arms." It begins:

WASHINGTON, May 7 — The Bush administration is concerned that Iran has stepped up its covert nuclear program, and the government is now seeking broad international support for an official finding that Tehran has violated its commitment not to produce nuclear weapons, officials said today.

The officials said that the United States was pressing nations that sit on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which oversees peaceful nuclear programs, to declare that Iran has violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it has signed.

Such a finding could lead to punitive action by the United Nations, adding pressure on Iran, which is already nervous about American troops in Iraq, the officials said.... [Emphasis mine.] (Online here.)

Note, even the language employed by U.S. officials and reported in the Times mimics that which led up to our invasion of Iraq.

Not only that, the language is downright misleading. "New concerns?" What exactly is new? Bush, Rumsfeld and others have been openly gunning for Iran ever since the tide of battle turned against the outgunned, overrun Iraqis. "Seeking broad international support" from organizations like the I.A.E.A. and the U.N.? Since when? The Bush junta not only told these institutions they were irrelevant, they rolled right over them to invade Iraq.

Please. Don't parrot government press-releases and call it news.

Regarding the first story, I am not at all surprised that the Bush administration is appointing Baath Party loyalists to high positions in Iraq. Are you? Expect it to become the norm. It suits Bush's aims and besides, what's the alternative? Appoint inexperienced Shiites and sit back and wait for an Islamic revolution?

Overall, this latest development simply confirms that our invasion of Iraq was not about introducing democracy to the Middle East, freedom for Iraqis, or weapons of mass destruction. And to ensure that not too much attention is given to this somewhat embarrassing fact, we have column right. Oh no! Iran is developing weapons of mass destruction. We have to do something!

Nuclear proliferation and an impending war against Iran will distract Americans from a host of major problems on the home front. News of mass-layoffs--teachers, city employees, workers in the private sector--are buried deep, if reported at all. Decimation of social programs, the collapse of infrastructure, rising prices and falling incomes, failing health and no health-insurance. All of it receives scant, if any, attention, in this carefully cultivated hysterical climate.

And that's just fine, because it works in favor of Bush's re-election! Which--along with the wealthy making money hand-over-fist--is what it's all about.