Rampton, Sheldon and Stauber, John. Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq. New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003. 248 pages.

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber work for the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin. This and two previous books by them focus on the public relations aspects of American media. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was planned by PR specialists, as much as by military strategists at the Pentagon. In fact, a select group of neocons, lobbyists, and ideologues, from the think tanks and the first Bush administration, had been working the spin for years.

The invasion was a media event. The Pentagon's "Combat Camera" crew manufactured the Jessica Lynch rescue, while real journalists were carefully "embedded" with American and British troops, and told to clear out of areas where they might have an opportunity to report on the human cost of the invasion. Our major American media only wanted some video of troops on the move -- "soft" images were just fine, and even preferable to coverage that would have been more realistic, but also more controversial. The media became a parody of itself. This abdication of media responsibility is reminiscent of the Tonkin Gulf days of 1964, and may yet turn Iraq into a quagmire of equal proportions. As was the case in Vietnam, perhaps some better coverage will emerge a few years from now, too little and too late.
ISBN 1-58542-276-2

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