September propaganda spectacular
So here we are, a day before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, at the launch of what could be an unprecedented week of Washington-generated propaganda.
Bill Bonner, in his new book co-authored with Lila Rajiva – Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets — describes how every “public spectacle” begins with a lie, then descends into farce, and ends in disaster. The Iraq war is clearly in a farcical stage, when U.S. forces are arming the nationalist Sunnis they used to fight… so as to help defeat the jihadist Sunnis they’re still fighting… even though the nationalist Sunnis have no intention of lining up with the American-backed government in Baghdad, which is dominated by Shiites.
And so Gen. Petraeus will lie to Congress today and tomorrow so as to keep the farce going: He’ll say the “surge” needs more time to demonstrate its effectiveness. (So much for all that talk about September being the decisive month; the can keeps getting kicked down the road, one Friedman Unit at a time.)
But we knew this already. What Petraeus was going to say has been telegraphed for weeks now. Which makes me think he just might just try to make some actual news during his testimony and drop a bombshell in the form of some new lie that Iran is doing dastardly deeds to U.S. forces in Iraq — a lie far more dramatic than the ones thus far.
The Petraeus testimony coincides neatly with an “attack-Iran” push featuring a big speech today by Newt Gingrich, followed tomorrow by the release of a book by ur-neocon Michael Ledeen. So to deflect attention from any questions about the dodgy numbers he’ll trot out, Petraeus could very well try to gin up the mob against Iran.
And from his point of view, why shouldn’t he? Polls show the mob sees the military as more trustworthy than the White House when it comes to Iraq. Never mind that Petraeus’s status as White House lackey is clearly documented by now.
All of this will lead up to a prime-time address by the man in the White House on Thursday. The groundwork could well be laid by then for some sort of ultimatum against Iran. A new lie about Iran could be an ideal way to deflect attention from the fact Iraq is descending from farce into disaster.
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