How the Pentagon Planted a False Hormuz Story

[JohnyCanuck]

POLITICS-US: How the Pentagon Planted a False Hormuz Story
Analysis by Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (IPS) - Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the Jan. 6 U.S.-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.

The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defence for public affairs in charge of media operations Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the Navy itself.

Then the Navy disseminated a short video into which was spliced the audio of a phone call warning that U.S. warships would "explode" in "a few seconds". Although it was ostensibly a Navy production, IPS has learned that the ultimate decision on its content was made by top officials of the Defence Department.

SNIP

The decision to treat the Jan. 6 incident as evidence of an Iranian threat reveals a chasm between the interests of political officials in Washington and Navy officials in the Gulf. Asked whether the Navy's reporting of the episode was distorted by Pentagon officials, Cmdr Robertson of 5th Fleet Public Affairs would not comment directly. But she said, "There is a different perspective over there."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40801

[fasttense]

1. Isn't it grand that our military is being used as a political tool

to subvert American Democracy. Can't wait to see what they do as we get closer to the general election and it becomes evident the American Dictator's party wont get reelected.

[Angela Shelley]

2. I agree with you fasttense

Keep the safety gear handy, there is alot at stake for the dic´s party

[mediaman007]

3. This should be at the top of the list when Congress returns to session!

I can't believe that we will tolerate disinformation from our own government being used on our own citizens! Heads should roll in the Pentagon, including the Secretary of Defense! None of this "investigate itself" either.

This issue is of enough significance that both Republicans and Democrats should be able to unite. Its time that the Pentagon worked for the people, rather than expecting the people to kiss its ass.

No offense to any military people hear, but its pretty hard to support the troops, when they are being led by officers with little concern for the Constitution.

[Angela Shelley]

4. Definitely more important that "Doping" in the world of baseball

[Echo In Light]

5. The Pentagram has never once been used to protect America from anything or anyone

Helps to keep that in mind.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Can't remember who posted this link last week

but it put the issue in perspective with regard to location and rights : http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA15Ak02.html

edit : it was "Satyagrahi" - see here too :
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3142028

[FogerRox]

7. Speedboats of mass destruction

[JohnyCanuck]

8. The movie-myth version of reality

The eternal underdog: From the savage redskin to the Gulf of Tonkin to the Strait of Hormuz

By Robert Koehler

SNIP

The basic elements of the hackneyed plotline are simple: Innocent Americans, minding their own business — the U.S. warships were, after all, in "international waters" — are waylaid by a savage and unscrupulous (and, if possible, non-white) enemy, who proceeds to commit an outrage that cannot be overlooked, and the enemy is efficiently dealt with. The key is that, regardless of our own heavily armed belligerence, we see and portray ourselves as the underdog, fighting off the savages only because we have no other choice. And God, yet again, is on our side.

"As the enemy bore down without warning from the peripheries of human existence, whooping and screeching, burning and killing, the viewer, inside a defensive circle of wagons, found himself behind the sights of a rifle," writes Tom Engelhardt in his excellent 1995 book, "The End of Victory Culture." He is describing the quintessential myth of the nation's becoming — our march of destiny, in constant danger from the treachery of savages — as it was served to the American public over and over again by the entertainment industry.

"It was, then," he goes on, "with finger pressing on trigger that American children received an unforgettable history of their country's westward progress to dominance. In this tale, you had no choice. Either you pulled the trigger or you died, for war was invariably portrayed as a series of reactive incidents rather than organized and invasive campaigns."

The movie-myth version of reality is imprinted more deeply than ever on the nation's consciousness, and we fit our news into its convenient categories of understanding whenever possible. We're collectively poised to feel threatened, take offense and lash out at our perceived enemy with unimaginable firepower. And when the news doesn't quite fit into these mythical categories, we're prepared to make it fit. It's as though the agents of the national war economy can no longer help themselves. To my mind, this is far more frightening than whatever did in fact happen in the Strait of Hormuz last week.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12216