{"id":232444,"date":"2023-04-03T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=232444"},"modified":"2023-03-28T05:44:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T04:44:12","slug":"the-dwindling-band-of-iraq-obsessives-endless-war-and-media-complicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/04\/the-dwindling-band-of-iraq-obsessives-endless-war-and-media-complicity\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Dwindling Band of Iraq Obsessives\u2019 \u2013 Endless War and Media Complicity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_232445\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Baghdad-bombing-usa-pentagon-nato-iraq-war.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-232445\" class=\"wp-image-232445\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Baghdad-bombing-usa-pentagon-nato-iraq-war.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Baghdad-bombing-usa-pentagon-nato-iraq-war.jpg 678w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Baghdad-bombing-usa-pentagon-nato-iraq-war-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-232445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ramzi Haidar \/ AFP \/ Getty<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>27 Mar 2023 &#8211; <\/em>The 20<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the illegal US\/UK-led invasion of Iraq has demonstrated once again the subservience of state and corporate media to Western power. Jeremy Bowen, the BBC\u2019s international editor, veered as close to the truth as BBC News allows in an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-64976144\" >online piece<\/a> as well as a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100064601322892\/videos\/875566883536350\" >segment<\/a> of its flagship News at Ten on BBC1.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The invasion of March 2003 was\u2019, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-64976144\" >wrote<\/a> Bowen, \u2018a catastrophe for Iraq and its people.\u2019 He noted that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018George Bush and Tony Blair embarked on a war of choice that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The justifications for the invasion were soon shown to be untrue. The weapons of mass destruction that Tony Blair insisted, eloquently, made Saddam a clear and present danger, turned out not to exist. It was a failure not just of intelligence but of leadership.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bowen added a further observation on the death toll:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018No-one knows exactly how many Iraqis have died as a result of the 2003 invasion. Estimates are all in the hundreds of thousands.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But this was false. A reliable estimate is that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2015\/03\/26\/body-count-report-reveals-least-13-million-lives-lost-us-led-war-terror\" ><em>at least one million Iraqis died<\/em><\/a> as a result of the invasion.<\/p>\n<p>On BBC News at Ten, Bowen did not even mention Blair or Bush; far less label them as \u2018war criminals\u2019 in the eyes of many viewers and expert commentators. Indeed, BBC \u2018balance\u2019 meant that salient facts were not mentioned; the usual insidious phenomenon of state-corporate <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2021\/propaganda-by-omission-libya-syria-venezuela-and-the-uk\/\" >\u2018propaganda by omission\u2019<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>not calling the 2003 US-UK invasion of Iraq a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=E_G8CIMnUbo\" >\u2018war of aggression\u2019<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>not pointing out that, by the standards of Nuremberg, it was the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2GFh4vZbjYc\" >supreme international crime<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>not mentioning that the UN sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s resulted in an estimated <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/reliefweb.int\/report\/iraq\/sanctioned-genocide-was-price-disarming-iraq-worth-it\" >death toll<\/a> of 1.5 million, including over <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/citizentruth.org\/denis-halliday-a-voice-of-reason-in-an-insane-world\/\" >half a million children under five<\/a>. The sanctions were described as <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/reliefweb.int\/report\/iraq\/sanctioned-genocide-was-price-disarming-iraq-worth-it\" >\u2018genocidal\u2019<\/a> by senior UN officials Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck. Bowen said merely that the sanctions had \u2018made a lot of people suffer\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bowen is, of course, not alone in the state-corporate media for never stating these essential facts about the Iraq war, and the awful impact of criminal UN sanctions that preceded it. As Noam Chomsky <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2GFh4vZbjYc&amp;t=145s\" >said<\/a> in an MSNBC interview with Mehdi Hasan:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018It\u2019s a very striking fact that in twenty years you cannot find \u2013 at least, I have not found \u2013 a single statement, one sentence, anywhere near the mainstream that says the most elementary truth: it [the invasion of Iraq] was the supreme international crime of aggression.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Chomsky added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In fact, war has been refashioned in liberal commentary as a kind of mercy mission to rescue suffering Iraqis from an evil dictator.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein\u2019s statue in Baghdad\u2019s Firdos Square was brought down by US Marines using an M88 armoured recovery vehicle on 9 April 2003, Andrew Marr, then BBC political editor, delivered a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5_JC371jxPI\" >career-defining speech<\/a> to the nation from outside 10 Downing Street:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Frankly, the main mood [in Downing Street] is of unbridled relief. I\u2019ve been watching ministers wander around with smiles like split watermelons.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>(BBC News At Ten, 9 April, 2003)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So, what was the significance of this moment for Prime Minister Tony Blair? Marr explained:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018It gives him a new freedom and a new self-confidence. He confronted many critics. I don\u2019t think anybody after this is going to be able to say of Tony Blair that he\u2019s somebody who is driven by the drift of public opinion, or focus groups, or opinion polls. He took all of those on. He said that they would be able to take Baghdad without a bloodbath, and that in the end the Iraqis would be celebrating. And on both of those points he has been proved conclusively right. And it would be entirely ungracious, even for his critics, not to acknowledge that tonight he stands as a larger man and a stronger prime minister as a result.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This piece of political \u2018analysis\u2019 was no blip. It is, in fact, typical of the Washington-Downing Street narrative that is the very cornerstone of BBC \u2018impartiality\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Now, twenty years later, Andrew Marr <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@lbc\/video\/7212934722639547675?_r=1&amp;_t=8aq9tkH0kqc\" >says<\/a> his 2003 broadcast was \u2018terribly badly misjudged\u2019. It was the most pathetic of <em>mea culpas<\/em>. There was no acknowledgement of his or the BBC\u2019s role in selling a war that has had such appalling repercussions for millions of people in Iraq, elsewhere in the Middle East and the wider world.<\/p>\n<p>Marr said:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In my diary, I find I went to bed perplexed, unsure and exhausted.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It certainly didn\u2019t look that way on the day. In reality, we suspect Marr was exhausted from beaming his own \u2018smiles like split watermelons\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Roger Mosey, who was in charge of BBC television news when the 2003 invasion of Iraq took place, recently <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rogermosey\/status\/1635576532964876288\" >said<\/a> on Twitter:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018I spent 33 years in the BBC and could not comment on government policy. But that\u2019s because if you want to hold the powerful to account, it is better for the organisation and individuals within it to be seen as impartial.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He gave a supposed example of this by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rogermosey\/status\/1636054412907905029\" >linking<\/a> to a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C7diGPVOWtI\" >BBC Newsnight special<\/a> from 2003:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Blair on Iraq with a 100% critical audience and Paxman. That would have been much harder if any of us in the BBC team had been known as Labour or Conservative supporters.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In fact, as we detailed at the time in a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2003\/blairs-betrayal-part-1-the-newsnight-debate-dismantling-the-case-for-war\/\" >media alert<\/a>, far from holding Blair to account, Paxman\u2019s \u2018challenge wilted at the first sign of resistance\u2019 from the Prime Minister. It was a desperate failure by Paxman. He ignored essentially all of the key points that we and many other members of the public emailed to him directly, urging him to raise them with Blair.<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/category\/alerts\/\" >historical record<\/a> shows that there is, of course, a long-standing, institutionalised media aversion to seriously challenging establishment power of even the most ruthless and cynical kind. The BBC is very much part of that same system of power.<\/p>\n<p><strong>War Pushers And Apologists<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What about the \u2018liberal\u2019 Guardian? Consider its star columnist Jonathan Freedland who claimed in a cleverly self-serving <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230317231604\/https:\/amp.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2023\/mar\/17\/iraq-war-spies-labour-invasion-conflict\" >retrospective<\/a> on the Iraq war that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018I was writing on these pages back then, arguing that the case George W Bush and Tony Blair were making for war did not add up.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This was remarkable chutzpah.<\/p>\n<p>Freedland was actually one of the first journalists to sell the case for attacking Iraq. His November 2001 article titled, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230322115340\/https:\/amp.theguardian.com\/politics\/2001\/nov\/21\/iraq.politicalcolumnists\" >\u2018Turning Towards Iraq\u2019<\/a>, was essentially one long uncritical list of US war hawks\u2019 reasons for targeting Iraq after Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>We devoted a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2001\/turning-towards-iraq\/\" >media alert<\/a> at the time to this terrible piece:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The article appears neutral \u2013 Freedland is merely communicating the Hawks\u2019 views. But by communicating <em>only<\/em> their views, the net result is that the Hawks are made to seem almost reasonable. In the absence of critical comment or balancing argument (unless we consider a brief reference to Colin Powell\u2019 s \u201ccautious\u201d approach balance), the reader is left nodding.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In his recent Guardian <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230317231604\/https:\/amp.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2023\/mar\/17\/iraq-war-spies-labour-invasion-conflict\" >article<\/a>, Freedland quotes the BBC\u2019s security correspondent, Gordon Corera:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In my mind, the original sin lay with the spies \u2013 who got it wrong.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The \u2018original sin\u2019, in fact, lay with politicians and journalists who fraudulently claimed that possession of chemical or biological weapons justified the invasion of a country that had not attacked or even threatened the West.<\/p>\n<p>Freedland affected to show how deeply he cared about the suffering of Iraqis. And yet, as far back as 2011, in discussing Tony Blair\u2019s appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry, Freedland <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2011\/jan\/21\/chilcot-inquiry-blair-jonathan-freedland\" >wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018It was an electric close to what had seemed set to be a rather dry session, one of interest to few beyond the families in mourning and the dwindling band of Iraq obsessives.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Journalist and filmmaker John Pilger <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnpilger\/status\/1638677091309977600\" >observed<\/a> of Freedland\u2019s abysmal article:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Jonathan Freedland, voice of the Guardian, blames \u201cspooks and politicians\u201d for the destruction of Iraq \u2013 not journalists who sold it. Freedland made the criminal Blair seem reasonable, allowing his hero to say, unchallenged, he brought \u201ca ripple of change\u201d to the Middle East.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Freedland is one of many journalists and commentators whose uncritical acceptance, sometimes enthusiastic championing, of pro-war rhetoric has not hindered their media careers; quite the contrary.<\/p>\n<p>Infamously, David Aaronovitch, a high-ranking officer of the corporate media\u2019s 101st Chairborne Division, once devoted a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/g2\/story\/0,3604,945381,00.html\" >Guardian column<\/a> with the key message that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018If nothing is eventually found, I \u2013 as a supporter of the war \u2013 will never believe another thing that I am told by our government, or that of the US ever again. And, more to the point, neither will anyone else. Those weapons had better be there somewhere.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Presumably aware this would become his journalistic epitaph, one year later \u2013 with no Iraqi WMD to be found \u2013 he published a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/politics\/2004\/feb\/17\/iraq.iraq\" >lame, exculpatory piece<\/a>, pleading \u2018Was I wrong about Iraq?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Aaronovitch has since enjoyed long employment with Rupert Murdoch\u2019s Times and has backed every US-UK \u2018humanitarian intervention\u2019 to \u2018bomb the world better\u2019 ever since. Aaronovitch has continued to \u2018believe\u2019 US-UK government war propaganda more fervently than ever. Not that we actually <em>believe<\/em> he \u2018believes\u2019 any of it \u2013 he\u2019s not a fool.<\/p>\n<p>On the 20<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Double Down News published <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DoubleDownNews\/status\/1637805143377817602\" >a short clip<\/a>, clearly inspired and informed by the work of Media Lens, titled:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Never Forget how the Media Sold, Enabled &amp; Whitewashed the War\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The pattern of successful careers for politicians, journalists and commentators \u2013 who should all have been utterly discredited, if not held accountable for war crimes \u2013 has been repeated on both sides of the Atlantic. Here, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Alastair Campbell are still feted as respected elder statesmen and knowledgeable \u2018experts\u2019 on domestic and world affairs.<\/p>\n<p>Having <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-64891734\" >survived accusations<\/a> that he had tainted the BBC\u2019s otherwise spotless record of \u2018impartiality\u2019, football commentator Gary Lineker repeatedly tweeted praise for Alastair Campbell\u2019s discussions about the Iraq war on Campbell\u2019s podcast, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/the-rest-is-politics\/id1611374685\" >\u2018The Rest Is Politics\u2019<\/a>. Lineker <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GaryLineker\/status\/1635948972995952640\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GaryLineker\/status\/1635948972995952640\">opined<\/a> sagely:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The long awaited addressing of the elephant in the room, and it\u2019s every bit as fascinating and illuminating as you would expect.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/medialens\/status\/1635988244742414336\" >commented<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018This ought to provoke deep outrage \u2013 Campbell authentically shares responsibility for an illegal war of aggression that took one million human lives. But hailing him as an Iraq war illuminator is fine, nobody notices \u2013 certainly no impartiality concern here.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To be fair, the Spectator <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/alastair-campbell-spins-for-gary-lineker\/\" >did notice a problem<\/a> with Lineker\u2019s support for Campbell (and Campbell\u2019s earlier support for Lineker):<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Campbell stars on the Rest Is Politics podcast, which is produced by Goalhanger Productions, owned by one G Lineker.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But, of course, Campbell\u2019s responsibility for mass death in Iraq went unmentioned, being of interest only to \u2018the dwindling band of Iraq obsessives\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The Blairite virus is running rampant once again in the Tory-lite Labour party under its Blairbot leader Sir Keir Starmer. His Shadow \u2018Defence\u2019 Secretary, John Healey, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnHealey_MP\/status\/1637764379167817734\" >tweeted<\/a> this on the anniversary of the illegal invasion that led to over one million Iraqi deaths:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Twenty years after the beginning of Operation Telic in Iraq, we thank all who served and remember the 179 personnel who lost their lives. The war has had an enduring impact for many, and we renew our commitment today to support all those who have served in our Armed Forces.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As Mark Curtis, director and co-founder of Declassified UK, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/markcurtis30\/status\/1638811795019423745\" >said<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018This was the sum total of what Labour\u2019s defence spokesperson said on Iraq while its foreign affairs spokesperson \u2013 the laughable David Lammy \u2013 tweeted nothing at all. Labour is cool with a few hundred thousand dead. They\u2019re the junior imperialist party.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The replies to Healey\u2019s tweet from members of the public were heartening to read; people with souls and insight. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/respeak_uk\/status\/1637919680382763010\" >Such as<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Illegal wars of aggression are so cool when we do them.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Olliek74\/status\/1637778557802893315\" >And<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018No comment on the hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, the destabilisation of the region, leading to the rise of ISIS? This really is a disgusting tweet\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AScribbledEagle\/status\/1637842253447135239\" >And<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Twenty years after an illegal invasion you voted for, you can\u2019t even bring yourself to apologise to the people of Iraq\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>War! Good For Profit And Careers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Across the pond, US media\u2019s Iraq war pushers are doing very well twenty years later, as media critic Adam Johnson <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/us-medias-iraq-war-pushers-20-years-on-where-are-they-now-rich-and-influential\" >observed<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018It\u2019s not just that media figures who sold the most devastating war crime of the 21st century never faced any professional consequences\u2014they\u2019re more powerful and influential now than ever.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>David Frum was a head writer for the Bush White House and coined the term \u2018Axis of Evil.\u2019 He later became a well-paid and prestigious columnist for The Atlantic, an influential US magazine, and a regular contributor to cable TV.<\/p>\n<p>Another example is Jeffrey Goldberg. He was a reporter at The New Yorker who promoted conspiracy theories linking Saddam to the 9\/11 attacks. Goldberg is now\u00a0 editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Johnson pointed out that:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Like everyone else on this list, he [Goldberg] has used recent Russian meddling in US elections and aggression against Ukraine to launder his image and promote himself as a champion of Western Liberal Democracy and the Liberal Rules Based Order\u2122.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Johnson summed up:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The almost uniform success of all the Iraq War cheerleaders provides the greatest lesson about what really helps one get ahead in public life: It\u2019s not being right, doing the right thing, or challenging power, but going with prevailing winds and mocking anyone who dares to do the opposite.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Even today, the \u2018free press\u2019 is burying awkward truths about Iraq. Declassified UK has just <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/declassifieduk.org\/bp-extracted-iraqi-oil-worth-15bn-after-british-invasion\/\" >revealed<\/a> that the British oil company BP has \u2018reaped a bonanza upon its return to Iraq after the 2003 invasion\u2019. In 2009, BP was awarded a significant interest in the country\u2019s largest oil field, Ramaila, near Basra, which had been occupied by British troops. Since 2011, BP has pumped 262m barrels of Iraqi oil worth \u00a315.4 billion. You will search in vain for significant, if any, coverage of this in the UK state-corporate media, not least to make the glaring contrast between the sordid reality and Blair\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2003\/mar\/19\/iraq.iraq2\" >boast<\/a> in 2003 to make a \u2018brighter and better Iraq\u2019 in which:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018any money from Iraqi oil will go in a trust fund, UN-administered, for the benefit of the Iraqi people.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It turns out, however, that Britain\u2019s first special representative to post-invasion Iraq, appointed by Blair, <em>has<\/em> done well: Sir John Sawers, who later joined BP\u2019s board in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>In 2001, Kevin Maguire, then chief Guardian reporter, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2001\/nov\/09\/marketingandpr.politics\" >noted<\/a> that BP was \u2018nicknamed Blair Petroleum for its close links with the government\u2019. When Sawers joined BP as a non-executive director in May 2015, he had just stepped down as head of MI6, Britain\u2019s external intelligence agency, which he had led since 2009. He has since \u2018earned\u2019 \u00a31.1m in fees from the company. His BP shareholding was also worth \u00a3135,000 last year, up 181% from when he joined the company. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ztZI2aLQ9Sw\" >\u2018War! What is it good for?\u2019<\/a> Profit \u2013 both corporate and personal.<\/p>\n<p>Declassified UK <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/declassifieduk.org\/bp-extracted-iraqi-oil-worth-15bn-after-british-invasion\/\" >reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Sawers\u2019 predecessor as head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, joined Statoil after MI6. Scarlett was the senior intelligence official\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2011\/jun\/26\/intelligence-chief-iraqi-wmds\" >responsible<\/a>\u00a0for Tony Blair\u2019s notorious dossier on Iraq\u2019s weapons of mass destruction produced in the run-up to the invasion. Scarlett \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2011\/jun\/26\/intelligence-chief-iraqi-wmds\" >proposed<\/a>\u00a0using the document to mislead the public about the significance of Iraq\u2019s banned weapons\u201d.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Scarlett\u2019s predecessor, Sir Richard Dearlove, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kennardmatt\/status\/1638837154808823808\" >joined<\/a> Kosmos Energy after MI6.<\/p>\n<p>It really is not hard to join the dots, and the big picture is ugly indeed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Anti-Democratic War Consensus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Contrary to the limited, face-saving, post-Iraq war promises by editors and journalists to \u2018do better\u2019, \u2018to scrutinise more\u2019, and so on, the reality is that the media consensus in support of government war aims is stronger than ever. We have pointed out this phenomenon in our <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/?s=ukraine\" >media alerts on Ukraine<\/a> over the past year.<\/p>\n<p>In an excellent recent <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/braveneweurope.com\/tara-mccormack-the-anti-democratic-war-consensus\" >article<\/a>, Tara McCormack, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Leicester, expanded on this theme. The media, she noted, is giving huge prominence to political leaders and commentators who have asserted again and again that Western policy to achieve \u2018victory\u2019 for Ukraine is to do <em>whatever it takes, for as long as it takes<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, for example, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/speeches\/un-security-council-session-on-ukraine-foreign-secretary-statement\" >declared<\/a> that British support to Ukraine is \u2018not time-limited\u2019 and that Britain would: \u2018Keep the promises that we made to the UN Charter and to the Ukrainian people\u2019. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has even <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/politics\/2023\/mar\/10\/ukraine-war-negotiating-table-zelenskiy-sunak-macron-paris-summit\" >stated<\/a> recently that now is \u2018not the time for peace\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>As McCormack observed:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018This adds to the evidence that Britain is playing a key role in prolonging the war. Last year it was <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pravda.com.ua\/eng\/news\/2022\/05\/5\/7344206\/\" >reported<\/a> by Ukrainian media that Boris Johnson went to Kiev in April and told Zelensky that even if he (Zelensky) was ready to negotiate, the West was not. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has also <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qK9tLDeWBzs&amp;t=10774s\" >recently argued<\/a> that in the spring of last year, Russia and Ukraine were both keen to negotiate but that Johnson was not and that ultimately the Western powers put a halt to the negotiations.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The reality is that the UK, along with the rest of Europe and the US, is now part of a proxy war against Russia, a nuclear-armed state. We are also shoulder to shoulder with the US and Australia in aggressive behaviour towards China as part of the so-called \u2018Aukus pact\u2019. This is \u2018a historic security pact\u2019, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-58564837\" >the BBC tells us<\/a>, to \u2018counter China\u2019. The Orwellian language of \u2018security\u2019 and \u2018countering\u2019 foreign \u2018threats\u2019 is standard for the state-affiliated BBC News.<\/p>\n<p>As McCormack says, the British people are being subjected to an \u2018anti-democratic war consensus\u2019 created by the government and the media. There is no proper debate or accountability. Questions are not permitted. <em>Whatever<\/em> it takes? <em>However long<\/em> it takes? And why <em>should<\/em> Britain even be a part of this?<\/p>\n<p>McCormack warned that the Ukraine war could well be the first case since the end of the Cold War where any dissent has been almost entirely excluded by the political-media class. She rightly concluded:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The war consensus is a deliberate construction of the British state in order to avoid democratic scrutiny and exclude the public from what are existential policy choices. The decision by the political and media class that there should be total exclusion of any kind of discussion about our foreign policy should be a cause for great alarm, whatever one believes British policy towards Ukraine should be.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A good starting point for public debate and discussion would be to increase one\u2019s awareness of the inherent bias in current media reporting. For example, Tim Holmes <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/timbird84\/status\/1637538464911458305\" >noted<\/a> recently via Twitter that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The Guardian have used the phrase \u201cPutin apologist\u201d 5,790 times.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They have used the phrase \u201cNATO apologist\u201d a grand total of \u2026 zero times.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It is also worth noting exactly when media use the word \u2018controversial\u2019. It is common practice to apply the word to the actions and intentions of Official Enemies; less so for those of our own government and allies. Thus, a recent Guardian <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/world\/2023\/mar\/21\/putin-welcomes-chinas-controversial-proposals-for-peace-in-ukraine\" >headline<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Putin welcomes China\u2019s controversial proposals for peace in Ukraine\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As US political commentator Aaron Mat\u00e9 astutely <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaronjmate\/status\/1638275614376448141\" >noted<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In NATO state media, there\u2019s nothing more \u201ccontroversial\u201d than a peace proposal\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Bloomberg news agency even <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-03-23\/us-fears-a-war-weary-world-may-embrace-china-s-ukraine-peace-bid\" >reported<\/a> that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018US Fears a War-Weary World May Embrace China\u2019s Ukraine Peace Bid\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Imagine that! The world is war-weary and wants to see peace: what a terrible outcome for US power.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-121823\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a> Media Lens <em>is a UK-based media watchdog group headed by David Edwards and David Cromwell. In 2007,<\/em> Media Lens <em>was awarded the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/gandhifoundation.org\/2007\/12\/02\/2007-peace-award-media-lens\/\" >Gandhi Foundation International Peace Prize<\/a>.\u00a0We have written three co-authored books<\/em>:\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/index.php\/bookshop\/8-bookshop\/bookshop\/146-guardians-of-power.html\" >Guardians of Power-The Myth of the Liberal Media <\/a><em>(Pluto Press, 2006),<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/index.php\/bookshop\/newspeak.html\" >Newspeak-In the 21st Century<\/a> <em>(Pluto Press, 2009), and<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.plutobooks.com\/9780745338118\/propaganda-blitz\/\" > Propaganda Blitz<\/a> <em>(Pluto Press, 2018)<\/em>. <em>Contacts: David Edwards: <a href=\"mailto:editor@medialens.org\">editor@medialens.org<\/a> &#8211; David Cromwell: <a href=\"mailto:editor@medialens.org\">editor@medialens.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2023\/the-dwindling-band-of-iraq-obsessives-endless-war-and-media-complicity\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 medialens.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>27 Mar 2023 &#8211; The 20th anniversary of the illegal US\/UK-led invasion of Iraq has demonstrated once again the subservience of state and corporate media to Western power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":121823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[2314,378,2881,1855,234,2462,1365],"class_list":["post-232444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-corporate-media","tag-journalism","tag-journalistic-ethics","tag-mainstream-media-msm","tag-media","tag-military-industrial-media-complex","tag-war-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232446,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232444\/revisions\/232446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}