After Massacre, Army Tried to Delete Accused Shooter from the Internet

Source: Wired
Robert Beckhusen

The military waited six days before releasing the name of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians earlier this month. One of the reasons for the somewhat unusual delay: to give the military enough time to erase the sergeant from the internet — or at least try to.

That’s according to several Pentagon officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to McClatchy newspapers about the subject. The scrubbed material included photographs of Bales from the military’s official photo and video distribution website, along with quotes by the 38-year-old sergeant in the Joint Base Lewis-McChord newspaper regarding a 2007 battle in Iraq “which depicts Bales and other soldiers in a glowing light.”

The sergeant’s wife, Karilyn Bales, and their two young children were also moved onto Lewis-McChord, reportedly for their protection. Her blog, titled “The Bales Family” about her life as a mother and military spouse, was removed although it’s not known how, precisely. The military’s reasoning for the blackout: protecting the privacy of the accused and his family.

Junk Journalism: The "Assad" E-mails

Source: Land Destroyer Report
Tony Cartalucci

Guardian skewers own credibility with hamfisted Wikileaks knock-off aimed at Syria.

"It is impossible to rule out the possibility of fakes in the email cache, but..." "The Assad E-Mails," London Guardian, March 14, 2012.

This sentence right here should have immediately halted the publication of anything revolving around an alleged cache of e-mails provided to the Guardian by the obviously compromised "Syrian opposition." The source is clearly biased, politically motivated, and their information unconfirmed. Yet the Guardian decided to run with the story anyway, casting doubt on their own objectivity, journalistic integrity, and their true motivation, which now is clearly not "journalism."

The Guardian, in their explanation as to why they decided to publish unconfirmed information included the following statement, "we believe the more detailed picture of the workings of Assad's inner circle that emerges from the mails, and the extent to which he and his wife have managed to sustain their luxurious lifestyle, are also of public interest." A "more detailed picture" that is in fact unverified and most likely a politically motivated fabrication is indeed of "public interest" if you are trying to sell a particular narrative regardless of the actual facts.

The job of a journalist is to report the facts impartially to help inform the public and enable them to make accurate decisions in regards to a vast array of issues that affect their daily lives as well as the collective well-being of their communities and nations. A journalist is not to irresponsibly publish anything that comes across their desk, applying sensational headlines while making incredible innuendos only to post disclaimers halfway down the page that the information they are attempting to foist upon the public as fact and "truth," "may not be verified or true."

KONY 2012: State Propaganda for a New Generation - Must Read

Source: Vigilant Citizen

The overnight viral sensation KONY 2012 brought worldwide awareness to the African war criminal Joseph Kony. Beneath this commendable cause, lies however an elaborate agenda that is presented in the video in a very manipulative way. We’ll look at the agenda behind KONY 2012 and how it uses reverse psychology to not only justify a military operation in Africa, but to actually have people demand it.

...

KONY 2012 is less of a documentary than it is a highly efficient infomercial that is tailor-made for the Facebook generation, using state-of-the-art marketing techniques to make its point. Young people like “underground movements” and want to feel like they are changing the world. KONY 2012 taps into these needs to bring about something that is not “hip” or “underground” at all: A military operation in Uganda. Not only that, it urges the participants of the movement to order stuff, to wear bracelets that are associated with an online profile and to record their actions in social media. This makes KONY 2012 the first artificially created movement that is fully track-able, monitor-able and quantifiable by those who engendered it. In other words, what appears to be a movement “from the people” is actually a new way for the elite to advance its agenda.

A Propaganda Experiment

The video begins with an interesting statement: “The next 27 minutes are an experiment. But in order for it to work, you have to pay attention”. It is an experiment as it tests a new, groundbreaking way to get an agenda accepted by the Facebook generation. In the past, when the government needed to justify the invasion of a country, the President would sit in front of the camera and tell the public why war should be declared in this area of the world. In the case of KONY, the military agenda is disguised as grassroots activism, where the US army entering Uganda would be perceived as a “victory of the people”, effectively reversing the communications model.

Read Full Article 

CNN, Al Jazeera Caught Red-Handed Staging War Propaganda

Source: RT

Syria's turmoil has been laid bare on our TV screens for more than a year, but some networks are being accused of affecting rather than reflecting the conflict. Maria Finoshina reports now, on how there's more to the coverage on the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera TV channel, than meets the eye.

Last Remaining Mainstream Media Reporter Covering Ron Paul is Pulled

Source:Prison Planet
Steve Watson

Media claims Paul’s events, attended by thousands, are not newsworthy

It is now official. The mainstream media is no longer covering Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.

A few weeks ago Dylan Byers of Politico reported that NBC News was the only media organization that still had a reporter covering Ron Paul full-time.

Now Byers has filed an update revealing that Anthony Terrell of NBC News has also been reassigned.

“Ron Paul is officially embedless.” writes Byers, adding that NBC has refused to comment on the decision.

Byers also reveals that other mainstream organizations, including Fox News, have no intention of putting a reporter back out full-time.

“Paul doesn’t have as many events right now as the other candidates in the race,” Hunter Ryan, the politics editor at Fox News Channel, told Byers.

“He is focusing on certain states. I am planning on covering him… [and] a combination of embed and bureau resources will be used to cover Paul going forward.”

“For most political reporters, he is all but irrelevant to the future of the GOP contest.” Byers adds.

As Paul supporters will know, any claim that Paul is not holding as many events as the other candidates is pure fiction. Indeed, Paul’s events consistently attract numbers in the thousands.

Al Jazeera Journalists Quit Channel Citing Bias on Syria Coverage

Source: RT

Qatar's aggressive stance towards Assad has led to a string of resignations at the country's al-Jazeera TV news channel. Those who left describe bias at the station which they say has become a tool to target the Syrian regime. RT's Paula Slier describes those accusations.

AFRICA: The Legacy of Cecil Rhodes' Anglo-American Empire

Source: Global Research
Dan Gordon

"Click this Button or African children will die”: How the “Kony 2012” video drafted a Facebook army to support the militarization of Africa”

In 1877 the British Empire was at the height of its glory, the Spanish Empire would soon collapse, and a young Oxford student named Cecil Rhodes was gripped by a sudden religious vision. Rhodes scrawled out a manifesto. In it, he called for an “Anglo-American Empire” that would begin in the heart of Africa and spread out to conquer the known world. 

“Africa is still lying ready for us,” he wrote. “It is our duty to take it. It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes-that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race; more of the best, the most human, most honorable race the world possesses.” 

Rhodes went on to found the DeBeers diamond cartel and devote his company’s vast wealth to the colonial project in Africa. He couldn’t have known that, just over a century later, a new invention called the Internet would be tweaking his message, smoothing out his more inflammatory language, and sending his ideas around the globe through YouTube and Facebook. Nor would he ever had imagined that the first black president of the United States would be the one to carry his vision to its ultimate conclusion, under the guise of “humanitarian intervention.” 

Fast-forward to March of 2012, when the non-profit “TRI” launched an online video called “Kony 2012.” Filled with lightning cuts, footage of battle-scarred African children, and tearful appeals to emotion, the movie rallies its viewers around a single goal: stopping the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony. With the help of the U.S. military, of course, and Oprah Winfrey. 

At first glance, that’s not such a bad idea. After all, the Lord’s Resistance Army has kidnapped perhaps thousands of Ugandan children and forced them into their militia in their bid to topple the Ugandan government. The fact that the movie ignores, however, is that Uganda’s government, and its U.S.-backed leader, Yoweri Museveni, doesn’t appear to have a much better record when it comes to human rights. 

KONY 2012, Invisible Children's Pro-AFRICOM and Museveni Propaganda

Source: Black Star News

Invisible Children's goals initially may have been to publicize the plight of children caught in Uganda's decades-long conflicts; lately, IC has been acting as apologists for General Yoweri K. Museveni's dictatorship and the U.S. goal to impose AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Military Command) on Africa.

IC has produced a brilliant film that's making the global rounds on Facebook

It's a classic as propaganda pieces come. The short but overwhelmingly powerful film uses all the best tear-jerk techniques. In the end, the film denounces Joseph Kony, the leader of the brutal Lord's Resistance Army, while giving the impression that Museveni's dictatorship and his brutal military, which was found liable for war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo by the International Court of Justice, has nothing to do with the atrocities committed against children in Uganda. It also doesn't inform viewers that Museveni abducted thousands of child soldiers to win his insurgency in Uganda in 1986, launching the pattern of child soldier recruitment all over Africa.

In fact, Kony's insurgency against Museveni was launched later, meaning he too learned child soldier-abductions from Museveni.

Look at the way Invisible Children exploits American children in the beginning of their documentary; they then transplant the audience to Uganda, where again they take advantage of Ugandan children, who are the victims of both the LRA and the Ugandan government's army.

The imagery are powerful. Dr. Joseph Goebbels' and Leni Riefenstahl would have been proud of this cinematic coup by Invisible Children.

If Invisible Children was in fact a serious organization that has not been co-opted by the Museveni regime and the U.S. foreign policy agenda, the organization would inform the world that General Museveni, who has now stolen three elections in a row in Uganda is the first person who deserves to be arrested.

This Ugandan and East African nightmare gets a blank check from Washington simply because he has deployed Ugandan soldiers to Somalia at the behest of the United States. So democracy, human rights abuses, and genocide, become minor nuisances as far as U.S. foreign policy goes and as far as Invisible Children cares. This is beyond hypocrisy. Those members of Invisible Children who may have supported this misguided project to send more U.S. troops to Africa because they were unwittingly deceived, should do some serious soul searching.

Kony 2012: Wrapping Imperialism in "Activism"

Source: NileBowie
Nile Bowie

Editor's Note: It is worth mentioning the background of "Invisible Children's" CEO, Ben Keesey and that he was formally pursuing a career at JP Morgan before suddenly becoming an advocate for a US AFRICOM invasion of resource rich Africa.

Like other fraudulent NGOs including Avaas.org who's founder is formally of Fortune 500-funded, George Soros and Zbignew Brzezinski's International Crisis Group (page 5) as well as the Soros-affiliated MoveOn.org, they exist within one degree of separation from the most depraved corporate-financier interests on earth, promoting identical agendas of invasion, war, occupation, and foreign meddling.

Youth Movement Promotes US Military Presence in Central Africa

Edward Bernays believed that society could not be trusted to make rational and informed decisions on their own, and that guiding public opinion was essential within a democratic society. Bernays founded the Council on Public Relations and his 1928 book, Propaganda cites the methodology used in the application of effective emotional communication. He discovered that such communication is capable of manipulating the unconscious in an effort to produce a desired effect – namely, a capacity to manufacture mass social adherence in support of products, political candidates and social movements. Nearly a century after his heyday, Bernays’ methodology is apparent in almost every form of civic and consumer persuasion. The platform of social media is being used in unprecedented new ways, one such example is a new online documentary about the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), an extremist rebel group operating in Central Africa.

The documentary is unprecedented, not for its educational attributes but for its capacity to use visual branding, merchandising and highly potent emotional communication to influence the viewer to support US military operations in resource rich Central Africa under the pretext of capturing the LRA’s commander, Joseph Kony. The Lord’s Resistance Army was originally formed in 1987 in northwestern Uganda by members of the Acholi ethnic group, who were historically exploited as forced laborers by the British colonialists and later relegated by the nation’s dominant ethic groups following independence. Together with the Holy Spirit Movement, the LRA represented the armed wing of a resistance faction aiming to overthrow the government of current Ugandan President and staunch US military ally, Yoweri Museveni.

The LRA was originally formed to combat ethic marginalization, but soon became dominated by Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed spiritual messenger of the (Christian) Holy Spirit. Kony utilized his messianic persona to lead a syncretic spiritual movement based on Acholi tribal beliefs’ and extremist Christian dogma. It is claimed that LRA seeks to establish a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments, however its inner ideological mythology is largely unknown. In an effort to mobilize a large scale armed resistance, the LRA routinely recruited child soldiers and forced them to commit heinous acts such as cannibalism and mutilation on others who resisted to join the rebel group during their extensive twenty-five year campaign.

KONY 2012 is directed by Jason Russell and runs just thirty minutes; the video has received over twenty million views on YouTube and Vimeo and it’s national support group on Facebook is said to gain 4,000 members each hour. The highly produced feature is narrated from the perspective of Russell and his attempt to explain the Lord’s Resistance Army to his infant son, Gavin. The video features footage from Russell’s trip to Uganda (prior to 2006, when the LRA was still operating in the region) and introduces the viewer to Jacob, a Ugandan boy who was formally recruited by the LRA as a child soldier. Russell presents various montages of ethically diverse groups of students raising their fists in the air, sporting KONY t-shirts, and scenes of mass celebration in response to President Obama signing the S. 1067: Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009.

CNN Botches Effort to Refute 'Syrian Danny' Propaganda Scandal

Source: Infowars
Paul Joseph Watson

CNN’s attempt to refute claims that dubious activist Danny Dayem, known as ‘Syria Danny’, was caught staging sounds of gunfire during a recent interview with the network only resulted in further embarrassment, when Dayem admitted that the suspect video “should have been deleted,” presumably to hide the evidence of his propaganda stunt.

Following our exposé yesterday morning, which documented how Dayem, who has become the establishment media’s poster child for a military invasion of Syria, had ordered staged gunfire sounds to be made off camera during an interview, CNN’s Anderson Cooper invited him to engage in damage control during last night’s show.

During the interview with Cooper, Dayem only succeeds in virtually admitting the fact that the video is suspect. Asked how the footage was leaked, Dayem starts to say ‘we should have deleted it’ before hastily stating, “this has all been deleted.”

“I don’t know how they got it, this is all private, we should have, this has all been deleted, we have to delete all this stuff,” said Dayem.

Why Dayem is so insistent that the footage should be deleted, unless it contains something incriminating, is not explained. The interview from the footage has already been broadcast globally by CNN, so why the need to delete the rest of the footage? Perhaps because Dayem finds it hard to explain why he tells someone off camera during the clip, “Did you tell him to get the gunfire ready?”

This quote is not even addressed during Dayem’s interview with Cooper.

Furthermore, on his official Twitter feed, Dayem claims a different excuse to explain away him being rumbled as staging the gunfire.

“This was camera tricks by the Assad regime helped by Russians,” claims Dayem, citing no actual evidence.

In addition, in the original CNN interview with Cooper, Dayem claims he recovered dead bodies from civilians who had been killed “400 meters” away from his location, yet in last night’s interview he claims the shelling was taking place 15 kilometers away in a different city.

Syria: Game Over for Western Propaganda

Source: Land Destroyer Report
Tony Cartalucci

Syrian Activists Caught Lying, Syrian Rebels Caught Committing Atrocities.

Why should the West intervene in Syria when it turns out "activists" giving daily body counts, the sole source of "evidence" for the UN's ever climbing grand total, are caught not only lying, but staging entire interviews complete with fake gunfire directed "off stage?" Why should the US, UK, EU, or the West's stable of Arab proxy-regimes be allowed to arm Syrian rebels admittedly carrying out their own horrific atrocities? Clearly Syria's opposition have turned out, just as they have in Libya, to be craven, murderous, and ultimately deceitful extremists - making any further contact with them by the West a direct violation of their own national and international laws.

Video: Classic war propaganda - complete with staged-gunfire off camera and the intrepid actor "Danny" relaxed and joking before getting into character to give a hysterical "casualty report" to his co-star, CNN's Anderson Cooper - just one of many he regularly gives to Western media networks.

The omnipresent "Danny" from Syria has been recently exposed in a video showing him relaxed, joking, and preparing off-camera staged-gunfire, before getting into character for a hysterical "casualty report" given to CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Danny" isn't the first fraud caught being used by a duplicitous Western media to sell military intervention in Syria, there was also "Gay Girl in Damascus" who turned out to be a 40 year-old American man based in the UK. It is exactly "activist-based" reports like this, that the UN and corporate media have used shamelessly to advocate Wall Street and London's mandates.

Image: Pictured is "Gay Girl in Damascus." Far from an editorial oversight, "Gay Girl in Damascus" was in reality a 40 year-old American man living in the UK. The Western media shamelessly exploited his narrative until it unraveled, and simply moved on to other actors, like "Danny" who directs fake gunfire off-camera while giving casualty reports to CNN.

BBC Defends Decision to Censor the Word "Palestine"

Source: PressTV

What rapper Mic Righteous was actually trying to say was 'Free Palestine'. But Palestine, it seems, is now a dirty word on the BBC.

Ahmadinejad Currently Threatening To Destroy Israel? Sean Stone on CNN

Source: MoxNews

Sean Stone, son of American film director, producer and screenwriter Oliver Stone, speaks to CNN and shuts the mouth of Piers Morgan (CNN). Stone clearly points out the irrational thinking and war mongering being promoted by western mainstream media.

CIA Controlled Media: CIA Admits Using News To Manipulate the USA

Source: The Intel Hub

An archived clip of different Congressional hearings exposes the fact that the CIA directly plants stories in the media, both in the United States and the rest of the world.

Question: Do you have any people being paid by the CIA who are contributing to a major circulation journal?

Answer: We do have people who submit pieces to American journals.

Question: Do you have any people paid by the CIA who are working for television networks?

Answer: This I think gets into the details id like to get into in executive session. (so the public doesn’t hear how we control all the networks)

Considering that this was going on in the 1950s, it is highly likely that this is happening now and at a much larger extent. The CIA and other government agencies literally control the corporate controlled media.

Anytime you hear a story on the major networks that has any implication in US foreign or domestic policy rest assured that it was, at the very least, vetted by the CIA before being released.

In the early 90s CNN was also used to test Army psychological operations.

Russian Policy On Syria: Preventing All-Out War In Middle East

Source: China Daily
Boris Dolgov

Russia vetoed the United Nations Security Council resolution, which sought to blame President Bashar al-Assad for the violence against civilians in Syria and urged him to step down, because it did not correspond to the real situation in Syria, where the majority of Syrian people, 60 percent, support his government.

I saw for myself demonstrations by tens of thousands of people who support President al-Assad when I visited Syria in August 2011 and in January 2012. Many of the international media, such as CNN, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, are waging an information war against Syria. They portray al-Assad's regime as suppressing the people and shooting peaceful protestors. This is not true. The real cause of the violence in Syria is the terrorist activities of some anti-government groups, which are armed and financed from abroad. This has already resulted in the deaths of 3,000 civilians and 2,000 soldiers and policemen.

If passed, the UN Security Council resolution would have given the leaders of NATO countries the excuse to begin military intervention in Syria. The consequences of such intervention, as was shown by NATO's military intervention in Libya, would be the deaths of thousands of Syrian civilians, and the opportunity for radical Islamic groups to increase their influence in the country. This would likely lead to civil war or the disintegration of Syria into five or more small states divided on religious and national lines. It would also result in the seizure of the Syrian arsenal by radical Islamic groups, who could then use them against the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and against Russia.

The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Israel, as well as Turkey and the Arabic monarchies of the Persian Gulf, which now play a leading role in the League of Arab States, pursue a policy of pressuring the Syrian leadership to stand down and support the external Syrian National Council and armed opposition groups in Syria with the aim of overthrowing the al-Assad regime.

Mainscream Media: Iran hysteria stirring up in US

Source: RT

Anti-Iranian rhetoric from Israel and Western powers seems to be having some impact on the U.S. public, according to opinion polls. The latest survey shows that a third of Americans now see the Islamic Republic as their country's worst enemy, compared to just 25 percent a year ago. RT's Marina Portnaya reports now on the intensity of the anti-Iranian message flooding the U.S. media - and its impact.

Insider Says Talk of Paul-Romney Alliance is “Establishment Trick”

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson

Lew Rockwell: Rhetoric is a political ruse to make Ron Paul appear as a sell out.

Former Ron Paul staffer Lew Rockwell says that talk of an alliance between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul is an “establishment trick” to smear Paul by making him appear as a sell out.

Rockwell, who served as Ron Paul’s congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982 and remains close to Paul and several campaign insiders, told the Alex Jones Show that rhetoric about a potential partnership wherein Ron Paul would be granted a VP slot was merely a political ruse to “make Ron Paul supporters like Romney”.

The controversy received fresh impetus earlier this week when Rick Santorum and his campaign manager claimed Paul and Romney were in cahoots to shoot down Santorum’s candidacy. The talking point has subsequently been pushed by the mainstream media, including a Washington Post article today that speculates on whether the alliance is genuine.

Rockwell said that although Romney may be a pleasant person, his political positions are anathema to Ron Paul given the fact that he is a globalist, a big government advocate and a warmonger.

Irresponsible Anti-Iranian Fear-Mongering

Source: SJLendman.com
Steve Lendman

Irresponsible anti-Iranian political and pack journalism rhetoric sound ominously like spurious Iraqi WMD threats in the run-up to the 2003 war.

In his January State of the Union address, Obama said:

"Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal."

At the same time, Netanyahu told Israel's Knesset:

"Only a combination of crippling sanctions and putting all the options on the table can make Iran stop" its nuclear program.

Republican presidential aspirants also use the issue irresponsibly. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum all support bombing Iran's nuclear sites and assassinating its scientists. Only Ron Paul's strongly opposed but hawkish din drowns him out.

Daily reports heighten the alleged "Iranian threat." Multiple rounds of sanctions were imposed. In late January, Israel's Mossad connected DEBKAfile reported Obama ordering a "massive US military buildup around Iran: up to 100,000 troops by March."

America's heaviest concentration of regional might matches its strength before invading Iraq in 2003. DEBKA suggested "May as (a) tentative date for clash(ing) with Iran."

On February 22, DEBKA stoked more fear headlining,"Iran cuts down to six weeks timeline for weapons-grade uranium," saying:

"Tehran this week hardened its nuclear and military policies in defiance of tougher sanctions and ahead of international nuclear talks."

Washington, NATO allies, Israel, and IAEA inspectors know Iran poses no nuclear threat. Nonetheless, pro-Western IAEA head Yukiya Amano said Tuesday night:

"It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin during the first or second meetings. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached."

DEBKA claims its where Tehran "conducts experiments in nuclear explosives and triggers."

In fact, no evidence suggests Parchin Military Complex conducts nuclear related activities. IAEA's been there before, took environmental samples, and found nothing. Parchin manufactures and tests conventional explosives.

Adam Kokesh: Why The Media Ignored Veterans for Ron Paul Rally

Source: Infowars

Manipulating Reality: Shaping Threats, Destroying Democracy

Source: Consortium News
Lawrence Davidson

Over the past few decades in America, reality has been put in play as never before, with powerful interests using  sophisticated “perception management,” the shaping of how the public perceives the outside world, a threat that Lawrence Davidson says is again leading the nation to destruction.

In mid-February, an array of top U.S. intelligence chiefs appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to give their annual report on “current and future worldwide threats” to national security. Those testifying included CIA Director David Petraeus, National Intelligence Director James Clapper, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. General Ronald Burgess, and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Their presentations on what is and is not a real threat to the nation, as well as the reaction of the senators holding the hearings, turned out to be an exercise in one dimensional thinking. What is real? Well, what comports with your point of view. Here are two examples from their testimony:

1. The Enemy Within – Rogue individuals operating “within the ranks” of the intelligence community and armed forces now constitute a major threat to U.S. security. According to Lt. General Burgess these people are “self-radicalized lone wolves.” He pointed to the “recent massive WikiLeaks disclosures.”

Everyone involved in these hearings agreed with this assertion even though it is based on a dubious, yet unquestioned, assumption – that the behavior of U.S. government forces is a model of acceptable normal military and intelligence behavior. Those who work for the government but find this behavior unacceptable, and indeed a criminal betrayal of all that is humane, and then do something about that conviction are “self-radicalized” dangers to national security.

Image: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper talks with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. (Photo credit: Office of Director of National Intelligence)

But what if the support of oppressive and racist regimes, the invasion of other countries based on lies, the killing of thousands upon thousands of civilians, and the official use of torture and “extraordinary rendition” constitute radical and unreasonable behavior? Then those who expose such extremism would not be the radicals at all. They would be champions of a more reasonable norm and also heroes.

My suggestion is that this is exactly the case. The country’s pursuit of its alleged national interests is being directed by a bunch of thugs in suits who have taken it upon themselves to label as “radicals” those citizen heroes who point out this fact. They are afraid that more and more citizens might see the real barbaric nature of their policies and call them to account. So, to prevent this, they criminalize (and demonize) the truth-tellers.