THE DEATH OF COLIN POWELL revived memories of the Iraq invasion in 2003. The US government, supported by much of the Western media, told the world that Iraq’s leaders had nukes and chemical weapons so had to be invaded. By the time the public learned none of it was true, they’d launched a cold war, then a hot one, and at least 150,000 women, children and men were dead.
Six things to notice:
1) The false narrative was based on gratuitous over-use of the word ‘free’. ‘Free Iraq’, ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ and so on.
2) ‘Human rights groups’ suspiciously close to the US administration kept making allegations of ‘genocide’.
3) So-called ‘independent’ media commentators who backed the US position were later revealed to have been not quite who they seemed to be.
4) The media admitted that they’d screwed up by uncritically accepting fake stories from hostile exiles.
5) The fake narrative was backed by a news outlet which carried the name Radio Free Iraq but was really based in Washington DC.
6) The media later confessed that it had been wrong to print detailed claims of atrocities with no independent evidence.
Now look at the mainstream narrative about China.
1) Gratuitous over-use of the word ‘free’? Tick.
2) ‘Human rights groups’ suspiciously close to the US administration making allegations of ‘genocide’? Tick.
3) Independent media voices who weren’t quite who they said they were? Tick.
4) Uncritical acceptance of stories from hostile exiles? Tick.
5) Fake news outlet run by the US State Department? Tick.
6) Claims of atrocities printed with no evidence? Tick.
You know, the US State Department plays the media like a piano, but many members of the public are following the lead of the great philosopher Roger Daltry: we won’t get fooled again! Goodbye.
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