The ACLU today released documents regarding Navy investigations of civilians killed by coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report notes that the administration has gone to “unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost” of the wars. Some of the key findings:

– Banning photographers on U.S. military bases from covering the arrival of caskets containing the remains of U.S. soldiers killed overseas

– Paying Iraqi journalists to write positive accounts of the U.S. war effort

– Inviting U.S. journalists to “embed” with military units but requiring them to submit their stories for pre-publication review

– Erasing journalists’ footage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan

– Refusing to disclose statistics on civilian casualties.

The New York Times revealed in April that the Pentagon also had used a domestic propaganda program to paint a rosy portrait of the war effort. See the documents here.

becuase of the bombing action he took?

Geobbels would be proud.

We have learned so much from him.

WTF are you talking about?

Did Clinton's bombing kill 1.25 million people.

Did Clinton's bombing ultimately bring peace - yes.

Iraq has over 4 million refugees and 1.25 million dead due to this occupation out of what 30 million people total. They have no clean water and electricity. AND IT CONTINUES.....

The Corporate fascists want more of the same and you support them apparently.

Therefore ergo you are a fascist.

Do you know there are no fascists in heaven - guess where they end up.

At the start of World War II in 1939 Australians rushed to support Britain – the mother country – in her battle with Hitler’s Nazis. Then the Japanese bombed Darwin, killing hundreds, and the nation realised a greater enemy was battering at the door. Help came not from Britain but from a new friend, the United States. The 1940s shifted Australia’s sense of its place in the world.

Control & Censorship
The Government used its influence over radio, newsreel and the print media during World War II (1939–45), in an attempt to control the way in which the war was reported. Information was carefully used by the media as a tool for managing public opinion and boosting morale.

In some instances reports distorted the truth by, for example, minimising the number of casualties or the extent of damage. Sometimes significant current events were not reported at all, such as the death of approximately 243 Australians following the Japanese bombing of Darwin.

Much of the news and commentary was prepared or directly influenced by the Commonwealth Department of Information (DOI). The DOI used what people read in the newspapers, listened to via radio, and watched on newsreels at the cinema to ‘heighten the war effort’. (Inglis 79)

Sir Keith Murdoch, the Managing Director of the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd. (and father of Rupert Murdoch), was made Director-General of Information, with the power to control ‘every avenue of publicity’.

Other official bodies who influenced what would be broadcast included the Army, the Navy and
the United States’ General Headquarters in Melbourne.

In addition, the Government keenly scrutinised the nation’s media proprietors, particularly those thought to be a threat to national security. In January 1941, “the Jehovah’s Witnesses Church was declared illegal because of its anti-war views”. (Darlington 362) Subsequently, the broadcast licences of four radio stations owned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses were revoked by the Postmaster-General’s Department for fear they would obstruct the war effort. The stations were 2HD Newcastle, 5KA Adelaide, 5AU Port Augusta and 4AT Atherton. (NFSA)

Mentions of media censorship were suppressed, and the Government threatened penalties for breaches of censorship. Despite people’s recognition of the role of censorship during a time of national emergency, many, including those involved in producing broadcasts, criticised the Government’s censorship of the media as too extreme, and some even compared the suppression and interference to Dr Goebbels’ Department of Propaganda and Enlightenment in Nazi Germany.

3 losers are dead but so are 1.25 million Iraqi's.

Were they all losers as well.

The reason I ask you is that I want to know how the fascist's mind works.

I must say that one of the reasons I blog here is to understand what makes the fascist mind work.

With guys like Loony Toons, PUNY and Helipilot I get an upclose view.

What I have found is that white christen males who feel disenfranchised are angry and act on this anger by practising fascism. Engaging in rationalization of murder is quite fascinating.

All throughout history man's inhumanity toward man is a result of this inbred nature. I think high levels of testosterone could be the cause of this inherently evil behavior.

Of course with the leaders of the new fascist movement, I call the Dittohead movement, it is not about disenfranchisement, it is about GREED AND POWER. They use the anger thing or these Dittoheads to form their core support for their divide and conquer politics.

Fascism faulters when the populace gets fed up with the results of this type of leadership.

You are seeing it now in this country. The Republican brand is taking some pretty big hits. The next election you will see more of this backlash.

Unfortuneatly, man repeats this cycle time and time again. A sad testimony to the human condition.

minions..

Let's see................. in America we have two party's that perpetuate the myth of trustworthiness....

and so it goes

You can call a cow a duck all day long cuntguy, but that doesn't make him quack.

If you want to know how a fascist mind works, ask yourself what YOU would do. That would be the best indicator.

While I will agree that the Dems legislate behavior I do not think they all advocate wars for profit. Remember 23 Dem Senators voted against the occupation of Iraq.

I view the Dems as socialists.

I view the Rethugs as Fascists.

Big differences there.

Bet that reply took a whole lot of thought.

Truth hurts.

Oh looky here I am being called bad names over a blog.

Silly fascists and their silly name calling.

I suspect our little brain dead fascist's brains just cannot comprehend anything complicated, like human rights, or the notion that the truth will set you free.

Their entire program seems to be predicated upon their assumption that power is absolute and eternally correct, when all of human history shows the very opposeite; absolute correctness of power and the idea that nothign changes are their pillers of "wisdom" as it were, when its obvious to anyone that everything is changing all the time, including our bodies!

Ergo, they are not silly, they are profoundly stupid and neurotic, and brutish like all idiots are.