A Useful Prep-Sheet On Syria For Media Propagandists | PopularResistance.Org
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A Useful Prep-Sheet On Syria For Media Propagandists
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State Department talking points on Syria for cable news anchors:
* Keep mentioning the barrel bombs. Do not mention how their use was
pioneered by the Israeli Air Force in 1948, and how they were used by the
U.S. Air Force in Vietnam in Operation Inferno in 1968. Keep repeating,
"barrel bombs, barrel bombs" and stating with a straight face that the
Syrian regime is using them "against its own people." Against its own
people. Against its own people. Against its own people.
* Keep mentioning "200,000." (The UN estimates that 220,000 have been killed
in the conflict since 2011.) Declare like you really believe it that this is
the number of civilians the Syrian government of Bashar Assad has killed
during the war. (Do not be concerned about any need to back the figure up.
No one is ever going to call you on it publicly.)
Do NOT mention that around half of the war dead (estimates range from 84,000
to 133,000) are Syrian government forces waging war against an
overwhelmingly Islamist opposition, and an additional 73,000 to 114,000 are
anti-government combatants.
Do not discuss these figures because they would call into question the claim
that the Syrian government is targeting and killing tens of thousands of
civilians willy-nilly. (If feeling any qualms of conscience, recall Karl
Rove's immortal dictum that "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create
our own reality.")
* Keep mentioning the "Arab Spring" and how in 2011 Syrians peacefully
mobilized to challenge the regime were violently repressed. But don't dwell
on the Arab Spring too much. Realize that the State Department was actually
shocked by it, particularly by its repercussions in Egypt, where
democratization brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power before the
U.S.-backed military drowned its opponents in blood.
And recall but do NOT mention how in Bahrain, peaceful demonstrations by the
majority Shiites against the repressive Sunni monarchy were crushed by a
Saudi-led invasion force tacitly supported by the U.S. And NEVER mention
that the bulk of the peaceful protesters in the Syrian Arab Spring want
nothing to do with the U.S.-supported armed opposition but are instead
receptive to calls from Damascus, Moscow and Tehran for dialogue towards a
power-sharing arrangement.
Do NOT explain that the pro-democracy student activists and their allies
fear most is the radical Islamists who have burgeoned in large part due to
foreign intervention since 2011.
* Keep mentioning the "Free Syrian Army" and the "moderate opposition" to
give the impression that they actually exist in the real world.
Do NOT point out that the FSA organization is actually a joke; that its
leaders live in Turkey; that its remaining units are headed by CIA officers;
that U.S. efforts to train over 5000 FSA troops have been an utter failure;
that the tiny group of 54 recently sent to the front were immediately
captured by the al-Nusra Front and another 70 dispatched from Turkey
immediately turned over their arms to that al-Qaeda-linked group; that their
chief of staff has resigned protesting U.S. incompetence; that Gen. Lloyd J.
Austin III, the top American commander in the Middle East, told Congress
last month that only "four or five" Syrians had been trained by the U.S. to
fight ISIL; and that the U.S.-trained forces have been accused of multiple
human rights abuses.
Do NOT mention these things. They are so totally embarrassing that the State
Department officials responsible just want to curl up into a ball and roll
into a corner. Your mission is to put a bright face on this and continue to
pretend there's something in Syria, supported by the U.S., that falls
between the terrorists and the Assad regime.
* Keep expressing consternation if not outrage that Russia is "interfering"
in Syria. Scrunch up your face and act like you think it's puzzling.
Do NOT mention that Syria is much closer to Russia than to the U.S. and
that Russia faces a much greater threat of Islamist terror than the U.S. (in
places like Chechnya and Dagestan that your viewers can't locate on a map).
Downplay the fact that Russia has had a military relationship with Syria
since the 1950s no more nor less legitimate that the U.S. military
relationship with Saudi Arabia. (And avoid any objective comparisons of the
human rights records of Saudi Arabia and Syria since the former's is
manifestly so much worse than the latter's!)
Do NOT imply any moral equivalence between Russia's desire to prevent
U.S.-backed regime change in Syria and the U.S.'s desire to inflict another
Iraq or Libya-type regime change on that tragically war-torn country.
* Keep treating the Assad regime as an obvious pariah, whose leader has
"lost legitimacy." Say that with an air of authority, like you really
believe that U.S. presidents-like Chinese emperors of the past or medieval
popes- enjoy so much "legitimacy" that they can confer this on, or remove it
from, anybody else.
Study CNN anchor Chris Cuomo's facial expressions and body language when he
announces-so matter-of-factly, as a self-evident fact, as a done deal-that
(come on, everybody!) "Assad hast lost legitimacy."
(Chris is your model. He's the State Department's pleasantly vapid headed
scion-of-privilege poster boy, whose occasional dark flashes of
indignation-especially those directed towards anyone questioning the
official talking points on Russia-embody the attitude Foggy Bottom seeks to
encourage in the corporate press.)
Do NOT remind viewers that the Syrian government is internationally
recognized, holds a UN seat, retains cordial relations with most nations and
is engaged in a life-and-death struggle against people who enslave, crucify,
behead, bury alive and burn alive people and want to replace Syria's modern
secular government with a medieval religious one intolerant of any
diversity.
* Keep insisting that the Assad regime somehow is responsible for, and even
in league with, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and ISIL. Since this
makes no logical sense, just have faith in the ignorance of the viewership
and its disinclination to distinguish one Arab from another and to assume
that they're all linked in ways that aren't worth even trying to sort out.
Imply that by staying in power (and not complying with Obama's demand that
he step down) Assad has actually invited the presence of radical Islamists
to his country, or provoked their emergence.
Do NOT mention that al-Qaeda offshoots have proliferated globally since the
U.S. invaded and wrecked Iraq in 2003, in a war based entirely on lies, and
that there was no al-Nusra Front or ISIL until the U.S. set out to effect
regime change throughout the Middle East. Do NOT let on that State
Department PR strategy is precisely to obfuscate the real causal
relationship, and to impute to the beleaguered Assad phenomena actually
generated by U.S. aggression in the region.
* Keep treating Russian President Vladimir Putin as America's Enemy Number
One, an ally of a Syrian government that U.S. has said must go, deploying
force in Syria to bolster Assad rather than (as Moscow claims) to target
ISIL.
Do NOT lend any credence to the Russian assertion that the Syrian Army is
the force best placed to defeat ISIL. Do NOT point out the incongruity of
the U.S. invading and attacking countries from Pakistan to Libya since 2001
while expressing alarm that Moscow is (after much hesitation) taking action
against Islamist terrorists at Damascus's invitation.
* Do not harp on the past, revisit history, or attempt to place the
contemporary situation in Syria in perspective. Do NOT complicate the
storyline by mentioning Damascus's cooperation in the "War on Terror" and
the U.S. use of Syrian torture chambers in its "special renditions" program
after 2001. Do NOT mention Syria's large Christian minority or its
historical support for Assad's Baath party, which was co-founded by a Syrian
Christian.
Please keep everything simple, following the examples set by MSNBC's
"Morning Joe" Scarborough and CNN's Cuomo, and inculcate in the mind of the
viewer that Assad is the main problem and most horrible actor in the Syrian
situation. Tell them that Putin, while striving to revive the tsarist
empire, is backing Assad as a loyal ally and using his military to prolong
his rule that Washington condemns rather than (as he states) taking action
against ISIL.
If you do all this, you will demonstrate your loyalty to the State
Department, the bipartisan foreign policy consensus, the military-industrial
complex, the One Percent, your advertisers, your producers and editors, and
the unsung heroes behind the scenes who arrange your teleprompter scripts.
You too could be an Andrea Mitchell, or Christiane Amanpour, posturing as an
"expert" while trotting out our talking points. And even after they're
exposed as bullshit, you won't have to say you're sorry. People will soon
forget anyway.
Those unconscionable barrel bombs! 200,000 civilians killed by the
illegitimate regime! U.S. support for the moderate opposition! Russia up to
no good, supporting Assad and not really targeting ISI!. Russian moves
"worrisome" (whereas U.S. moves are not.)
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A Useful Prep-Sheet On Syria For Media Propagandists | PopularResistance.Org
frame
popularresistance.org
https://www.popularresistance.org/a-useful-prep-sheet-on-syria-for-media-pro
pagandists/
A Useful Prep-Sheet On Syria For Media Propagandists
Screen Shot 2015-10-03 at 10.09.05 AM
State Department talking points on Syria for cable news anchors:
* Keep mentioning the barrel bombs. Do not mention how their use was
pioneered by the Israeli Air Force in 1948, and how they were used by the
U.S. Air Force in Vietnam in Operation Inferno in 1968. Keep repeating,
"barrel bombs, barrel bombs" and stating with a straight face that the
Syrian regime is using them "against its own people." Against its own
people. Against its own people. Against its own people.
* Keep mentioning "200,000." (The UN estimates that 220,000 have been killed
in the conflict since 2011.) Declare like you really believe it that this is
the number of civilians the Syrian government of Bashar Assad has killed
during the war. (Do not be concerned about any need to back the figure up.
No one is ever going to call you on it publicly.)
Do NOT mention that around half of the war dead (estimates range from 84,000
to 133,000) are Syrian government forces waging war against an
overwhelmingly Islamist opposition, and an additional 73,000 to 114,000 are
anti-government combatants.
Do not discuss these figures because they would call into question the claim
that the Syrian government is targeting and killing tens of thousands of
civilians willy-nilly. (If feeling any qualms of conscience, recall Karl
Rove's immortal dictum that "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create
our own reality.")
* Keep mentioning the "Arab Spring" and how in 2011 Syrians peacefully
mobilized to challenge the regime were violently repressed. But don't dwell
on the Arab Spring too much. Realize that the State Department was actually
shocked by it, particularly by its repercussions in Egypt, where
democratization brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power before the
U.S.-backed military drowned its opponents in blood.
And recall but do NOT mention how in Bahrain, peaceful demonstrations by the
majority Shiites against the repressive Sunni monarchy were crushed by a
Saudi-led invasion force tacitly supported by the U.S. And NEVER mention
that the bulk of the peaceful protesters in the Syrian Arab Spring want
nothing to do with the U.S.-supported armed opposition but are instead
receptive to calls from Damascus, Moscow and Tehran for dialogue towards a
power-sharing arrangement.
Do NOT explain that the pro-democracy student activists and their allies
fear most is the radical Islamists who have burgeoned in large part due to
foreign intervention since 2011.
* Keep mentioning the "Free Syrian Army" and the "moderate opposition" to
give the impression that they actually exist in the real world.
Do NOT point out that the FSA organization is actually a joke; that its
leaders live in Turkey; that its remaining units are headed by CIA officers;
that U.S. efforts to train over 5000 FSA troops have been an utter failure;
that the tiny group of 54 recently sent to the front were immediately
captured by the al-Nusra Front and another 70 dispatched from Turkey
immediately turned over their arms to that al-Qaeda-linked group; that their
chief of staff has resigned protesting U.S. incompetence; that Gen. Lloyd J.
Austin III, the top American commander in the Middle East, told Congress
last month that only "four or five" Syrians had been trained by the U.S. to
fight ISIL; and that the U.S.-trained forces have been accused of multiple
human rights abuses.
Do NOT mention these things. They are so totally embarrassing that the State
Department officials responsible just want to curl up into a ball and roll
into a corner. Your mission is to put a bright face on this and continue to
pretend there's something in Syria, supported by the U.S., that falls
between the terrorists and the Assad regime.
* Keep expressing consternation if not outrage that Russia is "interfering"
in Syria. Scrunch up your face and act like you think it's puzzling.
Do NOT mention that Syria is much closer to Russia than to the U.S. and
that Russia faces a much greater threat of Islamist terror than the U.S. (in
places like Chechnya and Dagestan that your viewers can't locate on a map).
Downplay the fact that Russia has had a military relationship with Syria
since the 1950s no more nor less legitimate that the U.S. military
relationship with Saudi Arabia. (And avoid any objective comparisons of the
human rights records of Saudi Arabia and Syria since the former's is
manifestly so much worse than the latter's!)
Do NOT imply any moral equivalence between Russia's desire to prevent
U.S.-backed regime change in Syria and the U.S.'s desire to inflict another
Iraq or Libya-type regime change on that tragically war-torn country.
* Keep treating the Assad regime as an obvious pariah, whose leader has
"lost legitimacy." Say that with an air of authority, like you really
believe that U.S. presidents-like Chinese emperors of the past or medieval
popes- enjoy so much "legitimacy" that they can confer this on, or remove it
from, anybody else.
Study CNN anchor Chris Cuomo's facial expressions and body language when he
announces-so matter-of-factly, as a self-evident fact, as a done deal-that
(come on, everybody!) "Assad hast lost legitimacy."
(Chris is your model. He's the State Department's pleasantly vapid headed
scion-of-privilege poster boy, whose occasional dark flashes of
indignation-especially those directed towards anyone questioning the
official talking points on Russia-embody the attitude Foggy Bottom seeks to
encourage in the corporate press.)
Do NOT remind viewers that the Syrian government is internationally
recognized, holds a UN seat, retains cordial relations with most nations and
is engaged in a life-and-death struggle against people who enslave, crucify,
behead, bury alive and burn alive people and want to replace Syria's modern
secular government with a medieval religious one intolerant of any
diversity.
* Keep insisting that the Assad regime somehow is responsible for, and even
in league with, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and ISIL. Since this
makes no logical sense, just have faith in the ignorance of the viewership
and its disinclination to distinguish one Arab from another and to assume
that they're all linked in ways that aren't worth even trying to sort out.
Imply that by staying in power (and not complying with Obama's demand that
he step down) Assad has actually invited the presence of radical Islamists
to his country, or provoked their emergence.
Do NOT mention that al-Qaeda offshoots have proliferated globally since the
U.S. invaded and wrecked Iraq in 2003, in a war based entirely on lies, and
that there was no al-Nusra Front or ISIL until the U.S. set out to effect
regime change throughout the Middle East. Do NOT let on that State
Department PR strategy is precisely to obfuscate the real causal
relationship, and to impute to the beleaguered Assad phenomena actually
generated by U.S. aggression in the region.
* Keep treating Russian President Vladimir Putin as America's Enemy Number
One, an ally of a Syrian government that U.S. has said must go, deploying
force in Syria to bolster Assad rather than (as Moscow claims) to target
ISIL.
Do NOT lend any credence to the Russian assertion that the Syrian Army is
the force best placed to defeat ISIL. Do NOT point out the incongruity of
the U.S. invading and attacking countries from Pakistan to Libya since 2001
while expressing alarm that Moscow is (after much hesitation) taking action
against Islamist terrorists at Damascus's invitation.
* Do not harp on the past, revisit history, or attempt to place the
contemporary situation in Syria in perspective. Do NOT complicate the
storyline by mentioning Damascus's cooperation in the "War on Terror" and
the U.S. use of Syrian torture chambers in its "special renditions" program
after 2001. Do NOT mention Syria's large Christian minority or its
historical support for Assad's Baath party, which was co-founded by a Syrian
Christian.
Please keep everything simple, following the examples set by MSNBC's
"Morning Joe" Scarborough and CNN's Cuomo, and inculcate in the mind of the
viewer that Assad is the main problem and most horrible actor in the Syrian
situation. Tell them that Putin, while striving to revive the tsarist
empire, is backing Assad as a loyal ally and using his military to prolong
his rule that Washington condemns rather than (as he states) taking action
against ISIL.
If you do all this, you will demonstrate your loyalty to the State
Department, the bipartisan foreign policy consensus, the military-industrial
complex, the One Percent, your advertisers, your producers and editors, and
the unsung heroes behind the scenes who arrange your teleprompter scripts.
You too could be an Andrea Mitchell, or Christiane Amanpour, posturing as an
"expert" while trotting out our talking points. And even after they're
exposed as bullshit, you won't have to say you're sorry. People will soon
forget anyway.
Those unconscionable barrel bombs! 200,000 civilians killed by the
illegitimate regime! U.S. support for the moderate opposition! Russia up to
no good, supporting Assad and not really targeting ISI!. Russian moves
"worrisome" (whereas U.S. moves are not.)
A Useful Prep-Sheet On Syria For Media Propagandists | PopularResistance.Org
frame en
