INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
US Planning Fourth Attempt To Oust Hugo Chavez |
|
by Stephen Lendman ZNet Entered into the database on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 @ 18:00:38 MST |
|
This essay has a dual purpose. I began it initially to explain how
sophisticated and effective the dominant corporate media is in programming the
public mind to believe whatever message they deliver regardless of whether it's
true which it rarely is. I chose the title Reeducation 101 - Defogging and Reversing
the Corporate Media's Programming of the Public Mind which I'm now using as
the heading of my introductory section. Along with that discussion, I then planned
a detailed case study example of how they're doing it by demonizing Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez Frias with a building and resonating drumbeat of invective
in advance of the US government's fourth attempt to oust him. That discussion
follows my introductory section. REEDUCATION 101 - DEFOGGING AND REVERSING THE CORPORATE MEDIA'S PROGRAMMING
OF THE PUBLIC MIND Does any reader of online progressive web sites still watch, listen to or read
anything from the corporate media? If so, how do you stand it without having
a good supply of stomach soothers and strong headache relief handy. I thought
most everyone with enough smarts and common sense understood that this collective
institutional juggernaut's mission is to sedate and seduce us - a sort of one,
two punch. They mostly do it with diverting and distracting entertainment. Is
that what it's called? You 'coulda fooled me with what's on all my 300 + cable
channels I don't watch except when I go to bed and need something mind numbing
to make me sleepy. The only reason I have them all is I live in a building that
subscribes to the cable service, and everyone gets them, like it or not. Except for three classical music channels without talk or commercials I love,
everything in their lineup is a vast wasteland, especially what passes for so-called
"news and information" by the on-air names you know well and I needn't
list. They're all an assault on our sensibilities in their all out effort to
fog our minds with round the clock propaganda, lies, distortion and sanitizing.
What they do isn't journalism, it's stenography. And what they don't report
is usually more important than what they do. They know, as does our government,
that if all or enough of us understood what's really happening, not the rot
and mush they fill our heads with, there'd be a revolution in the streets. How
could the public with full knowledge of what our government is up to ever go
along since all of it only benefits the rich and powerful and does it at our
expense. The mind manipulation and thought control comes at us from all directions in
print and on the airwaves. In the US (and really the world) the newspaper known
as the "Gray Lady" and referred to as "the newspaper of record"
leads the way - the New York Times. I call them a US "Pravda." They're
the closest thing we have in this country to an official ministry of information
and propaganda. They've been going at it for over 150 years, and nobody does
it better or with more influence. Remember Judith Miller and her daily WMD scare
reports.....straight from the White House and Pentagon in final copy printable
form. The Times calls this "all the news that's fit to print." You
don't not want to hear what I call it, but this newspaper has clout around the
world. Whatever lead stories they report get picked up and are spread almost
everywhere. Especially here on TV where the state of our news, information and
trumpeting punditry assault our nerve endings. Those who run it and report on
it never met a piece ofstate propaganda they didn't love and want to tell us
about ad nauseam - in between frequent 5 minute long commercial breaks trying
to sell us everything we don't need and never knew we wanted until they told
us. A noted US media critic once said about them "they have everything to
sell and nothing to tell." And I heard noted British journalist Robert
Fisk say on air to an interviewer commenting on the dismal state of our corporate
media that "you really have a problem in this country." He meant the
dominant media is so corrupted and complicit with US policies hostile to the
public interest and welfare here and abroad that we have a desperate need for
an effective antidote to their poison. Amen. There's even a flood of material on TV called "video news releases"
or VNRs. Now get this. These are all government agency produced propaganda releases
or corporate commercials disguised as real news - but you're not supposed to
know it. What they all are is "fake news." There's a ton of this stuff
all over the airwaves. The TV networks and local stations love 'em because they
all come pre-packaged and free of charge, saving all that production time and
cost. Then combine that with all the rest of TV news, information and punditry
and it's enough to drive a teetotaler to drink or worse. You have to get away
from this stuff, and I'll tell you how. It's not that hard - just turn off your
TV and cancel your corporate owned newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Call
a friend instead, visit a neighbor, talk to your wife or husband, spend time
with your kids. You'll discover a whole new world. You may even get to love
it. Also, spend more time online in the right places, like the web site you're
now reding this on, and start to read a little - most important, the right things.
THE RIGHT PATH TO FOLLOW IS STRAIGHT AHEAD My purpose in writing this column is to provide an antidote to those of you
still victimized by and under the spell of the scourge of corporate media mind
control (too many I know). You're in their prison of your own mind. I've got
the key, and if you want your freedom back, follow me into the light of day
and fresh air with an unnamed case study example of one of the victims who wrote
to the editor of another noted and superb web site I write commentaries for.
The editor asked me to respond, and I did. What follows below is that response
reworked to apply to all others with similar views to the letter writer. For those of you who want to come along and happen to be ex-smokers like I
am (for the last 31 years), remember how much sweeter life became once you kicked
the habit and could go a whole day without coughing and wheezing. And you no
longer got short of breath every time you walked up a flight of stairs either.
For me it was like being reborn. For the many of you unafflicted by the poison
of the media giants, read on just for the fun of it. I'll respond to my case
study victim and others like him and try to save them from themselves. I'll
also cover what he addressed in his letter response - what the US may be up
to in the ongoing very real soap opera pitting this country against Hugo Chavez.
A CASE STUDY - I'LL CALL MY SUBJECT MR. X This response is for Mr. X and all the others who think like him. This man
wrote a critical letter about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to the web site
editor I referred to above. In it he claimed he hadn't run across any reports
about Chavez and Venezuela for a long time, but then went on to label him with
a string of vicious and baseless epithets. In my response to him, I asked where
was he getting his information other than from those reports he said he hadn't
run across. Of course, there's been a steady drumbeat of anti-Chavez rhetoric in the corporate
media that even includes language comparing him to Hitler. When you hear that
and lots more, you know things have gotten very serious and likely to be followed
by big time mischief against the person named. I've quoted lots of anti-Chavez
invective in other articles I've written from various high officials like Donald
Rumsfeld. Now there's a credible source. Obviously Mr. X is getting this propaganda
message and believes it. How else could he have become so opinionated about
the man. But like all other victims of mind control he's got it all disturbingly
wrong. The truth based on the facts, not propaganda and lies, is just the opposite
of what he believes and is spouting. I suggested he listen up, and that truth
really would set him free and all others who think like him. Mr. X then went on to say Venezuela is insignificant to the US. I responded
just like Iraq wasn't and Iran isn't? What does he think they do there? Just
produce coffee and cocoa, have carnivals and hold parades? I asked him if he
couldn't detect some common denominator among these three countries? Not that
they're all non-English-speaking, are located on different continents from the
US, are defenseless against a large-scale US military assault, and pose no military
threat whatever to us or anyone else. All that's true I told him, and everyone
with an unfogged mind knows it. I then asked if I really needed to spell out
for him why they're important to us - I mean the most obvious reason (not the
more complex ones) I literally heard a 10 year old explain right before our
illegal aggression against Iraq -- IT'S THE CRUDE DUDE....O-I-L.....BLACK GOLD.....TEXAS
"TEA".....THE VITAL OXYGEN THAT KEEPS THE COUNTRY AND WORLD RUNNING.
Try driving to the market without it or taking the bus to work. Or growin all
the food we eat either. These three countries are floating on an ocean of it,
were and are governed by leaders who wouldn't and won't hand it all over to
us so voila....... public enemies 1, 2 and 3. I then explained that based on the best available estimates Venezuela ranks
number one in the world in total oil reserves even ahead of Saudi Arabia if
their extra-heavy reserves are added to their "light sweet" or conventional
ones. The latter are easily refined while the former must be substantially upgraded
before refining is possible. If both types are counted, the best estimates of
total oil reserves in the world are: Venezuela - about 350 billion barrels (by
some estimates it's much higher than that), Saudi Arabia - 262 billion, Canada
- 179 billion (mostly extra-heavy), Iran - 126 billion (all "light sweet")
and Iraq - 115 billion (also all the good stuff). I asked Mr. X if the fog was
beginning to lift and if he really thought the US would ever settle for less
than total control of those combined reserves and those of every other key oil
producing country as well. It's called "resource wars", the stakes
are very high, and we're playing for keeps including waging war on the world
to get it. It' not about getting all the oil we need (as long as it lasts),
it's about controlling it all to decide who else gets it, how much and at what
price. Along with rising world tension, a big reason the price is high today
(nearing $70 a barrel as I write) is because we want it to be high to enrich
our big oil mafia buddies - you know, the Exxon-Mobils of the world. Unless
you understand "the way things really are" you'll be victimized like
Mr. X and believe everything you hear or read in the corporate media. MR. X SWALLOWED THE PARTY LINE PROVING AGAIN YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF
THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME Mr. X claimed Hugo Chavez is a "fearless, gutless little wimp of a dictator."
And paranoid too. I informed him this FGWD paranoid was elected and reelected
democratically by significant majorities and did it in the face of considerable
US funding and support for the opposition and the fiercest, most vicious and
hostile unrelenting dominant corporate media assault against him both times,
beforehand, in between and still ongoing now and growing in intensity. It's
so extreme in vitriol down there it makes our hostile corporate media almost
look like pussy cats. It didn't work. Venezuelans aren't as uninformed as the
somnambulant and mind-fogged US public. They support and voted for a man who
promised them a better future and actually delivered it. Why would they ever
want to give that up? Ever know a US politician who did that? A couple here
or there who try, but NEVER one with any power or who could or did deliver. There's a presidential election coming up in Venezuela at the end of this year.
Now get this. A new poll was just conducted and here's how Chavez did against
his potential or likely rivals. It was conducted by the Venezuelan Institute
for Data Analysis (IVAD): the score was Chavez 82.7% and closest rival (at present)
Julio Borges of the Primero Justicia (Justice First) party 8.9%. I used to do
marketing research and some polling right out of graduate school 46 years ago
as a newly minted MBA (before they got popular) and know something about it.
Unless you do it properly, you can get some awfully unreliable results, so instead
of the usual + or - 3 or 4% it could be two or three times that making the numbers
worthless. But with these lopsided results, why bother with any poll. Anyone
following what's happening in the country knows the people love Chavez and will
never democratically elect someone else if he's running. Of course, the rich
hate him because he's making them pay their fair share and is sing the country's
oil wealth to help his people instead of handing it over to the big US oil mafia,
other giant US transnationals and the Venezuelan elite. That's why the US hates
him too and feels that way even more so for a bigger reason. He represents the
greatest of all threats we know - a good example that may spread like a heavenly
virus liberating the oppressed people of other countries in the region and beyond
whose leaders sold them out to the US and our giant corporations. So with the opposition knowing they haven't a chance in December, they've begun
their latest anti-Chavez demonization campaign. They're trying to blame him
for the kidnappings and brutal murders of three children of a wealthy Venezuelan/Canadian
family and other social disturbances being hyped in the corporate controlled
media to stir up the public, scare them and try to make them want a change in
government to protect them better. It's just a new version of the same dirty
business they've pulled before that failed. It won't work this time either.
Chavez supporters (Chavistas) at least must suspect the US is orchestrating
this mischief and has no compunction about carrying out kidnappings and brutal
murders themselves or finding lots of local takers at the right price to do
it for them. This isolated violence on the Venezuelan streets is just a minuscule
version of what's going on now in Iraq under the US led and directed "Salvador
death squad option" using Iraqi proxies to carry out car bombings, mosqe
attacks and lots more to foment a civil war, try to divide the country and supposedly
make it easier to rule. It won't work there either where the situation is out
of control, the war is lost and we know it, and in British journalist Robert
Fisk's words (who I quoted earlier above): the US "must leave, can't leave
and will leave." Sooner or later, likely the latter after many tens of
thousands more innocent Iraqi deaths and lives and families destroyed and the
devastating physical and psychological toll on many or most of our demoralized
and defeated forces there. I'm writing more about that in another article I'm
now working on. US authorities and the go-along corporate media in both countries also claim
Chavez is responsible for the recent pelting of US ambassador William Brownfield's
car with eggs and tomatoes. I wouldn't have wasted a rotten one of either on
him even though the ambassador was provokingly and literally cruising for a
bruising in a poor neighborhood he had no business being in. He may or may not
have gotten it from US stooges sent in to do it. The poor there certainly had
every reason to do it. This is a man who recognizes the opposition and not the
legitimate Venezuelan government. Chavez has threatened to expel him from the
country and has every right to do it if he keeps pulling these stunts. The ambassador
has said he will (meaning deliberate provocation), so look for more fireworks
ahead as things heat up more between Washington and Caracas. Of course, this
unambassadorial man deserves whatever he gets and more, especially in light
of the growing anti-Chavez vitriol coming from high level US officials s well
as the current "military exercise" provocation ongoing close by offshore
as well. Things are clearly coming to a head with a showdown possible and even
likely before the year end election. Let me spell out what's happening now as the US with 100% certainty is heading
toward a fourth showdown confrontational attempt to oust Hugo Chavez and possibly
try to assassinate him this time. For those of you, like Mr. X, who believe
what they read in the (corporate) papers or see on the evening news, let me
do a little defogging and lay the truth on you. I know the playbook very well.
I should, I've seen it played out enough times before and watch it every day
now in Iraq in its most extreme form. It's not Hugo Chavez or his supporters
creating social unrest on the streets. This is classic CIA, National Endowment
of Democracy (NED), USAID and IRI (International Republican Institute) mischief
likely carried out by their complicit anti-Chavez Venezuelan proxies. These
are the ones with the most to gain if Chavez is no longer president and one
of their own is. I'm talking about the rich and well off, the same ones who
tried it before and failed. US attorney and author Eva Golinger closely monitors Bush administration activities
to subvert the Chavez government. She uncovered top secret CIA documents obtained
through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests revealing US involvement
through CIA, NED and USAID complicity to overthrow Hugo Chavez in the two day
aborted 2002 coup. In an interview published by Ultimas Noticias on April 10
she revealed she now has documents proving the US bankrolls the Venezuelan opposition
and has tried to work with Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Austria and Spain to form an
anti-Chavez alliance. Her information comes from a report published April 5
by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, an agency of the US Under
Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. The report details US efforts
to fund and build Venezuelan opposition political parties. Golinger noted different
strategies being planned to oust Hugo Chavez including by possible US military
invasion and mentioned the presence of US military baes in the region where
40,000 troops are now stationed. She also uncovered increased US financial support
for "supposed NGOs" and communications with opposition politicians
on subjects like assassination and torture. Finally, Golinger explained there's
a link between the FBI and police officials in the Caracas municipalities of
Chacao and Baruta, both run by mayors opposed to Hugo Chavez. In addition to Golinger's reports, there's credible evidence of Colombian paramilitaries
elicitly entering Venezuela in provinces bordering the two countries to promote
or commit violence and destabilize the Chavez government. All of this is serious
and escalating mischief that's likely to get worse as the US moves ahead in
its fourth attempt to forcibly remove Hugo Chavez from office by whatever means
planned. At this point, we don't know if it will even get further off the ground,
let alone succeed, because of Chavez's strong support among the people, his
government allies and the Venezuelan military. We do know the US orchestrated
anti-Chavez demonization campaign will likely fail as have other past attempts
against him. Why? Because the Venezuelan people overwhelmingly support and will
fight to keep him as the president who gave them extraordinary social programs
that have improved their lives and given them a direct say through participatory
democracy in how the government is run. Why would they ver risk giving that
up or not do all in their power to prevent anyone from taking them away. So
when the anti-Chavez propaganda campaign fails again, look for the mischief-makers
to go back to the drawing board and try "plan two." It may be and there's now talk the main opposition parties will pull out of
the election in December and let Chavez run unchallenged - that is, if the fireworks
haven't culminated before then. If it happens, it will be a replay of the December,
2005 legislative elections when those same parties quit the race because they
knew they'd be embarrassed by the heavy vote against them. If there's a repeat
performance this year, they'll blame it on President Chavez as they did last
time using whatever concocted reasons they can come up with. But just like last
December, it will again be sore looser talk, a weak-kneed effort to demonize
the victor and a line of baloney the Venezuelan people won't buy. I'll give
them the real reason, but they'll never use it. Chavez will win because the
great majority love him and the wonderful social programs and participatory
democracy he's brought them. They won't give them or him up and will fight to
keep them and him to avoid returning to the past policies of everything fo the
rich and powerful and nothing for the poor and desperate people. Hugo Chavez
is their man, their savior, and they'll keep him as long as he wants the top
job. HOW'D YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY WITH A LEADER AND GOVERNMENT
WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE The great majority of the Venezuelan people would and here's why. Any idea
what it's like to be impoverished, not know where your next meal is coming from,
live in a shack for a home or not even have that much, and have no access to
even minimum medical care or education? These people do. Ask them, they'll explain
it to you. Hugo Chavez has given them what they never had before. Think they
won't fight to keep it and him? Wouldn't you in their place if the alternative
was desperate poverty? That's what 80% of them had before, they're still poor
and deprived, but everyone gets free: first rate health and dental care and
education through as high a level as they can attain. They also get subsidized
food, the legal right they never had before to own the land their homes were
built on and lots more. The result is a significant improvement in the lives
and welfare of the Venezuelan poor that comprise the great majority of the population
and Chavez's base of support. The population is healthier, no one eed go hungry,
and Illiteracy in the country is almost nil. In the US it's around 20%, and
millions more can barely read and write at a grammar school level. Also in the US, our land of opportunity and richest country in the world, we
have 46 million people with no health insurance, many millions more with too
little and by conservative estimates 12 million American families, over 10%
of all households, struggle to feed themselves and often go hungry. They can't
afford the high price of insurance that keeps becoming more unaffordable or
even to buy enough food for their families. They should be getting federal aid,
but how can they when our government spends all it has and can borrow on imperial
wars of conquest without end to enrich big corporations. The cupboard is bare
for anything else, so we're all on our own, like it or not. If the country had
a motto or slogan it might be you can have anything you want as long as you
can pay for it. If not, you're on your own. It's called "the free market."
Ask one of the millions of poor, single black mothers with young children how
"free" it is and what it's like trying to figure out how to get the
next meal on te table and pay the rent. She could only dream of the way things
are in the land of the Bolivarian Revolution and a leader who really cares about
all his people - if she knew about it. I told Mr. X above and then reminded him again that the "US boggie man"
he made light of has already tried three times and failed to oust President
Chavez and is clearly now planning a fourth attempt that may include a military
assault with depleted uranium (DU) weapons that would contaminate a vast area
with toxic, deadly and irremediable radiation where they're used. They might
even decide to up the ante and try out in real time their newest toy - so-called
"bunker-buster mini nukes" that aren't mini but sure are nukes - anywhere
from one third to two thirds as potent as a Hiroshima bomb. They've planning
to test these new weapons in the Nevada desert shortly or are already doing
it without telling us. When they do, I wouldn't want to be standing around in
the next county or maybe even next state. And that's even without the devastating
fallout that will contaminate a vast area beyond the test site. That's the kind
of "boogie man" I'd be "paranoid" about. I'm already paranoid
about it, and I live inthe heart of the beast and am one of the privileged.
I also live downwind in both directions - from those bomb test sites and all
the horrendous policies coming out of the Capitol. HERE COME THE MARINES AND MAYBE A LITTLE "SHOCK AND AWE"
Want more evidence about what may be in the works. It's come to light that
the US has plans called "Operation Bilbao" that look like, walk like
and make sounds like a plan to forcibly overthrow the Chavez government. Want
more? I briefly mentioned an ongoing close by US military exercise above. The
US Navy sent an aircraft carrier strike group of four ships, 60 aircraft and
6,500 marines to the Caribbean and South American waters for a "major"
training exercise. It's holding it now about 50 kilometers from Venezuelan territory
(about 30 miles). All four ships are capable of launching cruise missiles that
may be armed with nuclear warheads. I told Mr. X this is a deliberately provocative
and hostile act and to imagine the reaction here if China or Russia were doing
this 30 miles off the California coast. I added I could include more examples
of how the US is stepping up its efforts against Hugo Chavez but hoped what
I detailed above was enough. I also explained that I hope I've provided enough
documnted proof that once again the US government is improperly and illegally
acting to subvert a foreign leader and his government and, in this case, doing
it to a twice democratically elected leader loved by the great majority of his
people. IT ALL GOES BACK TO THE POWER OF THE MESSAGE Now let me bring this full circle and go back to my opening salvo against the
dominant US corporate media. I told Mr. X that if he or anyone else relies on
them for their news and information, they're guaranteed not to get any. That's
not their job. Their job is to set you up, play you for a fool and make you
a patsy (and a pretty dumb one at that) to believe even the most outrageous
rot they put out. Like those "now you see 'em, now you don't" WMD
or Saddam being linked to al Queda (he and bin Laden are mortal enemies and
hate each other). I knew there weren't any WMD in the mid-90s. How? It was reported
in the news most people didn't listen to or forgot that Saddam's trusted son-in-law
who was in charge of all his weapons, including those WMD, defected to the West,
was debriefed and spilled the beans that they were all destroyed around the
time of the Gulf war. It was a tactical decision since they were useless anyway
against the overwhelming US force Saddam was helpless to defend against. What
aout Saddam knocking over the "twin towers." I like that one even
more, but a legion of chumps called the gullible public will believe anything
the corporate media feeds 'em - even the need to check under your bed every
night 'cause Saddam (or Hugo) may be there ready to pounce as soon as you doze
off. People will believe anything. IT REALLY HAPPENED ONCE - A REAL LIFE CASE STUDY Real life case in point. In 1938 a now famous science fiction radio program
was broadcast in the US called War of the Worlds starring Orson Welles. There
was no TV then so the effect it had was amazing even without the visuals the
corporate media now know are so essential. It was about a Martian invasion of
the earth that included a fake news bulletin that a "huge flaming object"
landed on a farm near Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Orson Welles was a terrific
actor and so weren't the others apparently. They were so good it created a mass
panic among those listening who really believed the Martians had come and would
do them in. People actually packed the roads, hid in cellars, got out their
guns if they had any and even wrapped their heads in wet towels to protect themselves
against "Martian poison gas." This now famous broadcast that also
created a national scandal proved an important point. The very sophisticated
folks who run the dominant media can even make a lot of seemingly intelligent
people beliee almost anything made up out of whole cloth. That media and its
PR cousins have honed their craft and are now so expert at it that if the best
of their past counterparts were still alive, like Nazi Joseph Goebbels, he and
they would be aghast to see how amateurish they were compared to the "geniuses"
now doing it -- to Mr. X and all the others like him out there with their minds
thoroughly fogged and programmed. He and they are all victims of sinister mind
control, and I've been trying to remove the spell, bring you all into the light
and deliver you into the glorious world of knowing the truth and being free
at last from the poisonous and hypnotic power of the dominant and complicit
corporate media. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog address at sjlendman.blogspot.com. |