Propaganda

A good student produced video about the techniques of propaganda. 

What About The Good War?

Were Americans deceived into entering the Second World War?

First, was WWII a war worth fighting? Here is Pat Buchanan's view in a blog post entitled, "Did Hitler Want War?":

The German-Polish war had come out of a quarrel over a town the size of Ocean City, Md., in summer. Danzig, 95 percent German, had been severed from Germany at Versailles in violation of Woodrow Wilson’s principle of self-determination. Even British leaders thought Danzig should be returned.

Why did Warsaw not negotiate with Berlin, which was hinting at an offer of compensatory territory in Slovakia? Because the Poles had a war guarantee from Britain that, should Germany attack, Britain and her empire would come to Poland’s rescue.

But why would Britain hand an unsolicited war guarantee to a junta of Polish colonels, giving them the power to drag Britain into a second war with the most powerful nation in Europe?

Was Danzig worth a war? Unlike the 7 million Hong Kongese whom the British surrendered to Beijing, who didn’t want to go, the Danzigers were clamoring to return to Germany.

Just like WWI, WWII was a war that might have been prevented. However, the standard interpretation that Hitler had to be stopped does have a lot of facts going for it, in retrospect. Stopping Hitler at all costs was certainly Roosevelt's view. 

Alas, Roosevelt had a problem—the American people did not agree. So Roosevelt's entire foreign policy was designed to get America involved in the war. This involved forcing Japan to attack America. 

Japan was very dependent on American trade to sustain its war in China:

But while Roosevelt turned from sanctions toward measures of positive aid to Europe, in Asia his administration moved toward a more pointed use of embargoes against Japan. Japan relied heavily upon American oil and metals to supply its war effort in China. Any threat to stop those exports would have a significant impact on Japanese plans.

While I am sure that Roosevelt might have preferred to stop Japan short of war, he had to know that Japan would not stop its war and would secure new supplies in Southeast Asia. Roosevelt knew this. 

When the United States intercepted Japanese messages detailing plans for further expansion in Southeast Asia and reports arrived that Japanese transports were moving on southern Indochina, Roosevelt decided on a last-ditch gamble to stop Japanese expansion. He issued an order freezing all Japanese assets in the United States. Only a special license from the U.S. government could release Japanese assets to pay for American exports, including, most critically, oil. When the British and Dutch joined the oil embargo, it cut off the vital Southeast Asian sources of raw materials as well. With only a two-year supply of petroleum, Japan either had to give up the war in China or secure its own sources of supply. Japan first tried diplomacy, but negotiations with the United States failed, and Japan declared war.

Notice this part of the above quote, "United States intercepted Japanese messages detailing plans for further expansion in Southeast Asia." How did the US know this? The US government was reading private Japanese diplomatic messages. It was known to Roosevelt exactly what the Japanese government was telling its navy and its ambassadors. 

A kind of false flag operation is where you maneuver your opponent into doing what you want. By putting Japan into a situation where it must attack, it was inevitable that it would attack. (Let me add here that I am not defending Japan. Japan could have stopped its war in China at any time it wished and ended the conflict, and the rape of China. My point is that Roosevelt knew Japan would not do this, and he knew Japan would attack.) 

The evidence that Roosevelt knew an attack was coming is strong, the evidence that he knew the exact details, like the attack on Pearl Harbor, is weaker. Here is one recently released Imperial Japanese Naval communication:

On November 25, 1941 Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto sent a radio message to the group of Japanese warships that would attack Pearl Harbor on December 7. Newly released naval records prove that from November 17 to 25 the United States Navy intercepted eighty-three messages that Yamamoto sent to his carriers. Part of the November 25 message read: “...the task force, keeping its movements strictly secret and maintaining close guard against submarines and aircraft, shall advance into Hawaiian waters, and upon the very opening of hostilities shall attack the main force of the United States fleet in Hawaii and deal it a mortal blow...”

I began my research on this subject unconvinced that Roosevelt knew exactly where Japan would attack. But I was convinced he knew an attack was coming. After reading the interview with Robert Stinnett, author of Simon & Schuster’s Day Of Deceit, I am not so sure. Was this a real dispatch? 

Stinnett, a naval veteran of WWII who served With George Bush, thinks that what Roosevelt did was correct:

Stinnett: A lot of people would not, but I think under the circumstances this was FDR’s only option. And, of course, this was sort of used in the Viet Nam War, you know. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was based on a provocation aimed at the North Vietnamese gunboats—something like that. That’s how President Johnson got The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed through the Congress. There was a provocation.

Stinnett continues with general  history lesson I have been giving you in detail in this series on propaganda and war: 

Stinnett: Oh, right. I know. Oh, when I speak about this with the families they just start crying about it, you know. They’re terribly upset....But, you know, it was used by President Polk in the Mexican War in 1846. And also by President Lincoln at Fort Sumter And then also, as I say, another example is Viet Nam, this Gulf of Tonkin business.

It could be a traditional military philosophy, the idea that a military has to sometimes provoke the enemy to attack, sacrifice its own soldiers, so as to unify a country for war.

Stinnett: I think so. I think you could probably trace it back to Caesar’s time.

Be sure to read the whole article if you are interested in this subject, remembering that it is from a pro-Roosevelt perspective. 

Did Roosevelt know? I am not sure, but if the intercepted messages released by Stinnett with a Freedom of Information Act request is accurate, then he did know. I am not shocked by this, are you shocked? If you have been reading this series you will not be. 

Here are some more links to examine. 

Positive

http://www.thenewamerican.com/history/american/574

Negative

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1889/did-roosevelt-know-in-advance-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-yet-say-nothing 

This author does not seem to be aware of the Stinnet information. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Deceit

Or the hopefully "Neutral" Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_debate

I do not think there is any doubt the Roosevelt maneuvered Japan into attacking. It does not even seem to be in dispute by anyone. Did Roosevelt know the attack was coming to Pearl Harbor? I still do not know. In fact, it does not matter for the point I am making. Since the US populace was against another European War, they had to be manipulated into changing their mind. An attack by the Japanese fit this perfectly. 

Even the "good war" was subject to propaganda and manipulation of public opinion. The date will live in infamy, but maybe not the way Roosevelt meant.

Lusitania

Although President Wilson campaigned on the slogan “He kept us out of the war,” in fact he wanted the US to be involved. He was constantly offering to mediate, an offer that no one took seriously. After his reelection in Nov 1916, by April 1917 Wilson proposed war. He gave two reasons for the war, the attempt to get Mexico to attack the United States outlined in the Zimmerman Telegram, and the unrestricted submarine warfare Germany conducted around Great Britain.

One cannot always count on one’s opponents being stupid, but it does happen. The Zimmerman telegram intercepted by British Intelligence is a good example. This telegram proposed that if Mexico attacked America they could count on German support to claiming Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. There was no way that the Mexican government would ever try to attack the United States, no matter what encouragements were offered by Germany. In a final act of stupidity, Ambassador Zimmerman actually admitted that he had written the telegram proposing that Mexico attack. If there ever is a Hall of Shame for dumb politicians, Zimmerman will have his own exhibit, maybe even his own wing. 

The other reason for the war listed by Wilson was submarine warfare. An example of this was the sinking of the Lusitania. A history website tells us about it:  

As always, there is more to the story than this. Near the start of the war in August 1914, the British, wanting to leverage the might of the Royal Navy, imposed a blockade of German ports. This blockage was very effective, causing starvation in Germany and the eventual deaths of 763,000 civilians, according to official statistics. Germany responded with the only advantage she had, which was her submarine service, the most advanced in the world. Germany declared the North Sea and the area around the British Isles a British “military area” and warned that any ships entering this area, including those from neutral countries, were subject to submarine attack.

While the sinking of the Lusitania killed over 1000 people, the British Navy killed far more with their blockade. How dare the “Hun” attack an innocent ship! 

Most passengers were unaware of two crucial facts about the Lusitania. First, she was secretly subsidized by the British government, and in return was built to meet with specifications to allow her to be converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser if the need arose. She had magazines for powder and ammunition, and gun mounts concealed underneath her decks. Second, on her final voyage she was carrying contraband (military cargo), including 4.3 million rounds of Remington .303 cartridges, used in both rifles and machine guns. Passengers were not aware of the contraband, but the Germans, via their spy network, almost certainly were. In fact, the German Embassy in Washington took out an ad in the New York newspapers, warning people not to book passage on the Lusitania. The German notice was printed next to a Cunard Line advertisement for the voyage, and caused a stir. Many people took heed, and the Lusitania was only at about half capacity on the final voyage.

This is how propaganda works. Even when every word is true and accurate, it can still be false by only selectively citing what you want the public to hear. WWI was an easily avoidable war. The reason it happened was the division of Europe into sides or alliances. When a junior partner in the German alliance had their head of state assassinated, war became inevitable since Germany felt that an ally in the Austro-Hungarians was needed. Interestingly, Serbia, where the assassination took place, basically gave Austro-Hungary everything they wanted. It was not enough. 

As most historians will admit, like A.J.P. Taylor for example, WWII was directly caused by the horrid peace treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. Once there is a “them” and an “us,” war can continue from generation to generation. 

This is how the media works. An incident happens and then it is twisted to serve the purpose of war. 

War, What Is It Good For?

It seems appropriate to use Jackie Chan's version of the 70's song War for my intereting video this week. 

For those who wish to continue in this theme, click here for Xena, the Warrior Princess, version of this song. 

Remember The Maine. The Hell With Spain

Spanish CartoonOne of the better examples of a false flag operation is the sinking of the Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The Spanish were immediately blamed after the explosion. No one knows what happened. The most likely explanation is that coal dust ignited. This caused a fire that exploded the munitions in the ship. The Spanish had zero reason to get the US more heavily involved in the Cuban revolt.  

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover investigated the explosion years later:  

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover became intrigued with the disaster and began a private investigation in 1974. Using information from the two official inquiries, newspapers, personal papers and information on the construction and ammunition of Maine it was concluded that the explosion was not caused by a mine. Instead spontaneous combustion of coal in the bunker next to magazine was speculated to be the most likely cause. The Admiral published a book about this investigation, How the Battleship Maine Was Destroyed, in 1976.

The Wreckage of the MaineThe first official Navy report blamed a mine. A second report, done after the war when no propaganda was needed, concluded that it was an internal explosion. Oops. 

As with 9-11, some concluded that the US Government sank its own ship. No one knows what happened. 

The explosion provided the needed slogan and propaganda for war. It does not matter how the explosion occurred. It served the purpose of justifying the war. (I have blogged about the Spanish American War before.)

The Media frenzy was manipulated: 

One of Remington's More Well Known WorksFrederic Remington, an artist hired by Hearst to provide illustrations to accompany a series of articles on the Cuban Revolution, soon became bored with seemingly peaceful Cuba and wired Hearst on January 1897:

"Everything is quiet. There is no trouble. There will be no war. I wish to return." To which Hearst's reply was: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

I had heard this story before but did not realize it was the famous artist Remington that Hearst hired. Propaganda is the purpose of Media, owned then as now by the wealthy. 

The war was very popular among Protestants in America—just as war is popular among evangelicals today. The Spanish being Catholic made them suspect in the popular prejudice. Islam being opposed to Israel is the current template by which everything is viewed and justified. To oppose Israel is to oppose God, they say. 

So here is the pattern we will see in the justification of war. An event is staged, or occurs and its importance exaggerated, and this is used to justify the desired war. The incident is used to inspire the patriotism of the masses, who will be needed to fight the war. This pattern will continue in the other incidents I will discuss.

The Front Page Of Hearst's New York Journal