Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq [Paperback]

Here Rampton and Stauber have made deft use of real news accounts and statements from the administration to uncover the trickery and lies that have become second nature from our leaders. Regardless of your political stance toward Saddam Hussein or the real necessity of war, you will probably be dismayed by how dumb your government has assumed you to be, and how they have been proven right by the behavior of many average Americans. The only problem with this book is that it is quite short and ends abruptly, with no comprehensive conclusions regarding some of the serious issues it raises. I suggest that a second edition of this book be released when the current situation in Iraq (apparently it's not a "war" anymore) really ends, if it ever does, because Rampton and Stauber may be able to provide insight into how more propaganda probably won't get us out of a situation that propaganda got us into. [~doomsdayer520~]

Because of my predisposition to depression, I don't always follow the news as closely as I could. However, I do listen and read it often, and from the news itself and comments I've heard from others, I had a stinky feeling that something was askew in the way this war had -- and still is -- been promoted. And reading WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION put names and specific events to something I suspected all along.

I leave it to the reader to actually read the book and come to his/her own conclusions.

I appreciated this book because it doesn't smack of partisan politics. There is an objectivity about it that seems missing in a lot of other works like this one. Some things that stood out for me were the following:

1. The authors question the current administration's methods of promoting the war through advertising and opinion spinning and the use of "evidence" that was questionable at best and false at worst.

2. The book avoided two extremes. First of all, it avoided the conservatives' blind patriotism. Second, it avoided the equally wrong view that some (not all) liberals take: that of blaming the United States for every ill in the world.

3. The book did not try to whitewash the Middle East and give the impression that we were picking on an innocent and sinless society. It pointed out some very real wrongs that happen there, and it didn't try to whitewash Saddam Hussein, either. Instead, I feel that the authors wanted us to see the problem for what it IS and not for what it ISN'T.

4. It pointed out something that we all know has been going on for a long time -- that the United States, in its often misguided effort to protect democracy, frequently aligns itself with countries who have abysmal human rights records.

5. The authors did not present this media deception as a strictly American phenomenon. They looked with realistic eyes at other countries and other times of history to show that this happens in other places and eras, too -- even giving Alexander the Great as an example.

In my humble opinion, it's time for the United States to stop trying to police the world and to be its "conscience," especially in light of the Iraqui prisoner abuse scandal. I am an American citizen and am grateful for it, but I don't believe that we as a nation are any more "righteous" or "unrighteous" than any other country. We're a country of human beings with all the human strengths and weaknesses. I think it's time for us to address our own problems right here at home.