"Weapons of Mass Deception - The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq"

The authors of "Trust Us, We're Experts" are back. Sheldon Rampton & John Stauber have been examining the use of PR to manipulate public opinion for some time in their books and on the PR Watch web site. This time, they take aim at the current administration in "Weapons of Mass Deception - The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq," a timely book that one hopes will be read by many, especially those investigating the process that led to this war.

Deception? Propaganda? Not in our country!

Wake up.

If you are an avid news reader, many of the recent events presented will sound familiar. Almost all of their sources are easy to find - the New York Times, The Washington Post, and other familiar news outlets. What Rampton and Stauber do so well is put it all together so that the patterns of deception are easier to see and understand.They put it in context and eliminate the chaotic nature of soundbites and press briefings. It's concise, easy-to-follow, and is fascinating. Rampton and Stauber expose the public relations and advertising tricks used to sell this long-planned operation.

And long-planned it was. Have you heard about the Rendon Group? It's the PR group that put flags into the hands of Kuwait's citizens so that cameras would photograph seas of coalition flags after the first Gulf War. Have you heard about the Iraqi National Congress? The Rendon Group created and named the INC in the early 1990's. Rampton and Stauber remind us of stories that are pertinent to today's discussion but have been forgotten by most people.

The picture that emerges is much more than the few words in the State of the Union address. Using well-known advertising and marketing techniques, the administration crafted a sales campaign to sell a war to the public. The campaign worked.

Not only were advertising techniques employed, the war was discussed in public as a product launch. Why would an administration go to such lengths to change the minds and habits of the people of their country? Why the need to package the removal of Saddam Hussein like a product? Let me walk you through "Weapons of Mass Deception" so you'll have a better idea.

The book begins with 'Branding America,' a chapter on the post 9-11 efforts by the current administration to market the United States to our enemies. It profiles the rise and fall of Charlotte Beers, a marketing expert known for ad campaigns for products such as Uncle Ben's rice, as she undertakes numerous unsuccesful U.S. propaganda efforts around the world. Watch her try to convince people who hate us not to hate us with Brand America. It didn't work, and she left her position. Recent studies are showing that, in fact, American brands are doing worse than ever in foreign markets and big companies in the US are getting uncomfortable about it.

'War is Sell' starts with Andy Card at the White House talking about when to debut a new product, that is, the need-to-confront-Saddam-immediately product. It chronicles Chalabi's rise in the INC and his acceptance by a group called Project for a New American Century, with members such as Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Steve Forbes, Elliot Abrams, and others who lobbied for increased military spending and a harder line taken against Iraq. PNAC worked steadily to reach their goals from 1997 on. In 2003, they got what they wanted.

Remember when Rumsfeld was going to start a special division to spread lies? 'True Lies' goes into detail about military deceptions, including those presented to the public to incite them to support a war. In the first Iraq war, the authors relate, the much-quoted story of babies being killed was pure PR fiction but was used anyway to great effect in rallying support for the president's plans. PR firms were hired as the second Iraq war was being designed, too, and this chapter lays out specifics of why they were needed.

Being PR experts, Rampton and Stauber also know the value of well-chosen words. Their chapter entitled 'Doublespeak' shines a light on the choice of words and phrases – Shock and Awe, defense, war, war on terrorism, axis of evil, weapons of mass destruction – all chosen for their effect and deployed with reason. Words are powerful tools to advertisers. The correct ones sell a product by creating an appealling image, so it wise to choose words, even words about war and killing, carefully.

The authors go back in history for 'The Uses of Fear' and take a look at other major events that have been traumatic for an entire nation. How have other leaders used the fear that results from a major attack, for example? And how are current ad campaigns for products such as SUV's influenced by a period of fear? Fear is a powerful motivator and, according to PR experts, can be used as a backdrop to sell all sorts of things relating to security. Put another way, any item you'd like to sell should be draped in security blanket in times like these. It will take advantage of nervousness and fear to get your product sold!

'The Air War' is not about airplanes. It's about TV, celebrity, situations, and power. How does the military present a pleasant view of a horrific scene such as a battlefield with soldiers dying? Would a $1.5 million press center help? Could friendly talk show hosts belittle opposition, and a chain of radio stations perhaps sponsor pro-war rallies? Media educators will enjoy this chapter.

The final chapter is called 'As Others See Us.' It is a look around the globe to see if any of this PR is working. I won't spoil it for you, but you might be able to guess that the rest of the world sees us differently that we see ourselves. Is this a function of our major media relentlessly repeating to us whatever soundbites they are given each day, while other countries have the ability to observe us with a bit more distance? Like when we can see that a friend is in a bad relationship, but the friend is blind to it while immersed? Perhaps. It also may be that our actions speak louder than our PR, and that until our actions change, no amount of PR can protect us.

Since the book was written, the administration now faces questions about the evidence they used to launch their pre-emptive war. We also know that Cheney's Energy taskforce had maps of oilfields in Iraq and lists of foreign suitors for the oil. And his old company, Halliburton, has made millions of of contracts related to this war.

Corporations that make money from both war and from war rebuilding, men that have spent their lives in the defense and oil industry, expensive marketing and PR, and photo ops of "victory" while the war continues to cost the world lives. Could this be a corporate war?

Get a copy of "Weapons of Mass Deception" and judge for yourself.

Weapons of Mass Deception
The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
by Sheldon Rampton & John Stauber
Tarcher/Penguin, 2003