Those in the Pentagon who want the Iraq War to happen are desperate to swing an unwilling Western public behind them. The latest installment of propaganda: the lie-within a lie- about the Iraq-al Quaeda connection

Within days after September 11, the Hawks in the Pentagon, the NSC and the CIA were retailing the story that Iraq had been involved and claiming that "Mohammed Atta" (whoever he really was) had met with Iraqi spies in Prague. The story was leaked that Czech intelligence had proof of this! This little lie quickly evaporated when it became clear it wouldnt float (and might raise the ugly question of why old Mohammed Atta had not been watched by FBI/CIA when he turned up for flying school)

Now the lies factory in Washington has produced a new version: a wonderful babushka doll of a lie, with the important lies nesting within it, and CNN and the corporate media are happilly propelling it along. This is the lie about alQuaeda-Iraq experiments with chemical/bio weapons (for which see  http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=542&ncid=716&e=5&u=/ap/20020820/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_weapons_5

This is a classic psy-ops campaign aimed at planting an idea in the public mind which can then be manipulated at a later stage. Lie number one: Iraq has conducted/is conducting active experiments with chemical/bio weapons. This is hidden within lie number two: that Iraq is in some occult way connected to Al Queda (nice back bridge there to the trauma of September 11). That animals were used in the experiment is a nice oblique pitch to us to our unconscious. All of these two lies then twined with the third lie (for which see the article above) which is that the US really should and bomb it, and wanted to, but is being restrained from defending itself by its cowardly, corrupt, inept allies. Can we have our 15 minutes of hate, ladies and gentleman? Don't you just want to go out and bomb somebody now? Even if we do it alone?

What can we do in this propaganda war? Defuse the lies when we find them in our circles of friends, families, workplaces, unions, churches? And let our journalist friends know how they are being lied to and manipulated.