by Henk Ruyssenaars - 10 years correspondent in the Arab World.
FPF - June 9th - 2006 - In the propaganda war concerning the US 'war theater', the now as slain presented Abu Musab al Zarqawi was made #1 in this bloody 'Grand Guignol' drama of compounded horror. And for the CIA, as so often, the effect was a 'blowback'. Al Zarqawi was by the US and collaborators blamed for so many atrocities everywhere, in the people's fight against the occupying US 'Coalition of the Killing', that he became one of the most popular figures of the resistance in the Arab World.
The Pentagon's 'Terrorist Mastermind' was growing famous, and his typical black cap and T-shirts with "al Zarqawi = our Hero" sold better than ever. He became 'resistance fighter' #1. Speaking in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in July 2004, 'president' Bush via his speech writers once again made al Zarqawi's popularity soar when he suggested ''that the rigidly Islamic fundamentalist Al-Qaeda and Saddam's secular Ba'athist regime had an operational relationship.''
When asked about the president's remarks, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan specifically referred to al Zarqawi as the link between the two, calling him a 'senior al-Qaeda' member in Iraq. Bush kept saying that the - after an alleged amputation one-legged al Zarqawi - 'gets instructions from al-Qaeda.' So al Zarqawi turned into the the 'Red Pimpernel' of the Arab resistance: the 'Ghost of the US War Opera' with terrorist groups and attacks on four continents.*
BUT: WHO WAS ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI?
A month earlier - in June 2004 - a very well informed story appeared, written by Michel Chossudovsky for Global Research: "Al Zarqawi is often described as an "Osama associate", the bogeyman, allegedly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in several countries. In other reports, often emanating from the same sources, it is stated that he has no links to Al Qaeda and operates quite independently. He is often presented as an individual who is challenging the leadership of bin Laden. His name crops up on numerous occasions in press reports and official statements. Since early 2004, al Zarqawi is in the news almost on a daily basis.
Osama belongs to the powerful bin Laden family, which historically had business ties to the Bushes and prominent members of the Texas oil establishment. Bin Laden was recruited by the CIA* during the Soviet-Afghan war and fought as a Mujahideen. In other words, there is a long-standing documented history of bin Laden-CIA and bin Laden-Bush family links, which are an obvious source of embarrassment to the US government.
In contrast to bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi has no family history. He comes from an impoverished Palestinian family in Jordan. His parents are dead. He emerges out of the blue. He is described by CNN as "a lone wolf" who is said to act quite independently of the Al Qaeda network. Yet surprisingly, this lone wolf is present in several countries, in Iraq, which is now his base, but also in Western Europe. He is also suspected of preparing a terrorist attack on American soil.
CHIEF U.S. ENEMY: A MASTER OF DISGUISE
He seems to be in several places at the same time. He is described as "the chief U.S. enemy", "a master of disguise and bogus identification papers". We are led to believe that this "lone wolf" manages to outwit the most astute US intelligence operatives. - [FPF: the CIA's 2006 annual budget alone, is more than $40 billion!].
According to 'The Weekly Standard' - which is known to have a close relationship to the Neocons in the Bush PNAC-administration: "Abu Musab al Zarqawi is hot right now. He masterminded not only Berg's murder but also the Madrid carnage on March 11, the bombardment of Shia worshippers in Iraq the same month, and the April 24 suicide attack on the port of Basra. But he is far from a newcomer to slaughter. Well before 9/11, he had already concocted a plot to kill Israeli and American tourists in Jordan. His label is on terrorist groups and attacks on four continents. Al-Zarqawi's profile is mounting a challenge to bin Laden's leadership of the global jihad.'' - (Weekly Standard, 24 May 2004).
IN IRAQ, HE IS SAID TO BE DETERMINED TO "IGNITE A CIVIL WAR BETWEEN SUNNIS AND SHIITES".
But is that not precisely what US intelligence is aiming at ("divide and rule") as confirmed by several analysts of the US led war? Pitting one group against the other with a view to weakening the resistance movement. The CIA, with its $30 (2006: $40+ billion) plus budget, pleads ignorance: they say they know nothing about him, they have a photograph, but, according to the Weekly Standard (24 May 2004), they apparently do not know his weight or height."
One can only - based on experience in the field - fully agree with Michel Chussodovsky: The US intelligence apparatus has created it own terrorist organizations. And at the same time, it creates its own terrorist warnings concerning the terrorist organizations which it has itself created. In turn, it has developed a cohesive multi-billion dollar counter-terrorism program "to go after" these terrorist organizations.
Counterterrorism and war propaganda are intertwined. The propaganda apparatus feeds disinformation into the news chain. The terror warnings must appear to be "genuine". The objective is to present the terror groups as "enemies of America." The underlying objective is to galvanize public opinion in support of America's war agenda.
The "war on terrorism" requires a humanitarian mandate. The war on terrorism is presented as a "Just War", which is to be fought on moral grounds "to redress a wrong suffered." The Just War theory defines "good" and "evil." It concretely portrays and personifies the terrorist leaders as "evil individuals".
Several prominent American intellectuals and antiwar activists, who stand firmly opposed to the Bush administration, are nonetheless supporters of the Just War theory: "We are against war in all its forms but we support the campaign against international terrorism."
To reach its foreign policy objectives, the images of terrorism must remain vivid in the minds of the citizens, who are constantly reminded of the terrorist threat. The propaganda campaign presents the portraits of the leaders behind the terror network. In other words, at the level of what constitutes an "advertising" campaign, "it gives a face to terror."
The "war on terrorism" rests on the creation of one or more evil bogeymen, the terror leaders, Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, et al, whose names and photos are presented ad nauseam in daily news reports. The bloody horror and peril shown in the 'Theatre du Grand Guignol' in France, no doubt also was supported by the publicity, the sensationalism surrounding "Jack the Ripper" - one of the 'bogeymen' of the last century.
There was an aura of mystery surrounding this individual al Zarqawi as part of the 'psy-op', the psychological operation propaganda ploy. Al Zarqawi was described as "so secretive even some operatives who work with him, do not know his identity." But in the Arab world people fired rounds of ammo in the air and lit candles for him, thinking that his example should be followed. For the US 'spooks' 'that did it'.
Probably his popularity, this mushrooming blowback, 'killed' the story of this 'Kleenex terrorist'. The other human beings murdered in the US 'Coalition of the Killing's illegal slaughter are hardly mentioned. As General Franks said: "we don't even count them'. The war propagandists refer to us - when we have been killed in their genocide - as 'collateral damage'.
'Kleenex terrorist' Al Zarqawi was used: Who's next?
HENK RUYSSENAARS
RELATED LINKS:
* CHINESE INFORMATION AGENCY XINHUA OFFERS THE SLAIN ZARQAWI'S PICTURES SO EVERYBODY CAN COMPARE: "An image taken from TV footage shows what the U.S. military in Iraq said is a picture of a dead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, at a televised news conference in Baghdad June 8, 2006. Url.: http://english.people.com.cn/200606/09/eng20060609_272444.html
* FBI ''10 MOST WANTED'' - NO AL ZARQAWI? - Check June 9th 2006 - 12.00 GMT - Url.: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm
* FBI ''TERRORISTS LIST'' - NO AL ZARQAWI? - Check June 9th 2006 - 12.15 GMT - Url.: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/fugitives.htm
* EIGHT YEARS AGO: 1998 - BLOWBACK - Bin Laden comes home to roost - His CIA ties are only the beginning of a woeful story - By Michael Moran - Foreign News Desk editor MSNBC - NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 1998 — At the CIA, it happens often enough to have a code name: Blowback. Simply defined, this is the term that describes an agent, an operative or an operation that has turned on its creators. Osama bin Laden, our new public enemy Number 1, is the personification of blowback. And the fact that he is viewed as a hero by millions in the Islamic world proves again the old adage: Reap what you sow! - Url.: http://www.msnbc.com/news/190144.asp?cp1=1
* EXPERTS DISPUTE BUSH LINE ON ZARQAWI - by Chris Shumway - TheNewStandard = Url.: http://tinyurl.com/z5rft
* WHO IS ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI? - Michel Chossudovsky for Global Research - URL.: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO405B.html
* GOOGLE'S SELECTION OF THE PROPAGANDA PRESS AND THEIR UNIFORM 'LIE FACTORY' COMMENTS, concerning the 'death' of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/govmy
* BLOWBACK IS A TERM USED IN ESPIONAGE to describe unintended consequences. In context, it can also mean retaliation as the result of actions undertaken by nations. The phrase is believed to have been coined by the CIA.
* PSYOPS: How to make anybody say and see anything - William M. Arkin's "The U.S. Military Online" - When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing - Special to the Washington Post - already on Feb. 1, 1999 - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/hvnrq
* FOX: Video 49" - The example how viewers are brainwashed and 'outfoxed' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/b2zzl
* THE DRAMA ON 9/11 WAS A PSY-OP EXAMPLE: SCHOLARS FOR 9/11 TRUTH - American and other scientists, diplomats, researchers etc.: What happened on 9/11? - What is happening to our world? - How can we improve our situation? - Url.: http://www.st911.org/
* THE US PNAC WARS & NATO’S SECRET ARMIES LINKED TO TERRORISM? - (NATO, the Pentagon, NSA, MI6, the CIA, Mossad, BND, and all other European and global 'intelligence services' are linked to inhuman terror, coups d’état, 'rendition', the PNAC Gulags and torture - HR) - by Daniele Ganser - Url.: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/GAN412A.html
* FALSE FLAG 9/11 - NO LEGAL BASE FOR NATO FIGHTING US WARS - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/zqzkc
MORE STRONGLY RELATED LINKS - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/gkgrb
* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html
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Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
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