Governments and Media roles in War Propaganda | John Pilger 2023

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Governments and Media roles in War Propaganda | THE WAR YOU DON'T SEE | John Pilger Documentary

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A powerful and timely investigation into the media's role in war, tracing the history of embedded and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq.

As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an electronic battlefield in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims. But who is the real enemy?

Written, Produced and Directed by John Pilger with Alan Lowery

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Transcript

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0:08

this was the slaughter known as the first World War 16 Millions died and 21 million were

0:17

wounded at the height of the Carnage the Prime Minister of Great Britain David Lloyd

0:22

George had a private chat with the editor of the Guardian CP Scott

0:28

If people really knew the truth said the Prime Minister the war would be stopped

0:34

tomorrow but of course they don't know and can't know

0:39

the British public were desperate for real news more than half the nation

0:45

flocked to see an official propaganda film The Battle of the Somme

0:50

cameras were so unusual that young troops would shout hello mum as they

0:56

marched to the front and they were heard crying for their mothers as they died on the battlefield

1:04

this was almost never reported these days we have 24-hour news the

1:11

sound bites never stop and the wars never stop Iraq Afghanistan Palestine

1:18

this film is about the war You Don't See drawing on my own experience as a war

1:24

correspondent it will look mainly a television concentrating on the most popular channels in America and Britain

1:32

the film will ask what is the role of the media in rapacious Wars like Iraq

1:37

and Afghanistan why do many journalists beat the drums of War regardless of the

1:43

lives of governments and how are the crimes of War reported and Justified when there are crimes

1:52

a pioneer of modern propaganda was this man Edward Bernays

1:58

Bernays invented the term public relations he wrote the intelligent

2:04

manipulation of the masses is an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country

2:11

he was part of a secretive group called the U.S Committee on Public Information set up in 1917 to persuade reluctant

2:19

Americans to join the war in Europe everyone Bernays and Waterloo and go to

2:27

Woodrow Wilson and say look man if you're going to enter into this war we

2:32

are going to need to sell this war to the American people and so Wilson institutes and creates the

2:39

first modern propaganda Machinery it was actually quite brilliant in its

2:44

conceptualization so that the best way to persuade people is to grab them by their emotions by their unconscious and

2:53

instinctual urges let's not bother with pumping out facts let's scare the hell

2:58

out of people a picture of the Statue of Liberty in

3:04

tatters crumbled into the New York Harbor with German planes flying around it

3:11

um a picture of the world being gobbled

3:16

up by the bloody hands of a gorilla wearing a German Helmet so you know it's

3:22

not about facts anymore the facts don't matter

3:28

for Edward bernay's Public Relations was like a war on people on bending their

3:34

will

3:40

persuaded women to smoke at a time when smoking in public was not considered

3:45

ladylike he convinced a group of debutants to

3:50

parade along Fifth Avenue holding up Lucky Strike cigarettes as symbols of

3:55

women's liberation to his Delight the Press called these tortures of freedom

4:03

what he was interested in doing was creating an association between a product in this case cigarettes and the

4:11

desire for women's liberation it worked in the sense that it got lots

4:16

of news coverage it worked in the sense that women started smoking publicly and in fact

4:23

smoking became a symbol of the new woman of the emancipated woman

4:38

[Music]

4:45

Iraq March the 20th 2003 the creation of

4:51

Illusions and the selling of Ward come a long way since Edward Bernays

4:57

the selling of this Invasion depended on the news media to promote a series of

5:03

illusions like the link between Saddam Hussein and 9 11.

5:09

the vision of the World War One poster of the Statue of Liberty in a shambles

5:15

in New York Harbor is not that different from the image of the World Trade Center a burning symbol

5:22

that sort of entered into the stock footage of people's dreams so immediately you have these associations

5:30

between the image of the World Trade Center and Saddam Hussein and Iraq but Saddam

5:37

Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with it Sodom Hussein had nothing to do

5:43

with it but that didn't matter because when you start using symbols that have been separated from their

5:50

meaning and have sort of Taken on a life of Their Own the facts don't matter anymore

5:58

this is the Pentagon which spends almost a billion dollars a year just on

6:03

Advertising recruiting propaganda the selling of War

6:10

their Pentagon contracts with news organizations in terms of how to manipulate the news their Pentagon

6:18

officials involved in press releases that go to the the media in which intelligence is used to manipulate

6:24

public opinion which is a violation of the charter of any intelligence organization then you have retired

6:30

generals who serve as press spokesman for all the networks and they're it's never revealed which military-industrial

6:36

firms they work for Central to this is the co-opting and

6:42

spinning of a media regarded as the freest in the world Showdown Iraq if America goes to war

6:49

turn to MSNBC and the experts if we journalists including myself hit right

6:55

from the get-go from the opening part it started asking the kind of tough digging

7:00

aggressive questions we should have been asking and doing our reporting rather

7:06

than just being kind of stenographers go to a briefing have an official say something print in the paper next day if

7:13

we had done our job I do think a strong argument can be made that perhaps we would not have gone to war

7:19

the attack on Iraq was sold by these two men

7:25

the blueprint for the invasion was this military Doctrine called Shock anore

7:30

designed to paralyze the country and Destroy food production water supply and

7:37

other civilian infrastructure the effect will be similar to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan

7:47

this was terrorizing people on a grand scale and it would be covered up by

7:53

deception in massive amounts but this was not how it was reported at

7:59

the time scores of American reporters have now joined U.S military units in Kuwait as

8:05

part of the pentagon's effort to make any war with Iraq but the Pentagon calls a media friendly campaign a new word

8:13

embedding entered media language and the planning for the invasion

8:18

most of the reports that viewers saw came from within a system in which media

8:24

organizations agreed to certain conditions laid down by the ministry of

8:29

Defense in London and the Pentagon in Washington at the time that our forces crossed into

8:37

Iraq we had some 700 reporters embedded throughout our military formations

8:43

embedding was important for that Conflict for a number of

8:49

reasons one being that we knew we were going up against an enemy that was somewhat

8:57

masterful at misinformation disinformation we have a number of correspondents in bed with our troops

9:03

across the region very deeply embedded in a personal way with the Marine that he's traveling with I love this

9:09

expression for the Iraq War the embedded journalists well too many journalists have been in bed with the administration

9:15

on a variety of issues I would say 80 to 90 percent of what you read in a newspaper is if officially inspired if

9:23

they're covering the intelligence Community for example and they become critical of the CIA or a major

9:29

intelligence organization they're going to lose their sources if they become critical of the Pentagon it's going to

9:35

be very difficult to get into the Pentagon to deal with official military sources so I think journalists like to

9:42

be part of the game part of the inside crowd and therefore the conventional wisdom is the best wisdom

9:49

[Music] thank you

9:56

24-hour news in particular is a system that is the most easy to manipulate

10:03

24-hour news is a giant Echo chamber so that's why for example Basra was

10:09

reported as having fallen 17 times before it actually fell and yet within

10:16

24-hour news when you're reporting it for the seventh time in that chain of 17 times when the city has fallen falsely

10:24

the fact that it's been wrong the previous seven times just doesn't matter

10:31

American armor is moving at will across whole swathes of Baghdad this is good

10:36

this is ragioma reporting for the BBC from Baghdad he described the arrival of

10:42

the Americans as a Liberation people have come out welcoming them holding up

10:48

V signs this is an image taking place across the whole of the Iraqi Capital today but it was not happening across

10:56

the rest of Iraq this was another illusion

11:01

the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein was seized upon by the invading

11:06

Force as a target of opportunity what was not news was a U.S army

11:13

investigation describing how they exploited what they called a media

11:19

circus there are almost as many reporters as Iraqis says the report

11:24

it was an American psyops officer who ordered the statue brought down the

11:30

resulting TV pictures gave no sense of the bloody conquest of Iraq that was

11:36

already well underway you know I didn't really do my job

11:42

properly I think I'd hold my hand up and say that one didn't press the most

11:48

uncomfortable buttons hard enough as you described the arrival of the

11:55

Americans you didn't tell us the story of how that whole statue was itself

12:01

manipulated why not the entire live cameras of the world's press were on the

12:08

balcony of the Palestine Hotel and that was really the only events that

12:14

they saw about Iraq is coming out so it was a sort of made for TV moment and the most telling

12:23

moment in that whole day was when an American Soldier climbed

12:28

up Crane and put the American flag over the statue's face

12:35

because in fact that was a true iconic moment of what had happened that America had taken

12:42

ownership of Iran in Britain Blair and Bush's invasion was

12:49

applauded as a Vindication of them and their strategies

12:54

he said that they would be able to take Baghdad without a bloodbath and that in the end the Iraqis would be celebrating

13:01

and on both of those points he has been proved conclusively right and it would be entirely ungracious even for his

13:08

critics not to acknowledge that tonight he stands as a larger man and a stronger

13:14

prime minister as a result it is absolutely without a doubt a Vindication of the strategy of the Vindication for

13:20

him those who said

13:26

[Music] thank you

13:33

[Music] should they you know use a MOAB the

13:40

mother of all bombs Daisy Cutters and you know let's not just stop at a couple

13:46

of cruisemates I've I've fallen almost in love with the

13:52

F-18 Super Hornet because it's it's quite a versatile plane

14:02

I got to tell you my favorite aircraft the A-10 Warthog I love the warthogs

14:08

[Music] the war we don't see in Iraq is largely

14:13

the massive toll on civilians in Iraq where daily even now people are being

14:20

killed and wounded because of this occupation

14:27

seeing what I see contrasting that with what has been reported by most of the

14:33

mainstream it's it's like two completely different worlds

14:38

[Music]

14:47

in 2004 American Marines twice assaulted the city of Fallujah the second time

14:55

with British forces a nightmare unfolded the Americans made the city a free fire

15:02

zone the UN reported that 70 of the houses

15:10

were destroyed and those standing were riddled with bullets thousands of civilians were killed

15:18

little of this was shown on the majority TV networks in Britain and America

15:24

that the Americans met courageous resistance was not news at all

15:29

viewers did not get a sense of the sheer scale of the suffering of Ordinary People

15:37

this remarkable film from inside Fallujah was made by an American Mark

15:43

Manning with Rana yubi and Iraqi it has never been shown on television in the

15:51

wars of today it's often daring independent filmmakers like these who

15:56

give the victims a voice

16:01

[Music]

16:07

foreign

16:24

[Applause] [Music]

16:30

hang on [Music]

16:36

American journalist Jamal also entered Fallujah independently and revealed that

16:42

the Americans had used white phosphorus and attack civilians

16:48

his eyewitness dispatches and photographs contradicted the version many people saw and read but were not

16:56

published in the mainstream media I have photos of trenches being dug and

17:02

I watch them burying people there and put little makeshift gravestones writing anything to try to identify the people

17:09

and I walked the rows of these stones after the April Siege with one of my interpreters while she read

17:16

uh old man in track suit with a key in his hand mother and two children these

17:22

were the identifying markers and these are these are clearly civilians what does embedding

17:28

do to journalists themselves an important distinction between embedded journalists and

17:35

independent journalists is that when you choose to embed you're giving the

17:40

military the full power to control where you go how you get there what you see

17:46

and when you see it and in a lot of instances even how you're going to report that

17:56

hundreds of thousands of people were forced to evacuate the city refugees in their own land

18:04

they were given nowhere to go many are still unable to return

18:09

[Music]

18:24

[Music]

18:31

evidence that the Invaders had terrorized civilians was provided by Al

18:37

Jazeera and other Arab TV networks whose Fearless unembedded reporters and Camera

18:43

Crews became a threat to military propaganda they gave voice to people who

18:49

refused to be betrayed simply as victims foreign

19:03

foreign

19:12

I happen to be I think the only journalist in the world that has seen the bombing of Al Jazeera arabics

19:18

bureaus in both Kabul in 2001 and in Baghdad in 2003

19:26

the case of the bombing of the Al Jazeera office in Kabul was without doubt and categorically a direct

19:34

targeting of those journalists to shut them up and possibly kill them Al Jazeera to

19:41

informed Washington every news organization provides um Western military uh commanders with

19:49

exact coordinates of where their journalist side but the point about the bombing of the Al Jazeera Arabic office

19:55

in Kabul was that they were given a warning to get out

20:00

um so that was a clear targeting of a journalistic organization

20:05

and Personnel to get them off the air

20:12

journalists who refused to go along with the military are often those who report the real news

20:20

in August 1945 a public relations spectacle was staged on the USS Missouri

20:26

in Tokyo bay in which general Douglas MacArthur ostentatiously took the

20:32

surrender of the Japanese the embedded media were told to attend

20:37

[Music]

20:44

an Australian reporter Wilfred burchard of the London Daily Express refused

20:50

and set out on a perilous Journey for the ruins of Hiroshima

20:56

the official truth of the atomic bombing was presented in this New York Times report which claimed that radiation

21:04

sickness did not exist the reporter who wrote the story was later revealed to

21:10

have been secretly on the payroll of the U.S war department

21:15

's historic scoop had exposed the LIE there was he reported an atomic plague

21:23

I interviewed Wilfred burchard in 1983 shortly before he died it was uh I think

21:30

as I described it was like a city not a bomb City like a city which a

21:36

steamroller was going to flattened everything out of existence what I was seeing there and this feeling sort of

21:42

grew into me as I walked around and I looked at people and here this is the last minutes what happened to the last

21:48

minute of uh World War II it would be the fate of cities all over the world in

21:53

the in the first hours of a World War III what happened to you personally in Japan after that was published

22:00

um I went back to Tokyo by train and arrived just as there was a press conference being held to deny my story

22:07

because the official line was that there was no such thing as atomic radiation and that that denial of that story has

22:14

gone on for decades it's always still going on

22:19

the media consensus was that the atomic bombs had brought the war to an end

22:25

but official files told another story

22:38

a nuclear race had begun and the Cold War followed based on the propaganda of

22:45

fear it was a war we never saw but was always threatening

22:50

and we never knew how close America came to using nuclear weapons again

22:56

what follows is a secret conversation in 1972 between President Richard Nixon and

23:04

Henry Kissinger taped in the White House

23:24

thinking big was what the Bush Administration did in February 2003

23:31

this is U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell of the United Nations promoting

23:36

the invasion of Iraq with an extraordinary theater of the Absurd Iraq

23:42

declared 8 500 leaders of anthrax but unscom estimates that Saddam Hussein

23:50

could have produced 25 000 leaders nothing of what he claimed

23:55

was true all these pictures were meaningless

24:01

Saddam Hussein's intentions have never changed he is not developing the missiles for self-defense these are

24:07

missiles that Iraq wants in order to project power to threaten and to deliver chemical

24:13

biological and if we let him nuclear warheads this irrefutable undeniable

24:20

incontrovertible evidence today Colin Powell brilliantly delivered that Smoking Gun

24:26

today was devastating I mean and overwhelming overwhelming abundance of the evidence point after point after

24:32

point with he just flooded the terrain with with with data did uh Colin Powell

24:39

close the deal today in your mind for anyone who has yet objectively to make

24:45

up their mind uh I think for anybody who analyzes the situation

24:51

he had closed the deal

24:57

Hal's incredible performance was never seriously challenged in the American broadcast media of which Rupert

25:04

Murdoch's Fox television is the biggest Network like the rest of the Murdoch Empire it

25:12

backed The Invasion we expect every American to support our military and if

25:17

they can't do that to shut up how do you steer this thing I mean there's no I mean you have a stick is that right sure

25:22

we have the uh both but the cartoon journalism of fox can often overshadow the fact that the respectable media has

25:29

played a critical part in promoting War like Fox the celebrated New York Times

25:36

published The False claims that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction

25:42

the paper apologized to its readers one year later

25:48

in Britain The Observer another respected liberal newspaper published

25:53

the same false claims David you've written about your articles

26:00

in the observer in the build up to the Iraq invasion that

26:06

you feel and I quote you nauseated angry and ashamed

26:13

about what you wrote what did you mean exactly it's now and has been for a number of years very

26:20

painfully apparent that uh the facts that I believe to be true in those articles were not true they were a pack

26:26

of Lies fed to me by a fairly um sophisticated disinformation campaign

26:33

but didn't it occur to you that these people were professional Liars I

26:41

overcame what should have been stronger doubts I I can make I can make no excuses I I I mean you I should have

26:47

been more skeptical I mean you finished off one of your articles by expressing almost your little editorial at the end

26:55

which you wrote that for the West Iraq was and I quote an ideal place to

27:00

establish a Bridgehead there are occasions in history you wrote when the use of force is both right and

27:07

sensible this is one of them I mean in essence you were advocating an attack

27:13

yes on a defenseless country that's quite something isn't it what has happened the enormity of what has

27:19

happened in Iraq is far bigger than you know my own embarrassment my own

27:24

feelings and what happened was a crime uh it it was a crime on a very large

27:30

scale um does that make a journalist accomplish this

27:35

yeah probably um unwitting perhaps but but yes

27:42

this CBS News special report is part of our continuing coverage of America at

27:48

War here is Dan rabbit for 24 years the most famous news anchor on American

27:55

television was Dan Rather your own career is remarkable for many

28:01

things but one of them in that you you have stood up to power your questioning

28:07

of Nixon which I remember in back in 74 and also your interview over Iran gate

28:15

with Bush Senior but

28:20

then later on you appeared on the famously on the David Letterman show

28:27

which I happen to see and you you you said George Bush is the

28:34

president he makes the decisions and you know as just one American wherever he

28:39

wants me to line up just tell me where and he'll make the call why did you say that

28:45

this was in the almost immediate wake of 9 11. and that's the way I genuinely felt I

28:52

was responding as an American citizen in a personal way than I have said that

28:58

whether those of us in journalism want to admit it or not then

29:04

at least in some small way fear is present in every Newsroom in the

29:09

country a fear of losing your job a fear of your the institution the company you

29:14

work for going on a business the fear of being stuck with some label unpatriotic

29:20

or otherwise that you will have with you to your grave and Beyond

29:25

the the fear that there's so much at stake for the country

29:31

that by doing what you deeply feel is your job will sometimes be in variants of those all of these things go into the

29:37

mix but it's very important for me to say because I firmly believe it I'm not the Vice President in charge of excuses

29:43

that we shouldn't have excuses what we should do is take a really good look at

29:48

that period and learn from it and you know suck up our courage Charles

29:55

Hanley who won Pulitzer Prize for reporting was in Iraq in January of 2003

30:01

and he went to all the sites that had been named by Bush officials as

30:06

suspicious sites El toetha and Fallujah he went to every site that had been

30:12

named by George Bush Cheney rice Colin Powell and he found that in every case

30:19

they were still sealed since 1991 by when they had been sealed by U.N

30:25

inspectors he filed a report on January 18th it went to every major Newsroom in the

30:30

United States because it's the AP which goes to every major Newsroom in the United States got no pickup no

30:37

unpublished script it didn't fit the script it got virtually no pickup it didn't fit the script we were going

30:43

to war no matter what I think that if the good media coverage good journalism that tells truth the power can make a

30:51

huge huge difference so do I think that we would have gone to war if the media

30:56

had done their job and it challenged not just the lies about weapons of mass destruction but the lies about how how

31:02

Saddam kicked the inspectors out in 1998 and the whole the whole Litany of

31:08

propaganda that led up to up you know March 20th 2003 the launch

31:14

of the war I think if the media had been challenging that there's no I think we would not have gone to war Jeremy Paxman

31:21

said last year he and the rest of the media had been hoodwinked in the run-up

31:27

to the invasion of Iraq is that something that you would agree with

31:34

um well what I think I would say about that is that clearly we did not realize until much later in

31:44

the day that the weapons of mass destruction were not there and of course there was

31:51

the so-called dodgy dossier as well so there is quite a body of evidence to

31:56

build up to suggest that the media certainly were taken in by the claims

32:03

that were coming from government at that point yes why didn't the media get it

32:08

why didn't the BBC get it I think that we didn't get it partly

32:14

because of lack of access if you want to find out what's happening then you really need to go there and do

32:21

some first-hand reporting uh which wasn't possible in the run-up to the war in Iraq

32:28

but the crucial facts were available the chief United Nations weapons inspector

32:33

in Iraq Scott Ritter gave me this interview four years before the invasion

32:40

in 1991 Iraq had significant capability in the area of

32:45

chemical weapons biological weapons nuclear weapons production capability

32:50

and long-range ballistic missile manufacturing capability by 1998 the

32:56

chemical weapons infrastructure had been completely dismantled or destroyed by anscom or by Iraq in compliance with

33:03

unscom's mandate the biological weapons program had been declared in its

33:08

totality late in the game but it was gone all the major facilities eliminated the nuclear weapons program again

33:15

completely eliminated the long-range ballistic missile program completely eliminated all that was left was the

33:22

research and development and Manufacturing capability for missiles with a range less than 150 kilometers a

33:28

permitted activity everything that we set out to destroy in 1991 the physical

33:34

infrastructure had been eliminated so if I had to quantify Iraq's

33:40

threat in terms of weapons of mass destruction the real threat is zero none the former

33:47

Chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter was saying as early as 1998 that Saddam

33:54

Hussein was completely disarmed Scott Ritter I think appeared in 2003 twice

34:00

and once at three in the morning on BBC 24 news he was a vital expert witness

34:09

and there were others well I don't know why Scott Ritter didn't appear more but he clearly that's

34:17

the question for the BBC why why weren't those who were those voices heard yes

34:23

well because there were also other voices that we were putting on the air unscum Muhammad al-baradi Hans Blix so

34:32

we were actually listening to to those voices but yeah I think you've got a

34:37

good point you know why why didn't it's a question that we asked ourselves afterwards why was it that we didn't

34:44

discover this first uh didn't discover the state of Saddam Hussein's weapons of

34:49

mass destruction I think what what critics of that would say is that the

34:56

broadcasters notably the BBC echoed or Amplified the lies told in the

35:05

run-up to The Invasion rather than investigating itself what the BBC though

35:13

have a duty to do is to is taught what governments and their representatives

35:19

are saying which we of course did we were just reporting quite legitimately

35:24

the claims that people at the time were making they weren't legitimate claims though

35:31

they were in the mouths of legitimate leaders though and therefore we had a duty to report that for those leaders

35:39

both of them you mentioned Blair and Bush have long been discredited I mean isn't

35:45

it the BBC's role as well as reporting what politicians say to hold power to

35:52

account of course it is it's always it's our it's the BBC's duty to scrutinize what

35:58

it is that people say we're not there to accuse them of lying though because

36:03

that's a judgment no no no that's not being suggested that you make a judgment

36:09

the point is that it appears now that those important journalistic Challengers

36:16

were never made it's not up to me to make a judgment we're there to report what their claims are and hold them up

36:23

to scrutiny and and investigate in August 2002 ITV reported a warning by

36:29

vice president Chaney that Iraq would soon have a nuclear weapon the and that

36:35

was nonsense but it was presented uncritically as news

36:41

wouldn't you say that that contributed to the The Invasion that happened the

36:47

following March what it might have done but with respect not our fault I mean I I don't believe that you're suggesting

36:53

are you that we should completely dismiss the words of arguably the second most powerful man in the Western World

37:00

we didn't necessarily agree with it we reported it and allowed our viewers to make up their minds as to whether this

37:07

was a man telling the truth or not no but that but that's not fair on viewers is it because they may not know what we

37:13

as journalists know or ought to know that this was an extremely dodgy politician who was making is making

37:21

extraordinary claims if we knew it we should have said so if we didn't know it we can't and that applies across everything

37:27

um but you're absolutely writing one regard we shouldn't take things at face value we should do our best to investigate and when we do know we

37:35

should tell our viewers of course we should that's part of the the process of being a journalistically based organization I mean I was thinking of uh

37:42

of Blair's many statements one on the 29th of January 2003 ITV news reporter

37:48

Blair is saying we do know of links between Al-Qaeda and Iraq these links as you know didn't exist I mean we're

37:55

getting into the Realms of sort of semantics now but if you they're very

38:00

important to use the word links between the two your quotation not mine

38:05

well I think that was the quotation from my future links now links can mean a thousand

38:12

things it doesn't necessarily mean a bond of support links well I I'm sitting

38:18

here across you you're telling me that I would say to you will show me that there were no links show me that they'd never show me that even those claiming things

38:25

said there were no leaks any Communications of any kind between those two organizations come on it's

38:30

impossible to do that and he chose his word carefully and of course well they're not careful we do know of links

38:37

between Al-Qaeda and Iran but the word links yeah could mean a thousand things is the point I'm saying here and you're

38:43

not suggesting I'm sure that we shouldn't have reported what the Prime Minister was saying you were talking about semantics a little while ago

38:49

well I find it virtually impossible to believe that Britain could have got away with the invasion of Iraq

38:56

um if the media had been doing its job when Blair was standing up and saying our our policy in the region was to

39:02

Bolton bolster the forces of democracy I mean really the proper reaction to that would have been to burst out laughing

39:08

there's simply no history of that at all Britain has been on the side of authoritarian repressive regimes they

39:15

are our allies the omanis the Saudis the Egyptians they are our allies not the the more democratic more liberal forces

39:22

in the region and I think that if journalists had even had a a slight

39:27

interest in looking at the history and in looking at the at what what the

39:33

government was actually saying at the time and what the evidence was at the time they would have reported things in such a manner that the government just

39:39

would not have been able to have got away with what they did Good

39:51

morning Vietnam welcome to the Don Buster this was the Vietnam War which I

39:57

reported a new military jargon collateral damage was designed for the

40:04

media and to cover up the scale of the industrial killing of up to three million people and the terror of

40:11

indiscriminate bombing often known as turkey shoots the longest bombing campaign in history

40:17

happened here in North Vietnam mostly unseen from outside

40:27

this is a photograph of the town of ham long in the north not a building remained only bomb craters

40:35

pictures like this were sold and published Vietnam was the blueprint for the wars

40:41

of today murder and destruction replaced military tactics almost every man woman and child became

40:49

the enemy again

41:02

it's time that we recognized ours was in truth on noble cause

41:08

as in previous Wars public memory of the Vietnam War was greatly influenced by

41:14

Hollywood The Deer Hunter platoon Good morning Vietnam

41:22

the Green Berets all these films perpetuated an illusion

41:28

turning fiction into truth the theme was fake heroism and self-pity The Invader

41:35

is victim purged of all crime today a series of Iraq war movies

41:42

follows the tradition current Oscar winner The Hurt Locker is

41:48

the familiar story of a psychopath high on violence in somebody else's country

41:54

where the suffering of its people barely exists what I saw was a film that was a

42:02

complete celebration of the lone lunatic but who ultimately

42:09

you know is the quintessential American hero because lone lunatics are very big

42:15

in this country we even elect them presidents sometimes this film is a film about

42:22

killing in which killing is completely incidental and this is a war that was

42:29

orchestrated purely for profit and for oil and for ownership of other people's

42:35

resources and for control of global resources

42:42

[Music]

42:48

this is another War we don't see in Britain in this video British soldiers

42:54

are abusing Iraqi civilians

43:00

[Music] a public inquiry into the killing of

43:08

Baha Musa an Iraqi Hotel worker has been told that British soldiers have tortured

43:14

and killed prisoners Phil Shiner is the lawyer acting for

43:19

more than a hundred Iraqi families modern democracies don't leave marks it's a

43:28

stealth torture so the things that we developed and we

43:34

weren't alone the Americans did the same obviously a much more subtle leaving someone

43:40

hooded putting someone into a wall standing position depriving of food and water Etc

43:47

my clients complain of every type of threat that your women will be brought

43:53

here and raped in front of you that you know death threats you'll be transferred to Guantanamo Bay and frankly people

44:00

should be prosecuted for a lot of the things that I'm talking about in Criminal Courts not military courts you

44:07

can't have soldiers Prosecuting other soldiers being tried by a panel of

44:13

soldiers the court-martial system in My Views utterly failed that's that's got to go

44:19

you need the people who are complicit in it all you need them prosecuted

44:24

what role do you think embedding plays in this well the problem with embedded

44:30

journalism is all we're seeing is the point of view of the troops

44:36

we're not seeing or hearing from the civilians who are on the wrong end

44:43

of of their tactics so let's take detention it seems clear that British

44:50

forces in Iraq killed many people maybe hundreds of civilians

44:57

when they had custody of them and did the most extraordinary brutal

45:05

things involving sexual acts Etc embedded journalism is never ever going

45:12

to get close to hearing the story of those of rookies

45:23

foreign [Music]

45:35

[Music]

45:42

[Music]

45:58

this is the B1 Lancer bomber which costs the American taxpayer

46:04

283 million dollars each

46:11

and this is what it did on May the 4th 2009 in Farah Province Afghanistan

46:18

following false intelligence of Taliban in a village

46:23

its victims were some of the poorest people on earth guy smallman is an independent

46:29

photojournalist and the first Westerner to arrive in the village following the

46:34

bombing the first strike happened outside the

46:40

village mosque which was the first place that I was taken to was just a massive craters and several bombs had fallen in

46:46

that area then after that the women and children were evacuated to

46:54

a compound in the far north of the village and again their heat signatures were

47:00

picked up by the Bomber Crew and a two thousand pound bomb was dropped into the

47:05

middle of them and that was where the majority of the people died [Music] struck me when I was going in there

47:13

was was it was the silence I mean the Afghan Countryside is usually a symphony of Birdsong and it was

47:20

absolutely dead quiet and the locals had done their best to collect all the bodies and the body

47:26

parts but there were still flies swarming all around the area and there

47:31

was still a very pungent smell of death very heavy in the air

47:36

I think the thing that's um struck me more than anything else was the children

47:42

it was almost as if all their energy and emotions have been drained out of them and they would stare right through me

47:49

and my translator into the middle distance they didn't laugh they barely spoke at

47:55

all and that I think left the most lasting impression

48:00

and I was given quite a a grim tour of where people were buried in a lot of

48:07

cases entire families were buried in the same grave I think I counted just over 70

48:12

new Graves fresh Graves and then one far end of the cemetery

48:17

there's an enormous Mass grave which is around 30 meters across and in that grave or the remains of 55

48:25

people and they had to be buried there together because they were quite literally blown into pieces and it was

48:30

impossible to tell who was who so they had to bury them together in one long Trench and then there was the difference about

48:37

the casualties you know the local people insisted that over 140

48:43

civilians had died and NATO said there was 25. so the deaths of 147 people

48:50

including 93 children became a dispute over it became dispute over a body count

48:55

and nothing more now I know for a fact that the pitch is taken by the Afghan

49:02

radio journalists were out there I know that string is on the ground were filing those pictures and I mean a

49:10

lot of those pictures were very graphic but a lot of them you know did show people digging bodies out of the out of

49:16

the rubble it did show those bodies lined up for burial [Music]

49:36

why do you think um British audiences and other Western audiences

49:41

have no real sense of an atrocity of this scale

49:48

I think people become desensitized to it when they when they're told on the news a wedding party has been attacked by

49:54

accident a compound has been bombed by accident uh farmer and his family have been killed by accident

50:01

They Don't Really connect with it because they don't actually get to see those bodies the faces the names the

50:09

names it's just a number whether they're Afghans or Iraqis

50:14

or Lebanese civilians they're just numbers

50:21

and it's perhaps easy to understand why British Muslims feel completely

50:26

disenfranchised from our domestic new Services I think the Press really

50:32

conspires to play Down the Carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan this gets to what

50:38

the Great American writer and academic Ed Herman called worthy and unworthy

50:43

victims the Iraqis are not worthy victims so we can play down their deaths because if we accept the reality that

50:52

there are more than a million dead it's largely our fault and so for instance

50:57

the U.S press will talk about 200 000 to 400 000 dead in Somalia those victims

51:02

are worthy victims because they were killed by people that we don't like and

51:08

in one bizarre case which talked about the cultural peculiarities of Afghan

51:14

Society because they actually got wrangled when you kill their family members their civilian family members

51:20

and in another case they said that uh they argued that Afghanistan Afghan

51:26

Society was peculiar because they didn't like people breaking into their houses in the middle of the night

51:32

you know and this caused them to get angry and sometimes sometimes carry out vendettas

51:45

this is the British Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire it's not as well known as The Great

51:52

cenotaphs and it holds many secrets

52:02

there are sixteen thousand names here every year since 1948 British forces

52:09

have been in action somewhere in the world and there's space for another fifteen

52:14

thousand names of young service men and women waiting to die

52:19

[Music] what's extraordinary about this Memorial

52:25

is its record of constant War during so-called peacetime as if revealing the

52:32

secret of Britain's enduring Imperial role what's missing is any record of the

52:38

victims of these wars the countless men women and children kill mostly in their

52:43

own countries in our name and Glimpse only now and then on the TV news at

52:50

least a million people have died as a result of the invasion of Iraq they are

52:55

not part of our remembrance because they're not allowed in our memory

53:01

Mark Curtis is an historian who writes on British foreign policy his specialty

53:07

is revealing long forgotten official files I've certainly uncovered a lot of uh

53:13

episodes where Britain has been either involved in coups or has been involved in military interventions that have uh

53:21

appalling impacts on people's lives that simply never get mentioned they're never referred to in the in the newspapers

53:27

they never get on TV histories of Britain um they uh they're just taken out

53:33

basically they're deleted from from our historical memory why does the public in Britain have such little idea of the

53:41

sheer scale of this well a very large reason for that is

53:46

that if you look at every war or every coup or every regime that Britain is

53:51

supporting or been involved in uh it's usually accompanied by an

53:57

increasingly sophisticated public relations operation by the government we're told that British foreign policy

54:03

is based on promoting democracy on spreading development and promoting human rights where if you read the

54:08

actual government planning files planners are saying to themselves that their policy is not based on that it's

54:14

based on the control of oil it's based on creating an international economy that works in the interests of British

54:20

corporations and it's based on maintaining their great power status this culture of impunity is deeply

54:26

embedded within British Society I mean if I if you go back say say in the 1960s

54:33

a time when Britain was covertly supporting an Indonesian military that was killing up to a million people

54:40

where Britain was responsible for depopulating the shagos islands and where Britain was arming the Nigerian

54:47

government that was killing hundreds of thousands of biafrans in the Civil War in Nigeria all of that was taking place

54:53

under the labor government in the 1960s and none of those ministers have ever been questioned and yet those decisions

54:59

cost literally millions of lives

55:05

the attack on Iraq did not begin with shock and awe during the first Gulf War

55:10

in 1991 Britain and America deliberately bombed Iraq's modern infrastructure

55:18

and when the war was over the bombing continued this was seldom reported

55:27

during this period of the 1990s the U.N imposed an economic blockade led by

55:33

Britain America Essentials like clean water and vital drugs were denied

55:40

in 1998 the United Nations Children's Fund reported the deaths of half a

55:47

million children under the age of five a direct result of the sanctions imposed

55:53

by the blockade this is Dennis Halliday former assistant

56:00

Secretary General of the United Nations who resigned after refusing to

56:06

administer the sanctions in 1999 I traveled with him to Iraq the

56:13

very provisions of the charter and Declaration of Human Rights have been set aside and we are waging a Warfare

56:20

through the United Nations on the children and people of Iraq incredible results results that you do

56:27

not expect to see in a war under the Geneva conventions were targeting civilians worse we're targeting children

56:33

like suffer who of course were not born when Iraq went into Kuwait I mean what

56:39

is this about it's a monstrous situation for the United Nations for the Western World for all of us who are part of some

56:46

democratic system who are in fact responsible for the policies of our

56:51

governments and the implementation of economic sanctions Khan Ross was a senior British Diplomat

56:57

at the UN responsible for imposing the Embargo on Iraq

57:03

you gave evidence on the impact of sanctions yes and this is what you said

57:10

the weight of evidence clearly indicates that sanctions cause massive human suffering among ordinary Iraqis in

57:17

particular children we the U.S and UK governments were the primary engineers

57:23

and Defenders of sanctions and were well aware of this evidence at the time but

57:29

we largely ignored it or blamed all these effects on the Saddam government

57:34

sanctions effectively denied the entire population the means to live unquote

57:42

that's that's a shocking admission yeah I agree well I stand by it today

57:47

why didn't you speak out during those four and a half years there is a certain

57:53

Macho culture in foreign policy circles that to to talk about things like humanitarian suffering when you're

57:59

dealing with Saddam Hussein is a bit wet you know that it's it's not what the

58:04

issue is really about that governments do security that that's the kind of hard thing that we're there to provide and I

58:11

think however wrong your decisions may be whatever damage you may do to other

58:16

individuals there is at the end of the day no accountability accountability whatsoever we had extraordinarily good

58:23

resources to put together our story to find little facts to justify their story factoids I began to call them and how

58:31

eagerly would um journalists accept these factoids they had very little

58:36

chance to do anything other than accept our version of events and more or less relay it on unedited to the public

58:44

government is an information machine and we would control access for journalists to us to governments when I was in news

58:51

Department in the in the foreign office we would control access to the foreign off to the foreign secretary as a form

58:57

of reward to journalists if they they were critical if they if we felt they were they were too hostile to our

59:03

account of events we would not give them the goodies of trips with the foreign secretary around the world or you know exclusive interviews every now and then

59:10

we did the same in New York if journalists were not particularly supportive to our account we would freeze them out we would make life

59:16

harder for them but there is a subtle and private relationship between them which is basically of of you know

59:23

favoritism that um certain journalists are rewarded with access for for being

59:28

supportive of the story they will basically tell journalists you carry on with that line that that kind of

59:35

unjustified criticism of our government policy on xyl said we will punish you and that that is very explicit those

59:41

kinds of threats what happened was was not an intelligence based process it was

59:47

basically a PR process run by number 10 to to produce a document that was much

59:53

more more politically credible than the evidence suggested it was a major deception wasn't it I think it amounts

59:59

in effect to that yes I remember before I was sent to New York in late 97 I did

1:00:05

the round of departments in London saying to them okay I'm going to New York I'm going to be doing Iraq what do

1:00:11

I need to know and I went to see non-proliferation Department in the foreign office and I was expecting a

1:00:17

briefing on the vast piles of weapons that we still thought Iraq possessed and

1:00:22

the desk officers sort of looked at me slightly sheepishly and said well actually we don't think there's anything we don't think there's anything in Iraq

1:00:29

uh I said that's extraordinary I mean um I thought we had sanctions because we thought Iraq had large amounts of

1:00:36

weapons he said no no uh the justification for sanctions is basically that uh we have unanswered questions

1:00:43

about how those stocks were destroyed in the past but what I feel I mean I feel very

1:00:49

uh I feel very guilty about it I feel very ashamed about it I feel ashamed about it sitting talking to you

1:00:55

you know I feel actual shame running through my body when I talk to you about it should journalists feel the same

1:01:02

those who pass on the deception absolutely we should all be accountable

1:01:08

to each other I mean I think that's the only way to have a civilized society is some kind of transparency with each

1:01:14

other and accountability and people holding people morally accountable for what they do and that applies to journalists as much as it applies to

1:01:20

anybody [Music]

1:01:35

these were to be the borders of Israel and Palestine when Israel was founded in

1:01:41

1948 and this is what's left of Palestine today fragmented and dislocated by a

1:01:49

military occupation that defies international law and is backed by one

1:01:54

of the world's most sophisticated propaganda machines oh

1:02:03

hello this is Palestinian cameraman Imad ganin being shot repeatedly by Israeli

1:02:11

soldiers the killing of non-western journalists is rarely news

1:02:17

was 21 and lost both his legs

1:02:26

ten journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since 1992 and many more

1:02:32

have been wounded the Pioneer in Glasgow University Media Group has just published its latest

1:02:39

study on the media reporting of Israel and Palestine

1:02:45

I think what it comes down to is a basic knowledge that journalists have which is

1:02:50

quite simply that if they criticize Israel then it's potentially trouble if

1:02:56

they criticize the Palestinians then that's there is much less of a problem so they might use a word like occupation

1:03:05

but they won't say military occupation they won't say military rule they won't explain in detail what it means they

1:03:12

wouldn't certainly wouldn't do it routinely to explain in detail what it means to be living under military Rule

1:03:18

and why the Palestinians from their point of view are trying to overthrow that military or trying to throw off

1:03:24

that control Professor Greg farlo heads the Glasgow

1:03:31

unit looking at his research and it come through very clear it's a certain state

1:03:36

of fear exists on who the Israelis will complain to they

1:03:42

say in the research people producers worried will they complain direct a general level or will they just simply

1:03:49

Ring The Newsroom but the point is this sense of intimidation almost

1:03:55

welcome to the world of a correspondent who has to deal with this pressure on a

1:04:01

daily basis yes where I would take issue with you is the Fear Factor because

1:04:06

actually no correspondent that I have come across who is used to working in

1:04:11

Jerusalem particularly or dealing with this stuff fears it at all I was thinking of people here at television

1:04:18

Center we don't fear it either we we take a lot of it but we don't fear it

1:04:23

after we did the first book I gave a number of talks two two journalists in

1:04:29

Britain to BBC journalists and I spent time with people who were senior producers on on television news and one

1:04:37

of them said to me in the context of quite a heated discussion that was going on with other journalists he said listen

1:04:43

he said we wait in fear that was his exact words we wait in fear for the

1:04:48

telephone call from the Israelis he said the only issue we face then is how high up it's come from them has it come from

1:04:55

a monitoring group has it come from the Israeli Embassy and then how high has it gone up our organization is it the duty

1:05:02

editor is it has it gone above that is it the director General he said and I he said I have had journalists on the phone

1:05:08

to me minutes before we've gone on on a major news program saying what can I say

1:05:15

which words can I use is it all right if I say this thank you

1:05:21

on May the 31st 2010 Israeli forces attacked an aid flotilla headed for Gaza

1:05:28

in international waters they kill nine people in the days that followed Israeli

1:05:36

propaganda set out to manipulate the news agenda they were clubbed who were

1:05:42

beaten stabbed it was even reported gunfire

1:05:48

don't you think it's fair to to look at some coverage and say there's a tone

1:05:55

the tone was of course you didn't sit down and say we're going to put the

1:06:00

Israeli point of view but the tone throughout was that Israel

1:06:06

had a problem not the people who were shot in the back of the head but that Israel had a problem I think there are

1:06:13

two things here one is that are you saying that actually we devalued

1:06:19

human life because I don't think we did no I didn't but I think it's legitimate to ask what

1:06:27

the implications of this were going to be for Israel which is what that question was attempting to do

1:06:33

tonight at 10 the Israelis under pressure after the raid on ships taking Aid to Gaza hundreds of activists in the

1:06:41

Convoy were detained in Israel including at least 40 British Nationals they were

1:06:47

pushing everybody under people running around and they were hitting us with the back of the guns the Israelis are

1:06:54

accused of carrying out a bloody massacre but they claim it was self-defense

1:06:59

our planning for yesterday's interception was for a peaceful police operation our Sailors on the on the job

1:07:06

were told you are to use minimum minimum force and maximum restraint the top of

1:07:12

the main news was Mark regev unchallenged Mark regev as you know was

1:07:18

the is the chief Israeli propagandist Mark regev is a spokesman for the

1:07:25

Israeli government now you can describe him as a propagandist

1:07:31

please don't that's a pejorative way of putting what government spokespeople are

1:07:37

you know they're entitled to express their point of view and we have a duty to report it I'm afraid that their

1:07:44

polite view wouldn't be shared by the families of the people who were killed on the back absolutely accept that and

1:07:49

we have a duty to report that that perspective as well who's the Palestinian equivalent of Mark reggae

1:07:55

who appeared so often who's the Palestinian equivalent of all those

1:08:00

mainly female Israeli spokespeople during operation cast lid who was who

1:08:07

was their equivalent articulate in English given given a space right at the

1:08:13

top of BBC News I think that's a very good point uh you know who are those people yes well why why hasn't the BBC

1:08:20

but that's not our job to go out and appoint the Palestinian spokesperson would you say you're impartial surely

1:08:27

you would find somebody to be yes at Mr reggae of saying his say but then his

1:08:33

equivalent we do and we did you don't actually you don't have an equivalent of Mark reggae if that's just not true just

1:08:39

because there isn't an equivalent of Mark regev doesn't mean to say that we didn't allow those viewpoints which

1:08:45

you've just expressed to be heard across the range of our output this was ITV News on May the 31st using

1:08:54

the same Israeli footage filmed with night vision cameras Israeli Commandos dropped from helicopters onto

1:09:01

the deck of a Turkish a chip and violent clashes erupt

1:09:06

in the immediate aftermath of the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla in in June for one

1:09:14

thing the Israelis supplied doctored film even with captions which was widely

1:09:21

used across ITV in the BBC it was labeled but it the the the context of

1:09:28

this according to the Israelis that their people who were attacking the

1:09:33

flotilla were actually being attacked by the people who were on the Patilla that

1:09:39

that Israeli perspective propaganda dominated

1:09:45

dominated but certainly the Israeli propaganda machine as you well know is very very sophisticated and in its own

1:09:53

terms is quite successful on occasions and yes it is the case that sometimes media organizations fall into a trap

1:10:00

laid for them by it's only sophisticated because we allow them to be sophisticated but again you know it's

1:10:08

only when you can come to write the history of these events that you can you can see it with that hindsight view when

1:10:13

it's actually happening on a daily basis you've got to be very careful what you do when the story is over and when

1:10:19

someone has the time and brain power left to actually kind of write the definitive history of it sure then if

1:10:24

you've got things wrong you put your hands up and you say well at that time we weren't aware of that we made a mistake that's that's you know that

1:10:30

happens from time to time people like the Palestinians can't wait until someone writes a definitive history

1:10:39

well you suggesting that journalists can that the job of Journalism is to change

1:10:46

the world it ain't I've got to tell you even someone with your massive experience should know better than that

1:10:51

no I'm not saying that your job is to make sure that the public who consume our news are as informed as we can make

1:10:59

them so that they can make their own minds up but viewers can only make their own

1:11:05

minds up if they're given all the available facts graphic independent video was available on the internet on

1:11:12

the night of the attack four months later a United Nations investigation described the Israeli

1:11:20

attack as displaying unnecessary and incredible violence

1:11:25

six people were executed at point-blank range the attack warranted prosecution for war

1:11:33

crimes this was only reported in a 12-second item on ITV News and completely ignored

1:11:41

on the three main BBC TV bulletins and seen only on news 24

1:11:54

one of the public relations triumphs of the 21st century was the rise of Barack

1:12:00

Obama his campaign slogan was change we can believe in

1:12:07

he was a brand that offered something special exciting in 2008 Obama the candidate was voted

1:12:16

marketer of the year ahead of Apple Nike and Coors beer

1:12:22

he made many people feel good as if his slogan might be true

1:12:28

above all the perception of brand Obama was that he was against War most of you

1:12:34

know that I oppose this war from the start I thought it was a tragic mistake

1:12:39

but that was false as President Obama has not withdrawn America from Iraq and

1:12:46

has backed U.S military action in Afghanistan Pakistan Somalia and Yemen

1:12:52

and approved a military budget of 708 billion dollars the biggest war spending

1:13:00

of all time Cynthia McKinney is a former congresswoman and Green Party candidate

1:13:07

for president it's a great shame on the black political tradition

1:13:15

in the United States to have

1:13:22

a warmonger

1:13:29

it's almost as if the black community in the United States

1:13:38

Maybe we've lost our innocence too because

1:13:45

um it would be very difficult to find a

1:13:50

black person in the United States just an average ordinary person who supports any of these wars

1:13:57

and yet these wars are being carried out in blackface

1:14:03

more than any other president Obama has prosecuted truth tellers known as

1:14:09

whistleblowers and this is WikiLeaks an internet whistleblowing organization

1:14:15

independent and stateless it represents a landmark in journalism

1:14:21

Wikileaks has released hundreds of thousands of Secret Pentagon documents

1:14:26

that describe the wholesale killing of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan

1:14:33

in the information that you have revealed on Wikileaks about these

1:14:39

so-called endless Wars what has come out of them looking at the

1:14:44

enormous quantity and diversity of these military or intelligence

1:14:50

apparatus Insider documents what I see is a a vast sprawling estate what we

1:14:58

would traditionally call the military intelligence complex or military industrial complex and that this

1:15:04

sprawling industrial estate is growing becoming more and more

1:15:12

secretive becoming more and more uncontrolled this is not um a sophisticated

1:15:18

conspiracy controlled at the top this is a a vast movement of self-interest by

1:15:25

thousands and thousands of players are all working together and against each other

1:15:31

to produce an end result which is Iraq and Afghanistan and Colombia and

1:15:37

keeping that going you know we often deal with tax Havens and people hiding assets and

1:15:44

transferring money through offshore tax Havens so I see some really quite remarkable similarities

1:15:52

Guantanamo is used for laundering people

1:15:59

to an offshore Haven which doesn't follow the rule of law similarly

1:16:04

Iraq and Afghanistan I and Colombia are used to wash money out of the ux U.S tax

1:16:11

base and back arms companies arms companies yeah I mean what you're saying

1:16:16

is that money and money making is at the center of

1:16:23

Modern War and it's almost self-perpetuating yes and and it's becoming worse what

1:16:30

happens when Wikileaks runs into the United Kingdom which has

1:16:36

some of the most Draconian secrecy laws in the world such as the official Secrets Act

1:16:43

we haven't found a problem publishing UK information I mean when we look at the official

1:16:51

Secrets act label documents we see they state that it is an offense to

1:17:00

retain the information and it is an offense to destroy the information so

1:17:06

the only possible outcome is that we have to publish the information huh

1:17:14

um and that's which we have done on many many occasions I I noticed one that I uh had a personal interest in was one that

1:17:23

uh from the ministry of Defense classified document that equated uh

1:17:29

terrorists with investigative journalists as threats and Russian spies and Russian spies yeah as as in fact in

1:17:36

many sections of that report investigative journalists are the number one threat to the sort of information

1:17:42

security of the ministry of Defense so that was a a 2000 page document on how

1:17:51

to stop leaks from the ministry of Defense which which we leaked I didn't know whether to be offended or

1:17:58

honored well it's nice to be having a impact

1:18:05

since the release of the pentagon's war Secrets Julian Assange has been

1:18:11

subjected to extraordinary smears and accusations originating in America and

1:18:17

Sweden these include threats against his life and bizarre character assassination

1:18:24

the media all over the world has Amplified this propaganda

1:18:33

Secret Pentagon documents us intelligence intends to destroy trust

1:18:40

in Wikileaks by threatening whistleblowers with exposure and criminal prosecution thereby

1:18:47

discrediting truth tellers how you feel about whistleblowers as an

1:18:52

essential part of democracy do you do you approve of whistleblowers well I

1:18:58

think you know this country has laws to protect whistleblowers exactly

1:19:04

and uh and I think that you know that there have been instances in our history

1:19:11

where shining a light on something is is important to do can you

1:19:17

as a senior official of the United States government a

1:19:23

guarantee that the editors of WikiLeaks and the editor himself is

1:19:29

not American are not in danger that they themselves will not be subjected to the

1:19:35

kind of hunt that we read about in the the media well first of all it's not my

1:19:41

position to give guarantees on anything we do have an open uh criminal investigation the investigation is

1:19:48

targeted on the individuals that have um violated the trust and confidence

1:19:54

that's been bestowed upon them by this country but Wikileaks is an organization

1:19:59

run from outside the United States and the founder of that has been told that

1:20:05

he is at Great risk from being hunted down I don't know in what form

1:20:11

and neither do I so I'm afraid I can't help you I mean for you to receive that volume of

1:20:18

documentation suggests that there must be something of a rebellion

1:20:25

going on within the system yes I mean it's the one hopeful thing

1:20:32

is in fact there are good people in the US Military and some of those people

1:20:37

have had enough it's sort of another way of being a conscientious objective and in fact

1:20:43

I'm arguably a far more powerful way of objecting to the war

1:20:51

in April 2010 Wikileaks released this cockpit video from an Apache gunship in

1:20:58

Baghdad in 2007 the gunship is firing from a distance of

1:21:03

over a mile from its victims this is the war You Don't See

1:21:09

clearly there were two cameramen there holding cameras not arms

1:21:15

um these cameramen turned out to be Reuters news reporters [Music]

1:21:28

[Music]

1:21:33

light them all up and 260s come on fire

1:21:46

shoot we need to move time now

1:21:54

all right we just engaged all eight individuals the whole street covered with bodies the

1:21:59

reaction to that was nice

1:22:08

[Music] this type for me and the other people

1:22:14

involved made nicer dirty word so he just couldn't see

1:22:20

something has been nice anymore when a whole street covered with Carnage is

1:22:25

nice Ethan McCord was one of the first soldiers to reach the scene of The

1:22:31

Killing here he speaks to an audience in the United States myself and the team soldiers I was with

1:22:38

began running in the Direction Where We heard the Apache fire shoot I was not even close to prepared for the

1:22:45

Carnage that I was about to walk onto I saw what appeared to have been three men on a corner

1:22:57

system they didn't look human then there was the smell the smell was unlike anything I've

1:23:03

smelled before a mixture of feces urine blood smoke and

1:23:09

something else indescribable now Bushmaster we have a van that's approaching and picking up the bodies

1:23:15

requesting mission to engage

1:23:20

Master 7 Roger engaged Claire come on

1:23:29

Claire left

1:23:41

frequency

1:23:48

I hear crying not cries of pain but that of a small child who had just woken up

1:23:54

from a horrible nightmare yeah it looks like we got it I saw that there was a minivan and the cries appear to be coming from

1:24:00

it myself and another Soldier a 20 year old private

1:24:05

walked up to the passenger side van and looked inside the private that I was with real back

1:24:11

began to vomit and quickly ran away what I saw when I looked in the van was

1:24:16

a small girl about four years old on the passenger side of the bench seat she had a severe belly wound and was covered in

1:24:22

glass [Music]

1:24:30

the glass was in her hair and also in her eyes next to her half on the floorboard with

1:24:36

his head resting on the seat was a boy about seven years old he wasn't moving and from the severe

1:24:43

wound to the right side of his head my first thought was that he was dead in the driver's seat

1:24:49

was who I immediately concluded must have been these children's father by the way he was hunched over the children in a protective manner

1:24:56

the whole time thinking [ __ ] what the [ __ ] these are babies yeah I need to get the rat the brass to drop raft I got a

1:25:09

see my son was born May 31st 2007. I had yet to see him

1:25:14

and I had a daughter who was barely older than this girl The Medic radioed in at the little girl

1:25:19

needed to be evacuated because there was nothing else he can do here I handed the child to the medic who then

1:25:24

ran the girl to a wedding Bradley armored vehicle I walked back to the van I don't know

1:25:30

why I looked inside the van again did the boy just moved holy [ __ ] the boy just moved

1:25:39

I grabbed the boy from the van and held him against my chest

1:25:44

I was screaming at this point the boys alive the boys alive I started running to the Bradley in

1:25:50

hopes that it wasn't leaving at this point the boy looked up in me

1:25:59

and his eyes rolled back my heart sunk it's okay I have you it's going to be

1:26:06

okay don't die don't die squeeze them a little bit tighter

1:26:11

now put him into the Bradley as gently as I could you tell Battalion that two civilian children's casualties are

1:26:17

coming back the rest of my and the Bradley over Roger that's that negative uh on uh to uh to being uh kids to uh

1:26:25

Rusty they're gonna have uh you know IBS will take them up to a local hospital over what the [ __ ] are you doing McCord it

1:26:32

was my platoon leader you need to quit worrying about these [ __ ] kids in full security he screamed

1:26:38

at the time the only thing I can think of was Roger that sir

1:26:43

when the soldiers on the ground he describes the atrocity as and I quote him an everyday occurrence and he said

1:26:51

the word from his Commander was to kill I won't use the word

1:26:56

everyone on the street and he replied to him are you kidding me women and children he said yes and it's a point

1:27:03

made by many other soldiers who've come back from Afghanistan Iraq that this

1:27:09

kind of atrocity is not an aberration well first of all this is not an

1:27:15

everyday occurrence if it was an everyday occurrence we would certainly know about it uh these incidences are

1:27:23

unfortunate everyone in which there's a civilian casualty is is unfortunate but again it is the enemy who is

1:27:31

deliberately trying to inflict civilian casualties and put civilians in harm it

1:27:38

is the NATO forces it is the U.S forces that are taking every precaution that

1:27:43

they can to prosecute the war and prevent civilian casualties General

1:27:48

James Cartwright who's Vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff he says the United States

1:27:56

can expect to be at War and these are his words for as far as

1:28:01

the eye can see that sounds like a permanent state of War our job is to be prepared to

1:28:11

um fight and win this nation's Wars and so we have to be prepared for the

1:28:17

possibility of conflict into the future it's a remarkable State of Affairs isn't

1:28:24

it because the United States is not in fact threatened by a power

1:28:30

that could possibly overturn it defeat it that's impossible but still it goes on

1:28:38

as if we're all drawn into most of humanity into a permanent state

1:28:45

of War for many people that seems very difficult to justify

1:28:50

well first of all there are some very dangerous asymmetric threats that are out there terrorism obviously one of

1:28:59

them this is what we what we anticipate going

1:29:06

into the future is is not necessarily a nation on Nation type conflict okay it is these asymmetric threats that are out

1:29:13

there it's the threat of um of uh weapons of mass destruction

1:29:19

there's been another asymmetric threat is the Cyber threat that exists these are all threats that transcend

1:29:26

um geographical boundaries um so uh you know the United States

1:29:33

military has to prepare for a wide range of threats that exist out there in order

1:29:39

to protect its national interests a media drums beating for another War

1:29:44

say a war with Iran I wouldn't say that the meteor beating the drums for for war yet although they are showing the same

1:29:53

credulousness the same obsequiousness towards the powerful as they did in advance of the

1:30:00

Iraq War I'm not sure it's to the point that they're beating the drums for war yet but when the elites decide it's time

1:30:06

to go I would be surprised if they did anything but you've mentioned already Iran yeah and there is an enormous

1:30:13

choice to be made about Iran a more developed more formidable more populous

1:30:19

and certainly better armed country than saddam's uh Iraq whatever was are you

1:30:25

actually saying that we should threaten them militarily if they are determined to develop nuclear weapons I am saying

1:30:32

that I think it is wholly unacceptable for a rant of nuclear weapons capability and I think we've got to be prepared to

1:30:40

confront them military necessarily militarily if necessarily military I I think there is no alternative to that if

1:30:47

they continue to develop nuclear weapons and they need to get that message loud and clear does this sound familiar

1:30:55

there is as much evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons as there was

1:31:00

that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction as claimed by Tony Blair

1:31:06

we know that great falsehoods were perpetrated and yet the individuals who perpetrated these things are still

1:31:13

running around you know more or less much as before you know being taken seriously as commentators as authorities

1:31:19

on this or that you know I find it astonishing these people should hide their heads in shame

1:31:27

the British Elites do not want the public to know what they're doing they don't actually even think they have a right to know what they're doing

1:31:34

um and and they know that the more information the public has the more difficult it is for them to pursue policies that maybe are abusive of Human

1:31:41

Rights or involve supporting a repressive regime and so there's a conscious strategy actually of having

1:31:49

these public relations campaigns that the government regularly has whenever it resorts to an overseas military

1:31:54

intervention to try and convince the public that they're acting in uh for the

1:32:00

highest of noble intentions when in fact they're not when when they're usually acting out of hard-hearted

1:32:06

straightforward calculation of elite interests so the public is a threat that needs to

1:32:11

be counted

1:32:17

for too many journalists the price of their independence is their life

1:32:22

they include Terry Lloyd of ITN shot dead in Iraq by American Marines

1:32:30

since the invasion of Iraq more than 300 journalists have been killed

1:32:35

more than in any other War this film is a tribute to them

1:32:42

that doesn't mean that we journalists have to risk Our Lives to tell the truth but we do have to be brave enough to

1:32:49

defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody Adventure in

1:32:55

someone else's country that means always challenging the official story however patriotic that

1:33:02

story may appear however seductive and Insidious it is

1:33:08

for propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away

1:33:14

enemy but at you at home it's very simple in this age of endless

1:33:20

Imperial War the lives of countless men women and children depend on the truth

1:33:27

or their blood is on us never believe anything until it's

1:33:33

officially denied said the great reporter Claude Coben in other words those whose job it is to keep the record

1:33:40

straight or to be the voice of people not power

====

,842 Comments

Sejin Lifeforce 生命

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@FilmIsNowMovies

3 months ago

Unlock the ultimate conspiracy theory  https://tinyurl.com/AnnunakiCMFIN

42

Reply

9 replies

@petervankas1352

3 months ago

100 percent agree

4

Reply

@petadawkins5564

2 months ago

Seems the powers that be won't allow this to be shared.

11

Reply

@JasonTam-pp7ey

1 month ago

Crap links 

1

Reply

@staceycolangelo8940

1 month ago

How about you release a documentary on Israel like this, rather than waiting 20 years?

6

Reply

@patriciatehaate236

1 month ago

​ @staceycolangelo8940 totally agree 

1

Reply

@cabreram.4734

2 weeks ago

Please, upload "The war on democracy ", Thanks!

2

Reply

@mmd2156

2 weeks ago

Apparently the video is private

1

Reply

@jhngfdsdfgkjnbv

2 days ago

The dictator and tyrant - a person who cancels elections, closes borders and hunts for fresh meat in every town and city - (hint - always wears green.)

Reply

@user-vy4xx2qp3d

10 months ago

''I have two rules i live by, i don't believe anything the Gov't tells me and i don't take the press seriously'' ~ George Carlin

2.5K

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FilmIsNow Movies

·

54 replies

@PariahRepenting

9 months ago

Now that was a Truth seeker and fearless reporter of such...

Imagine if he'd taken a passion for this kind of reporting once he was widely known and loved.

40

Reply

@audioaddict420

9 months ago

George was a genius honestly he will be missed.

56

Reply

@PariahRepenting

9 months ago (edited)

 @audioaddict420  Yessssss

13

Reply

@dividedwefall5382

9 months ago

A true American hero!

20

Reply

@wdzienkowski

9 months ago

And another point: whatever they say in Israel is not to be taken seriously. It’s just propaganda for for a nation that is messing up with their neighbours…. ️ “sad but true”

49

Reply

@tofurakhanom2644

9 months ago

Well said

14

Reply

@futuresum1671

9 months ago

Carlin was wise and experienced. It's much worse now since he passed on.

35

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Show more replies

@Liz-eq4kp

10 months ago

I watched 17 minutes of this film and knew I  couldn't  stomach the rest.   The same propaganda and evil are happening in Ukraine. I wish everyone could see this documentary.

3.4K

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323 replies

@adamrandall5967

10 months ago

Shockamentary ️

80

Reply

@anhumblemessengerofthelawo3858

10 months ago

There's always Col. Douglas Macgregor and Scott Ritter as cure.

230

Reply

@anhumblemessengerofthelawo3858

10 months ago

32:39

There he is

40

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@Liz-eq4kp

10 months ago (edited)

 @HeresMyView  Thanks!

14

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Show more replies

@vickiwhitehead-zc2rl

2 months ago

This should be shown  in high schools and widely  distributed  I feel like crying 

112

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5 replies

@laurentius1986

4 months ago

The thing that baffles me is the fact people know about these crimes, yet they do nothing to punish them.

123

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5 replies

@nas84payne

3 months ago

No accountability is only encouragement to keep doing crimes.

20

Reply

@sunshine-vd9jl

1 month ago

Most people are sheep. I hate saying that but it's true. Think about how stupid people are fighting for someone else $$$$$

8

Reply

@RafaelCastillo-ro8nf

1 month ago

Criminals run the show!!!

4

Reply

@pechoja

1 month ago

People cannot punish. The government won't punish one of the perps.

4

Reply

@michaelwalk7130

1 month ago

Even more consequential is that journalists and the people know all about those lies in the past, but (MSM-)journalists keep publishing the new current lies, and people keep believing them.

The exception and my hope is the growing number of independent journalists, retired experts and whistleblowers who dare to speak out the truth, and the growing number of people reading them and believing them more than the MSM.

6

Reply

@raykirkham5357

10 months ago

It is unacceptable that Blair is not in prison serving a life sentence for war crimes in more  Iraq.  He should not be allowed out in public.

664

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49 replies

@kv1815

10 months ago

He is knighted instead 

53

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@raykirkham5357

10 months ago (edited)

 @kv1815  That doesn't bode well for the British.  Actually these days Britain is going down the tubes and maybe their knights  will go with them.

29

Reply

@elaineteut9579

10 months ago

What about Bush?

62

Reply

@GemGem23

10 months ago (edited)

 @raykirkham5357 he’s white and will indeed get away with his behavior. He’ll answer to his crimes on the other side.

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@raykirkham5357

10 months ago (edited)

 @GemGem23  Whatever color you are, you still don't know what you are talking about.  What behavior are you talking about.  Sometimes I am amazed at the ignorance I see on social media.  Yours comes to mind.

12

Reply

@raykirkham5357

10 months ago (edited)

 @GemGem23  Sorry I may have misread you post.  It read that I was white and will indeed answer....I feel we are in agreement about Blair.

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Show more replies

@abringering2164

9 months ago

It’s a wonder to me how Tony Blair isn’t in prison with Bush, Kissinger and the lot of them.

455

Reply

22 replies

@mickc6347

2 weeks ago

John Pilger ,

RIP 

the last real and honest Journalist.

26

Reply

@ionutvrabie5730

9 months ago (edited)

The same propaganda is done today in Ukraine. The same thing happened during the pandemic. A lot of people who were voicing their concerns were silenced, then and now.

740

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37 replies

@Cruelaid

10 months ago

Free Julian Assange!

343

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14 replies

@homapirzadeh3930

3 months ago

Thank you John Pilger for all the valuable work you had done in your life time!! We miss you these days a lot and sad to not having you anymore

40

Reply

@marygarrapa3537

2 months ago

John Pilger, you are greatly missed at this time.

60

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1 reply

@bountyhunter779

11 months ago

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”

Joseph Goebbels

859

Reply

37 replies

@peacesalamonlyone

10 months ago

As a western born, I feel immense shame and deep sadness. 

Millions of wonderful people murdered, cripled, traumatised to enrich a few psychopaths.

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75 replies

@davidlamb7524

4 months ago

John was the greatest journalist of our time. His death is a tragic loss for those who value truth and justice and hence also for the world at large.

30

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1 reply

@thetechnician832

4 months ago

Amazing journalist. Everyone should watch this, as it is so relevant to what is happening today. What a sick world we live in.

25

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@grn-mq2qh

4 weeks ago

To his last day John Pilger suffering from pulmonary failure used his voice to help the oppressed and forgotten. Hero.

4

Reply

@DavidWBIII

10 months ago

As  a veteran from Iraq, it was a horror show and very sad. So many families ruined and destroyed. I gave as much as I could to children and it broke my heart that we were over there on A DAMN LIE! PLANES DON'T TAKE DOWN SKYSCRAPERS! PERIOD!

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161 replies

@Tracey-zr5do

9 months ago

I'll second that, Julian Assange should be free!  He SPOKE THE TRUTH TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE.

569

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21 replies

@lindahuseyin4210

2 months ago

John Pilger Thank you for your journalism , unlike the embedded media !

18

Reply

@graceiragena3078

1 month ago

You are the light that shines in the darkness. Thank you very much.

25

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@chrisfamily5194

10 months ago

My children are 12 and 9 years of age. I will show them this documentary later today. They will watch all of it with me. I want them from a young age to know exactly what the news media in America is all about and how they're NEVER to be trusted.

861

Reply

64 replies

@andretait2817

10 months ago

And they call Putin evil. He has been very restrained in ukraine compared to Iraq.

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2 replies

@ninjabreadgirl

2 weeks ago

Incredible. Thank you for this BRILLIANT piece of journalism. Wow. I wish the entire world would watch this documentary.

5

Reply

@dee-vee

3 months ago

We need John's guidance and spirit more than ever.  Thanks, Mr Pilger for liberating our minds.

18

Reply

@shadowwarrior7218

5 months ago

R.I.P John Pilger.

One of, if not, the Greatest Journalist of our time.

234

Reply

8 replies

@TruthFreedom1776

10 months ago (edited)

We the common people of the United States of America demand accountability and justice for these atrocities carried out by Washington and the US government. People need to be arrested charged and prosecuted for these heinous crimes.

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11 replies

@robertgoodger9687

2 months ago

RIP JP an individual demanding of respect.

The world is a darker place with your passing.

May history be truthful and humbled when reflecting upon your crusade.

13

Reply

@carolinecollett956

3 months ago

The camera men , journalists and reporters have a greater responsibility than anyone and could sway public opinion for peace ️

32

Reply

@treefrog3349

10 months ago

Civilian deaths in WWI were 10%; Viet Nam 70%; and Iraq 90%. These grim figures illustrate and underscore the ever-growing indifference of government power to the plight of human beings! The "state" powers themselves have become non-representational entities unto themselves. The majority of us are "just here", in the background of state enterprise and ambition. We are consumers and cannon fodder and little else - until election time. It is then when these same individuals roll out "democracy" and all the other noble ideals upon which America was founded for a brief moment. The manipulative duplicity of this charade is disgusting. The mind-numbing subservience to this charade by the general public is terrifying.

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6 replies

@shawnbruce6934

7 months ago (edited)

Im an American and am very embarrassed of the tyranny our government has caused over the years.

34

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@cyrilharris

4 months ago

Wish I watched his videos earlier in my life. A great journalist, a message hidden from the general public. Another casualty of the powerful forces in control . RIP with much respect for your work.

11

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@jamescolpas

3 months ago

THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE . THANK YOU FOR THIS

10

Reply

@julianclarke9872

6 months ago

I have been listening to John Pilger for over 30 years now and he has never lied to me. It is hard to find journalists that are as honest as he is.

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3 replies

@heavenknight18

10 months ago

I was listening to this at my job around a bunch of grown men, and when the story about the soldier finding the boy and girl in the car shielded by their dead father came up I lost it and had to go cry in the restroom. I was a kid when these wars were happening and I had no understanding then. Now I'm a father myself, and this stuff really hits where it hurts.

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18 replies

@molliestanton2869

4 months ago

Stunning how many journalists wish they had 'done better' with the Iraq War.  John Pilzger was gentle with them, but laser focused.  If the other journalists had 'done better,' perhaps1 million Iraqi lives would have been saved.

9

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@danponitlong

4 months ago

YES THE DOCUMENTARY SHOULD SHOW IN SCHOOLS  ESPECIALLY IN  HIGH . KIDS NEEDS TO HEAR TRUTH NOT LIES.

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Reply

@vivaelpepe4878

10 months ago

My immense respect to Pilger for his decades of reporting the truth, what a difference to today’s so called journalists

735

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30 replies

@bastardfaan

10 months ago

How long will it take before the Ukraina war gets a thruthful report like this? 

10-20 years?

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12 replies

@cantbecanceledpodcast

2 months ago

Never trusted the media. But now it’s just confirmed I can’t trust nothing told you me. Glad I do my own search on things.this doc will be a life changer for better

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@martinhegarty9522

2 months ago

I have watched John Pilger since my early teens , he always asked difficult questions and pointed out uncomfortable truths . Unfortunately there is very little space for journalists of his calibre in the main stream media today.

7

Reply

@Kwesekara1672

10 months ago

General Smedley D. Butler (1881 - 1940) was right:  “War is a Racket”.

167

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8 replies

@jeanneelliott7243

10 months ago

Free Snowden and Assange! Modern day heros.

16

Reply

@elmotareal

2 months ago

Wow, 8 months ago, just before the Gaza genocide started! And it all plays out exactly the same way!

14

Reply

@halimaalhiane9284

1 month ago

This is must see, only the truth  can set humanity  free

5

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@Freeedy

10 months ago

In 2004, I bought a book entitled ‘Tell me no lies” edited by John Pilger. Each chapter was written by 27 of the most eminent and ‘honest’ journalists including Sy Hersh, James Cameron, Martha Gelhorn, Wilfred Burchett, Paul Foot…. and covering geopolitical events of the past 100 years. This was a huge red pill moment for me and I often refer back to this book re-reading and re-reminding myself of just how our MSM continually lies to this day and how unworthy and untrustworthy they are, colluding with our equally untrustworthy and corrupt political leaders.

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@reneevogel1347

7 months ago

A female friend of mine who was in the army, she's a retired Lieutenant Colonel now, said that the U.S. instigated many things but made it appear like it was the other country, and then we'd go in looking like heros to "save" that country smh

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@brandonboand

4 months ago

Isn’t humanity TIRED of being demonetized ???

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@aliciabrankovic4320

4 months ago

Scott is a Great Man!

His Humanity Is Amazingly!

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@janakjodhan7982

10 months ago

John Pilger is perhaps the very bravest and credible journalist and story-teller our civilization there is. 

We need more Pilgers to expose the terrors of wars.

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@Invading-Specious

10 months ago (edited)

Those who contributed to those war crimes by misinforming the public must still be brought to justice.

Journalism should take no political view.

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@Henry30065

4 months ago

This is the most alarming and chilling video I think I have ever seen. Some of the terrifying comments made by senior American commanders could have been

made the SS in WWII. Thank goodness that some journalists are prepared to expose such atrocities.

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@yaseenalliesel-1304

1 month ago

One of the greatest jobs ever done on the small screen

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@dvijay461

9 months ago

Crazy how so many of the inhumane journalists you showed are still working those same jobs today. The whole world should see this documentary.

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@jleath1201

7 months ago

This should be showed in schools. Educational and honest documentary. I applaud you John. Such integrity.

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@pacoshuman7642

2 months ago

RIP John...you are missed!

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@James-nq4wq

1 month ago

RIP John Pilger - a true phenotype of a real jornalist. Real journalists need to be protected. Free Assange and let Snowden come home to a heroes welcome. Peace out.

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@anne-mariejane4595

9 months ago (edited)

My ex husband served in Iraq. And he said "we had no business being there." Troops we sent in without proper equipment and protective gear. It was an absolute sham.

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@patsmith378

8 months ago

The world is such a horrible place.. I am 53 years old and it gets worse every year.

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@Maximus-HK

3 months ago (edited)

When I read JP's book, hidden agengas - 20+ years ago - my eyes were opened. Legend. RIP John Pilger.

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