MEDIA ROOTS – When Saddam Hussein used white phosphorous against his own people in March 1988, the United States labeled it a chemical weapon and considered it to be a weapon of mass destruction. This helped justify the American-lead invasion of Iraq in 2003. However, when coalition forces used the weapon in Fallujah the following year, it was classified as … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS – Dr. Ursula Wilder, a clinical psychologist and Fellow at the Brookings Institution, recently wrote a piece entitled Inside the Mind of a Terrorist, in which she offers “provisional thoughts about [the most recent terrorist] bomb maker’s psyche.” Instead, her rudimentary, superficial insight about terrorism unintentionally exposes the shroud of ignorance under which the U.S. war machine functions. … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS – If AIPAC can write legislation, then the U.S. electorate can too. Dear People of Iran, Whereas the CIA overthrew your democratically-elected government in August 1953; Whereas the CIA and the White House supported the Shah, who suppressed political dissent violently and relentlessly throughout your country; Whereas the aforementioned oppression contributed to the rise of political Islam within … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS – According to neoconservative Robert Kagan, the USA has been involved in military conflict abroad 70 percent of the time since the end of the Cold War. Many times, these foreign wars need to be “sold” to the U.S. public in order to galvanize the populace against a common enemy (e.g. Noriega ’89, Saddam ’91, Bin Laden ’01, … Read More
MEDIA ROOTS – Kathyrn Bigelow made a huge splash at the 2010 Academy Awards by usurping predicted winner Avatar with her depiction of soldiers fighting in Iraq in her movie The Hurt Locker. The Oscar winning film was revered by conservatives and anti-war liberals alike for its ‘balanced’ and ‘realistic’ tone, but in reality the movie is a clever form … Read More
