John Pilger: The War You Don't See (Film on Lies Leading to War)

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• published: 02 Sep 2015
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13 December 2010 A powerful and timely investigation which challenges the media for the role they played in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestine conflicts. This documentary film by veteran war correspondent, John Pilger, PROVES the lies of so-called weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that were alleged to be in Iraq covered up by deception in massive amounts, propaganda fed by the MSM -- better known as the "Lame Stream Media" -- in which all accounts led to illegal wars. These accounts are told by actual [whistleblower] reporters themselves who have now come forward stating that their reporting [at the time] to the American people were all based on lies -- ALL manipulated by major news corporations within the United States and Britain. Dan Rather: "Scores of American reporters have now joined US military units in Kuwait as part of the Pentagon's effort to make any war with Iraq -- that the Pentagon calls -- the 'media-friendly' campaign." A new word "embedding" entered media language in the planning of the invasion of Iraq. Most of the reports viewers saw came from within a system in which media organizations agreed to certain conditions laid down by the Ministry of Defense in London and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. According to Bryan Whitman, US Assistant Secretary of Defense, at the time US armed forces crossed into Iraq, there were approximately 700 reporters embedded throughout military formations. I love this expression for the Iraq war, the "embedded journalist." Well, too many journalists have been "in bed" with the Bush administration on a variety of issues. I would say 80–90% of what you read in the newspaper is officially inspired. If journalists are covering the intelligence community, for example, and they become critical of the CIA or a major intelligence organization, they're gonna lose their sources. If they become critical of the Pentagon, it's gonna be very difficult to get into the Pentagon to deal with official military sources. So I think journalists like to be part of the "game" -- part of the "inside crowd" and therefore conventional wisdom is the best wisdom Dan Rather: "If we journalists, including myself, if right from the "get-go" -- from the "opening pop" and started asking the kind of tough, digging, aggressive questions we've should have been asking and doing our reporting -- rather than just being kind of stenographers -- go to a briefing, have an official say something, print it in the paper the next day -- if we had done our job -- I do think a strong argument can be made that perhaps we would have NOT gone to war." Total Film reviewer Tom Dawson describes the film as a "timely, potent doc" with "an impressive range of interviewees, including 'embedded' war correspondents and whistleblowers," but concludes that "it's the leaked footage of a US chopper attack on unarmed Baghdad residents that proves the film’s most disturbing scoop." John Pilger asks three questions: "What is the role of the media in rapacious wars -- like Iraq and Afghanistan? "Why do many journalists "beat the drums" of war regardless of the lies of governments? "How are the crimes of war reported and justified when they are OUR crimes?" PARTICIPANTS: Professor Stuart Ewen – Media Historian Professor Melvin Goodman – Former CIA Analyst Dan Rather – CBS Evening News Anchor & Managing Editor (1981–2005) Bryan Whitman – United States Assistant Secretary of Defense Rageh Omaar – BBC World Affairs Reporter (2000–2006) Dahr Jamail – Journalist & Author, Beyond the Green Zone David Rose – Former Observer Journalist Steve Rendall – Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Fran Unsworth – BBC Head of Newsgathering David Manion – Editor-in-Chief, ITV News Mark Curtis – Historian & Author, Web of Deceit Phil Shiner – Public Interest Lawyers Guy Smallman – War Reporter & Photographer Carne Ross – British Foreign Office (1989–2004) Professor Greg Philo – Glasgow University Media Group Cynthia McKinney – Former United States Congresswoman Julian Assange – Editor-in-Chief, WikiLeaks The War You Don't See is a 2010 British documentary film written, produced, and directed by John Pilger with Alan Lowery. Second American Revolution: Rise Against US Government Corruption http://tinyurl.com/pr6ufxz FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 US Code § 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.