From The American Prospect, 7/1/03:
http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/...t-j-07-01.html

Fear Factory

The Bush administration's dangerous manufacturing of post-9-11 dread

By Jim McDermott


The administration's calculated campaign to raise and maintain fear
and anxiety in America has been an effective tool in prolonging the
effects of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by 9-11.

As the Bush administration builds its military presence in the Middle
East, it is upping the psychological ante here at home.

The deputies of the Bush Terror Posse -- Donald Rumsfeld, Tom Ridge
and John Ashcroft -- are conducting a deliberate campaign to frighten
us.

One facet of the campaign has, over the last 18 months, persuaded
large portions of the population to rush to the stores for water,
food, plastic sheeting and, of course, duct tape.

The threats of impending danger are on record for the future, the
administration seems to be saying.

When something happens, you won't be able to say we didn't warn you.

This is just the latest and most egregious step in a fear campaign
designed to prepare Americans to do whatever the administration wants
us to do.

Here's how it works:

Throw a hundred claims against the wall and poll every night to see
what sticks.

Leak stories that are later discredited.

Get a graduate student's dissertation and plagiarize it.

Lift paragraphs from a war-industry magazine.

Every so often, raise the danger level to code "yellow" or "orange."

Give the people a rest.

Then start all over again.

Mix it all up and put an official seal on it.

Now it seems true, despite the skepticism of intelligence
professionals.

We have been inundated with fables, lies and half-truths.

Remember the 33 pounds of "weapons-grade uranium" being smuggled in a
taxi from Turkey to Iraq?

A few days later, it turned out to be about 3 ounces of nonradioactive
metal.

And then there is smallpox:

The administration is encouraging vaccinations, but it's only in
parentheses that it adds that there is "no imminent threat" of a
smallpox attack.

There is no clear reason for this focus on smallpox, except to ratchet
up the level of anxiety.

Our leaders have worked hard to keep the anxiety level up so that the
public will forget about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda (who were they
again?).

Instead, in Iraq, we focused on an impaired dictator of a country with
a deteriorated infrastructure and a destroyed economy.

This kind of tactic was described by Hermann Goering, who said at the
Nuremberg trials, "The people can always be brought to the bidding of
the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are
being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

What are the next steps?

Let's look to history for a clue.

In 1941 we rounded up Japanese Americans and sent them to internment
camps.

Then we offered them the opportunity to volunteer for the armed
services where, because of their valor, the 100th Battalion/442nd
Regimental Combat Team became the most decorated combat units in World
War II.

We have since paid a price in shame for indefensible actions our
government took against these citizens out of suspicion and
manufactured fear.

And now?

The Bush Terror Posse already has required 18-to-45-year-old
noncitizen males from Arab and predominantly Muslim countries to
register with the U.S. government.

If another terrorist attack should occur, don't be surprised if Bush
and Co. issue orders to round up these men and intern them.

Details leaked about the proposed Patriot Act II do nothing to
reassure us about the future of civil liberties for our citizens, much
less for legal aliens who live here.

I'm not sure how much more of this our country can take.

Memories of conversations with veterans suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder haunt me.

I know I'm not alone:

I've talked with other veterans who have had recent flare-ups.

The nightmares are coming back.

Lately, I think often of FDR's admonition, "We have nothing to fear
but fear itself."

Americans may have nothing to fear but the fearmongers themselves.

__________________________________________________ ____

"Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be
corrupted."

Andrew Jackson

Harry

In article <he6cgv4cj7ndjg6tsgtci2dsgjiv71c80o@4ax.com>,
Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> "Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be
> corrupted."
>
> Andrew Jackson

I thought it bears repeating.

Thanks Harry
Bush says that he does not need approval from the U.N.to wage
war.& he didn't need the approval of the voters to become
president either,did he?