The tools of strategic influence were not only wielded against Saddam Hussein, they were also turned against foreign allies
and domestic critics who dared to question Bush's agenda. The French were among the first to feel the sting of these attacks.
Sam
Gardiner's report notes that the French were clearly "the focus of punishment in the strategic influence campaign." He has
identified "at least eight times when false stories or engineered stories were aimed at them, the majority appearing after
their lack of support in the UN for US and UK actions."
In September, government sources informed the New York Times
that the French and German governments had provided Iraq with precision switches that could be used to produce nuclear weapons.
The Times ran the story before discovering that the France and Germany had both, in fact, refused to provide the switches.
"American intelligence sources" told the Washington Postthat the French possessed illegal strains of smallpox
virus. Again, the story was false.
The Washington Times received a tip from "US intelligence sources" that two
companies in France had sold equipment to Saddam. The companies denied the charge and no evidence was ever provided to sustain
the charge.
On April 9, Brig. Gen. Brooks told the media that his troops had discovered "an underground storage facility
containing... Roland-type air defense missiles." Lt. Greg Holmes, an army intelligence officer, told Newsweek that
US soldiers had found "51 Roland-2 missiles, made by a partnership of French and German arms manufacturers." Holmes also stated
that at least one of the Roland missiles "was manufactured last year."
The story served to further defame the irascible
French but, Gardiner writes with a touch of sarcasm, the story "was not very well put together" since it turned out that "the
production line for the Roland-2 was shut down in 1993."
Other sections in this article--
Punishing the French
Targeting Domestic Critics: The Galloway Forgeries
The White
Flag Incidents
The Execution of Prisoners
The Shula District Bombing
PSYOPS -- The Darkest Face of Deception
Gar Smith is Editor Emeritus of Earth Island Journal, Roving Editor at The-Edge (www.the-edge.org) and co-founder of Environmentalists Against War (www.envirosagainstwar.org).
This site contains copyrighted material
the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available
in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social
justice issues, etc. We believe 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 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.
Enter content here
Enter content here
Enter supporting content here
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material
the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available
in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social
justice issues, etc. We believe 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 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.
