Sunday, April 24, 2005

How propaganda works: All international media has extensive coverage of the growing violence in Iraq, and the New York Times is busy covering--on its front page, with a picture--the news that the "Iraqi Army graduated 314 soldiers." Maybe I am missing something, but what is the significance of that? Also, Arab media are now explaining the reason for the prolonged delays in the formation of the Iraqi cabinet. Apparently, it all was due to a surprise visit by Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq, in which he expressed his opposition to the plan by the Iraqi prime minister-designate (Ibrahim Al-Ja`fari) to get rid of the Ba`thist `Allawi thugs who fill the security/military/intelligence agencies of the Iraqi puppet government. Rumsfeld made it clear that the US wants those Ba`thist criminals to stay where they are.