GUERR LLA

01.02
May
‘03

Deprogra m m e r
A M O N T H L Y P U B L I C A T I O N

GNN Post-War
UPDATE : Will the Empire Be Fascist ?
"People of Baghdad, remember for ops most likely taking place all across
26 generations you have suffered the planet, and a military budget
under strange tyrants who have ever greater than the rest of the world's
endeavoured to set one Arab house countries combined, what other word
against another in order that they could you correctly chose to describe
Guerrilla N
Guerrilla ews N
News etwork
Network might profit by your dissensions. This American ambitions at the dawn of
w
wwww
w..GgNn Nn .. tt vv policy is abhorrent to Great Britain the 21st Century? But building an
and her Allies for there can be neither empire is a radical agenda, one that
peace nor prosperity where there is poses great risks. George Bush Sr.
About GNN enmity or misgovernment. Our halted the march to Baghdad
Guerrilla News Network (GNN.tv) is armies do not come into your cities precisely because he feared
an independent news organization and land as conquerors or enemies, becoming, as one commentator put
committed to exposing people of all but as liberators." it, "an occupying power in a bitterly
ages to important global issues - - From the Proclamation to the People of hostile land." And that is the problem
free from corporate filters - through the Wilayat of Baghdad, that British for this administration. America is a
innovative multi-platform news and General Stanley Maude issued when he conservative country, at heart. As long
documentary programming. GNN is took the city in 1917. as it sees itself in the rose-tinted
best known for their short, hard- glasses of the "liberator," the Bush
hitting Guerrilla NewsVideos - empire will roll along like
design-rich mini-documentaries that gangbusters. But as the mission
deconstruct complex socio-political becomes messier and messier, and
issues in music video form. Al Qaeda continues to operate with
Broadcast at GNN.tv, Guerrilla impunity, the stakes rise. Fear is a
NewsVideos meld high-impact sharp blade that can turn on you in
imagery, poignant interviews, an instant. In their quest for empire,
archival footage and enhanced Bush & Company have created a
graphics with tracks from top monumental challenge for
recording artists like Peter Gabriel, themselves - one that requires an
AdRoc, Dead Prez, and many others. unprecedented level of information
The GNN website is one of the management.
Internet's premiere alternative news
outlets, averaging about 30,000 In this edition of the Deprogrammer,
unique visitors a day and offers GNN looks at the issue of "empire":
original and syndicated reporting media censorship and the rise of
from some of the world's top writers Bush ally Clear Channel, the secret
and journalists, in addition to a lively history of Donald Rumsfeld's trips to
forum where a dedicated Baghdad, and we ask noted
community of guerrillas meet to professor Richard Falk for his theory
discuss issues raised by the on the potentially fascist nature of
material. Bush foreign policy. We hope you find
Empire. it insightful, and that you will print it
out and distribute it widely.
IMPEACH BUSH ! It's the word the administration dares
not speak. But with U.S. military bases Be sure to check out GNN’s web site
What are you waiting for? and installations in 44 countries, (GNN.tv) for daily news and lively
occupying forces in two, guerrilla discussion, updates on GNN Live!
wars being fought in at least two screenings, and, as always, free
www.VoteToImpeach.org more (Colombia, Philippines), covert streaming Guerrilla NewsVideos...
 NewsWire of the
month: Prime Time Payola
A feverish, corporate-sponsored nationalism has hearings regarding the brutish tactics and political they are with sustaining the corporate capitalism
taken root in America at a time when the public influence of Clear Channel have thrown a spotlight that perpetuates it. The committee’s ranking
depends on a vibrant communications culture to on the FCC and its abandonment of regulatory Democrat, Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D-South
sustain its institutional democracy. Nowhere is this restraints. Led by articulate critiques by digital Carolina), emphasizing more savory bureaucratic
more clear than in the case of Clear Channel journalists such as Jeff Perlstein of Corpwatch and concerns, lamented, “Radio consolidation has
Communications, the nation’s largest radio chain. Eric Boehlert of Salon, the mainstream media have contributed to a 34 percent decline in the number
been prodded out of complicit somnambulism. of owners, a 90 percent rise in the cost of
In the outrage that followed the Floridian scandal With the FCC scheduled to review the last advertising rates, [and] a rise in indecent
and George Bush Jr.’s appointment by the remaining set of protections on media diversity this broadcasts. If ever there were a cautionary tale,
Supreme Court to the Oval Office, many in the spring, Big Media is worried that the upstart this is it.”
media missed an equally alarming familial Texans will ruin it for everybody.
maneuver. In one of his first bureaucratic decisions While most of the congressional debate over
as president, Bush named Michael Powell, son of media concentration focuses on the diminished
Secretary of State Colin Powell, as chairman of the health of the marketplace, Clear Channel has
Federal Communications Commission. That the revived traditional progressive fears that media
son of one of the nation’s most decorated and concentration will negatively impact the breadth of
politically entrenched former military officers dialogue permitted in the public sphere. Indeed,
should be given control of the agency that since 9/11 and the advent of Bush’s “war on terror,”
regulates the domestic news and entertainment Clear Channel has been the most sycophantic
networks - indeed the whole telecommunications and pro-militarist Big Media corporation, which is
industry - is something that is more imaginable in saying a lot.
… well, Iraq.
Just days after the 9/11 attacks, slates of blacklisted
The FCC is comprised of five commissioners, one songs, including Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train” and
of whom is appointed chairman by the president. John Lennon’s “Imagine,” were leaked to the
Typically, commissioners ride out their terms and public. But it was not until the invasion of Iraq that
retire when it suits them. But in a rare move, Sen. Clear Channel really kicked into high gear. Facing
John McCain (R-Arizona) used his considerable the massive public outcry and protests against the
influence to block the 1997 re-appointment of a war, the network began sponsoring pro-war
sitting Republican commissioner. Powell replaced rallies called “Rally for America.” Using its 1,200
him on the FCC and four years later he was stations, Clear Channel pummeled listeners with a
chairman. mind-numbing stream of uncritical “patriotism.”
Finally, there was the recent and gleeful banning of
Powell took over as chief regulator for a corporate Dixie Chicks songs from several prominent Clear
communications industry in the throes of a radical Channel stations after singer Natalie Maines
transformation following the Telecommunications And they have reason to be concerned. In made derogatory remarks about George W. Bush.
Act of 1996, which opened the door for January, Sen. John McCain’s Commerce
deregulation and sparked widespread Committee held two hearings that targeted, Perhaps Clear Channel is simply exercising its right
condemnation from media activists who saw the among other things, the issue of media to free expression and supporting the foreign
act as an attack on the public interest function of concentration. At the first hearing, Michael Powell policy initiatives of the current administration. This
the FCC. The existing television and radio networks and his four commissioners were subjected to is hardly the first time that a major media network
launched into mergers of unprecedented size, intense questioning about their strategy to protect used its power to marginalize political beliefs that
while new players with deep pockets were able to the public interest from “sky’s the limit” contradict those of its owners. However, one
claim previously unthinkable levels of market deregulation. In a response that clearly surprised cannot deny the potential for a conflict of interest.
share. the committee, Powell, traditionally an unabashed Clear Channel is currently facing a major
proponent of the free market and loosened congressional investigation of its business
One of the act’s most prominent benefactors was practices. The FCC has blocked two of its most
Clear Channel Communications, a relatively restrictions to ownership, said he was “concerned
about the concentration, particularly in radio.” recent requests for station transfers, something
unknown broadcaster based in San Antonio, that the commission has not done since 1969.
Texas. Led by L. Lowry Mays, a rancher and one- Mediageek.com ’s Paul Riismandel explained:
“Indeed, [Powell] didn’t want much publicity or Clear Channel’s share price is down nearly 50
time George W. Bush business associate, Clear percent from the value it held before the 9/11
Channel has ridden a wave of acquisitions, input ... But now the cat is out of the bag and
yowling like crazy.” terrorist attacks. All this is coming at a time when
spending more than $30 billion to become the the FCC is about to rule on the existing barriers to
world’s largest radio broadcaster, concert Smelling the blood of a close Bush ally, partisan consolidation, a decision that could dramatically
promoter and billboard advertising firm. Clear Democrats on the committee, led by maverick affect Clear Channel’s ability to further collateralize
Channel owns more than 1,200 radio stations Republican McCain, called new hearings to its massive debt by expanding its holdings.
(approximately 50 percent of the U.S. total), five specifically examine “consolidation in the radio
times more than its closest competitors, CBS and industry.” As the committee’s star witness, McCain Has the fact that the FCC chairman is the son of the
ABC. Considering the fact that prior to the Telco Act, summoned Clear Channel’s Lowry Mays. nation’s most politically enfranchised former
a single broadcaster could not own more than 40 military official had any impact on the fanatically
stations in the entire country, it is hard to see the Mays was systematically skewered by the hostile pro-war stance that Clear Channel has taken with
behemoth as anything but a creation of the act committee and those invited to testify on behalf of its recent actions? Or is the Clear Channel
itself. the public (and private) interest. Rep. Howard executive leadership, closely connected to the
Berman (D-California) catalogued charges to the president, simply providing him with the kind of
But while Clear Channel’s unhindered expansion Justice Department and the FCC against Clear support one expects from political allies?
is the result of the deregulation media barons Channel. These include anti-trust violations,
crave, its growth has not been viewed favorably by payola and a form of tactical extortion in which Whatever the answer, with Michael Powell,
the rest of the industry. Other would-be monopolies over local concert bookings are used George W. Bush and Clear Channel, the lines
monopolists, anticipating the next phase of to pressure record companies into buying radio between political, military and corporate media
deregulation, fear that they will be adversely spots, called “negative synergy.” But, as we power have become blurred into one
affected by Clear Channel’s gluttonous horizontal learned during the Enron hearings, lawmakers authoritarian impulse.
consolidation. Recent lawsuits and congressional are less concerned with corporate criminality than - Stephen Marshall
 CoIntel
excerpts of the month:
featuring
RICHARD FALK & JIM VALLETTE
Dr. Richard Falk, a longtime professor of It's Nov. 1983. U.S. Secretary of State
Politics and International Affairs at Princeton George Shultz receives an intelli-
and now at UC Santa Barbara, has worked gence report describing how
tirelessly to strengthen the rule of interna- Saddam Hussein's troops are resort-
tional law, and to imbue it with true human- ing to "almost daily use of chemical
ist ideals. Recently, GNN talked with him weapons in his war against Iran.
about his latest book, "The Great Terror War" Undeterred, Reagan signs a secret
(Olive Branch Press) in which he asks the ques- order instructing his charges to do
tion, Will the Empire Be Fascist? "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq's defeat. A
month later, he dispatches a special envoy to Baghdad on a secret
GNN: How can your interpretation that we are heading towards a sort of
American-led global fascism be grafted onto what is happening now mission. On Dec. 20, the envoy meets with Saddam. He isn’t there
domestically in terms of the erosion of civil liberties? to lecture the dictator about his use of WMDs or the fine print of the
Geneva Conventions. He’s there to talk business.
FALK: One of the basic characteristics of a fascist regime is the anni-
hilation of civil liberties and the complete distrust and rejection of The envoy was Donald H. Rumsfeld, then CEO of pharmaceutical
electoral democracy, constitutional process and independent judici- giant Searle. The meeting ushers in a new era of U.S.-Iraq rela-
ary. And what one, I think, sees in the current reaction to 9/11 is not a tions, opening the door to shipments of dual-use munitions, chem-
fascist formation at this stage, but trends that are moving toward ical, biological agents and other dubious technology transfers. But
increasing the power of the state at the extent of the liberties of the for years what exactly was discussed in that now infamous meet-
citizen, and creating a sense that those that are the opponents of the ing has been shrouded in secrecy. Until last month. In a new report
policies of the state are evil. To the extent that it is focused on Islam from the Institute for Policy Studies, entitled Crude Vision: How
and on males from the Arab world, there is a racist undertone that Oil Interests Obscured U.S. Government Focus On Chemical
also feeds an ideology that seems at least to be proto-fascist or pre- Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein, researchers led by Jim
fascist in its implications. One should be clear that the leadership has Vallette discovered that Rumsfeld was sent to Baghdad to con-
not endorsed an explicitly fascist tactic, at this point, or doesn't vince Saddam to approve an oil pipeline on behalf of the Bechtel
embrace fascism as their preferred ideology. Indeed, they are trying Corporation. The Bechtel pipeline would have carried a million bar-
to convey an impression that their commitment is to constitutional rels of Iraqi crude oil a day through Jordan to the Red Sea port of
democracy and to the world of law and to peace. They are using that Aqaba.
language in a very Orwellian way. I have sometimes said that it GNN: Tell us about Bechtel.
seems as if George Bush read 1984 too early in age and didn't real-
VALLETTE: Bechtel is a privately held company, one of the largest
ize it was satire, because he uses all these very common words
construction companies in the world. They and Halliburton are
associated with a liberal society to validate very illiberal policies.
dominating the contracting for post-war Iraq. They have deep ties
GNN: For a lot of young people, our frame of reference for the word with the Bush-Cheney Administration. Shultz went straight from
empire is Star Wars, in which the Empire is the embodiment of evil, ver- being CEO of Bechtel to the White House, where he promoted this
sus the Force, which is the embodiment of good... pipeline idea. They hired Donald Rumsfeld, and sent him to
FALK: Yes. It is interesting that in George Bush's important speech at Baghdad. In the first meeting, Saddam told Rumsfeld that he
West Point in June of 2002, he made a point of saying that the U.S. thought the pipeline sounded like a good idea. He needed to avoid
seeks neither empire nor utopia. And what he appeared to mean by the Persian Gulf where the Iranians were attacking Iraqi ships. This
that was the United States was not trying to establish explicit control would-be pipeline would circumvent the Persian Gulf. But Saddam
over the societies with which it was in conflict. And it is important to told Rumsfeld that he was worried about the possibility of the
recognize that empire is descriptive of many different types of politi- Israelis attacking the pipeline.
cal arrangements of control. What empire refers to is a form of multi- GNN: The Israelis had attacked their nuclear plant at Osirak in 1982.
state control. A basic form of world order is based on sovereign
states exercising political autonomy within their territory. What an VALLETTE: Exactly...Bechtel met with a Swiss billionaire Bruce
empire does is to centralize that control in some place - some site of Rappaport, who was close personal friends with the Israeli Prime
power that exerts some control over a group of states or, in this case, Minister Shimon Peres. Rappaport and another agent E. Robert
the whole world or region, and doesn't necessarily establish formal Wallace tried to make certain arrangements with the Israeli gov-
control. It can be an informal empire, as I would certainly believe the ernment, which included funneling off oil pipeline profits into Peres'
American global empire will be. It will set limits on what other coun- Labor Party. [Peres was reportedly offered $700 million over ten years.
tries are allowed to do. It will use covert methods of controlling their Rappaport was later investigated by the FBI for illegal oil dealing.
Wallace and his former client Attorney General Edwin Meese were
internal politics. It will establish the rules of the game for how world
investigated by a special prosecutor for their role in the bribing scandal.]
politics are pursued. And it will seek to exert control over the pricing
and supply of oil in particular, and energy resources in general and
in the world economy... Read the complete CoIntel interviews at www.GNN.tv.
Technology Review
REAL TIME SPY: spy software
Think twice about opening that e-mail
attachment! Spy Software Solutions sells a
Spin of the month:
Road to War Paved
with Disinformation
program that remotely deploys
monitoring software to any computer "The case for invading Iraq to remove that it paved the road to war with lies,'
once the recipient downloads and runs aits weapons of mass destruction was he added: 'You can draw your own
nondescript-looking email attachment. based on selective use of intelligence, conclusions.'... Some American
Through an undetectable connection, Spyexaggeration, use of sources known to officials have all but conceded that the
Software users can log all keystrokes be discredited, and outright weapons of mass destruction
typed, websites visited, windows fabrication," The Independent writes. campaign was simply a means to an
opened, chats conducted, and system "A high-level U.K. source said last end in a 'global show of American
info in real time, to a password protected
night that intelligence agencies on power and democracy,' as ABC News
personal account on the “Real Time Spy”
server. both sides of the Atlantic were furious in the U.S. put it. 'We were not lying,' it
www.spy-software-solutions.com $79.95
that briefings they gave political was told by one official. 'But it was just
leaders were distorted in the rush to a matter of emphasis.'"
war with Iraq. Quoting an editorial in a
CAS-200W: wirelesss net camera Middle East newspaper which said, Source:
'Washington has to prove its case. If it
Independent (UK), April 27, 2003
This small Wi-Fi camera has a built in does not, the world will forever believe
CPU and its own IP address, enabling it to
feed full motion video to a server from
any location. It can be controlled remotely
using a laptop with broadband access,
Book Reviews barred book that destroys the absurd
and the quality is reasonable at about 15 "Jarhead: A Marine's myth that the media is liberal. In this
frames per second. Hit a spot with Wi-Fi Chronicle of the aggressive, detailed argument,
access and you can be up and running Gulf War and Other Alterman highlights scores of
with a live video feed in minutes. Think of Battles," Anthony examples of how the U.S. media
it as a poor man's satellite videophone. Swofford (Scribner) swings right. If all else fails just use it
And with all the free Wi-Fi nodes popping as a weapon to smack Bill O'Reilly
up in major cities, innovative new live-to- Coverage of Iraq fans in the head. It's a hardcover.
air content from indy mediamakers is in gave us the PG
the ether. version of the
www.advanteknetworks.com $295 American soldier at "Reefer Madness:
war: clean-cut, Sex, Drugs, and
Cheap Labor in
fearless, exceedingly polite. In reality, the American
Art of Revolution wars are fought by aggressive, hard-
edged young men who seek sex,
Black
Eric
Market,"
Schlosser
violence and destruction with equal (Houghton Mifflin)
enthusiasm. Gulf War vet Anthony
Swofford takes you on a raucous, Fast Food Nation
almost poetic tour through the war he author goes deep
fought. War is hell, but it is also the into America's
defining moment for most of the men hidden economy,
who are fighting it. showing how pot, porn and illegal
migrant labor make up 10% of the
"What Liberal Media? nation's wealth. His big conclusion:
The Truth About The free market is a myth. "The
Bias and the News," government is intervening all the time
Eric Alterman in the market, but on whose behalf? Is
(Basic Books) it protecting somebody who wants to
If you love to hate smoke marijuana in their home, a
Ann Coulter, you'll migrant worker forced to live in a
love this one. cave, or, more likely, a multinational
Finally, a no-holds- drilling for oil?”

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