Bin Laden, Pacman: Same WMD

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
5/13/2011



Despite the contradictions in Barack Obama’s bin Laden “epic thriller,” it was reported on May 4 that three US opinion polls (i.e. CNN/Opinion Research, Washington Post/Pew Research Center, and USA Today/Gallup) upped his approval rating from four to 14 points. Obama’s spinmasters know just what the mass American mind wants. No matter the lies they will be dishing out, they know that Americans will believe what they want to believe.

One such lie has been al-Qaeda’s recent “confirmation” of Osama bin Laden’s death taken from SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) Institute, an organization funded by the US government to the tune of $500,000 a year.

SITE is run by Jewish-Iraqi Rita Katz, whose father was executed by Saddam Hussein for spying for Israel. The firm has been “caught red-handed releasing fake al-Qaeda tapes on numerous occasions,” according to one of the best intelligence sources I follow, Alex Jones of infowars.com.

It seems one local broadsheet dutifully reproduced that SITE-announced confirmation through its May 7 headline (“Al-Qaeda vows revenge on US”) without as much as an honest-to-goodness background check of the source. Had it done so, its editors would have, at the very least, immediately treated SITE as suspect and informed its readers accordingly. But then, being a newspaper that has described the US raid as a “spy thriller,” it is instead, wittingly or unwittingly, lending aid to Obama’s spinmasters in boosting the US’ stock while promoting the “Clash of Civilizations” mindset among Filipinos with wars that are only profitable for the Western military-industrial complex.

The alleged bin Laden videos made public by the US, showing him making al-Qaeda tapes, now turn out to be four-year-old videos released by SITE.

Osama is being used by Obama as a WMD, a “Weapon of Mass Distraction” to shift attention from the disaster that is the US-Nato attack on Libya, as well as the downward spiraling US economy, with jobless numbers and the need for QE3 (quantitative easing) or financial bailouts to its financial institutions erupting yet again.

Obama’s poll numbers for his reelection bid were undoubtedly re-inflated after this gimmick. But this will backfire when other facts about bin Laden surface, such as Iran’s assertion that Osama has long been dead, with the release of such proof probably just a matter of time.

Russian news network Russia Today has long balanced its reportage by presenting skeptics such as Webster Tarpley, James Corbett, et al. in exposing Barack Obama’s lies. Even Benazir Bhutto, before her assassination, already stated that Osama has long died; same with former ISI chief Gen. Hamid Gul and former US State Department official Dr. Steve Pieczenik.

In the sports arena, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is similarly a continuing WMD for entertainment tycoons, the Nevada gaming board, media moguls, bookies, and the Yellow movement alike. It is without doubt that the US State of Nevada and its entertainment moguls have earned more than anyone else in this, taking most of the money from the pockets of Filipinos.

As media define what most people take as enjoyable sport and entertainment, the Philippine mainstream is not about to miss this Pacquiao bandwagon despite the greater calling of the Fourth Estate to address truly substantive news and issues.

Of the May 9 banner stories, only one Philippine broadsheet focused on a genuine issue of public concern. It was only The Daily Tribune that headlined “Gov’t to spend not earn from MRT-LRT PPP bid” to alert the public to the P15 billion government will be paying to, instead of receiving from, the winner of the MRT-LRT PPP (public-private partnership) bid when it comes in June. It’s a major scandal!

Compare that to the other headlines: “Lopsided Pacquiao win”; “Pacquiao too much for Mosley”; “Pacquiao shames Mosley”; “Pacquiao tears Mosley apart”; “Mighty Manny shames Shane.” Heck, if these were all true, then why do veteran sport writers such as Mico Halili say “…Mosley performance leaves bitter aftertaste,” describing the whole fight as lousy and unexciting?

Why, even my radio listeners/texters made much more sense. From AR: “The Pacman-Mosley fight is senseless. Only business.” From Myrna: “It was all acting, they should pit young against the young, not a boxer nine years older. All Pacquio’s fights lately are like this, pitting has-beens just to make money.” From Lito V: “Where’s the glory in beating a has-been, washed-up 39-year-old boxer like Mosley?” From another texter: “Mommy Dionesia appeals to son to quit boxing, but asks to bring home Hermes bag — worth P1 million.” What perfect models for petty bourgeois consumerist culture!

The power of the human mind is infinitely more potent than atomic nuclear fission. That is why the ruling powers of the world (and of this country) put such a premium (and investment) in controlling that public mind.

George W. Bush could not have attacked Iraq without first detonating the WMD hoax on unsuspecting minds. Similarly, the warmongers behind Obama could not begin to move to the next stage of the global war masked behind the anti-terror war and other secondary purposes without this new hoax of Osama’s “death.”

The ruling classes of this country cannot restrain the explosion of the people’s rage over the rising economic damage to their lives by the Establishment’s privatization and liberalization programs — such as the expected MRT-LRT re-privatization and all the PPP projects of PeNoy — without such distractions as the Pacquiao fights.

But, just as the Iraq WMD and other hoaxes continue to be exposed, so is the power of the Establishment in perpetuating these also waning.

(Tune in to Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)