War Made Easy : How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

by Solomon, Norman

• ISBN13: 9780471790013
• ISBN10: 047179001X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-23
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key "perception management" techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. This guide to disinformation analyzes American military adventures past and present to reveal striking similarities in the efforts of various administrations to justify, and retain, public support for war. War Made Easy is essential reading. It documents a long series of deliberate misdeeds at the highest levels of power and lays out important guidelines to help readers distinguish a propaganda campaign from actual news reporting. With War Made Easy, every reader can become a savvy media critic and, perhaps, help the nation avoid costly and unnecessary wars.

Author Biography

NORMAN SOLOMON is a nationally syndicated columnist and the Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He has appeared on many television and radio news programs and is the coauthor of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Building Agendas for War	1	(132)
1 America Is a Fair and Noble Superpower	27	(8)
2 Our Leaders Will Do Everything They Can to Avoid War	35	(20)
3 Our Leaders Would Never Tell Us Outright Lies	55	(8)
4 This Guy Is a Modern-Day Hitler	63	(12)
5 This Is about Human Rights	75	(12)
6 This Is Not at All about Oil or Corporate Profits	87	(10)
7 They Are the Aggressors, Not Us	97	(6)
8 If This War Is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It	103	(10)
9 If This War Is Wrong, the Media Will Tell Us	113	(20)
10 Media Coverage Brings War into Our Living Rooms	133	(22)
11 Opposing the War Means Siding with the Enemy	155	(12)
12 This Is a Necessary Battle in the War on Terrorism	167	(10)
13 What the U.S. Government Needs Most Is Better PR	177	(8)
14 The Pentagon Fights Wars as Humanely as Possible	185	(18)
15 Our Soldiers Are Heroes, Theirs Are Inhuman	203	(8)
16 America Needs the Resolve to Kick the "Vietnam Syndrome"	211	(10)
17 Withdrawal Would Cripple U.S. Credibility	221	(12)
Afterword	233	(6)
Notes	239	(54)
Acknowledgments	293	(2)
Index	295