“I don’t really understand what you meant with that commentary you wrote, where you were talking about the dots.” Jake was scratching his head, looking at Alan’s blog on the computer screen.
“What don’t you understand about it?” Alan asked, putting his drink down.
“You’re obviously referring to… what is it, psyops?” Alan nodded, and Jake continued. “So how can there be these psyops when it’s obvious that the terrorists were engaging in a plot to down those planes? How do you connect the dots to find evidence of psyops?”
“Well, you need to look at the overall picture of what’s going on around the world,” Alan replied.
“So what picture are you presenting here? I’m not really seeing it.”
“Ok, you know that there’s a lot of political backlash around the world with Israel’s actions against Lebanon, right?”
“Yeh, heaps.”
“Israel doesn’t want to stop fighting the Hezbollah, because that would show weakness. They’re after a decisive victory. They can’t afford to stop, or seek peace. They need to win, there are no other choices. But the rest of the world wants them to stop.”
“That’s right,” Jake said. “Well, everyone except America….”
“Exactly,” Alan smiled. “America supports Israel’s actions, firstly because Israel is a major US ally, and secondly, the Israeli’s are fighting in the ‘war on terror’. America has to continue supporting Israel’s actions, even against world opinion. So when America’s citizens start protesting about Israel’s actions and demanding that their government put a stop to it, then they need to be distracted from the Middle East, which eases the pressure on Israel and the demands for the Bush government to do something about it.”
“So what you’re saying is that all that political crap about Lieberman and Lamont is a distraction?”
“Think about it,” Alan said to Jake while nodding his agreement. “There’s a major crisis in the Middle East that the American people want resolved, and so the Bush government starts talking about how voting for peace is actually voting in favour of terrorism. As a result, the American people’s attention is distracted from the Middle East and more focused on their own internal politics.”
“When was wanting peace something that favoured terrorism?” Jake asked, frowning.
“When the Bush administration wants to divert attention from peace,” Alan explained. “Not only do they create division within internal politics, they raise the terrorist threat alert as a result of the UK.”
“Ok, so how is the UK terrorist threat part of psyops?”
“Well, don’t you find it interesting that it happened at the same time as both Blair and Bush are facing challenges to their leadership?”
“Not really,” Jake said, disagreeing. “I mean, it’s a war after all, and acts of war happen all the time.”
“Sure, but this isn’t a war about gaining ground, like we’ve been used to in previous wars. Battles in this war aren’t about territory. This is a psychological war, with the objectives being whose ideology is better.”
“Ideology?”
“Let’s look at it this way,” Alan said. “According to Bush, the terrorists want to destroy freedom. That’s fighting for an ideology.”
“You said ‘according to Bush’… you think the terrorists want something different?”
“Sure. The terrorists are fighting for their own freedom from America’s oppression.”
Jake frowned. “But how is America oppressing the terrorists? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“America isn’t oppressing the terrorists… it’s oppressing people of foreign nations through subversive influence, or actual invasions like Iraq, or supporting abusive nations like Israel. The people who are being affected by America’s actions believe they’re fighting for their freedom. They call themselves freedom fighters, while the oppressors call them terrorists – just like the English in the 1700’s called the Americans’ fight for independence acts of terrorism.”
“So everyone is fighting for freedom then?”
“Well, that’s one way of looking at it, but another way is to ask yourself this – if the terrorists are fighting for their freedom from American oppression, then what’s America really fighting for?”
Jake thought for a few moments. “Well, if the terrorists are fighting for their freedom because of US influence in their countries, then I guess that means America is fighting to continue that oppression?”
Alan nodded. “When you have a government that’s fighting to continue oppressing others, then it needs to engage in psychological warfare to convince its citizens that the fight is a good fight. It needs to convince them that any attempt at peace is an attempt at helping the terrorists win. It’s not after peace, it’s after continued oppression. It needs to create an environment of fear that forces its citizens to continue supporting war and violence.”
“So how to you pick up on psychological operations? How do you know the difference between them and the real thing?”
“Think about the UK terrorist plot,” Alan said. “There’s no evidence whatsoever about anything real. It’s all conjecture.” Alan moved over to his computer and brought up the BBC website on it. “Have a look at this,” he said, and Jake came over to look.
“Notice the wording? Here, let me point out a few things to you…”
- It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices…
- Police are searching premises…
- ‘He said they were “confident”…
- …the plot was thought to have involved a series of waves of simultaneous attacks…
- …the alleged plotters had intended “mass murder on an unimaginable scale“.
- “We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction…“
- “We believe that the terrorists’ aim was to smuggle explosives on to aeroplanes…”
- …police sources had told him they had found “interesting items” which were being examined.
“Look at all the words they use that inspire fear and paranoia. That article was 3 days ago. If we look at one from today, we find this…”
- Those held are suspected of involvement in a plot to blow up airliners travelling from the UK to the US, possibly using liquid explosives hidden in hand luggage.
“Do you see what I’m seeing?”
“Well… I’m not really sure….” Jake was scratching his head again, and Alan sighed.
“They’ve got no evidence! All they’re doing is talking about suspicions, beliefs, possibilities… and what’s this crap about ‘interesting item’s!” Alan was obviously frustrated. “They’re using words that elicit an emotional response – fear.”
“Hmmm….” Jake wasn’t convinced.
“Look, don’t you think that if they found anything substantial, or even had anything to go on, that the wording would be different? Instead of ‘interesting items’ they’d be talking about the liquid explosives they found. Instead of talking about how the plot was thought to be this, that or the other, they’d actually know what it was? What the hell are they doing arresting people on suspicions? They either arrest them because of knowledge and evidence, or it’s all bullshit.”
“Oh, so you’re saying they arrested people only on suspicion, and that the whole terrorist plot is a fabrication?”
“By jove, I think he gets it,” Alan said, sitting back and smiling. “Anything that talks in loose terms that inspire emotional reactions is evidence more of a psyop than anything else. Over the next week, we’ll find that there was no actual threat. Half the arrested people will be released, while investigations ‘continue’ into the remainder of the ‘suspicious people’. Eventually all memory will be forgotten of this non-event, but the ongoing effects of it won’t. As a result of this non-event, there’s increased security, increased loss of freedom, and a greater demand from all those frightened people to have their liberties taken away from them. What better way to create a fascist dictatorship than to have the people so frightened that they actually ask for it?”
“Is that what you think this is?” Jake asked.
“The more these non-events occur, the more the people will demand extra restrictions on their own freedom. It’s actually in the terrorists interests, in this war of ideas, not to do anything! If they don’t do anything, they win.”
“How does that work?” Jake was scratching his head again, confused.
“The people want peace. They want America to withdraw from the areas of conflict and to seek peace. It’s in the terrorists interests to encourage the withdrawal of American and allied forces from the areas they’re fighting for. So when the people want peace and military withdrawal, that’s in alignment with the goals of the terrorists. Why would those terrorists then want to damage their potential victory by engaging in further acts of terrorism? It’s only self-defeating.”
“But doesn’t that mean that the Bush administration is right when they say that supporting peace is supporting the terrorists?”
“You could certainly twist it that way,” Alan admitted, “And that’s exactly how it’s being twisted. But in reality, supporting peace under these circumstances is about ending American occupation and influence in foreign countries. It’s about giving those countries the right to determine their own future, and determine their own way of doing things, without such destructive US influence. It’s about recognising the rights of all humans, not just American rights to continue oppressing others. You just can’t win a war against an idea. All you can do is respect that idea’s right to exist and evolve or collapse of its own accord. The more you fight the idea of ‘freedom fighting’, the more you’ll inspire more people to take up the fight for their freedom.”
“So if the terrorists are fighting a war of ideas, and that in order to win they have to get the support of the American people, then that would mean engaging in further acts of terrorism is against their interests?” Alan nodded, and Jake continued. “So… are you saying that continued acts of terrorism – or news about possible terrorism – are actually psychological operations by the US military to justify their continued war on terror?”
Alan leant back in his chair and smiled. “You just need to connect the dots…”
Thanks for reading! Please add your own thoughts below.
Don't forget to subscribe for new posts sent to you by email!