CIA Pathological Propagandists

The U.S. Constitution in Article Four Section Four states the The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, , but formal proclamations notwithstanding it functions as an oligarchy. The U.S. also has a "free press." The degree of freedom is worth devoting to a separate discussion. Equally important, this free press competes or coexists with a propaganda machine. The Central Intelligence Unit (CIA) continues to serve as propagandists.

George Orwell's Animal Farm remains a staple work of fiction describing the vanity of recreating society to eliminate greed and exploitation. The CIA determined that this novella would reach a wider audience if made into a movie. They acted on their determination by funding the film adaptation of this novella. They decided to make the film in England because:

The CIA also thought it would be cheaper to make the film in England and believed, with good reason, that they would be able to keep the English animators in the dark about who was funding the film. [1]

The CIA feared communism might appeal to the masses. And,  capitalism (i.e. freedom) lacked sufficient power of presentation so that the masses would clearly perceive its superiority as the system promising freedom. So they attempted to hide their funding of this animated film adaptation. Thus, capitalism is superior to communism, but it just needs to be argued creatively to a dull-minded public. An animated pig depicting Stalin was the CIA's necessary application of propaganda.

Many examples exist showing CIA propaganda. Former CIA officer Doug Laux wrote a book recently published discussing his experience gathering intelligence and organizing rebels in Syria to overthrow Bashir al-Assad. Laux eventually left the CIA after it and Obama in his view didn't take the necessary actions to overthrow Assad.

His disgruntlement with his former employer is not due to its promoting propaganda about Assad. Rather, his views suggest he accepts the CIA's conclusion that Assad needed to be overthrown. Despite Laux's resigning from the CIA's in a disgruntled state of mind, they concurred on the necessity of conceiving of ways to overthrow Assad:

The White House and CIA leaders "had made it clear from the beginning that the goal of our task force was to find ways to remove President Assad from office," Laux complained. "We had come up with 50 good options to facilitate that. My ops plan laid them out in black and white. But political leadership…hadn't given us the go-ahead to implement a single one." [2]

Without reading Laux's full book it is impossible for me to determine whether he believed Syria deserved regime change and simply disregarded such views and performed his duties of creating feasible plans for overthrowing Assad. Laux and the CIA, though, disagreed about the real image of the Syrian opposition.

In an NBC News report Laux rejects the false narrative that Syria had an internal group of "moderate rebels" who just needed sufficient support to overthrow Assad:

Looking back, Laux now says he doesn't believe his or any other covert plan could have stopped the rise of ISIS or ended Syria's bloody civil war. "There were no moderates," he says. [3]

Rather than NBC News presenting Laux's conclusion here as a definitive statement on the real nature of the "moderate opposition," they repeat the narrative that the U.S. offering insufficient support to those "moderates" created a void filled by.......ISIS:

Some time later, Obama authorized a more modest CIA plan to arm and train Syrian rebels than the one Petraeus had recommended, but that effort has not been decisive on the battlefield. The moderate Free Syrian Army collapsed, and many Syrians opposed to Assad were drawn into the orbit of extremist groups, including al Qaeda and ISIS. [4]

Other intelligence reports reject this causal claim that ISIS emerged on the ruins of those other failed Syrian rebels.

The DIA completed a report in 2012 which was recently released resulting from requests filed pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and is heavily redacted. The non-redacted information though that was released shows the DIA's full awareness that the Muslim Brotherhood/Al Quaeda supported the Syrian opposition from the BEGINNING(I am sure of course the U.S. tolerated this cynical and dangerous move because this was just a temporary expedient to overthrow Assad. This expedient was justified because somewhere in that radical jihadist haystack lies the "moderates" who upon deposing Asad will hep construct a vibrant democratic society....just like in Iraq in 2003 the Syrians will welcome them as liberators!!!!!):

AQI (Al Quaeda In Iraq) SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING, BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA….. AQI CONDUCTED A NUMBER OF OPERATIONS IN SEVERAL SYRIAN CITIES UNDER THE NAME JAISH AL NUSRAH (VICTORIOUS ARMY) [5].

And, the DIA further warns in their report what consequences to expect if Al Quaeda and Syrian opposition create enough chaos:

IF THE SITUATION UNRAVELS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE STRATEGIC DEPTH OF THE SHIA EXPANSION (IRAQ AND IRAN). THE DETERIORATION OF THE SITUATION HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES ON THE IRAQI SITUATION…… THIS CREATES THE IDEAL ATMOSPHERE FOR AQI (Al Quaeda in Iraq) TO RETURN TO ITS OLD POCKETS IN MOSUL AND RAMADI, AND WILL PROVIDE A RENEWED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PRESUMPTION OF UNIFYING THE JIHAD AMONG SUNNI IRAQ AND SYRIA AND THE REST OF THE SUNNIS IN THE ARAB WORLD AGAINST WHAT IT CONSIDERS ONE ENEMY, THE DISSENTERS. ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY. [6]. 

These were reports were completed in August and September 2012 and "were sent to the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, State Department, Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command." The diplomatic and military establishment heads were aware of these dangerous developments. Their foreknowledge of these ominous developments did not prompt their asking some predictable recriminatory questions: "Why didn't they take necessary actions or implement policy changes in order to mitigate hopefully the damage sustained by a resurgent Sunni movement?" This question is futile because they intended to overthrow Assad and partition Syria into several separate nations.

Western elites continue to deny or just ignore Assad's legitimacy as Syria's President even though he won the most recent election in 2014. The Brookings Institute published a report in June 2015 entitled Deconstructing Syria: Towards a regionalized strategy for a confederal country wherein they advocate partitioning Syria into several parts (shades of the Yinon plan?):

The ultimate end-game for these zones would not have to be determined in advance. The interim goal might be a confederal Syria, with several highly autonomous zones. One of those zones might be for Alawites. But none could be for ISIL, al-Nusra, or Assad (my italics) and his inner circle. [7] 

Western elite voices speak many nuances to the complexities and moving parts in Syria. Nonetheless, they manage to coalesce around a simple rallying cry, though it is articulated with different memes its intent is clear: Assad Must Go. Meanwhile, CIA propaganda continues. 

From the CIA's media-penetration efforts executed under the name of Project Mockingbird to its current investing in firms that research and monitor social media, they exercise a preemptive authority to both control the medium or the message. 

When persons review the CIA's history of producing propaganda, they should ask a question that Jacques Ellul asked in Propaganda: The Formation Of Men's Attitudes. Is it possible to make democratic propaganda? 

1. Martin Chilton. "How the CIA brought Animal Farm to the screen." 21 January 2016. The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/how-cia-brought-animal-farm-to-the-screen/

2. Ken Dilanian and Kevin Monahan. "Obama Nixed CIA Plan That Could Have Stopped ISIS: Officials. NBC News. Apr 2, 2016. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-nixed-cia-plan-could-have-stopped-isis-officials-n549111

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Declassified document. pgs. 297-93 (291) JW v DOD and State 14-812 May 18, 2015. Judicial Watch. http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/pgs-287-293-291-jw-v-dod-and-state-14-812-2/

6. Ibid.

7. O'Hanlon, Michael. Deconstructing Syria: Towards a regionalized strategy for a confederal country. Foreign Policy at Brookings Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. June 2015. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2015/06/23-syria-strategy-ohanlon/23syriastrategyohanlon.pdf