(Image: Truthout)Ted Asregadoo speaks to Truthout staff writers William Rivers Pitt and Dahr Jamail about their new book, The Mass Destruction of Iraq, as well as the lead-up to the war, the devastation it wrought and the current conflicts that are tearing the country apart.
It’s been over a decade since the United State shocked and awed Iraq into “liberation.” The grand designs that framed the invasion and occupation of a country whose regime was once an ally of the United States was planned by a cabal of right-wing zealots in Washington DC at the (now defunct) organization, The Project for the New American Century. The series of events that led to the war included the installation of George W. Bush by the US Supreme Court as president after a disputed election in 2000, the collective fear of terrorism in the aftermath of 9-11 in 2001 and the use of a complicit and willing media to manufacture propaganda based on false intelligence. The media-driven narrative that filtered down from the Bush Administration to eager media outlets like The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC stated, beyond a doubt, that Saddam Hussein’s regime was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq had procured materials to build nuclear weapons and was linked to the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center by Al-Qaeda terrorists. This was the political culture in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and while the Obama Administration fulfilled the Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq signed by President Bush in 2008, the rise of ISIS, the abuses of the Maliki government and threats to oil interests in the semi-autonomous area of Kurdistan, meant that US “withdrawal” from Iraq was short-lived.
The current state of Iraq is in flux. What happens in the future and what the United States does will certainly involve military action. However, it is important to remember and understand the history of how we got into the mess we’re in now, in order to find a way to close what Dahr Jamail called “the gates of hell.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.