Axis Of Evil And The Evil Ones

Bush rallies America in a perpetual war against "evil ones" and the"axis of evil." Ronald Reagan used the cold war to lambast the"evil empire" of the Soviet Union. Their administrations arestrikingly similar not only in their use of adjectives, but also in denouncingWashington and "big government" and pushing for tax cuts for the richand deregulating business. It is interesting to compare the corporateconnections of the Reagan years and the Bush administration. At the hub of bothsits General Electric.

Ronald Reagan was brought to us by General Electric. Reagan was a mediocremovie actor when he became the host of the General Electric Theater on NBC.General Electric launched his political career by sponsoring a national speakingtour for their handsome and wholesome, look-um-in-the-eye, all-American guy whopushed their conservative philosophy from coast to coast. Reagan was the idealpolitical huckster for corporate America's profits-over-people philosophy ofunbridled greed. He could put a nice face on the mean-spirited politics of fearand greed as he blamed "welfare mothers," "social programs,""government regulations" and the "evil empire of the SovietUnion" as causes for America's troubles. His divisive scape-goating of poorpeople and invective against government programs enabled him to deliver a gianttax break for the rich, roll back many health and safety regulations, and pushthrough a gigantic military buildup for corporate defense contractors likeGeneral Electric. His racially charged attacks on affirmative action failed tobring "good things to life" for racial minorities and women as GeneralElectric's advertising slogan promised those who purchased their products. LikeReagan, George W. Bush was supported by big corporations, and although Enrongets a lot of credit, Bush was also presented to us by General Electric, a moreestablished prototype of corporate America success also rumored to have someEnron-like accounting problems.

General Electric and its executives and employees gave more than 70% of theircampaign contributions to Bush and the Republicans in the last election cycle.Their newly retired and highly honored CEO, Jack Welch, was a Bush supporter.Welch earned his sobriquet, Neutron Jack, for having fired so many employeeswhen he became Chairman and CEO of General Electric in 1981 and was touted bymany business writers as America's leading corporate manager. Welch wasultimately successful in putting profits over people and was also smart inacquiring a media empire including NBC, CNBC and MSNBC. where all those talkingheads, writers and producers delivering the news to America knew they wereworking for Neutron Jack and General Electric. To remind them and America of who"owns" the news, an aerial shot of the GE sign atop the GE building isdisplayed as Tom Brokaw and the Tonight Show go off the air each weekdayevening.

A recent federal appellate court decision will further tighten theoverwhelming corporate stranglehold on information available to everydayAmericans on television and cable channels owned by media giants. More corporateconsolidation in media will further enhance the Bush administration's ability tomesmerize and manipulate U.S. citizens with malignant militarism and perniciouspatriotism. Corporate America procured the White House with the most money evercontributed to a presidential campaign and the Bush operatives are mere minionsof modern mega-bucks moguls whose avarice exceeds their profiteeringpredecessors in the Gilded Age. The big boys bought a government and installedformer corporate executives and lobbyists to run it. The flag-waving frenzy thatfills our television screens cloaks a corporate callousness that puts warprofits over people's lives. In the wonderful-world-of-never-ending-war, theBush administration unilaterally broadens the conflict and blatantly admits anintent to lie.

Our tax dollars are now being used to kill people who have nothing to do withterrorism against the U.S. and to spread lies and disinformation around theworld. At the request of the Karzai interim government, the United States hasopened a new phase of the war in Afghanistan by bombing militia groups which areneither Taliban or Al Qaeda and have no connection with the September 11, 2001attacks on the United States. Sources in the Pentagon said that part of thegiant increase in the military budget will be used to sway public opinion inboth friendly and unfriendly countries by using covert means and lies called"black" campaigns, mixed with the truth known as "white"campaigns. Criticized by the New York Times for "managing the news"and the world media for such a brazen admission of purposeful deceit, DefenseSecretary Rumsfeld said the new Office of Strategic Influence would "tellthe American people and the people of the world the truth". Then Rumsfelddefended the Pentagon's need to conduct secret activities intended to deceiveadversaries during these times of conflict.

A couple of years ago, a veteran foreign correspondent for a major Americandaily told me about State Department briefings he attended before goingoverseas. He was told that the U.S. embassies and their CIA attaches wouldfurnish him with classified "inside information" on what was happeningin the region. He said he had serious doubts about the veracity of some of theinformation. The fact that the U.S. intelligence apparatus uses reporters to dotheir dirty deeds and to spread misinformation doesn't make it any easier on thefamily and friends of a innocent guy like Danny Pearl. I've been impressed withreports of writers with the Wall Street Journal in the Afghanistan conflict andagree with the New York Times editorial that said reporters like Pearl"have been trying to present a detailed and informed portrait of themindset, motives and grievances of the Islamic fundamentalists in the wake ofthe terrorist attack in New York." 

I reckon journalistic integrity willhave to take a back seat for now as lying and killing are essential to wagingwar against "evil ones" and "evil empires."

(Tom Turnipseed is an attorney, writer and civil rights activist in Columbia, South Carolina)