Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq

by Sheldon Rampton, John Stauber

Weapons of Mass Deception

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, War, Military Fiction, Middle East, United States

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

Points you in some useful directions, source-wise, but overly padded with interview transcripts and Democrat apologetics.

[Chickens McShitterson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author #1: We're going to write a book that is a vaguely coherent string of text evidence culled from multiple sources.

Author#2: Isn't that plagiarism? Won't we get in trouble?

Author #1: Not if we put *just* enough sentences in it that we can pass off as our own.

Author #2: I don't know, dude. That sounds kinda shifty. What will our book be about?

Author #1: All the ethically and constitutionally questionable things Bush did during his presidency!

Author #2: Jesus, dude. I don't know. That's going to be longer than The Count of Monte Cristo

Author #1: I know- but my idea is to focus on the shit that most people already know.

Author #2: Hasn't this been done a million times already?

Author #1: Not by us! And we got a sweet advance.

Author #2: ...and you're saying all we have to do is cite a bunch of passages that we didn't even write?

Author #1: Yes! All we really have to do is use Google and viable research search engines like ebscohost!

Author #2: Hell, even a stoned college student could do that! Count me in!

Author #1: And we'll give it a clever title: Weapons of Mass Deception!

Author #2: Super sweet, dude!

Me (putting book down after slogging through boring passage after boring passage): Goddammit.

[احمد عبد الفضيل · Rating 4 out of 5]

وكما يقال يظهر الجواب من عنوانه
أيضا الكتاب يظهر من غلافه
حيث يظهر صدام مقابل بن لادن وكانهما ممثلين فى فيلم فى حوار يقطعه المخرج بوش طالبا منهما ا لتركيز لاتقان الدور أكثر
عن الحرب النفسية الشرسة
قبل احتلال العراق
وعن حرب الخليج
قبل أن تقوم أمريكا باحتلال التراب العراقى
كانت قد احتلت العالم كاملا إعلاميا
تسويق رهيب للحرب
دعاية مكثفة
أكاذيب ومسرحيات لاوجود لها
احصائيات دقيقة عن الحرب الاعلامية فى الصحافة والتليفزيون
تفنيد للاكاذيب التى قيلت فى حرب الخليج وحرب تحرير العراق المزعومة
اكذوبة اسلحة الدمار الشامل
يسترجع بك تلك اللحظات المهينة التى سبقت احتلال العراق
مازلت اتذكر تلك الايام
مازالت تلاحقنا الإنتكاسة
عمل جدير بالاحترام ومجهود كبير يشكر عليه من أظهر هذا الكتاب للنور

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but i’d read toxic sludge is good for you over this one. This text examines how PR agencies manipulated and lied to the american public to justify the invasion of Iraq. Its certainly interesting to see how important pr is for war, and i found it interesting how current conflicts have recycled Iraq era propaganda.

All in all, this is interesting, and i’d recommend it if you’re into this sort of thing, but I really would recommend his other texts as they really demonstrate clearly how pervasive and influential PR is in control over the Western mind

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this back before I had completely burned out on politics, when I was still bitter about the 2004 election and wanted some examples to footnote my "damn the man" rhetoric. It was an interesting read, but it, like all partisan books on politics, fails in doing anything other than preaching to the choir.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this, and judging by the default cover seen on Goodreads, I thought it might be a cheap and immature book, but it gets better the further through you read. It analyses the media and it's bias coverage of the war, touching on Orwellian ideas, the demands for sanitation, and embedded journalists.

[Anne Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book that exposes how the U. S. government uses propaganda not only on our foreign adversaries but also on us in order to garner backing for its objectives. I gave it four stars rather than five, because the authors do tend to be a little left-leaning and not completely unbiased as I would hope any treatise on any political topic would be. However, I do recognize that in an increasingly-polarized society, a lean in one direction or the other is inevitable. Still, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to analyze their own tendency to succumb to carefully-orchestrated statements rather than the plain truth and become a more critical interpreter of what the government and the media present to the public.

[David Pérez · Rating 1 out of 5]

El llibre em posava de mala hostia, bàsicament perquè narra el que han fet els EUA a orient pròxim a finals del XX i principis del XXI, però ho llegia per curiositat i perque semblava interessant el punt de vista de la manipulació periodística. Però acabar el llibre dient que la televisió islàmica va fer el mateix que la televisió americana és lamentable. Passar-te 150 pàgines dient tots els diners invertits a millorar la imatge internacional mentre bombardegen països, com han finançat milícies, com s'han literalment saltat la convenció de Ginebra armant a periodistes, per acabar en 3 pàgines dient que mostrant les imatges de com massacren al teu poble estàs jugant al mateix joc és de ser rata estatunidenca.

[Avery Erdogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a hard time reading through history type topics sometimes, but this book was pretty well organized, easy to read, and of course as the other reviews seem to state, well cited. I came away more knowledgeable about the conflicts in Iraq and the surrounding areas, and the US & Bush Administration's roles.

I wish it was a little more recently written as things were still somewhat in motion in 2003 when this book was published, but not a fault of the authors. I'd read something written now 20 years later by them, looking back.

[Hannah Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty much about all of the PR behind war in general and the Iraq war in particular in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Really shows how distorted and warped the public perception and sentiment around political events is in comparison to what is happening behind the scenes to create that perception and sentiment. A book for which there is a before and after in your life in terms of your personal sense of ignorance and awareness with definitive boundaries.

[vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are cooked

[Majid Al-Asseri · Rating 3 out of 5]

تحليل عميق لدور وسائل الإعلام و شركات العلاقات العامة في الحروب خاصتا حربي عاصفة الصحراء الخليجية، ايضا الفصل المتعلق بالإعلام هو اكثر ما جذبني في هذا الكتاب، و ايضا النهاية بوجهة نظر عربية, (يحتوي على خيانة علمية في المصادر و هوه اكثر ما قهرني في النسخة العربية)

deep analysis about the role of the media and the P.R companies in wars especially the two gulf storm operation wars, also the chapter about the media is the one that excited me in this book and the finish itself with bringing the Arabian point of view..

[sologdin · Rating 1 out of 5]

not really a bad book, and likely up to the same standard as R&S's other offerings, in terms of their analysis of the PR functions at work on behalf of state and industry. it is a bit thin, though, and somewhat off the beaten path of their other texts, which are more about industry, rather than policy.

but: i caught this at a time when there were dozens of other books about the iraq war, so perhaps a bit overloaded.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing terribly earth shattering here. Most of the information discussed has become widespread and acknowledged in the years since its publication. However, it is a very interesting look at the Bush Administration from a media/propaganda viewpoint.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explains why no one is talking about Saudi Arabia.
It explains a lot of other things too. With marvelous detail. Fall in hate with the president all over again!

[Christopher Prosser]

becca

[Tom Darrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched, but most of the information is common knowledge now. One-sided in its approach.

[Neda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. Filled with solid references. An eye-opener on politics. Spread the word. Recommend to all.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chilling, amusing and generally incredibly eye opening. You won't be able to think about George W. Bush and his invasion of Iraq in the same way again. It makes everyone look really bad.

[Rick Stoyles · Rating 3 out of 5]

If only Republicans believed in facts.

[Andy Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well presented analysis of the people, companies and news media presentations around the 2003 invasion of Iraq, providing strongly put reasoning of careful propaganda as casual bullets.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good analysis of the PR campaign to go war with Iraq and propaganda in general.

[Lis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un discreto testo di analisi di come si possano usare i media per manipolare e plasmare le idee e le opinioni, in questo caso a sostegno dell'amministrazione Bush verso la guerra contro l'Iraq del 2003.