by Philip Giraldi
Control of the preferred narrative is essential in today's instant-news
political culture. This has been particularly true since 9/11, as the United
States government and the cooperative media have worked together to make
sure that a series of enemies are identified and then attacked as a response
to what has been shaped as a global terrorist threat. . . .
Later this year PBS will release to its affiliates a documentary film that
it co-produced called "Valentino's Ghost." I recently watched a preview
copy. In its full version it is 95 minutes long, and it lays out a roughly
chronological account of how Muslims, particularly Arabs, have been
perceived in the West since the 1920s. . . .
The rise of the Zionist movement and the creation of the state of Israel in
1948, with its forced relocation of most Palestinians -- which Mearsheimer
describes as "ethnic cleansing" -- made further shifts in the narrative
essential, particularly to demonstrate that Jews had a historic right to the
land of Palestine and that the creation of the Jewish state was humanely
carried out in a land that did not exist politically and was largely empty
and undeveloped. . . .
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Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is executive director of the Council for the National Interest.
Paul Lewis, "Charting the Lost
Innovations of Islam'," Guardian, March 10, 2006
Enver Masud, "Fear Paralyzes U.S.
Muslim 'Leaders'," The Wisdom Fund, August 3, 2010
Stephen M. Walt, "The Myth of American
Exceptionalism," Foreign Policy, November 2011
Tim Murphy and Adam Serwer, "The GOP's Anti-Muslim Wing Is in
Retreat: Why Republicans finally seem to be distancing themselves from the
Muslim-bashers in their midst," motherjones.com, January 3, 2013