Tell Me Lies

Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq

Edited by David Miller
Foreword by Mark Thomas

Paperback 208 pages (March 2004)
Publisher: Pluto Press Ltd
ISBN: 0-7453-2201-8

Did the US and UK governments lie about weapons of mass destruction to promote an attack on Iraq?

Did the media hold them to account or act as cheerleaders for war?

Tell me Lies reveals the systematic propaganda used by both the US and UK governments to convince us of the 'threat' from Iraq. It shows how we were deliberately misled into a war that has resulted in a humanitarian disaster in Iraq and threatens to create further instability and resentment of the US and UK throughout the Middle East.

Written by some of the world's leading journalists and commentators, it's a scathing indictment of the role of the mainstream media in legitimising government actions and undermining dissent. Critics, activists and journalists from both sides of the Atlantic explore alternatives such as the internet and Al Jazeera and provide analysis and guidance on resisting the media war.

Contributors include John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk (Independent news paper), Edward Herman, Mark Steel (columnist and comedian), Phillip Knightley (author of The First Casualty), Tim Llewelyn (BBC Middle East Correspondent), Abdul Hadi Jiad (Iraqi journalist sacked by the BBC before the war), David Cromwell and David Edwards (Media Lens), Mark Curtis (author of Web of Deceit), John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton (PR Watch, and co-authors of Weapons of Mass Deception and Toxic Sludge is Good For You), Pat Holland (Goldsmiths College), Norman Solomon (columnist and director of the Institute for Public Accuracy), Nancy Snow (author of Propaganda Inc. and Information War), Doug Kellner (UCLA), Julian Petley, Yvonne Ridley (Aljazeera.net and author of In the Hands of the Taliban), Tim Gopsill (National Union of Journalists), Faisal Bodi (UK Guardian, Aljazeera.net), Alistair Alexander (Stop the War Coalition), Greg Philo (Glasgow University Media Group), Steve Dorrill, Andy Rowell (author of Don't Worry It's Safe to Eat), Granville Williams (Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom) and cartoonists Steve Bell, Steve Caplin and Polyp.

'A fabulous book'

Danny Schechter, Media Channel, USA

'Beneath the smokescreen of New Labour's war on the BBC's supposed bias lies the fact that for the most part the media played a vital role in promoting the US and UK governments' war aims in Iraq. From the careful orchestration of the toppling of Saddam's statue (with US army equipment) to the close identification of "embedded" war correspondents with the military machine itself, the overlapping of media and military reached new heights. This excellent collection of essays lays bare the role of what US military planners like to describe as "soft power". With pieces from a host of writers and activists including John Pilger, Mark Steel, Robert Fisk, Noam Chomsky, Phillip Knightley and Mark Curtis, this book makes a devastating case against war and the failure of much of the media to seriously question it. Very useful reading.'

Mark Thomas, Bookmarks, UK

'An outstanding new book'

ColdType, Canada

'often entertaining and always informative... challenges journalists to look closely at the role we play inreporting war.'

Tim Lezard, The Journalist, UK

There is no flim-flam or pseudo-academic media analysis bullshit in Tell Me Lies. This book is a forensic and passionate dissection of the propaganda and media distortion used to justify the war on Iraq... Tell me lies is a breath of fresh air in media analysis. It's about changing things. It's for activists not anoraks.

Mick Gosling, Free Press, UK

This excellent book lifts the lid on the huge sums the British and US governments spent to generate popular support for their illegal war in Iraq and the way a pliant mass media helped achieve their aims.

Labour Left Briefing

Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq couldn't have come at a better time. It is a timely reminder that the media, far from being anti-war, in the main colluded with the government in its propaganda war during the invasion of Iraq.

Shabnam Yazdi, Socialist Review, UK

Read this book and become one of the informed objectors; it is the key to ensuring that this doesn't happen again.

Robin McAlpine, Scottish Left Review, Scotland

In this fine anthology the authors dismantle the lies used to sell the recent invasion and occupation of Iraq... Whether the methods of propaganda and the methods of warfare used in this invasion and occupation can be used to mount further wars will depend on the resistance in Iraq and internationally. Tell me Lies makes an important contribution to understanding the challenges we face in doing so.

Anthony Arnove, Red Pepper, UK