[Peace-discuss] Massive Syrian propaganda operation waged by Western govt. contractors and media

[J.B. Nicholson]

Thanks to the leaked documents coming to us from Anonymous and The
Grayzone we now have evidence on a massive propaganda operation against
Syria.

See 
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/23/syria-leaks-uk-contractors-opposition-media/
 for the report and watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKM4aeqYnwc f
or coverage on The Mother of All Talkshows with George Galloway where
Galloway interviews Ben Norton starting at 25m14s.

Quoting 
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/23/syria-leaks-uk-contractors-opposition-media/

> The files confirm reporting by journalists including The Grayzone’s
> Max Blumenthal[1] on the role of ARK, the US-UK government
> contractor, in popularizing the White Helmets[2] in Western media.
> ARK ran the social media accounts of the White Helmets, and helped
> turn the Western-funded group into a key propaganda weapon of the
> Syrian opposition.[3]
> 
> The leaked documents[4] consist mainly of material produced under the
> auspices of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. All of the firms
> named in the files were contracted by the British government, but
> many also were running “multi-donor projects” that received funding
> from the governments of the United States and other Western European
> countries.
> 
> In addition to demonstrating the role these Western intelligence
> cutouts played in shaping media coverage, the documents shine light
> on the British government program to train and arm rebel groups in
> Syria.
> 
> Other materials show how London and Western governments worked
> together to build a new police force in opposition-controlled areas.
> 
> Many of these Western-backed opposition groups in Syria were
> extremist Salafi-jihadists. Some of the UK government contractors
> whose activities are exposed in these leaked documents were in effect
> supporting Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra[5] and its
> fanatical offshoots.
> 
> The documents were obtained by a group calling itself Anonymous, and
> were published under a series of files entitled, “Op. HMG [Her
> Majesty’s Government] Trojan Horse:[6] From Integrity Initiative[7]
> To Covert Ops Around The Globe. Part 1: Taming Syria.” The
> unidentified leakers said they aim to “expose criminal activity of
> the UK’s FCO and secret services,” stating, “We declare war on the
> British neocolonialism!”
> 
> The Grayzone was not able to independently verify the authenticity of
> the documents. However, the contents tracked closely with reporting
> on Western destabilization and propaganda operations in Syria by this
> outlet and many others.[8]

[1] 
https://thegrayzone.com/2016/10/02/white-helmets-us-military-intervention-regime-change-syria/
[2] 
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/26/white-helmets-whitewash-founders-death-opcw-scandal-lift-mask-on-al-qaedas-ally-in-syria/
[3] https://thegrayzone.com/2016/11/28/syrian-white-helmets-media/
[4] 
https://freenet.space/read-blog/275_op-hmg-trojan-horse-from-integrity-initiative-to-covert-ops-around-the-globe-par.html
[5] 
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/04/british-aid-scheme-suspended-amid-allegations-of-payments-to-syrian-jihadis
[6] 
https://freenet.space/read-blog/276_op-hmg-trojan-horse-from-integrity-initiative-to-covert-ops-around-the-globe-par.html
[7] 
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/12/17/inside-the-temple-of-covert-propaganda-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/
[8] 
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/revealed-british-government-covert-propaganda-campaign-syria

This includes some interesting hypocrisy done on the back of modern
concerns. As George Galloway put it (around 29m into the above video)
"countries like Denmark, The Netherlands [which are] achingly
politically correct, gender-sensitive, sexual orientation-sensitive
were paying for propaganda for areas controlled by these rebels where
gay people were thrown off the roof and videoed being so done; where
women were being stoned and murdered after mere accusations of
adultery; where women were not just enslaved and sex trafficked, but
even the women who were not so physically harmed became prisoners in
their own houses in their own all-enveloping black clothes; all these
right on liberals were paying these activists to snow job the people
who were responsible for all these crimes".

This cache includes documentation that firms involved create the events
they report on:

> In its media war on Damascus, InCoStrat pursued a two-pronged
> campaign that consisted of the following: “a) Guerrilla Campaign. Use
> the media to create the event. b) Guerrilla Tactics. Initiate an
> event to create the media effect.”

The firms work with Western establishment media outlets including
Channel 4, BBC, Al Jazeera, and more:

> Western government PR firms not only influenced the way the media
> covered Syria, but as the leaked documents reveal, they produced
> their own propagandistic pseudo-news for broadcast on major TV
> networks in the Middle East, including BBC Arabic, Al Jazeera, Al
> Arabiya, and Orient TV.

There are a lot of documents to get through, a lot of reading yet to be
done. One wonders if the fake Syrian (Douma) chemical attack is even
more exposed now than it was by OPCW engineers in that organizations'
leaked internal documents showing on-the-ground reports clearly
pointing out how so-called evidence from alleged gas attack was in fact
staged and OPCW management (no doubt operating under the influence of
Western governments) silencing reports that contract a narrative which
ostensibly justified the coordinated US/UK/French attack. One recalls
from The Grayzone's own Aaron Mate that Amy Goodman's repeating
establishment narrative on this alleged attack without question or
challenge was one of the issues which drove Mate to leave Democracy
Now, as he told Jimmy Dore some months ago.

Norton said on Galloway's show that these efforts cost tens or perhaps
hundreds of millions of British pounds and only "scratches the surface,
these are just some documents, the documents appear to have come from
either someone in the British foreign office who had access to these
documents or they seem to come from people who were involved in these
NGO circles who are working with a lot of these contractors". Norton
said this was "a small percentage of what is, frankly, one of the
largest propaganda operations ever constructed in human history, and
for nearly a decade -- for over 9 years -- this propaganda has been
constantly bombarded, has been broadcast into our brain, 24/7 non-
stop".

-J