Stephen Lendman

FBI Uses Fake Muslim Convert, Craig Monteilh
as Informant. (The Islamic Workplace)

Post-9/11, American Muslims became fair game, targeting them for their faith, ethnicity, and at times prominence and charity. As a result, they've been ruthlessly vilified and exploited as "war on terror" scapegoats for political advantage.

Entrapment is commonly used. Guilt or innocence doesn't matter, just the illusion that America is safer when, in fact, every victim assures greater insecurity and fear. Many are left wondering who's next.

Entrapment occurs when law enforcement officials or agents induce, influence, or provoke crimes that otherwise wouldn't be committed. However, it doesn't apply in cases of willingness to act lawlessly, government merely aiding, abetting, or facilitating a chance to do so. It involves the following:

● government officials or agents initiate the idea;
● individuals are persuaded to act; and
● they had no previous intent or willingness to do so.

Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that subjects weren't entrapped. Otherwise, due process convictions are prohibited. However, in today's climate, judicial fairness is lost in cases involving anyone for political reasons.

Muslims are especially affected, America's target of choice. They've been hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence, convicted on bogus charges, given long sentences, then incarcerated as political prisoners.

Medea Benjamin

Mohammed Hafiz holds a picture of his late 10-year-old son, Ali Mohammed, who was killed when guards employed by security company Blackwater, now known as Xe, opened fire at Nisoor Square in 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq. Seeking justice for 17 people shot dead at the Baghdad intersection relatives and loved ones responded with bitterness and outrage Friday, Jan. 1, 2010, at a U.S. judge's decision to throw out a case against Blackwater security guards accused in the killings. Seven years after the US under Bush first bombed Iraq into submission and then occupied the country, Iraq is still occupied by the US, now under Obama, in 2010. (Photo taken October 4, 2007: AP/Khalid Mohammed)(The WE!)

This week marks the beginning of what is supposed to be the final 100 days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But if U.S. troops are to leave Iraq at the end of this year as promised – repeatedly – it will take grassroots pressure to counter the growing “occupy-Iraq-forever” chorus in Washington.

Despite the fact that there is a Bush-era agreement with the Iraqi government to leave, despite the fact that the majority of Iraqis and Americans don’t support a continued U.S. presence, and despite the fact that Congress is supposedly in an all-out austerity mode, strong forces – including generals, war profiteers and hawks in both parties – are pushing President Obama to violate the agreement negotiated by his predecessor and keep a significant number of troops in Iraq past the December 31, 2011 deadline.

It’s true there has already been a major withdrawal of U.S. troops, from a high of 170,000 in 2007 to about 45,000 troops today (with most of the troops being sent over to occupy Afghanistan instead). That number, however, doesn’t tell the whole picture. As the New York Times notes, “Even as the military reduces its troop strength in Iraq, the C.I.A. will continue to have a major presence in the country, as will security contractors working for the State Department,” the latter to defend a U.S. embassy that's bigger than the Vatican.

Back in 2007, candidate Obama pledged that the first thing he’d do as president would be to withdraw our troops from Iraq. “I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank,” the future president declared. So far, the only thing many Americans can take to the bank, however, is evidence their home was fraudulently foreclosed upon.

Bill Van Auken

Refugees from the Libyan coastal city of Sirte report that thousands have died as a result of relentless NATO bombardment and shelling by the the Western-backed “rebels.”

The two-week-old NATO siege of Sirte has left the city without adequate food, drinkable water, medicine and other basic necessities of life, creating hellish condition for its population of 100,000.

While the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council (NTC) has repeatedly issued announcements that the so-called rebels had advanced toward the city center under NATO air cover, they have again and again been forced to retreat under heavy fire from forces loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi, as well as what have been described as citizen volunteers.

In their frustration, the anti-Gaddafi militias have pounded the coastal city with artillery and mortar rounds, tank shells and Grad rockets, wreaking horrific destruction.

Thousands of refugees have tried to flee the city, forced to pass through checkpoints set up by the NATO-backed forces, where many have been taken prisoner, accused of being Gaddafi supporters.

Adnan Al-Daini

Politicians and opinion-formers, please stop listening to the “moneymen”. Go back to first principles and start using some common sense.

I do not know about you but I am finding myself baffled, irritated and confused by the World Bank, the European Central Bank (ECB), the IMF and a few other acronyms that seem to dominate the news.  I did not vote for any of these organisations, so why do they have such an influence on my life, the lives of the rest of the British public and the lives of tens of millions across the globe. They seem to be running the world. The news is dominated by the “market”. On our television screens we see people staring at screens and pressing buttons. With a few strokes on a keyboard these people hold the lives of millions at their mercy.  How did it come to this?  What sort of a system have we created that gives so much power to these people?  How is it that these people, who are entrusted with the money made by working people, end up gobbling up the money for which people have laboured so hard?  How were they ever allowed to have such a stranglehold on the lives of millions?

Stephen Lendman

Economic meltdown comes in stages. Recognition takes longer. Tout TV pundits stay in denial longest, calling crisis conditions a normal correction.

Reality suggests otherwise with US unemployment approaching 23%, home foreclosures multiplying, and poverty levels double or more official distorted numbers that artificially hold them down.

Longtime market expert and regular Progressive Radio News Hour guest Bob Chapman says Eurozone countries are collapsing.

They're "in a state of contagion with six of its sovereign members in serious financial trouble....The creators of the EU, euro zone, and ECB have a failing monstrosity on their hands," an out-of-control debt bomb.

"There is absolutely no way a financial crisis can be avoided," and it's already been unfolding since 2008. No combination of countries can bail out others in crisis "without destroying themselves. Can 21 nations find $4 to $6 trillion to bail out six?"

Impossible! "Fragile" isn't the word for it. Neither is contagion. The operative word is "abject failure," heading for collapse.

Stephen Lendman

A previous article explained, accessed through this link.

Palestinians petitioned the UN for sovereign recognition and full UN membership. Four extremist MKs responded, calling for West Bank settlements annexed. MK Deputy Speaker Danny Danon wants more.

On September 27, the JTA Global News Service of the Jewish People headlined, "Knesset to vote on annexing the West Bank," saying:

On September 27, Danon said the Knesset will "take up the bill, which he authored, at the end of October."

It includes rescinding Israeli/PA financial obligations established by prior agreements. According to Danon:

"If the Palestinian Authority wishes to proceed on this reckless path and bring further instability to the region, Israel cannot continue to pour funds into this sinking ship of failed leadership."

"The funding agreements with the PA were reached with the hope that their leaders would work to create an environment of lasting peace and security with Israel. Given that it is clear that the Palestinians have no such desire, Israel must no longer be required to stand by these arrangements."

Palestinians, of course, want and deserve what Israel denied them for 63 years after stealing their homeland violently. Using long ago discredited arguments, Danon and others like him think Israel has a divine right to their land. Growing millions globally disagree, including Israeli Jews and others everywhere able to distinguished between right and wrong.

Jonathan Cook
Jonathan Cook Blog

A Thought Police for the Internet Age

There could be no better proof of the revolution – care of the internet – occurring in the accessibility of information and informed commentary than the reaction of our mainstream, corporate media.

For the first time, Western publics – or at least those who can afford a computer – have a way to bypass the gatekeepers of our democracies. Data our leaders once kept tightly under wraps can now be easily searched for, as can the analyses of those not paid to turn a blind eye to the constant and compelling evidence of Western hypocrisy. Wikileaks, in particular, has rapidly eroded the traditional hierarchical systems of information dissemination.

The media – at least the supposedly leftwing component of it – should be cheering on this revolution, if not directly enabling it. And yet, mostly they are trying to co-opt, tame or subvert it. Indeed, progressive broadcasters and writers increasingly use their platforms in the mainstream to discredit and ridicule the harbingers of the new age.

Republic of Lakotah

Russell Means says he has chosen to not undergo chemotherapy or radiation to fight his battle against cancer. Instead, Means will rely on traditional indigenous forms of medicine and healing. "People think that death is horrible," he said. "Death is a change of world."

Hello everyone:

I want to thank you for your heartfelt love and for your extreme concern about my health. I never expected within my lifetime, I would experience such a world wide outpour of pure love. Believe me it goes a long way toward defeating this cancer.

Robby Romero and co- producer camera man, Dave Schweitzer are doing a documentary retrospective of my life and this fight to defeat this cancer. Thanks to this documentary and their interviewing of my doctors, did I realize out how super serious my condition WAS. The doctor who is in charge of my tomo therapy is the only doctor in the united states of america that can directly program and apply this machine that can pin point and kill the cancer cells without damaging my good cells and other sensitive tissue in my body like the conventional radiation used by all other Oncologists in the united states.

I found out that I was literally days away from the tumor in my throat closing my windpipe and forcing me to have a tracheotomy which would have begun my spiral down to death. The worst part would have been my deteriorating quality of life until I expired.

Stephen Lendman

The Palestinians deserve their own sovereign state to escape a system as oppressive as how Nazis terrorized Jews. After 63 years, they're entitled to that and more.

Since 1967, Israel has established 121 settlements, recognized by the Interior Ministry as "communities." Another 100 unauthorized outposts have been built.

In addition, 12 annexed Jerusalem neighborhoods are considered settlements under international law. Moreover, settler enclaves exist in Palestinian East Jerusalem areas. They include:

● the Old City's Muslim Quarter;
● Silwan;
● Sheikh Jarrah;
● Mount of Olives;
● Ras al-'Amud;
● Abu Dis; and
● Jabal al-Mukabber.

Overall, Israeli occupied territory, including settlements, exceeds 40% of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, its choicest parts.

However, for extremist MKs, it's not enough. They want all Judea and Samaria west of the Jordan River, comprising the West Bank and Jerusalem. For now, however, they'll settle for annexing occupied settlements.

Stephen Lendman

AIPAC is an unregistered foreign agent representing Israel. Edward Said once called it "the most powerful and feared lobby in Washington."

Calling itself "America's Pro-Israel Lobby," it's represented Israeli interests since founded in 1953. In 1963, it was incorporated as a division of the American Zionist Council (AZC), its precursor.

For decades, it's been very successful subverting opposition to Israel's agenda. Virtually no one in Congress confronts it. Doing so would be a career-ender.

Notably, it's had virtual veto power over war and peace, trade and investment, multi-billion dollar arms sales, enormous handouts to Israel, and all Middle East policies affecting the Jewish state under Democrat and Republican administrations alike.

Deferentially, politicians, presidents, their hangers-on, media scoundrels and others pay it due homage and the government it represents. As a result, everyone pays dearly.

Richard S Ehrlich

Photo: Typical Thai holding cell. This one is in Jomtien in the Chonburi Province near Pattaya. The cell is 2.0 meters x 1.8. The toilet normally is in view of the public. It is a shared cell. We don't know whether this is a CIA prison or not.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) appears to have used Bangkok's former Don Muang International Airport as a secret prison to torture a suspected Muslim terrorist, the first time a specific location has ever been described within Thailand, according to statements by the Libyan who was allegedly held there.

It was impossible to immediately confirm Abdel Hakim Belhaj's allegations of being "hung", "injected" and refrigerated with "ice" at the airport, but if true it is the first description of any site in Thailand pinpointed by a prisoner held by the CIA.

Thai officials in this Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian country have consistently denied knowledge of any CIA secret prison.

However, a secret CIA prison's existence - linked to waterboarding of suspects in Thailand two years earlier in 2002 - has been mentioned in US congressional testimony and was first broken by a Washington Post report. The facility is frequently cited in international media reports as one of the CIA's secret rendition sites.

Thailand is one of the US's major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, a distinction it earned in 2003 through its cooperation with Washington's global "war on terror".

Stephen Lendman

On September 23 in New York, a State Department "Special Briefing" was held. An unnamed "Senior Administration Official" commented on the Quartet's Palestinian statehood proposal, saying:

"As the Palestinians develop(ed) their own ideas of what was necessary in terms of (petitioning the UN), we were intensively engaged with them in providing ideas for an alternative path."

That says it all! It reveals the Washington/Israeli/EU/Ban Ki-moon duplicitous strategy to subvert Palestinian statehood by a combination of diversion, delay and exclusion from debate on what Palestinians most want and deserve.

It includes unconditional sovereignty within 1967 borders (22% of historic Palestine), total control over their own lives, Israel's occupation and Gaza's siege ended, fixed borders, diaspora Palestinians' right of return, settlement construction ended, and East Jerusalem as their capital.

In other words, they want what all independent states enjoy, including fair and open elections to choose their own leaders democratically, free from outside influence.

They also need to know the collaborationist credentials of leaders representing them - namely, Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, conspiring against them while pretending otherwise.

Stephen Lendman

On September 24, Russia's Vladimir Putin announced he'll run again for president in 2012 after serving eight years as Dmitry Medvedev's Prime Minister.

[Suddenly] America's media have better memories than elephants. In November 2007, they recall Putin on National Unity Day telling military cadets and youth groups that while:

"an overwhelming majority of people in the world," are friendly toward Russia, some "keep saying to this day that our nation should be split. Some believe that we are too lucky to possess so much natural wealth, which they say must be divided."

In a thinly veiled reference to America, he added,

"(t)hese people have lost their mind. (They) would like to build a unipolar world and rule over all mankind. Nothing of this kind has ever occurred in our planet's history, and I don't think it will ever happen."

On August 1, 2011 Reuters headlined, "Putin says US is "parasite" on global economy," saying:

Putin accused America "of living beyond its means 'like a parasite' on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets."

If America is in "systemic malfunction," he added, it affects everyone. Indeed so, and Putin is outspoken saying it.

A Review by Paul Larudee of The Wandering Who? by Gilad Atzmon

The Wandering Who? is brutally honest in its presentation, and if the reader is equally honest in the reading, her thinking will evolve in unexpected ways.
 
In the late 1970s, The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, a book by Princeton psychologist Julian Jaynes, gained minor celebrity for its original but controversial views concerning the evolution of the human brain/mind relationship. To this day, I don’t know how much of the thesis I accept, but it gave me a perspective that has now become a part of how I look at my fellow human beings on a daily basis.

Gilad Atzmon’s The Wandering Who? has had something of the same effect.  It is very original in its thinking, and even iconoclastic.  Even though there are very few readers who will agree entirely with everything Atzmon has to say, the effect is to question one’s assumptions and to recognize a new perspective. 

In fact, to say that Atzmon is an iconoclast is something of an understatement; as soon as one chapter forces you to build new assumptions, the next one compels you to tear them down again. True, he provides you with new building blocks of interpretation and understanding. However, I found myself unsure of the new structure. Doubtless, many readers will have to digest these ideas and test them before they feel confident about accepting or rejecting them.

Stephen M. Walt

Image: Ex-Israeli concentration camp guard Jeffrey Goldberg has launched a typical Hasbara smear & intimidation campaign against Gilad Atzmon and John Mearsheimer (R).

Ever since John Mearsheimer and I began writing about the Israel lobby, some of our critics have leveled various personal charges against us. These attacks rarely addressed the substance of what we wrote -- a tacit concession that both facts and logic were on our side -- but instead accused us of being anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists. They used these false charges to try to discredit and/or marginalize us, and to distract people from the important issues of U.S. Middle East policy that we had raised.

The latest example of this tactic is a recent blog post from Jeffrey Goldberg, where he accused my co-author of endorsing a book by an alleged Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer. Goldberg has well-established record of making things up about us, and this latest episode is consistent with his usual approach. I asked Professor Mearsheimer if he wanted to respond to Goldberg's sally, and he sent the following reply.

John Mearsheimer writes:

In a certain sense, it is hard not to be impressed by the energy and imagination that Jeffrey Goldberg devotes to smearing Steve Walt and me. Although he clearly disagrees with our views about U.S.-Israel relations and the role of the Israel lobby, he does not bother to engage what we actually wrote in any meaningful way. Indeed, given what he writes about us, I am not even sure he has read our book or related articles. Instead of challenging the arguments and evidence that we presented, his modus operandi is to misrepresent and distort our views, in a transparent attempt to portray us as rabid anti-Semites.

His latest effort along these lines comes in a recent blog post, where he seizes on a dust jacket blurb I wrote for a new book by Gilad Atzmon titled The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics.

John Pilger

Photo: Shoppers during the opening day of the Westfield Stratford mall. (Richard Baker/In Pictures/Corbis)

Looking for a bookshop that was no longer there, I walked instead into a labyrinth designed as a trap. Leaving became an illusion, rather like Alice once she had stepped through the Looking Glass. Walls of glass curved into concentric circles as one "store" merged into another: Armani Exchange with Dinki Di Pies. Exits led to gauntlets of more "offers" and "exciting options". Seeking a guide, I bought a lousy pair of sunglasses: anything to get out. It was a vision of hell. It was a Westfield mega mall.

This happened in Sydney - where the Westfield empire began - in a "mall" not half as mega as the one that opened in Stratford, east London on 13 September. "Everything" is here, reported the architectural critic Jonathan Glancey: from Apple to Primark, McDonalds's to KFC and Krispy Kreme. There is a cinema with 17 screens and "luxurious VIP seats", and a mega "luxury" bowling alley. Tracey Emin and Mary Portas lead the Westfield "cultural team". The biggest casino in the land will overlook a "24-hour lifestyle street" called The Arcade. This will be the only way into the 2012 Olympic Games for 10m people attending the athletics. The simple, grotesque message of "buy me, buy me" will be London's welcome to the world.

"If you've seen the Disney film Wall-E," wrote Glancey in 2008, "you'll certainly recognise Westfield and malls like it. In the film, humans who long ago abandoned the Earth they messed up through greed, live a supremely sedentary life shopping and eating. They are very tubby and have lost the use of their legs. Is this how we'll end up? Or will we plunge into the depths of some mammoth recession... with nothing and nowhere to spend?" In the less apocalyptic short term, Westfield is "a step towards our collective desire to undermine the life and culture of the traditional city, along with its architecture, and to shop and shop some more."

Compiled by Samuel Dowell

Blacks in Libya Still Targeted by anti-Gaddafi Forces: killings, beatings, abuse

One quarter of indigenous Libyans are black Africans. In addition to that, there were over 1 million workers from Sub-Saharan African countries, including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, in Libya at the start of the uprising. On September 13th, Amnesty International reported that:

“'Widespread, but largely unfounded reports that Gaddafi forces were relying on Sub-Saharan African mercenaries to fight the opposition put them at heightened risk in areas that fell under the control of the NTC. Racist and xenophobic rhetoric, already frequent before the unrest, increased as a result of the breakdown of law and order.” (p.80)(Link)

“The allegations about the use of mercenaries proved to be largely unfounded. Many captured al-Gaddafi fighters, including those interviewed by Amnesty International in Benghazi and Misratah, were in fact Libyan nationals, including individuals from places such as Sabha in the south-west of Libya and from the Tawargha region east of Misratah. Due to their black skin and Sub-Saharan African features, they were mistaken for foreign mercenaries. However, NTC officials did little to correct the false assumption and instead fed the flames of hatred and resentment.(p.83)

“NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil claimed in media interviews that Colonel al-Gaddafi was using ‘African mercenaries’ against his own people. Such claims were especially irresponsible in the climate of insecurity and fed existing racism and xenophobia in Libya and signaled that abuses against foreign nationals would be tolerated by the NTC. (p.83) Further, “NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil promised to ‘close the borders in front of these Africans’. (Statement by Mustafa Abdel Jalil: عبد الجليل ـ سنعمل على إغلاق الحدود في وجه المرتزقة)(p.89)

“When al-Bayda, Benghazi, Derna, Misratah and other cities first fell under the control of the opposition in the third week of February, house raids, killings, lynching and other violent attacks were perpetrated by supporters of the “17 February Revolution” against individuals believed to be foreign mercenaries on account of their skin color.p.82)

Throughout the 6-month conflict, Sub-Saharan African nationals were attacked on what have proved to be largely unfounded suspicions that they were foreign “mercenaries” hired by Colonel al-Gaddafi, and it hasn’t stopped.

Charles E. Carlson

Photo: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures before the start of a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the 66th session of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (AP / Seth Wenig)

Mahmoud Abbas received continuous and general applause as he started his speech to the UN General Assembly, while a dozen or more men and women were seen walking out of the hall in protest. He proceeded with a rambling 45 minute read speech, which received more applause during and at the end. If one can judge by the response, most attendees are sympathetic with statehood. But President Obama has promised to veto its statehood. What are we not told about Abbas and the UN that we need to know?

Don't be surprised if the USA does not veto "Palestinian Statehood" in the United Nations. And if so, it would not mean President Obama has suddenly changed his mind and heart, only his political tactics. My guess is he will support a resolution that calls for statehood, but one that again ties the Palestinians to negotiation of boundaries and details. He and Israel would both accomplish a public relations ploy that would, in fact, maintain the status quo. It would not mean the Philistines will get fair play after 44 years (or more) of occupation. A sudden shift to US support for a watered down, "agree to agree'" statehood would be just another clever way of controlling the Philistines' government, much as the USA controls the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and probably Pakistan.

Adnan Al-Daini

An elderly woman in a care home. The Government
may introduce a 'national care service'. (Alamy)

Fair taxes are good for society as a whole, and those who can afford to pay the higher rates should be proud that they are contributing more for a pleasanter environment for all of us to live in.

Salaries above a certain threshold earned by the super rich are used as a status symbol, part of the “because you are worth it” culture that now permeates our society.  It is a way of massaging the massive egos of those people.  It is a competitive weapon in their battle with other like minded bosses that shouts, “I am at least as important as you if not more important”.  Look at my salary.

The proposal of Vince Cable, UK’s Business Secretary, to give shareholders and workers greater say in the salaries of their CEOs and directors at the top of an organisation, is to be welcomed as a first step.  However, it is not enough.  Here is a suggestion for Mr. Cable and the Chancellor to consider, which is progressive, fair and serves the interests of the ordinary citizens. Decide what multiple of the average pay of a UK employee is a fair wage for those “Masters of the Universe”, -say 10 times.  

Any pay above that, tax at a punitive rate rising in very steep steps to a level of, say 80%.  If this does not moderate the pay, it will have the effect of returning money to the government to help those most in need.  Taxation of the very rich, in itself, should not dent their super egos as they could continue to brag about their mega remuneration packages.  It may even give them another instrument to enhance their self-worth, with remarks like, “The taxes I pay are enough to keep [x] numbers of old people warm in winter”, or, “The taxes I pay are enough to lift [x] number of children out of poverty”.

G. Mason

Photo: Air propaganda and communications: A Lockheed EC-130E Commando Solo II makes a pass over the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The specially equipped EC-130E aircraft is used for psychological operations and is flown by the 193rd Special Operations Wing, Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

"You may not be interested in psychological warfare, but psychological warfare is interested in you."
— Xu Hezhen

As the U.S. has increased its use of Psychological Operations (PSYOP), the acknowledged effectiveness of its methods has led to global use of PSYOPS tactics by both U.S. allies and enemies. Recent reports indicate that U.S. PSYOP has even extended to target U.S. citizens — which constitutes a violation of law.

According to the U.S. Army website, "the role of Psychological Operations [PSYOP] is to alter the behavior of foreign populations in a manner consistent with United States diplomatic, national security and foreign policy objectives." Upon assessing a target, a team of PSYOP specialists will "deliver the right message at the right time and place" to induce the desired psychological effect and behavior. PSYOP is often used during warfare to provoke dissension among the ranks of opposition forces and their supporters, and to otherwise disrupt and undermine an enemy's ability to mobilize. It may be either overt or secret, and its methods range from the dissemination of objective information to tactics of deception.

Its first extensive use is said to have occurred during World War II, when U.S. radio engineers aimed to mislead and demoralize German troops by broadcasting the sound effects of large numbers of Allied military units on the battlefield. PSYOP has also allegedly been used against U.S. allies and neutral countries. Reportedly, during the 1980s, the U.S. and Britain deployed military vessels into Swedish waters, convincing the Swedish population that the ships were of Soviet origin. As intended, this persuaded Swedes of the supposed Soviet threat, and in the process turned many of them against the Soviet Union.

The 2003 toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad was (contrary to popular belief) staged by a U.S. Army PSYOP team. According to cables released by Wikileaks, U.S. PSYOP units during the war in Iraq have organized "poetry readings, concerts and Koranic recitations," while also employing local television outlets to turn the public against Al Qaeda. Kabul embassy cables show that the U.S. has encouraged the use of PSYOP in Afghanistan's Public Protection Program, to generate "local support and responsibility for security."