War Made Easy

Norman Solomon is a nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a national consortium of policy researchers and analysts. His columns have appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and USA Today. Solomon has appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal and Book TV, and has been a guest on various National Public Radio programs. His last book, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, has been translated into Italian, German, Hungarian, and Korean.

* Media critic Solomon (Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You) looks at the pro-war propaganda generated by the U.S. government during military interventions, emphasizing the influence of the media upon public opinion. He begins in 1965, when President Johnson crafted public messages as he sent troops to the Dominican Republic. Solomon claims that LBJ's handling of this invasion established the prototype for a media agenda employed by subsequent presidents to create public approval for their actions. He finds several formulaic messages that help persuade the public to support military intervention. These include portraying America as a fair and noble superpower, whose honest leaders work hard to avoid war, and the enemy leader as an aggressive, Hitler-like violator of human rights who will do much harm unless the United States intervenes. Solomon's timely analysis, which continues through the current war in Iraq, provides the public, analysts, and journalists with useful tips on how to evaluate the prewar messages of any administration, current or historical. Of interest to both public and academic libraries.-Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Libs., Washington, DC (Library Journal, July 15, 2005)""An engaging book that helps explain how the myth-making machine works."" (The Texas Observer, July 8, 2005)""Brutally persuasive...a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come."" (Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2005)

• Prologue: Building Agendas for War.1. America Is a Fair and Noble Superpower.2. Our Leaders Will Do Everything They Can to Avoid War.3. Our Leaders Would Never Tell Us Outright Lies.4. This Guy Is a Modern-Day Hitler.5. This Is about Human Rights.6. This Is Not at All about Oil or Corporate Profits.7. They Are the Aggressors, Not Us.8. If This War Is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It.9. If This War Is Wrong, the Media Will Tell Us.10. Media Coverage Brings War into Our Living Rooms.11. Opposing the War Means Siding with the Enemy.12. This Is a Necessary Battle in the War on Terrorism.13. What the U.S. Government Needs Most Is Better PR.14. The Pentagon Fights Wars as Humanely as Possible.15. Our Soldiers Are Heroes, Theirs Are Inhuman.16. America Needs the Resolve to Kick the "Vietnam Syndrome".17. Withdrawal Would Cripple U.S. Credibility.Afterword.Notes.Acknowledgments.Index.