White Propaganda and Perception Management: the origins of 'chemical weapons' false flag operations

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In the early 80s, Ronald Reagan's neocons decided that they should overthrow the democratically elected government of Nicaragua.

An agency called the Office of Public Diplomacy was set up that disseminated what was called "white propaganda". It produced dossiers and fed stories to journalists that “proved” Soviet fighter planes had arrived in Nicaragua to attack America. Another story, from "intelligence sources", said that the Soviets had given stock piles of chemical weapons to the Sandinistas.

President Reagan appeared on TV with maps to show how quickly such a chemical attack could be launched on America itself. It was only a matter of time. Reagan also told America that Nicaragua was part of an access of rogue states, including Iran and North Korea, who together ran a global network of terror.

Those who run the Office of Public Diplomacy, called this technique "Perception Management". The thinking was, that if you can control the perceptions of the American people about events, that would help you ‘bring them on board’. If they thought something was a huge threat to them, they perceived it that way, then they will react a certain way, they will react in support of a more aggressive policy.

With the years, simple narratives started to fade in the eyes and ears of the American public. After the fiasco of the alleged chemical weapons possessed by Saddam Hussein's regime, which brought the Iraq war and the subsequent chaos in the Middle East, the narratives had to be upgraded to false flag operations involving 'chemical weapons'.

As explained in Adam Curtis' documentary The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom:

The Sandinistas were Marxists revolutionaries who had seized power in 1979, but since then they held elections and had been democratically elected. The Reagan administration dismissed these though as a sham, and an operation was set up to enforce the "right kind of democracy" by overthrowing the Sandinistas if neccesary. The man in charge was a leading neoconservative, Elliot Abrams.

The Americans started funding and training a counterrevolutionary army called the Contras. But there was enormous political opposition in the United States, and to get around it, the leaders of Project Democracy set out to frighten the American public.

An agency called the Office of Public Diplomacy was set up that disseminated what was called "white propaganda". It produced dossiers and fed stories to journalists that “proved” Soviet fighter planes had arrived in Nicaragua to attack America. Another story, from "intelligence sources", said that the Soviets had given stock piles of chemical weapons to the Sandinistas.

President Reagan appeared on TV with maps to show how quickly such a chemical attack could be launched on America itself. It was only a matter of time. Reagan also told America that Nicaragua was part of an access of rogue states, including Iran and North Korea, who together ran a global network of terror.

Those who run the Office of Public Diplomacy, called this technique "Perception Management". The thinking was, that if you can control the perceptions of the American people about events, that would help you ‘bring them on board’. If they thought something was a huge threat to them, they perceived it that way, then they will react a certain way, they will react in support of a more aggressive policy.

What was happening was that the neoconservatives were beginning to believe that their ideal of freedom wasn't absolute. And that this then justified lying and exaggerating in order to enforce that vision, that the end justified the means.

Although they portrayed the Contras as freedom fighters, it was well known that they used murder, assassination and torture, and also were allegedly using CIA supply planes to smuggle cocaine back into the United States.

And to finance the Contras, the neoconservatives were even prepared to deal with America's enemy, the leaders of the Iranian revolution. In 1985, those running the Nicaragua operation, held a series of secret meetings with Iranian leaders in Europe. They arranged to sell the Iranians American weapons. In return, the Iranians would release American hostages held in Lebanon.

Then the money from these sells would be used by those running Project Democracy to fund the Contras. The only problem, was that this was completely illegal, and the president knew it.

What was beginning to emerge was the problem of spreading the ideal of freedom around the world. To do it, those leading Project Democracy had turned not just to manipulation and violence, but were beginning to undermine the ideals of Democracy in America, the very thing, they were trying to create abroad.