[Thread] FOIA’d documents show that the Pentagon worked closely with Hollywood, rewriting dozens of films and TV shows about the Afghan War to give them a more pro-war message, thus helping prolong the conflict.
E.G., in 'Lone Survivor' (2013), the Pentagon changed the central scene to delete parts where US soldiers argue that they should commit war crimes by killing Afghan kids & hiding their bodies.
This was a real event that actually happened. But it did not fit the wanted narrative.
The Pentagon often insists that they only work with film and TV companies to ensure the military is portrayed more accurately.
But internal documents prove that this is not true, and that they realize they are in the "reputation" management business.
Phil Strub, the Pentagon's Hollywood liaison, drew up a list of all the changes he insisted they make.
Also note how he casually reveals that he often personally re-writes movie scripts himself.
('Goatherder scene' is where the SEALs consider killing the Afghan kids, btw).
In '12 Strong' (2018), the Army changed the [real] backstories of their troops' criminal pasts to ensure it was as relentlessly pro-war as possible.
Production didn't mind the interference. In fact, they sent the Army a thank you note for helping make the film so "badass".
Charlie Wilson's War (2007) was originally highly critical of the US funding the Afghan mujahideen, and presented 9/11 as the logical outcome of such a policy.
In fact, the original final scene was Wilson watching 9/11 happen, underlying that point.
Left pic: The final scene in the original script for Charlie Wilson's War.
Right pic: the final scene after the CIA got involved in production.
They changed it from suggesting he/CIA policy in Afghanistan was partly responsible for 9/11 to him getting a medal for bravery! 🤪
The CIA, Pentagon etc. offer their bases/buildings as film sets, vehicles as props, soldiers as extras, etc. saving Hollywood millions.
But it comes at a price: complete editorial control, down to the last letter.
Every word and image in govt-aided film & TV is carefully pored over, & changed if it is not relentlessly pro-military enough.
The result is that we are being bombarded with pro-war propaganda —and we don't even know it.
This propaganda was crucial in prolonging the Afghan War.
The scale of govt/military penetration of pop culture is huge.
e.g. in Dec. 2016, the OCPA West— 1 of 3 seperate regional Army media offices— was working on 63 seperate films & TV shows at once.
The Air Force, Navy, CIA, & FBI all have similar organizations doing the same stuff
Matthew Alford and @spyculture's research revealed that the Department of Defense has quietly collaborated on at least 814 movies and 1,133 separate TV shows, most of them in the last 20 years.
A key individual in all this is Phil Strub from the Pentagon.
His list of credits on IMDB is positively Spielbergian. He's worked on many of the biggest movies ever. He's one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.
There are plenty more examples of movies and TV shows altered by the Pentagon in the article. The bottom line is that military control over media/pop culture allowed the Afghan War to continue for years without scrutiny.
"One of the most depraved front pages I’ve ever seen" - @Louis_Allday
The Daily Mail's own reporting makes clear that the U.S. killed three kids in the attack.
So they're essentially posing with the child survivors who lost their families.
And the military is being framed as a caring, compassionate force.
Unreal levels of propaganda.
On Afghanistan, I just published an investigation with @MintPressNews into the extraordinary costs of the project, including details of the enormous corruption among Afghan and US officials.
The US has directly controlled Afghanistan for 20 years. In that time, many women have lost rights and the country has been turned into the world's first true narco-state, as I wrote about for @MintPressNews in June-->
[Thread] My new investigation for @MintPressNews into Creative Associates International— the private regime change group you've probably never heard of.
"Creative Associates International (CAI): It’s Not Exactly the CIA, But Close Enough"
Over the past 30 years, CAI have worked with Contra death squads in Nicaragua, designed fake Cuban social media apps for the US gov, been involved in a coup in Haiti and redesigned the Iraqi and Afghan school systems.
It was also reported that CAI's office in Peshawar, Pakistan 🇵🇰 was being used as a front for infamous mercenary group Blackwater to stage military ops on the Afghan/Pakistan border.
[Thread] Why have "Israeli superspy" Robert Maxwell sons (and Ghislaine Maxwell's brothers) started an influential think tank about "countering radical Islamist extremism"?
My new @MintPressNews investigation into this very suspicious organization.
Disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell was long described as an Israeli spy.
The fact he was given a full state funeral in Israel fit for a hero all but confirmed this theory.
His daughter Isabel followed him into the family business, becoming, in @_whitneywebb's words, "The One-Woman Liaison Between Israel and Silicon Valley."
[Thread] While condemning vaccine skepticism at home, corporate media are pushing anti-vax conspiracies about the Chinese and Russian vaccines, trying to encourage fear and distrust of them worldwide.
I've been very skeptical of the numbers and images corporate media are using for the Cuba protests🇨🇺.
This is one of the only shots where you get a sense of how big it was.
NBC used it under the headline "thousands protest in Cuba."
I manually count 175 people in this photo.
Why were so many of the pictures used close ups where you couldn't tell how big the action was? That's what politicians do when no one attends their rally.
I might be off by 5 or 10 (the pic quality isn't great). But this ain't thousands.
OMG after they showed that clip they cut to this photo of a PRO-GOVERNMENT demo (note the red and black flags emblazoned with Fidel Castro's political movement, 26 Julio), claiming it was an anti-government protest.