"You Supply The Pictures, And I'll Supply The War"

Ernest L. Meyer wrote of William Randolph Hearst: "Mr. Hearst in his long and not laudable career has inflamed Americans against Spaniards, Americans against Japanese, Americans against Filipinos, Americans against Russians, and in the pursuit of his incendiary campaign he has printed downright lies, forged documents, faked atrocity stories, inflammatory editorials, sensational cartoons and photographs and other devices by which he abetted his jingoistic ends." --Chapter 17: Farewell: Lord of San Simeon, Lords of the Press, George Seldes

Hearst was the editor of the New York Morning Journal and had sent sketch artist Frederic Remington to Cuba to cover the rebellion against Spanish rule. When Remington cabled the paper saying "There is no war. Request to be recalled", Hearst shot back "Please remain. You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." For months the Journal and other newspapers sensationalized the situation in Cuba, and after the Maine explosion they went into overdrive vilifying the Spaniards with Headlines like "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain" and "War? Sure!"

So now we learn through the freedom of information act in Britain that Tony Blair and media magnifico Rupert Murdoch were in close communication leading up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It doesn't come as any surprise that war criminals hobnob with media ownership to get the right spin on the topics of the day, and we can imagine that the word went out to demonize Saddam and make up all that garbage about Iraqi intentions. Collaboration to whip up support for the war crimes is a given, what's interesting about this collusion is that Murdoch and his paper The Sun agreed to bash the chief cheese eating surrender monkey across the channel for opposing war fever:

The calls... and the editorial response

Phone call: 11 March 2003
The Sun says: 12 March 2003
"Like a cheap tart who puts price before principle, money before honour, Jacques Chirac struts the streets of shame. The French President's vow to veto the second resolution [on Iraq] at the United Nations - whatever it says - puts him right in the gutter."
Phone call: 13 March 2003
The Sun says: 14 March 2003
"Charlatan Jacques Chirac is basking in cheap applause for his 'Save Saddam' campaign - but his treachery will cost his people dear. This grandstanding egomaniac has inflicted irreparable damage on some of the most important yet fragile structures of international order."

On second thought-