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Atrocity propaganda is the spreading of information about the crimes committed by an enemy, which can be factual, but often includes or features deliberate fabrications or exaggerations. This can involve photographs, videos, illustrations, interviews, and other forms of information presentation or reporting. The general purpose is to manufacture consent for an escalation of actions against the target, such as to increase economic sanctions, to engage militarily, or to advocate regime change, or to incite stochastic terrorism. The shock value of some atrocity propaganda also makes it useful for expediting the passage of otherwise unpopular laws by creating an atmosphere of emergency or special circumstances, as well as to take up space in the media sphere to distract from and push out other information's share of public attention.
Intelligence agencies frequently engage in disseminating false stories and fake photos to the press for this purpose. In addition, the United States Central Intelligence Agency has been involved in the printing of an untold number of books that contain CIA talking points. Regarding such strategies used against communists, former CIA case officer John Stockwell described how it has been common practice to create "totally false propaganda" to create an "illusion" of communist atrocities, such as by planting false stories in newspapers and circulating fake photographs in the media. Citing anti-Cuban propaganda as an example, Stockwell said, "We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know eating babies for breakfast and the sort. Totally false propaganda." Regarding anti-communist books, Stockwell said that a "massive propaganda effort" was conducted to publish books that contained imperialist talking points, "including the thousand books that were published--several hundred in English--that were also propaganda books sponsored by the CIA. Give some money to a writer, 'Write this book for us, write anything you want, but on these matters, make sure, you know, you have this line.'" Stockwell adds that many of the authors who produced these books under the auspices of the CIA went on to become respected figures in academia.[1]
The south Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) has been found to forge documents, lie to north Korean defectors, torture them, and hold them in solitary confinement until they produce false confessions of spying. Almost 100 such cases have been documented in the 2016 south Korean documentary Spy Nation.[2][3] In addition, north Korean defectors are paid cash incentives to produce information about DPRK. A former UN human rights consultant explains that "North Korean refugees are well aware of what the interviewer wants to hear" and "The more terrible their stories are, the more attention they receive. The more international invitations they receive, the more cash comes in. It is how the capitalist system works: competition for more tragic and shocking stories" noting that as of 2014, defectors are paid between $50 to $500 USD per hour.[4] The documentary Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul also explores problems in defector testimonies through interviews of south Korean attorneys and north Koreans who have witnessed dishonest practices by the NIS and south Korean government in producing a false narrative about DPRK.
The National Endowment for Democracy, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia are examples of organizations that help to disseminate pro-imperialist atrocity propaganda.
Gulf War[edit | edit source]
Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. On October 10, 1990, a young Kuwaiti girl known only as "Nayirah" appeared in front of a congressional committee and testified that she witnessed the mass murdering of infants, when Iraqi soldiers had snatched them out of hospital incubators and threw them on the floor to die. Her testimony became a lead item in newspapers, radio and TV all over the US. The story was eventually exposed as a fabrication in December 1992, in a CBC-TV program called To Sell a War. Nayirah was revealed to be the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to the United States, and had not actually seen the "atrocities" she described take place; the PR firm Hill & Knowlton, which had been hired by the Kuwaiti government to devise a PR campaign to increase American public support for a war against Iraq, had heavily promoted her testimony.[5]
Iraq War[edit | edit source]
In the runup to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, press stories appeared in the United Kingdom and United States of a plastic shredder or wood chipper into which Saddam and Qusay Hussein fed opponents of their Ba'athist rule. These stories attracted worldwide attention and boosted support for military action, in stories with titles such as "See men shredded, then say you don't back war".[6] A year later, it was determined there was no evidence to support the existence of such a machine.[7]
Libya[edit | edit source]
During the Arab Spring, Libyan media was reporting atrocities by Muammar Gaddafi loyalists, who were ordered to perform mass "Viagra-fueled rapes".[8] A later investigation by Amnesty International has failed to find evidence for these allegations, and in many cases has discredited them, as the rebels were found to have deliberately lied about the claims.[9]
DPRK[edit | edit source]
Sensationalized testimonies of defectors from the DPRK are a frequent source of atrocity propaganda. Although defectors from DPRK can and do express a wide range of honest opinions and accounts about their own experiences and reasons for leaving the country, sensationalized accounts as well as lies are often encouraged and manufactured by imperialist intelligence agencies to be weaponized against DPRK. The media landscape of north Korean defector testimonies is so saturated with such fraudulent accounts and cash incentives for sensationalism that it has become difficult for human rights researchers to fully trust DPRK defector testimonies.[4] In addition, the south Korean National Intelligence Service has been found to forge documents, lie to north Korean defectors, torture them, and hold them in solitary confinement until they produce false confessions of spying. Almost 100 such cases have been documented in the 2016 south Korean documentary Spy Nation.[2][3]
In an article of the mainstream south Korean publication Hankyoreh, an analysis is made of the media situation surrounding DPRK in general: "Time and time again, conservative outlets and foreign media circulate and reproduce rumors based on questionable sources," adding, "Notably, retractions and apologies are rarely ever provided when the reports are shown to be false."[10]
DPRK defector testimonies[edit | edit source]
Jiyoung Song, former United Nations Consultant for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who interviewed north Korean defectors for 16 years, wrote that "numerous" testimonies by north Korean defectors "are later found unreliable" and that there is "a fundamental question about heavily relying on defectors’ testimonies as credible evidence". Among the problems with such testimonies, Song explains that cash payments have been "standard practice" in the field, paying up to $200 USD per hour as of 2014, and that in South Korea, defectors are paid between $50 to $500 USD per hour, "depending on the quality of information s/he had." According to Song, "North Korean refugees are well aware of what the interviewer wants to hear" and "The more terrible their stories are, the more attention they receive. The more international invitations they receive, the more cash comes in. It is how the capitalist system works: competition for more tragic and shocking stories."[4]
South Korea offers $860,000 to defectors with 'sensitive information' about the DPRK.[11]
The documentary Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul explores problems in defector testimonies through interviews of south Korean attorneys and north Koreans who have witnessed such dishonest practices by the NIS and south Korean government that produce a false narrative about DPRK by forcing north Koreans to stay in south Korea against their will, withholding passports if they show a desire to return to DPRK, intimidating people with death threats, and detaining them by police and surveilling them for speaking positively about DPRK on social media.
Angola[edit | edit source]
Starting in 1975, volunteer Cuban soldiers went to Angola in Operation Carlota, as the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) had requested assistance to repel an advance of the South African Defence Force (SADF) of apartheid South Africa.[12][13] Following this, the CIA planted fake news stories and fake photos in newspapers about supposed atrocities committed by the Cuban volunteers,[14][15] as well as a variety of other misinformation and fabricated stories about the war in general, on top of their material assistance to UNITA and FNLA.[16] A CIA case officer who had been in charge of managing the CIA's Angola effort reported that one third of his staff was for propaganda.[14] The former officer also noted that the only actual atrocity that they were able to document had Cubans as victims rather than perpetrators.[15]
Further information[edit | edit source]
Books[edit | edit source]
- Abrams, A.B. Atrocity Fabrication and Its Consequences
- Morelli, Anne. The Basic Principles of War Propaganda (French: Principes élémentaires de propagande de guerre). 2001.
- Swanson, David. War is a Lie. 2016. Just World Books.
- McGehee, Ralph. Deadly Deceits; My 25 Years in the CIA. 1983.
- Ponsonby, Arthur. Falsehood in War-Time: Propaganda Lies of the First World War. 1928. Kimble & Bradford, London.
- Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. 1988.
- Parenti, Michael. Inventing Reality. St Martin's Press, Inc. New York. 1986.
Documentaries[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere." Witness to War. YouTube. Archive link.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The New York Times. “Film Shines Light on South Korean Spy Agency’s Fabrication of Enemies.” 2016. Archived 2022-10-10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Spy Nation" (Korean title: 자백). Documentary. 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jiyoung Song (2015-08-02). "Unreliable witnesses: The challenge of separating truth from fiction when it comes to North Korea" Asia and the Pacific Policy Society. Archived 2022-09-16.
- ↑ A.B. Abrams (2023). Atrocity Fabrication and its Consequences: 'The Gulf War'. [PDF]
- ↑ "See men shredded, then say you don't back war" (2003-03-18). Times Online. Archived from the original.
- ↑ "Brendan O'Neill: The missing people-shredder" (2004-02-25). The Guardian.
- ↑ "Gaddafi 'supplies troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape', claims diplomat" (2011-04-29). The Guardian.
- ↑ "Amnesty questions claim that Gaddafi ordered rape as weapon of war" (2011-10-22). The Independent.
- ↑ "News analysis: The insidious threat of fake news surrounding North Korea" (May.5,2020). Hankyoreh. [Archived] 2022-08-17.
- ↑ Why Has South Korea Quadrupled the Fee They Will Pay North Korean Defectors?
- ↑ “On November 5, 1975, the Cuban government decided to send troops to the African nation, in response to the request for collaboration of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), to confront the foreign aggression that sought to thwart the country's independence.”
"Cuba pays tribute to its internationalist combatants" (2025-05-27). Cuba Si. Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. - ↑ Matt Peppe (2015-11-05). "Cuba’s Operation Carlota 40 Years Later" Counterpunch. Archived from the original on 2025-09-30.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 “Stockwell: Well for example, in my war, the Angola war, that I helped to manage, one third of my staff was propaganda. Ironically it's called "covert action" inside the CIA. Outside, that means the violent part. I had propagandists all over the world, principally in London, Kinshasa, and Zambia. We would take stories which we would write and put them in the Zambia Times, and then pulled them out and sent them to a journalist on our payroll in Europe. But his cover story, you see, would be what he had gotten from his stringer in Lusaka, who had gotten them from the Zambia Times. We had the complicity of the government of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda if you will, to put these false stories into his newspapers. But after that point, the journalists, Reuters and AFP, the management was not witting of it. Now, our contact man in Europe was. And we pumped just dozens of stories about Cuban atrocities, Cuban rapists--in one case we had the Cuban rapists caught and tried by the Ovimbundu maidens who had been their victims, and then we ran photographs that made almost every newspaper in the country of the Cubans being executed by the Ovimbundu women who supposedly had been their victims.
Interviewer: These were fake photos?
Stockwell: Oh, absolutely. We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know eating babies for breakfast and the sort. Totally false propaganda.”
John Stockwell and Clete Roberts (1983). "Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell" Witness to War. - ↑ 15.0 15.1 “Another Lusaka fabrication accused Cuban soldiers of committing atrocities in Angola. It mentioned rape and pillage. Then its stories became more specific, "reporting" a (totally fictitious) incident in which Cuban soldiers had raped some Ovimbundu girls. Subsequently it wrote that some of those same soldiers had been captured and tried before a tribunal of Ovimbundu women. Lusaka kept this story going endlessly throughout the program.
Later, Caryl Murphy, a Washington Post stringer who had covered Luanda, told me the Cuban soldiers had universally fallen in love with Angola and were singularly well behaved. The only atrocity we were able to docurnent had Cubans as victims rather than criminals. Sixteen Cuban soldiers captured in October were executed by UNITA soldiers at the end of the war.”
Ellen Ray, William Schaap, K. van Meter, and Louis Wolf (1980). Dirty Work 2: The CIA In Africa: 'Media Manipulation in Angola' (p. 103). - ↑ Ellen Ray, William Schaap, K. van Meter, and Louis Wolf (1980). Dirty Work 2: The CIA In Africa: 'Media Manipulation in Angola'.