Abuse Your Illusions: The Disinformation Guide to Media Mirages and Establishment Lies (Disinformation Guides) [Paperback]

A fine example is the article "Pieces of the 9/11 Puzzle". While it does not attempt to reach a conclusion, it does point out several very interesting facts that have generally not been released to the public. There are so many strange coincidences that it caused Senator Richard Shelby to remark in November of 2002 that "The American people must know the full story has yet to be told". The article includes photographs from CNN of WTC Building 6 that appears to explode before the twin towers fell on it. The photograph of it afterwards also shows that it blew apart in the middle and apparently did not collapse as the result of the Twin Towers debris falling on it. The author also brings up the myriad problems with Mohamed Atta's luggage, the request by President Bush to Tom Daschele to limit the investigation into September 11, the lack of black boxes from the planes, the fact that for a few weeks before September 11 the employees of the towers were evacuated several times, the fact that the head of the independent probe, Thomas Kean, has had many business deals with Osama bin Laden's brother in law, Khalid bin Mahfouz who is suspected of financing al Qaeda, and many other problems.

The articles are sometimes very conservative and sometimes quite liberal, but they are all interesting and pose many, many questions about dozens of media mirages and official establishment positions. Some articles may go too far with a sort of conspiracy theory approach, but most of them present solid evidence complete with thorough documentation. While you will probably not agree with the positions of some of the authors, you can't take an informed position without at least being aware of the information presented in this book. For those who want to know the other side of the story so you can get a whole picture it is a highly recommended read.

This volume does bring to light many important issues, but articles that are not sunk by pretentious or self-aggrandizing writing are few and far between. Some of the best levelheaded entries here include "US Homeland Security..." by Ritt Goldstein, "The Lilly Suicides" by Richard DeGrandpre, or "The Flouridation Fraud" by Robert Sterling. Sadly, there are a great many articles that deal with incredibly important topics but lose their impact with atrocious writing. The terrifying "Invasion of the Child Snatchers" is sunk by Diane Petryk Bloom's sarcastic implications that the entire child protection establishment is corrupt, while most of the entries in the *Not on the Nightly News* section are swamped by flimsy conspiracy theories that could be debunked by a preschooler. This is a depressingly common pattern in this book, indicating a lazy selection process by the Disinfo folks.

By far the most annoying articles here are from writers complaining about how their books or essays have been rejected by major publishers, with the predictable conspiracy claims followed by sales pitches. A horrific example is "Unanswered Letters..." by April Oliver, who courageously revealed Operation Tailwind from the Vietnam War era, but here complains about her letters on the subject not being answered by major newspapers. Daniel Ellsberg, who was greatly persecuted after his hugely important reporting on the Pentagon Papers 30 years ago, is still complaining about it in two different articles here. Then there are some articles that make so little sense that they appear to be merely filler, like "Inside Science's Closet" by Richard Zacks, and the useless conspiracy theory attempt "How I Crashed a Chinese Arms Bazaar..." by Jakob Boeskov. And at all costs avoid the insulting "The Man Who Invented Normal" by Lucy Gwin, who claims that the battle against human disease is a forced conformity project by white males, and that Dr. Kevorkian (regardless of his other questionable ethics) is a eugenicist.

If you've enjoyed the previous compendiums by the Disinformation folks, there are still very important issues covered here, but these writers usually sink their own efforts. A bigger crowd of self-important and sarcastic finger-pointers will be hard to find. It's time for Disinfo to end this book series or get new editors.

Greg Palast catches the news media in several blatant lies; not just misinterpretation, but actual, black and white, lies. The most popular antidepressants can cause suicide. The Watergate break-in may have been all about a call girl ring after all. The producer of the CNN report about Operation Tailwind (asserting that America used sarin nerve gas in Vietnam) gives her side of the story. A former federal drug agent describes first-hand how the Drug War is designed to fail. The New York Times knows about, but refuses to publicize, America's illegal bioweapons program. Howard Zinn brings the US bombing of Afghanistan down to the individual level, looking at some of those who suffered and died. Operation Pipeline is a racial profiling program in California that pulls over minorities on the pretext of minor traffic violations. The editor digs up more neglected information on September 11, including: some of the highest US officials admitted that the attacks could have been prevented, a US Senator has said that at least one foreign country actively aided the terrorists, and one of the warnings received by the US was from the Taliban.

Also covered in this book are the diamond trade, child protective services, fluoridation, the Resurrection story, government sponsored anti-drug ads, the US military faces a huge rape crisis, the flexible definition of "terrorism," and corporations that have claimed the "right" to lie.

As with its two prequels, Everything You Know Is Wrong and You Are Being Lied To, this is a must read of a book that has something to upset or offend everyone. I learned a lot from these eye-opening articles. This isn't a "liberal" or "conservative" book, but it is very highly recommended.