Rampton and Stauber can now reveal in detail how public relations experts in the Bush administration acted deliberately to distort the news, to suppress the facts and to push an America still shocked by the attacks of 9/11 into war on Iraq. Worse, they build a damning case against the mainstream media, and its failure to challenge the White House over its most blatant lies and evasions. From the outset, the invasion of Iraq was branded and packaged like a commercial product. When asked why the build-up to the war began in September 2002, the White House Chief of Staff had this to say, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August".
John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton are the authors of Trust Us, Were Experts, the bestselling Weapons of Mass Deception (Robinson, 2003) and Banana Republicans. Find out more about their work for the Center for Media and Democracy at www.prwatch.org. They both live in Madison, Wisconsin.
Robert Newman is a stand-up comic and novelist, and lives in London.
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber are experts on the public relations industry and are the authors of Toxic Sludge is Good For You, Trust Us We're Experts and the best-selling Weapons of Mass Deception.