Article: CONSPIRACY THEORY by Paul Craig Roberts

[Jan Klimkowski]

In the run-up to the second Gulf War (the post 9/11 invasion), British Prime Minister Tony Blair explicitly silenced serious debate in MSM organs by stating that the claim that an attack on Iraq would be a War for Oil was a "conspiracy theory".

Having spent more than a decade working for the BBC, and also been employed as a freelancer by such as NatGeo and Discovery, I can attest that MSM's only allowable position with regard to any subject called a "conspiracy theory" is to ridicule it.

"Conspiracy theory" is a highly toxic and pejorative term used by politicians as an order to exclude that particular viewpoint from the realm of "serious" debate.

"No reasonable person could entertain such a view..."

In NLP terms, it's a signal denoting exclusion and a call to ridicule.

Here are some of Blair's quotes circumscribing discussion, and framing the MSM narrative:

Mr. Dennis Skinner MP (Bolsover) When the Prime Minister meets the American President at the end of the month, will he tell George Bush that there is almost certainly a majority of the British people against the idea of a war with Iraq? Will he tell him that a lot of the British people are against the war because they can see that it is all about America getting its hands on the oil supplies in the middle east? Will he also tell him that we are not prepared to fight a war based on the fact that this vain American President is concerned more about finishing the job that his father failed to complete 12 years ago?

The Prime Minister: It will not surprise my hon. Friend to hear that I am afraid I cannot agree with him. Let me first deal with the conspiracy theory that this is somehow to do with oil. There is no way whatever, if oil were the issue, that it would not be infinitely simpler to cut a deal with Saddam, who, I am sure, would be delighted to give us access to as much oil as we wanted if he could carry on building weapons of mass destruction. The very reason why we are taking the action that we are taking is nothing to do with oil or any of the other conspiracy theories put forward. It is to do with one very simple fact: the United Nations has laid downindeed, it has been laying down for 10 yearsthat Saddam Hussein has to disarm himself of weapons of mass destruction and that he poses a threat because he used those weapons, and I believe that we have to make sure that the will of the United Nations is upheld. I also believe, incidentally, that a majority of the British peoplewho, I think, always take a firm view of the need for action in the face of dictators such as Saddam Husseinknows that the UN, having laid down its mandate, has to see that mandate through.

Hansard (British House of Commons) 15 January 2003 vol 397 cc673-82

Blair: Iraq oil claim is 'conspiracy theory'

Matthew Tempest, political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 January 2003 13.35 GMT

Tony Blair today derided as "conspiracy theories" accusations that a war on Iraq would be in pursuit of oil, as he faced down growing discontent in parliament at a meeting of Labour backbenchers and at PMQs.

The prime minister's double defence of Britain's backing of president Bush came as one of Tony Blair's oldest political allies, Peter Mandelson, insisted that the US and British governments did not need a second UN resolution to justify an attack on Iraq.

I also personally recall hearing PM Blair at an early 2003 press conference with lobby correspondents (the highly paid hacks who receive off the record briefings from the PM's official spokesman) droning on about how 9/11 had changed the world, and how regime change in Iraq was essential to protect the world from terrorist threats. Not one single lobby correspondent asked him ,"Prime Minister - what is the link between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein?" The lobby hacks didn't ask because they would have had their lucrative accreditation withdrawn.

And thus Prime Ministers and Presidents lay down the territory of "legitimate" public debate, and commit war crimes and crimes against humanity with the acquiescence and genuflections of MSM.