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Meet Canada's New Minister of Propaganda / Hill & Knowlton Sell War

What is new Canadian Prime Warmonger Stephen Harper to do when he doesn't want peace to be on the menu of public debate? Fill the “Defence” Minister's position with a former Brigadier General, who was also a lobbyist for weapons manufacturers and who cut his teeth at Hill & Knowlton ­- the most effective propaganda corporation in modern history. Meet Gordon O'Connor, Canada's New Minister of Propaganda.
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With O'Connor's close ties to Hill & Knowlton combined with Stephen Harper's itchy trigger finger for Canada to become more deeply complicit in the US's wars of aggression, we all need to keep a very close eye on them. Any justifications that O'Connor tries to bring forward for military action should be treated with great skepticism, given his background. When it comes to propaganda, he's worked with the best.
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Speaking in Parliament on February 1, 2005, O'Connor said, “We reject the concept of mission roles for the military, like peacekeeping”. After all, if armies actually kept peace, who would O'Connor's clients sell their weapons to?
www.activistmagazine.com/


THE NEW USED WAR SALESMAN

If Stephen Harper is the new Prime Warmonger, then Gordon O'Connor - the so-called "Defence Minister" - is the new Conservative Government's Used War Salesman.

In addition to being a retired Brigadier-General in the Canadian Armed Forces, O'Connor has been, according to Wikipedia, "a Senior Associate with Hill & Knowlton Canada". In short, the new Defence Minister, has worked directly with the company most directly involved in creating blatant propaganda to sell the Gulf war in 1990.

Gordon O'Connor, MP
Ontario, Carleton - Mississippi Mills

First elected in June, 2004. Mr. O'Connor served in the military for 33 years, retiring at the rank of Brigadier General. He has served as the Official Opposition Critic for National Defence. Born in Toronto, Mr. O’Connor received a Bachelor of Sciences in Mathematics and Physics from Concordia and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from York University.

Before being elected to Parliament Mr. O’Connor had several careers in the private and public sectors. Mr. O’Connor, who has lived in Kanata in his riding of Carleton – Mississippi Mills for over 20 years, is married with two adult children.

HILL & KNOWLTON SELL WAR
"Hill & Knowlton, then the world's largest PR firm, served as mastermind for the Kuwaiti campaign. Its activities alone would have constituted the largest foreign-funded campaign ever aimed at manipulating American public opinion.

"Nine days after Saddam's army marched into Kuwait, the Emir's government agreed to fund a contract under which Hill & Knowlton would represent 'Citizens for a Free Kuwait,' a classic PR front group designed to hide the real role of the Kuwaiti government and its collusion with the Bush administration. Over the next six months, the Kuwaiti government channeled $11.9 million dollars to Citizens for a Free Kuwait, whose only other funding totalled $17,861 from 78 individuals. Virtually all of CFK's budget - $10.8 million - went to Hill & Knowlton in the form of fees.

"Jack O'Dwyer had reported on the PR business for more than twenty years, but he was awed by the rapid and expansive work of H&K on behalf of Citizens for a Free Kuwait: 'Hill & Knowlton . . . has assumed a role in world affairs unprecedented for a PR firm. H&K has employed a stunning variety of opinion-forming devices and techniques to help keep US opinion on the side of the Kuwaitis. . .

"The techniques range from full-scale press conferences showing torture and other abuses by the Iraqis to the distribution of tens of thousands of 'Free Kuwait' T-shirts and bumper stickers at college campuses across the US.

- From How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf: http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html

From:Answers.com - Hill & Knowlton:

..."a controversial firm. While much of their work falls well within ethical boundaries, there are a fair amount of campaigns in their archives that violate certain ethics. In 1991, H & K received 14 million dollars from countries known to abuse human rights, including China, Peru, Indonesia, Israel, and Egypt. They have also taken on cases that dealt with corporate crime, including the El Paso natural gas case and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International case. Finally, there has been some H & K involvement in government conspiracies including the alleged October Surprise and work for the CIA where overseas offices acted as covers for US agents.

"In 1993, on behalf of Citizens for a Free Kuwait, H & K researched and then created stories and 'eye-witness' testimonies that described Iraqi atrocities that would build public support which were presented to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. This case included the Nayirah testimony that played a major role in involving the US in the Gulf War."

BACKGROUND

Hill & Knowlton Corporate Profile
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=378

WPP: World Propaganda Power
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2001Q2/wpp.html

Hill and Knowlton in Toronto
http://www.hillandknowlton.ca/contact.htm

posted by Annamarie at 10:18 PM