Reusing techniques that worked well in the 1930s

In the 1930s, Germans manipulated their media to demonize the Jews, with special attention directed to maleable young people. It worked. Today, Germans are using media aimed at young people to demonize Americans and to propagate falsehoods about Iraq:

One of the most sinister media programs in Germany is one aimed at an audience too young to differentiate bias and think critically about the political messages directed at it. In this case we are talking here about "Lilipuz", a radio news program broadcast daily for children at 2:05 PM Berlin time and sponsored by WDR 5 (West German Broadcasting, Channel 5), a public radio channel funded by German taxpayers via the German government. *** Here is the translated text of a recent "Lilipuz" radio broadcast (listen to the broadcast in the original German):

Americans at a Loss Certainly you can still remember the terrible pictures from the Iraq war. Led by the USA and England, several states attacked Iraq. They justified that primarily with the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and threatened others. Today we know, that that is not true. And why are we reporting about it today? Barbara Paeffgen: "The Iraq War is indeed over. But there is still no peace. One repeatedly hears of attacks, kidnappings, injuries and deaths. The land and its people are totally agitated and simply find no way to keep peace. And the American and English troops find themselves in the middle. They are supposed to ensure justice and order, however many Iraqis don't want them in their land." In America the people are also slowly getting angry. Many want to pull the American troops out of Iraq. Why won't they do that? "The American government under President George Bush doesn't know at all how it will get out of Iraq. It is totally at a loss. That is why President Bush is talking up the situation in Iraq (putting makeup on a pig). The American Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld doesn't even want to talk about insurgents anymore and wants that nothing more negative is written about the American military. Critics hold that for the totally wrong direction because it does nothing to change the situation."

What critics are they talking about exactly? They obviously missed the fact that the vast majority of Iraq's states are, in fact, largely peaceful and stable and that the lack of peace is limited to the central Sunni sector of the nation. The broadcast also totally failed to mention any of the positive things happening in Iraq. What about the new roads, schools, businesses, newspapers, hospitals and power plants? What about the elections and constitution? What about the increasing prosperity in much of Iraq? What about the declining infant mortality rates? Is there some law against reporting on positive things happening in Iraq in the German media? It would certainly seem so...

This is pretty crude stuff and there's a lot more at Davids Medienkritik on the subject. I'm not seriously worried that this latest German propaganda initiative will see an imminent blitzkrieg, It it is nevertheless extremely disturbing to see how a NATO ally, a country that's enjoyed an unusually high standard of living because of American funding (and that's been spared the expense of a military thanks to America) is indoctrinating its young ones in hatred -- again.