So, Bush Wants Civil Disobedience?

by Naomi Klein
Globe and Mail
February 28, 2003


The U.S. President is urging Iraqis to rise up against Saddam Hussein. It's
time to turn the domestic tables and – voila! – escalate the war against
the war

At the Pentagon, they call it the Voila Moment.

That's when Iraqi soldiers and civilians, with bombs raining down on
Baghdad, suddenly scratch their heads and say to themselves: "These bombs
aren't really meant to kill me and my family, they are meant to free us from
an evil dictator!" At that point, they thank Uncle Sam, lower their weapons,
abandon their posts, and rise up against Saddam Hussein. Voila!

Or at least that's how it is supposed to work, according to the experts in
"psychological operations" who are already waging a fierce information war
in Iraq. The Voila Moment made its first foray into the language of war last
Monday, when a New York Times reporter quoted an unnamed senior U.S.
military official using the term.

This peppering of military jargon with bon mots could be Colin Powell's
latest plan to win over the French on the Security Council. More likely,
it's the product of the Bush administration's penchant for hiring
advertising executives and flaky management consultants as foreign policy
advisers (doesn't the Voila Moment sound suspiciously like the Wow Factor –
sold to millions of corporate executives as the key to building a powerful
brand?).

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionIDA&ItemID152