HOW do we view war? Do we make our own minds up on who is to blame and whether or not we should go to war or does the media do that for us?

Investigative journalist John Pilger believes it’s the latter and, after viewing this excellent documentary, I think he might just be right.

Basically, Pilger traces the reporting of conflict from the First World War to the current Iraq/Afghanistan war and concludes that television and newspapers have basically been used as PR vehicles for the governments of the time.

Generally, there’s a build-up in the press — future opposition portrayed as the devil, etc — with the usual tactic to strike fear into the public then embed some journalists and off we go. It works every time.

This documentary does come across as somewhat one-sided and is a bit repetitive, but nevertheless it does have a pretty big point to prove.

Pilger starts by interviewing a couple of people involved in the PR push towards Iraq and Afghanistan that forced words and phrases such as “terrorist threat” and “shock and awe” into common use. He says “journalists like to be part of the game” and so it is not too hard to get them on side.

One of the most interesting interviewees is former BBC world affairs correspondent Rageh Omaar who says he feels he did not report the true facts of the downfall of Saddam Hussein. He says: “I didn’t really do my job properly and press the most uncomfortable buttons hard enough.”

He also says the iconic moment when the statue of Saddam came down was staged for the world’s reporters rather than being a spontaneous act of revolution.

Pilger says the BBC amplified the lies of the leaders in the run up to the election and calls Blair and Bush — “leaders who have long been discredited”.

There’s an interesting segment on films about war, with Hollywood being held up as the guilty party in fictionalising Vietnam and the likes of The Hurt Locker for doing the same with regard to Iraq.

Historian and author Mark Curtis says: “The facts are deleted from our history.”

Former British foreign office worker Ross Carne says he feels ashamed of the role he played in talking up the possible existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when it was known there were none. However, he does say journalists were equally culpable through unquestioningly printing and repeating whatever the Government told them.

Pilger says our Official Secrets Act is among the most draconian in the world, but holds Israel’s propaganda machine up as the most sophisticated and accuses the BBC of pro-Israel bias.

The media drums are already beating for a war with Iraq, says Pilger, as our Governments and our economies rely on battle to sustain them.

Admittedly, Pilger is pretty predictable in his politics, but he’s right in that we should be a bit more choosy as to what we believe as the Government does depend on the fear of its people to justify war.

Merry Christmas, war may never be over . . .