Ignorance Is Strength: Pentagon Conquers Non-Existent Afghan City

Can our foreign policy and corporate media get any more Orwellian?

It seems the Pentagon's widely-reported conquest of the city of Marjah was, well, the city doesn't actually exist.

Gareth Porter reports:

"For weeks, the United States public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan war against what it was told was a 'city of 80,000 people' as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marjah was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centers in Helmand.

"It turns out, however, that the picture of Marjah presented by military officials and reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war, apparently aimed at hyping the offensive as an historic turning point in the conflict.

"Marjah is not a city or even a real town..."