"The West suspects"

A propaganda mantra is a false or deliberately misleading word or phrase published or broadcast repeatedly by the propagandist so as to drum the notion into the mind of the audience until they accept it as true, unquestioningly.

Reuters employs propaganda mantras in its Middle East coverage as a matter of policy.

Take this story, by Reuters correspondent William Maclean, about the alleged covert war being fought against Iran so as to purportedly impede its nuclear weapons program:

Analysis: Not-so-covert Iran war buys West time, raises tension

LONDON | Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:49am EST
(Reuters) - A backseat passenger on a motorcycle weaving through the crush of Tehran's morning traffic reaches out and places a small magnetic device on the door of a silver-grey Peugeot 405.
When the directional bomb explodes seconds later, blasting through the sedan's door and instantly killing nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a 32-year-old father of one, the motorcycle has already vanished, accelerating into the ranks of the Iranian capital's rush hour.
The proficiency of the latest assassination to deplete Iran's community of atom specialists suggests that violent actions by one or more of Iran's adversaries form an increasingly active - and public - element in a multifaceted international drive to impede Iran's nuclear program.
Some old espionage hands voice respect for the expert landing of clandestine, deniable blows against a program the West suspects is aimed at acquiring a nuclear bomb capability and Iran says is for civilian purposes.

The propaganda mantra here is, "the West suspects", an allusion to the notion that Iran's nuclear weapons program, a program confirmed by scientists at the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is still a matter of hearsay and dispute between Iran and the amorphous "West".

In an op-ed of over 2,100 words, misleadingly labeled as "Analysis" so Reuters can successfully place the propaganda with hundreds of other news outlets, Maclean never once mentions the IAEA or its many reports on Iran's steady progress toward a deliverable nuclear weapon.

Further, the Reuters correspondent attempts, via a combination of cherry-picked quotes and unsupported assertions, to pin blame for the "not-so-covert war" primarily on Israel.  Again, Maclean willfully withholds from readers essential information which would otherwise enable them to draw their own conclusions, untainted by Reuters propaganda, on the roles played by various parties to the conflict. 

For example, Maclean fails to report that Iran itself has most recently accused the United States, not Israel, of the subject killing of an Iranian scientist.  Moreover, there is no mention of the history of other countries, including several Arab states, who maintain their own espionage and assassination crews, coming out against Iran and urging the Obama administration to "cut off the head of the snake [Iran]".

As we frequently note, just another day at the office for Reuters stable of propagandists.