Molly Ivins: The White House that Cried Wolf

[Dudley_DUright]

The Pentagon has once again investigated itself! And—have a seat, get the smelling salts, hold all hats—the Pentagon has once again concluded the Pentagon did absolutely nothing wrong and will continue to do so.

In this particularly fascinating case, the Pentagon investigated its own habit of paying people to make up lies about how well the war in Iraq is going, and then paying other people to put those lies in the Iraqi media, thus fooling the Iraqis into thinking everything in their country is tickety-boo. Well, if we can’t fool them, whom can we fool?

The case revolves around a contract worth several million dollars given by the U.S. military command in Baghdad to the Lincoln Group, a public relations outfit started by two young entrepreneurs, one British, one American, in 2003 in Iraq. Articles were written by American military personnel from the American point of view about the war, to wit, it’s going well. Lincoln Group in turn paid Iraqi journalists, some “on retainer,” to print the articles without revealing the source.

Amusingly enough, through other programs, the U.S. government is also spending money trying to teach Iraqis about the importance of a free press in a democracy. According to the Pentagon’s investigation of itself, none of the Lincoln Group’s actions violate military policies because the Pentagon is just trying to counter the vast amount of anti-American propaganda carried in Middle Eastern papers.

more...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060327_propaganda_pentagon_torture_ivins/

[darkmaestro019]

1. you know, this business could work--

"make up lies about how well the war in Iraq is going, and then paying other people to put those lies in the Iraqi media, thus fooling the Iraqis into thinking everything in their country is tickety-boo..."

if the Iraqis didn't have, uh, WINDOWS TO LOOK OUT OF.


windows are anti-American! ban them! only an insurgent would want to spot-check reality for how well it matches with the propaganda (cough) uh, news! and you better go ahead and ban doors and skylights and the Internet and telephone too, when they have the electricity to use those......

[EST]

2. Reminds me of a comic strip from about fifty years ago.

This great magician was on his way to an important meeting when his limo developed a flat tire.
His driver asked him why he didn't just magic the tire and they'd be gone, to which he replied,"I can hypnotize you into thinking the tire is fixed. I could even hypnotize me into thinking the tire is fixed, but how the heck am I gonna hypnotize the tire into thinking it's fixed?"
Their tire is just as obstinate.

[Briar]

3. As Molly points out

the whole situation can remind us of cult tv today (no coincidence, that. The Pentagon can't alter perception of reality all by itself). That we are the "good" fighting the "evil" is a seductive fantasy, but it is nothing but a fantasy, and it is time we looked at the truth.