|
Remember the Office of Strategic Information? It was set up in the Pentagon shortly after 9/11 to propagate false information to be fed to both foreign and domestic media to "win the hearts and minds" for support of US policy. In February of 2002 Donald Rumsfeld, under pressure from a variety of civil liberties groups and Republican as well as Democratic legislators, announced that it was being closed down.
I think that might have been the very first bit of Strategic Information produced by that office.
In April of 2003 the story of Pvt. Jessica Lynch sprung to life. The Pentagon version was one of heroic battle, unspeakable cruelty and dramatic rescue. Months went by as the pretty blond girl recovered. She was sequestered safe from the press while she continued her recovery and rumors of book deals and movie scripts were floated on the media. Now we know that she drove her truck into a ditch during an ambush breaking her leg, was well cared for by the Iraqi doctors who tried to return her to the US military only to be turned back and the entire "rescue" was staged complete with night vision cameras and dramatic commentary.
December 2003 brought us the capture of Saddam Hussein. Ostensibly dragged from a "spider hole" by 4th Infantry soldiers. Complete with video cameras and documentary style footage the entire world saw the US Army in action at it's best. Only later did the Pentagon quietly release the fact that he had actually been found by Iraqi regulars and turned over to Taskforce 121.
In April of 2004 Cpl. Pat Tillman who had turned down a $Million pro football contract to join the army was killed in action. Initial reports from the Pentagon were of fierce fighting with insurgents with Tillman heroically returning fire while being pinned down. A few months later the Pentagon was forced to reveal that Tillman was killed by friendly fire.
After being at war for two years we are told that the intelligence that lead us into war was flawed. A lot of that intelligence came from the Office of Special Plans, an office inside the Pentagon set up by Rumsfeld and headed by Undersecretary Wolfowitz. The CIA investigated that office and found that it had manipulated the raw data provided by the CIA and provided the "massaged" information to Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and others in the Administration.
It makes one wonder how busy the Office of Strategic Information has been since it's demise in February 2002.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
