Office of Strategic Information---wink wink, nudge nudge

[flamin lib]

Remember the Office of Strategic Information? The one set up in the Pentagon after 9/11 to "win the hearts and minds" of those who oppose US policy? The one to be headed by John Poindexter? You remember John Poindexter, don't you? A retired Navy Admiral who lost his job as National Security Adviser under Ronald Reagan, and was convicted of conspiracy, lying to Congress, defrauding the government, and destroying evidence in the Iran Contra scandal.

The office was supposed to produce and place favorable information in foreign news organizations and disinformation to confuse our enemies. The public was assured that the office was for foreign use only and that domestic media would be off limits until Doug Feith "refused to rule out the possibility that hired guns -- private lobbying or public relations firms with more legal latitude -- would spread misinformation on the Pentagon's behalf," indicating that the OFFICE wouldn't do but would hire others to do it for them.

That raised such a howl that Rumsfeld immediately shut the office down. There would be no misinformation spread by the Pentagon or anyone else! wink wink, nudge nudge.

Here's a list of just a few things that have happened since then:

The White House cited forged documents to prove that Saddam Hussein was reviving his nuclear program. The FBI has re-opened the investigation into the source of those documents due in part to the revelations of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the outing of a CIA agent by White House officials.

The rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch was portrayed by military cameramen using low light equipment as a daring night time assault on a heavily fortified enemy stronghold when in reality there were no enemy in the area and the hospital had tried to return her via ambulance two days before only to be turned back by her future "rescuers".

The White House admitted to hiring journalists to promote it's various domestic programs including the Medicare Drug benefit, paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

How about Cpl. Patrick Tillman who was killed in Afghanistan? First the Pentagon broadcast that he died heroically fighting from a forward position, holding the enemy down while the rest of the unit retreated to safety. He was used as a poster boy for recruiters nationwide. It took a year to find out he was actually killed by friendly fire from behind. The IG has opened a third investigation into his death.

I'm sure there's even more that we haven't found out about but the capper is the revelation that US military personnel are still writing news articles, having them translated into Arabic and paying to have them published in Iraqi News Papers.

Now doesn't that sound suspiciously like the mission of the Office of Strategic Information? Nawww, couldn't be. Rumsfeld shut it down. wink wink, nudge nudge

Bush lies and people die.

[rodeodance]

1. up is down, black is white.

[democrat_patriot]

2. Holy crap!! Up is now Down?

That explains alot with the republicans. They get everything wrong.