troung

Defense Department Checking Allegations US Military Paid to Place 'News' Articles in Iraqi Press


(Source: Voice of America news; issued Nov. 30, 2005)


WASHINGTON --- The U.S. Defense Department is looking into allegations in Wednesday's "Los Angeles Times" newspaper, that U.S. military officials in Iraq are paying Iraqi newspapers to publish articles written by soldiers that praise the work the coalition is doing.

Spokesman Bryan Whitman says he first learned of the alleged activity from the newspaper article, and that it gave him cause for concern. "This article raises some questions as to whether or not some of the practices that are described in there are consistent with the principles of this department," he said. "And that's what we're going to take a look at."

The official communications principles of the Defense Department say information provided by the department will be "timely and accurate," but they do not include any prohibition against paying to place stories in the media.

The Los Angeles Times article says the U.S. military stories in the Iraqi press were generally accurate, but were presented without making clear they had been written by soldiers or, in some cases, that their publication had been paid for. The newspaper says subjects included reconstruction efforts by U.S. troops, reports on atrocities by insurgents and other subjects that support the U.S. and coalition effort in Iraq.

Mr. Whitman says shortly after he saw the Los Angeles Times article he sent inquiries to U.S. commanders in Iraq to find out what is going on. "It's important for us to hear from the command what they're actually doing and why they feel it's important and under what authorities they're executing those activities," he said.

The Pentagon spokesman says he will not have any more to say on the issue until he hears back from the commanders.

The articles were reportedly written by soldiers working in what is called "information operations," translated into Arabic and distributed to the Iraqi newspapers by a Washington-based consulting company called the Lincoln Group.

Officials of the company declined to comment on Wednesday, but the firm's Web site says it provides "media, communications and business insight" in foreign markets, and helps clients "reach, communicate and win" in communities around the world.

U.S. government efforts to plant stories in the media without proper attribution have created several controversies in recent years. Professor Emeritus Henry Hager at the University of Missouri School of Journalism says if the story is true, the U.S. military is blurring the line between journalism and advertising, and damaging one of the democratic principles the United States is trying to instill in Iraqi society.

"This is one of those alarming things that we find that our government is not telling us what is going on," he said. "And it's a covert activity and one doesn't like it. And you're playing around with, hopefully, one of the really reliable things in our republic, which is the news."

Professor Hager was a U.S. military journalist during and after World War II. He says he understands the temptation to do something unethical to help the war effort, but he says that doesn't make it right.

"We did everything that we could, and if it was a little underhand, so be it," he said. "We had to win that one. So I do understand that argument, and to a degree, I do understand why they did it. It still doesn't make me feel comfortable. No question about it's being an ethical problem."

The Defense Department has promised to report on what it learns about the allegations, and says all military information efforts must be in line with department policy.

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Will wait on outcome of this...

Confed999

Sounds like they followed the rules. I don't see the problem.

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No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

Shek

It's a strategy that might contribute to a US victory. This simply is not acceptable!

While the above is slightly tongue-in-cheek, I have no issue if the content of the stories is accurate.

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"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

Confed999

Well, The Los Angeles Times says they were "generally" accurate. So my guess is the stories were very very accurate.

Horrido

I've got really depressing revelations for him regarding Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, too...

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The black flag is raised: Ban them all... Let the Admin sort them out.

I know I'm going to have the last word... I have powers of deletion and lock.

Confed999

You best not be dissin' Santa...

Parihaka

Umm Confed? Umm... oh, never mind.........

troung

Wait what about the Tooth Fairy...

Confed999

You best not be dissin' Santa...

Confed999

That is my mom! She was a dental hygienist, so it all fit. No dissin' allowed there. You can do alot of things to a mama's boy, but you can't dis his mama.

As to the Easter Bunny, no dissin' him (or is it a her?) either. I get a bag of candy every Easter from that bunny. Odd it allways gets left at my parent's house...

troung

She was your mom? Wierd she looked like my mom...

Are you my brother...

hmm...

Confed999

We're all at least cousins.

Leader

Propaganda is a tool of victory IMO. So long as it's done right. I think saying "no, you can't lie/manipulate/spin news about the war" is just foolish. If it helps us win, it has to be done. Of course one could question if propaganda that can be discovered by the LA Times is helping us.

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Swift Sword

Leader,

I concur.

I have been advocating robust PSYOPS and public affairs in Muslim countries since before 9-11-01. It is decidedly in US interests.

Not seeing the material in question, it is hard to comment and I wonder if they are targetting the right audience.

Related to topic, there have been quite a few slickly produced, canned news products dumped on domestic US television news outlets allegedly by the Pentagon. One of them struck me as Saudi in origin.

I have seen a few of them: they were easy to spot because they were just to well produced! They did not have a "roughness about the edges" of something that was put together as part of the regular news cycle.

History clearly shows that governments propagandize in war time and they will target all involved populations. However, not all of them have grasped what the British espoused as the Golden Rule of Propaganda: it has to be true. With no basis in truth, propaganda does not get one very far so I suspect that the material allegedly circulated in Iraq was propably truthful enough news wise.

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Pharoh was pimp but now he is dead. What are you going to do today?