You all really need to read this. Digby brought this to our attention just today, and his post has been mentioned here, but only briefly.
This is not "new" news, but I had not heard about it before. Way back in 2003 a colonel Gardiner did some research and came up with 50 stories leaked to the media that are provable as false, and all designed to influence public opinion before the war.
After the jump is a tidbit. But I encourage you to alse read Digby, as he can write articulately about what all this means.
text hereBy Gar Smith / The-Edge
November 7, 2003
Part One
A Strategy of Lies: How the White House Fed the Public a Steady Diet of
Falsehoods
Colonel Sam Gardiner (USAF, Ret.) has identified 50 false news stories
created and leaked by a secretive White House propaganda apparatus.
Bush administration officials are probably having second thoughts about
their decision to play hardball with former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Joe
Wilson is a contender. When you play hardball with Joe, you better be
prepared to deal with some serious rebound.
After Wilson wrote a critically timed New York Times essay exposing as false
George W. Bush's claim that Iraq had purchased uranium from Niger, high
officials in the White House contacted several Washington reporters and
leaked the news that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent.
Wilson isn't waiting for George W. Bush to hand over the perp. In
mid-October, the former ambassador began passing copies of an embarrassing
internal report to reporters across the US. The-Edge has received copies of
this document.
The 56-page investigation was assembled by USAF Colonel (Ret.) Sam Gardiner.
"Truth from These Podia: Summary of a Study of Strategic Influence,
Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and Strategic
Psychological Operations in Gulf II" identifies more than 50 stories about
the Iraq war that were faked by government propaganda artists in a covert
campaign to "market" the military invasion of Iraq.
Gardiner has credentials. He has taught at the National War College, the Air
War College and the Naval Warfare College and was a visiting scholar at the
Swedish Defense College.
According to Gardiner, "It was not bad intelligence" that lead to the
quagmire in Iraq, "It was an orchestrated effort [that] began before the
war" that was designed to mislead the public and the world. Gardiner's
research lead him to conclude that the US and Britain had conspired at the
highest levels to plant "stories of strategic influence" that were known to
be false.
I'm sorry I don't know how to do links any better than this.
Here is the link for the article above. Reading the whole thing is worth the time. Its astonishing. link here
Here is a link for Digby, who deserves all the credit for re-finding this and bringing it back to our attention.
digby
If my links are "blowing out the margins" (something I've heard people complain about) please help me to fix them. I'm happy to edit.
Thanks