The AP released a scathing report today detailing the Pentagon's PR campaign aimed abroad and at home. It is long, but well with the read - http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
"the military should expect and accept that psychological operations will reach the US Public"
-Rumsfeld Secret Memo 2003
CHRIS TOMLINSON
AP News
As it fights two wars, the Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing the money it spends to win what it calls "the human terrain" of world public opinion. In the process, it is raising concerns of spreading propaganda at home in violation of federal law.
An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Department of Defense budgets and other documents. That's almost as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.
This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations — almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department.
Did anti-war voices even have a chance? The war machine is spending billions a year to sell their war to us. Can you trust what you hear anymore? Given satellite news and the internet, there is virtually no way Americans can be shielded from the propaganda being spewed out for "foreign audiences"
Yet the money spent on media and outreach still comes to only 1 percent of the Pentagon budget, and the military argues it is well-spent on recruitment and the education of foreign and American audiences. Military leaders say that at a time when extremist groups run Web sites and distribute video, information is as important a weapon as tanks and guns.
George Orwell would be proud. "Education" of Americans.
"It's not up to the Pentagon to sell policy to the American people," says Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., who sponsored legislation in Congress last year reinforcing the ban.
Spending on public affairs has more than doubled since 2003. Robert Hastings, acting director of Pentagon public affairs, says the growth reflects changes in the information market, along with the fact that the U.S. is now fighting two wars.
"The role of public affairs is to provide you the information so that you can make an informed decision yourself," Hastings says. "There is no place for spin at the Department of Defense."
But on Dec. 12, the Pentagon's inspector general released an audit finding that the public affairs office may have crossed the line into propaganda. The audit found the Department of Defense "may appear to merge inappropriately" its public affairs with operations that try to influence audiences abroad. It also found that while only 89 positions were authorized for public affairs, 126 government employees and 31 contractors worked there.
Get this man in the Senate, New Hampshire. Where can I donate?
In 2003, for example, initial accounts from the military about the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch from Iraqi forces were faked to rally public support. And in 2005, a Marine Corps spokesman during the siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah told the U.S. news media that U.S. troops were attacking. In fact, the information was a ruse by U.S. commanders to fool insurgents into revealing their positions.
Maybe if they didn't lie about the rape and torture of Jessica Lynch there would be less support for torturing done by America. As Americans would have been forced to see "torture" on the other foot, with an American soldier being tortured. We've lost that high ground. And everybody knows the Pat Tillman death is another DOD snow job.
The emphasis on influence operations started with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In 2002, Rumsfeld established an Office of Strategic Influence that brought together public affairs and psychological operations. Critics accused him of setting up a propaganda arm, and Congress demanded that the office be shut down.
Rumsfeld has declined to speak to the press since leaving office, but while defense secretary he spoke bluntly about his desire to revamp the Pentagon's media operations.
"I went down that next day and said, 'Fine, if you want to savage this thing, fine, I'll give you the corpse,'" Rumsfeld said on Nov. 18, 2002, according to Defense Department transcripts of a speech he delivered. "'There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have.'"
In 2003, Rumsfeld issued a secret Information Operations Roadmap setting out a plan for public affairs and psychological operations to work together. It noted that with a global media, the military should expect and accept that psychological operations will reach the U.S. public
Did I read that correctly? Congress demands Rumsfled shut down his propaganda office, and all he does is changes it's name. Where was the oversite?
I understand this is basically a sole article hatchet job, and I'll gladly delete it if I've broken any rules, or if a better one comes along. I just thought this article was something that needed broadest exposure possible. The "Retired Generals on MSM with Administration Talking Points" story never made any waves because the MSM didn't want to embarrass themselves. I expect this will fade away without any coverage.