Pentagon memo reveals launch of new PR war
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is buttressing its public relations staff and starting an operation akin to a political campaign war room as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld faces intensifying criticism over the Iraq war.
In a memo obtained by the Associated Press, Dorrance Smith, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said new teams of people will "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and "correct the record."
...Another branch would coordinate "surrogates." In political campaigns, surrogates are usually high-level politicians or key interest groups who speak or travel on behalf of a candidate or an issue.
The plan would focus more resources on so-called new media, such as the Internet and Weblogs. It would also include new workers to book civilian and military guests on television and radio shows.
"Correct the record"??? (The Pentagon released a statement from Donald Rumsfeld Today: "Pay no attention the incompetent man behind the curtain.")
If they only had a brain...
For the record... That is a propaganda campaign they are gearing up. Don't they know it is illegal for the American government to direct propaganda at American cictizens?
The likes of Red State, Little Green Footballs and Powerline might be happy to carry water for the Neocons (As long as they don't have to carry it in Iraq! They are only cheerleaders afterall), BUT the rest of the Blogosphere is a little more sophisticated than that low-brow bunch...
What is a few more million dollars of OUR TAX MONEY wasted on PR for the failed Bush admins' policies anyways? Little wonder why honest fiscal conservatives hate the GOP now.
This is all part of the Bush administrations plan to Stay the course... Remember this:
A 74-page Pentagon briefing book with talking points on Iraq may be illegal. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld complaining that his office had spent “taxpayer dollars to produce partisan political documents,” possibly in violation of laws prohibiting the Executive Branch from using taxpayer dollars for lobbying and propaganda activities.
Just more of the same...
The GOP wastes trillions of of our tax dollars messing everything up in Iraq in every way possible and creating endless war profits for their cronies... And then they waste even more of our tax dollars trying to convince us it is good for us.
"As a bonus ridiculous point, the AP story cited above was covered by the BBC and contained this amazing observation from Rumsfeld:Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said media manipulation by enemies of the US is the only thing keeping him awake at night.
Seriously? More than 2,800 American troops dead, tens (or hundreds) of thousands Iraqis dead, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis displaced as refugees, tens of thousands of wounded American soldiers (many with serious brain injuries), a raging civil war ... and what keeps our secretary of defense awake is the use of media by our enemies?"
--- SusanG
Someone please do American soldiers a favor and fire Rumsfeld... And impeach those idiots in the White House as well.
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