2008 Woodie Awards
Thorough investigation of the Pentagon military analyst program needed
Cherish West
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Forum
We are into our fifth year of the Iraq War, the second longest and second most costly war in United States history.
As the death toll rises, the bill for the War follows, and it is obvious that the Bush administration underestimated the length and cost of the invasion of Iraq.
In response, they needed to sway military analysts to back-up their phony interviews and speeches that said the War was going well. Their solution was the Pentagon military analyst program. The United States Congress needs to investigate this and any other Bush propaganda that sold the war in Iraq.
A recent article in the New York Times, titled "Pentagon Suspends Briefings for Analysts," exposed the Pentagon military analysts program for what it really was. The Bush administration, the same ones who tried discrediting the press in 2006, had appointed analysts that they knew would skew the news coverage on the War on Iraq.
Since 2002, the Pentagon has chosen several dozen military analysts to present favorable coverage of the War.
The article "Pentagon Occupies Media for Iraq War," says that a year before the invasion of Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld authorized the development of an "expert team for propaganda." The team was led by 75 retired military officers whose basic goal was to "present good news from Iraq, even when there was no good news".
The Pentagon had weekly briefings with these military analysts and the records show that the Bush administration worked to transform the analysts into "surrogates" or "message force multipliers."
Several analysts asserted in interviews that they were sometimes given false or misleading information on a variety of topics related to the war.
In manipulating these analysts, the administration was hoping that the general public would believe the "good news" they have been trying to force-feed the public.
This is unethical of the administration, the military analysts and the TV networks that employed these analysts. As Barstow writes, "the documents which included transcripts of private briefings…reveal a symbiotic relationship in which the usual dividing lines between government and journalism have been obliterated."
As the death toll rises, the bill for the War follows, and it is obvious that the Bush administration underestimated the length and cost of the invasion of Iraq.
In response, they needed to sway military analysts to back-up their phony interviews and speeches that said the War was going well. Their solution was the Pentagon military analyst program. The United States Congress needs to investigate this and any other Bush propaganda that sold the war in Iraq.
A recent article in the New York Times, titled "Pentagon Suspends Briefings for Analysts," exposed the Pentagon military analysts program for what it really was. The Bush administration, the same ones who tried discrediting the press in 2006, had appointed analysts that they knew would skew the news coverage on the War on Iraq.
Since 2002, the Pentagon has chosen several dozen military analysts to present favorable coverage of the War.
The article "Pentagon Occupies Media for Iraq War," says that a year before the invasion of Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld authorized the development of an "expert team for propaganda." The team was led by 75 retired military officers whose basic goal was to "present good news from Iraq, even when there was no good news".
The Pentagon had weekly briefings with these military analysts and the records show that the Bush administration worked to transform the analysts into "surrogates" or "message force multipliers."
Several analysts asserted in interviews that they were sometimes given false or misleading information on a variety of topics related to the war.
In manipulating these analysts, the administration was hoping that the general public would believe the "good news" they have been trying to force-feed the public.
This is unethical of the administration, the military analysts and the TV networks that employed these analysts. As Barstow writes, "the documents which included transcripts of private briefings…reveal a symbiotic relationship in which the usual dividing lines between government and journalism have been obliterated."
Be the first to comment on this story