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2 Dec. Washington Post - Senator Seeks Answers on Iraq Stories.
On Edit: 2 Dec. Washington Post editorial - Planted Propaganda.The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee asked Defense Department officials yesterday to brief lawmakers on the nature of a U.S. military program that arranged for positive stories about the war, written by U.S. troops, to be published in Iraqi newspapers under the guise of independent journalism.
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) said he has not been able to confirm or refute reports that the U.S. military was using a government contractor to pay Iraqi media outlets to run favorable stories about the war and the rebuilding effort, but he said he is concerned about any actions that could undermine U.S. credibility overseas...
... The problem with this propaganda, as senior military officials who blew the whistle on it understood, is that it undermines the very effort it is trying to promote. An essential element of a democracy is a free press, not one controlled or covertly manipulated by government. As a senior Pentagon official told the Times, "Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first principles of democracy when we're doing it." That shouldn't have been so hard to figure out.
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