Pentagon distorted Iraqi casualty issue, says new report

[Whoa_Nelly]

Press Release, Project on Defense Alternatives, 20 February 2004


18 February 2004 -- Weapons of mass destruction is not the only Iraq war-related subject clouded by misinformation. According to a new study, the Pentagon conducted "perception management" campaigns during the Afghan and Iraq wars that also obstructed the public's awareness of civilian casualties.

These activities included Pentagon efforts to "spin" casualty stories in ways that minimized their significance or cast unreasonable doubt on their reliability. Efforts also may have included the placement of misleading news stories. Such activities are "antithetical to well-informed public debate and to sensible policy-making," according to the report's author, Carl Conetta.

The report, Disappearing the Dead: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Idea of a "New Warfare", was released Wednesday by the Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Besides examining several case studies, the report reviews the "news frames" promoted by defense officials to shape the public debate over casualties.

Among the suspect stories promoted by US officials were reports that the Hussein regime was stockpiling cadavers before the war in order to stage phony casualty incidents and blame them on the coalition. Another story asserted that the Iraqis were procuring uniforms like those of US troops so that they might commit atrocities that would be attributed to the United States. As in the case of Iraq's reputed possession of prohibited weapons, neither story was subsequently verified.

more...
http://electroniciraq.net/news/1369.shtml

[FloridaPat]

1. Our government is as good at getting rid of dead civilians as

they are with the taxpayers money. Last June some groups said there were probably 30,000-40,000 civilians killed.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Sadly, their efforts were unneccessary. Most voters view dead Iraqis

and dead Afghans, dead Muslims in general, as good news, and proof the regime is making progress in its war on terra.

[Dhalgren]

3. You're right, DF,

the only politician I have heard speak about the civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan is DK - nobody else sems to give a good goddamn.

[bicentennial_baby]

10. Yep

It's a sick fucking coutry we're livin in, eh?

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. More shock and awe

from the misadministration.

[BadGimp]

5. Itn't waging a propaganda campaign aginst the American Public illegal?

I seem to remember reading that.

[0007]

8. I like this illustration - easy for junior to follow

[henslee]

6. Link for up to date log on casualties.

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

[damnraddem]

7. Typical Bushevik regard for the truth.

We've got to vote this bunch out -- if they let our votes count, that is.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Do you remember reading the Iraqiis would no longer be recording

their civilians who have been killed?

This was probably a couple of months ago, and so damned odd it seemed the ONLY EXPLANATION was _Bush's people told them to either keep it quiet, or planted the story.

Really, really sick.