Pentagon weighing news and spin

[sabra]

Source: LA Times

The top general in Iraq seeks to pierce the wall between public affairs and efforts that attempt to sway foreign populations.

WASHINGTON — Since the end of the Vietnam war, the military's public affairs officials have tried to rebuild the Defense Department's credibility by putting distance between themselves and Pentagon efforts that use deception, propaganda and other methods to influence foreign populations.

A 2004 memo by Gen. Richard B. Myers, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, codified the separation between public affairs, which communicates with the press and public, and "information operations," which attempts to sway people in other countries.

But Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has asked for changes that would allow the two branches to work more closely. His request has unleashed a debate inside the Pentagon between those who say the separation has made the Defense Department less agile and those who believe that restructuring the relationship would threaten to turn military spokesmen into propaganda tools.

A senior military officer close to Petraeus said the memo now in place prevents coordination between the information operations officers and public affairs officers.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pentagon18apr18,1,349868.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[atommom]

1. I'm not in favor of anything that would make their propaganda-izing easier.

That's the last thing we need here.

[underpants]

2. A perky all american spokesperson might help

Just make sure that she is "onboard" if you know what I mean

[Solly Mack]

3. Dear Gen. Petraeus

20 years from now another up and coming officer with aspirations will write a paper much like the one you wrote on Vietnam and counter-insurgency. This aspiring officer will point to you the same way you pointed to Abrams. This comer will be explain how we could have won in Iraq - if only...and he will be an admirer of you the same way you admire Abrams - and this officer will quote you the same way you quote Lewis Sorley....and this young wanna-be will point to both you and Sorley and agree that we could have won Vietnam as well.

Abrams got a tank named after him for his "clear and hold" strategy. So here's what I'm thinking...
Let's start withdrawing today and name a tank after you now. If we're lucky, we'll head off that up and coming young officer who will also think Vietnam can be undone by re-fighting it all over the globe.

[saigon68]

7. It didn't work then

It won't work now

"{we could have won Vietnam as well.)"

[Solly Mack]

8. Of course it didn't...but Petraeus thinks so

[saigon68]

9. History Solly ---will judge him harshly

I fear for the gold star mothers who will be created by the thousands due to his incompetence

[Solly Mack]

10. I hope so,saigon68

an elaborate myth has been built around Vietnam....and I see evidence of the same kind of myth building going up around Iraq.

[BeFree]

11. "Name a tank for you now" Luv it!

How 'bout an airplane instead?

Gawd, that that would do the trick. The myth of Vietnam, that we could have ever *won*, is a disheartening idea and one which need be smashed every time is ugly head pops up. The myth of victory on Iraq is the same.

As I say: we will win in Iraq just like we won in Vietnam.

[Solly Mack]

12. Plane. Tank. Post. Whatever it takes

Just end this insanity.

Exactly! "As I say: we will win in Iraq just like we won in Vietnam."

[krkaufman]

13. That, I believe, is the only result the Right is now looking for from Iraq.

Somehow spin the whole thing as a result of insufficient support from the Democratic Party, and misuse this myth to continue to mislead the public that the Dems are "weak on defense."

[ShortnFiery]

14. Whatever we name after him, to me, he'll always be "General Betray-Us." eom

[jwirr]

4. It is funny that they never even realize that telling the truth is the only

way to regain credibility.

[gratuitous]

5. Hey, we're not ready to try anything that desperate yet

Tell the truth? That's just crazy talk, that's what that is.

[Nikki Stone1]

6. No, no, no. Credibility is not related to truth. Credibility is a feeling of trustworthiness

that can be marketed like anything else. Look at how St. Joseph's Aspirin and Johnson's Baby Shampoo do the credibility thing. Look at how Tylenol regained "credibility" after the product tamperings in the 80s. There's no truth, just image and feeling. And good marketing.

And if you doubt that, think back to the patron saint of marketers, Paul of Tarsus, who took a completely unbelievable narrative of a god coming to earth (by means of a virgin and some spirit power) and rising from the dead; old Paul managed to convince a huge portion of the Roman empire that all that was not only credible but "THE TRUTH". Paul of Tarsus should be the first person studied in any marketing program.