The PsyOps War: Lincoln Group and the U.S. Military's Planting of Stories

[bigtree]

Democracy Now
Friday, March 24th, 2006

The PsyOps War: A Look at the Lincoln Group and the U.S. Military's Planting of Stories in the Iraqi Press

The Pentagon defends its policy of paying Iraqi news organizations to publish pro-American articles secretly written by the U.S. military. Its contractor, the Lincoln Group is being paid over a hundred million dollars to write and plant stories. We speak with reporter Andrew Buncombe of the London Independent and retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday the Pentagon will review whether it is proper for the military to pay Iraqi news organizations to publish pro-American articles secretly written by U.S. forces.

Earlier in the day, Marine Corps General Peter Pace - chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - called for a formal review of the policy and said that the military should disclose when it pays for a story. He said, "The worst thing you can have is people feeling like somehow they've been snookered."

Last November, the Los Angeles Times first revealed that the US military was secretly planting stories in the Iraqi press. Articles written by U.S. military "information operations" are translated into Arabic and then placed in Iraqi newspapers with the help of Washington-based defense contractor the Lincoln Group. The articles are presented to an Iraqi audience as unbiased news accounts written by independent journalists. The Lincoln Group's contract is worth up to $100 million dollars over five years.

When the secret propaganda program was first revealed even the White House admitted it was "very concerned" about the practice. But earlier this month, the top Pentagon brass insisted it will go on. General George Casey said an internal review of the program had "found that we were operating within our authorities and responsibilities." Pentagon officials told the New York Times this week that the Lincoln Group remains under contract, and would continue its activities unless the military revises its policies.


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In February, Rumsfeld gave a major address on information warfare at the Council on Foreign Relations. In it, he criticized the media's coverage of the Iraq war and defended the military practice of planting stories:

* Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, speaking on February 17, 2006 at the Council of Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/publication/9900/new_realities_in_the_media_age.html


related:

Iraq Propaganda Program Cleared by Military Inquiry. But Is It Right?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ron_full_060322_iraq_propaganda_prog.htm

[babylonsister]

1. Also on Link TV, DirectTV 375, 10amCT. Thanks. nt

[bigtree]

2. thank you

:thumbsup:

[bigtree]

3. Saddam had his own propaganda

Iraqis must recognize the parallels . . .

http://www.ifilm.com/player/?ifilmId=2685116&pg=default&skin=default&refsite=7063&mediaSize=default&context=product&launchVal=1&data=&realId=2685116&bw=56&mt=REAL

"Back when Iran was at war with Iraq (whom the US supported with arms), Saddam Hussein aired various propaganda videos to intimidate his militarily inferior Shi'ite neighbors. This video is part of those psychological operations."

[KharmaTrain]

4. There Were Elaborate Plans Before The Invasion, Too

While this regime couldn't protect the electrical grid or water supply, it sure had plans for controlling the Iraqi media and brought in some of our big boys to do it.

There was the "Commander Solo" project that featured an airplane flying around Iraq blasting the radio dial full of onminous warnings along with anti-Saddam messages (imagine hearing that on your car radio) and then establishement of various "local" broadcastaers with the financial assistance of major U.S. broadcasters like Cheap Channel (Lowrey Mayes and Tom Hicks cashing in on their Texas GOOP connections)...millions in secret contracts that are still ongoing.

Plus how can we forget the massive astroturfing this regime did of the WAPO and NYTimes with Steno Judy and Debbie and the rest who assured us there were all these chemical and nuclear weapons in Saddam's rape rooms.

The problem with psyops now are more and more people are alert to what it's about...and other than freepers with the brain capacity of a gnat, the astroturfing has little shelf life with anyone with a real brain.

[bigtree]

5. Radio Free Iraq?

Feb. 28, 2002

(CBS) A leading Iraqi opposition group is looking at a 5,000-foot mountain just inside Iraq's border with Iran as a potential site for a U.S.-backed radio transmitter to beam anti-Saddam Hussein broadcasts.

Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, said the mountain is in the largely autonomous Kurdish area of Iraq, about 100 miles northeast of Baghdad. Part of the mountain is in Iran.

The State Department said it is open to the concept of opposition broadcasts into either Iraqi Kurd territory or neighboring Iran. It said no decisions have been made.

Chalabi said he was optimistic the Bush administration will pay for the project, which he put at $178,000. He said the station could be on the air in 45 days, broadcasting news and commentary on human rights abuses and other aspects of what he called "the plight of the Iraqi people."

The project is just one small aspect of a broader U.S. campaign to weaken Saddam . . .

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/02/28/world/main502430.shtml

[KharmaTrain]

8. That's Another Psy-Ops Game

http://www.dxing.info/articles/iraq.dx

This goes into the games dating back to '91...part and parcel of the RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) operations now based in Prague.

The Radio and TV wars have been raging full tilt in Iraq...and that's where the real battle of "hearts and minds" are fought...and we're losing our asses.

Cheers...

[bigtree]

9. thanks for the link

nice addition

[KharmaTrain]

10. Eventually This Leads To Nick Burg...

He's the American who was beheaded a couple years ago. His main gig was traveling around Iraq fixing radio towers (he was a private contractor...but had worked for Clear Channel) and the massive money poured in that for not only rebuilding the radio and television systems (and loading them up with psy-op toadies), but also the cellphone network that is another corporate money pit/cash cow. The levels of war profiteering and corruption that one can unravel from this fiasco will take decades to really understand.

[tanyev]

6. White House was very concerned, pffft.

The WH was very concerned that the propaganda program was revealed.

[bigtree]

7. That's what I smell in this

Why would they bother to immediately look to redo Gen. Casey's investigation? I think they know the lid is about to come off of the Lincoln group and its connections to the administration. The group is new and relatively inexperienced, yet they got this contract . . .

Here's a reference to Pace apparently superceding Gen. Casey's investigation and its finding of no violation:


"Pace's remarks seemed to take a different tack from comments earlier this month by Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq.

Casey ordered an initial review of the program, which found that the Lincoln Group - a private company that was handling the program in Iraq - did not violate its contract with the military. Casey said he had no plans to stop the practice.

In the past, Rumsfeld has said the military must use "nontraditional means" in the face of widespread disinformation campaigns by the insurgency in Iraq.

Pace said the policy should be reviewed because, "at the end of the day we want the United States to be seen for what it is, an open society that supports free press not only at home but overseas. To the extent that our operations bring that into question, we should review how we're doing it."

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060324/REPOSITORY/603240352/1013/48HOURS

[Astrocloud]

11. Smells like Fox News

Well since Iraq doesn't have Fox News -looks like the Pentagon will just go ahead and create one.

[bigtree]

12. Quite true, Astrocloud

The 'stories' must be right out of the White House press office, Rove's personal blog. It should not surprise to find the very same pablum on Fox that occurs, probably simultaneously, on the U.S. sponsored broadcasts in Iraq.

The administration should be taken at their word on this at least as Bush has said that he wants what they term 'good news' on Iraq to dominate our own press. He lamented at the last news conference that the images of violence and unrest we see on the screen don't tell the story of progress in Iraq that he wants to portray. He's entitled to his opinion, but it shouldn't dominate Iraq's media, nor our own here in America. We've already seen this administration pay several 'journalists' here in the U.S. to write favorable 'stories' to support policies and initiatives of the administration. (Armstrong Williams). They've also been caught with planted 'journalists' in the WH press room. (Jeff Gannon).

It's no wonder that they feel obliged and privileged to continue their muckraking in Iraq.

Enjoy your stay, Astrocloud.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi Astrocloud!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: