White House wants answers on planted Iraq stories

Ok.  Please read this "breaking" story below, and see my comments to follow:

 

By Will Dunham 51 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and a senior Republican lawmaker expressed concern on Thursday about secret military payments to get Iraqi newspapers to print pro-American articles, but the military said it was important to spread the truth while insurgents were "lying to the Iraqi people."

U.S. troops in an "information operations" task force have written articles with positive messages about the U.S. mission in Iraq that have been translated from English into Arabic and planted in Iraqi newspapers in return for money, according to defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We're very concerned about the reports. We are seeking more information from the Pentagon," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the

Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Pentagon officials to brief the panel on the matter on Friday.

Warner said he did not know whether the practice was taking place, but said, "I am concerned about any actions that may undermine the credibility of the United States as we help the Iraqi people stand up a democracy."

"Further, a free and independent press is critical to the functioning of a democracy, and I am concerned about any actions which may erode the independence of the Iraqi media," Warner added in a statement.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, was asked during a briefing in Baghdad whether paying off Iraqi news organizations to run pro-American stories undermines the credibility of the U.S. military and of the new Iraqi media.

Lynch replied that al Qaeda leaders believe "half the battle is the battlefield of the media," citing a letter, released by the United States in October, said to have been written by al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, to the extremist network's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"And what Zarqawi's doing continuously is lying to the Iraqi people, lying to the international community, conducting these kidnappings, these beheadings, these explosions so that he gets international coverage to look like he has more capability than he truly has," Lynch said.

'WE DON'T LIE'

"We don't lie. We don't need to lie. We do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the Iraqi public, but everything we do is based on fact not based on fiction," Lynch said.

Lynch did not explicitly confirm the practice of paying newspapers to run pro-American articles, first reported on Wednesday by The Los Angeles Times, but other officials did confirm it. The Times also reported that the military had bought an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station to disseminate pro-American views.

A senior State Department official, who asked for anonymity, said the reports of planted stories undermined U.S. diplomats' efforts to foster democracy in Iraq.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry said paying for stories to run in Iraqi papers undermines America's credibility, adding, "What we need are Iraqis who really believe what they're saying and say it for themselves."

A defense contractor involved in the effort, Washington-based Lincoln Group, declined to detail its activities.

The Pentagon closed its Office of Strategic Influence in 2002 after reports that it planned to plant false news stories with foreign media outlets.

The Bush administration also has tried to influence domestic media, including having federal agencies distribute video packages to U.S. TV stations that could be broadcast as news stories and paying commentator Armstrong Williams to tout Bush education policies in TV appearances and in his column.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Saul Hudson)

END ARTICLE  START BLOG:

Are you Freaking Serious?  The last time I heard of paying for something to be printed in a newspaper, it was called ADVERTISING!!!!!!!!!!!!

And John Kerry is going to suggest that anything other than that is false and misleading?  Or is it that the Democrats think EVERYTHING the Bush Administration does is false and misleading?

Ah, there we have it.  The bias and the Partisanship that we have all come to know and love.

So not only do we have to:

1.  Ask for permission to shoot, 2. Ask for permission to extract vital intelligence information from less than cooperating operatives, 3. Sneak around and have to worry about what our OWN PRESS is saying in the papers back home, 4. DESTROY MORAL of our troops, 5. Worry about the rights of a killer dictator who killed MILLIONS of his own people, 6. Treat the terrorists as if they were "the other team" and not killers, 7. Find political correctness in how we view 9/11 -- the terrorists were just angry, and now this?????????????

I just am beside myself.  Maybe we should make new posters for Budwiser featuring the Terrorist of the Month, Ahmed Sanscrit, who eventhough he hates americans, he loves our beer.

That just makes it all right now, doesnt it?

So let AL-FREAKING-JAZZEER continue to spread "TRUTH" in the middle east, while broadcasting the beheading of our people.  But that's morally ok.  Right?

PEOPLE:  We are not running "advertising" to spread untruths!!!!!  We are paying for advertising to clean up the image of American Soldiers who have braved their lives for your fucking FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesus Christ.  Take all of these fucking polititions and fucking deport them to CUBA -- DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS!

Its the fucking POWER STRUGGLE that has led to the degradation of our society.  POWER HUNGERY MOTHER FUCKING POLITITIONS!

Ok.  I feel better now.

General Lynch -- Keep advertising sir!  Your troups need SOMEONE to support them!