{"id":1143,"date":"2008-12-02T01:02:37","date_gmt":"2008-12-02T09:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2008-12-03T18:49:24","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T02:49:24","slug":"spincom-general-barry-mccaffrey-sells-out-the-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1143","title":{"rendered":"SPINCOM: General Barry McCaffrey Sells Out The Troops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last April the New York Times published a story<\/a> about how retired generals were using their status to enrich themselves and promote the Bush administration’s wartime agenda. They disseminated Pentagon produced propaganda they knew was false in order to protect either their access to the media or their profits.<\/p>\n

This weekend the New York Times followed up<\/a> on the story with a focus on one of the former generals involved in the program: Barry McCaffrey. But the scope of the program was much bigger than any one man.<\/p>\n

“Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are sometimes oblivious to possible conflicts of interest.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Times observed that “Few illustrate the submerged complexities of this world better than Barry McCaffrey”<\/em> as they delved into details about how he deliberately misrepresented his honest appraisal of the affairs in Iraq in order to retain the favor of his Pentagon handlers and his business clients.<\/p>\n

The whole article is well worth reading to gain real insight into the incestuous relationship between government agencies, greedy consultants, and a media that fails to disclose the web of conflicted interests that entangle their so-called independent analysts.<\/p>\n

There are presently investigations being conducted by Congress, the Pentagon, and the FCC, but it remains to be seen if they will adequately address, and punish, the participants in this program. But Americans should be concerned because this is perhaps the most flagrant propaganda assault our government has ever directed at its own citizens. Not to mention that it is a betrayal of the military men and women whose very lives hang in the balance of these lying war profiteers.<\/p>\n

And how does the media cover this issue? [chirp…chirp] If they were to cover it, it would sound something like this:
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Last April the New York Times published a story about how retired generals were using their status to enrich themselves and promote the Bush administration’s wartime agenda. They disseminated Pentagon produced propaganda they knew was false in order to protect either their access to the media or their profits. This weekend the New York Times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,53,8],"tags":[463,79,281],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-iraq","category-propaganda","tag-barry-mccaffrey","tag-new-york-times","tag-spincom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-ir","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":884,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=884","url_meta":{"origin":1143,"position":0},"title":"Spin-Com: Obama And Clinton Step Up – Media Cowers","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/29\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The propaganda scandal uncovered last week by the New York Times has been virtually blacked-out by the rest of the media - particularly television. Even though this may be the most brazen act of disinformation ever perpetrated against American citizens. Why would the press seemingly act in concert to bury\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=56"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":874,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=874","url_meta":{"origin":1143,"position":1},"title":"Mind War – The Pentagon’s Propaganda Assault On America","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/21\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\"World War Three will be a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.\" ~ Marshall McLuhan, 1968 The New York Times has now documented the sad prescience of McCluhan. In an in-depth examination of supposedly independent, retired military analysts, the Times' David Barstow has uncovered what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1585,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1585","url_meta":{"origin":1143,"position":2},"title":"Dana Perino And Fox News On Repressive Regimes And Propaganda","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/10\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Ed Brayton at Science Blogs has caught a classic example of hypocrisy from a member of the class that made an art of it: the Bush administration. Former Bush press secretary Dana Perino was on Fox News this weekend and commented on a video produced for the White House web\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1274,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1274","url_meta":{"origin":1143,"position":3},"title":"SPINCOM: Still A Deafening Silence","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/20\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of weeks ago, I posted this story on David Barstow, the author of Message Machine for the New York Times. Yesterday, the New York Press Club awarded Barstow it's Golden Keyboard Award. Barstow had previously won a Pulitzer for the story. Message Machine described how the Pentagon in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=56"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1254,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1254","url_meta":{"origin":1143,"position":4},"title":"News Blights: The SPINCOM Edition","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/27\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Item 1: The Fox Network has announced that it will not carry President Obama's press conference on Wednesday, the 100th day of his presidency. ABC, CBS, and NBC have all committed to carrying it. Note that this is the Fox broadcast entertainment network, not the cable news channel, which has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1264","url_meta":{"origin":1143,"position":5},"title":"Why We Need A Blogosphere","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/9\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Television news was a great idea. Just think of it: A box that sits in your living room and brings you important information from around the block or around the world. Sounds too good to be true. And apparently it is. 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