{"id":571,"date":"2007-08-24T16:21:50","date_gmt":"2007-08-24T23:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=571"},"modified":"2007-08-24T16:54:25","modified_gmt":"2007-08-24T23:54:25","slug":"the-new-pentagon-propaganda-pulpit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=571","title":{"rendered":"The New Pentagon Propaganda Pulpit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Press via Huffington Post<\/a>: Washington, August 24, 2007.<\/p>\n

\"null\"“Shaping the Bush administration’s message on the Iraq war has taken on new fervor, just as anticipation is building for the September progress report from top military advisers.”<\/span><\/p>\n

With news from Iraq continuing to reflect deteriorating security and a crumbling government, the Pentagon is embarking on another surge, this time in public relations, to better shape the administration’s lies<\/s> …er … message. The result is a Baghdad operation that might be called a media war room.<\/p>\n

To be sure, there is an abundance of news percolating around Baghdad and Washington. General Petraeus is about to deliver the report written for him by the White House. The National Intelligence Estimate was just leaked to the media. The General Accounting Office has an upcoming release. And with Congress back in session next month, there are sure to be some fireworks over these reports and the results of their own investigations (I hope).<\/p>\n

So it is not all that surprising that the administration would seek to construct a new and improved platform from which to preempt the anticipated bad news from Iraq, Capital Hill, and Reality.<\/p>\n

Dorrance Smith, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, working under Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, will manage this new facility that will be tasked with creating…<\/p>\n

“…a central clearinghouse of information so we can pull in all that is coming out of Baghdad and Iraq and have it come into one point, so we can better be able to share it with people who are interested.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When asked, Defense officials denied that the program was a “propaganda tool.”<\/em> I wonder if the questioner expected them to say, “Of course it’s a propaganda tool. Next question.”<\/em> They also denied that it was “set up to respond to the eroding public support for the war.”<\/em> Now that’s an interesting statement because, while it deflects the accusation that the program’s purpose is to shape public opinion, it also concedes that public support for the war is eroding. That sort of accidental release of the truth can get a Bush flack fired post haste.<\/p>\n

A little background:<\/strong> Dorrance Smith was a former ABC News producer and a media adviser to Paul Bremer, the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority<\/a> in Iraq. He received a recess appointment to replace Victoria Clarke as State Department spokesperson and was later confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n

Gordon England, also a recess appointee, replaced Paul Wolfowitz at the State Department, whereupon he promptly hired Robert L. Earl as his Chief of Staff. Earl’s resume<\/a> includes an immunized appearance before a grand jury where he testified that he had destroyed and stolen national security documents while working for Oliver North during the Iran-Contra scandal.<\/p>\n

I can’t think of a better team to mislead the public and the press as we move into another political season of deception and obfuscation and despair for Iraqis and for America’s soldiers and their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press via Huffington Post: Washington, August 24, 2007. “Shaping the Bush administration’s message on the Iraq war has taken on new fervor, just as anticipation is building for the September progress report from top military advisers.” With news from Iraq continuing to reflect deteriorating security and a crumbling government, the Pentagon is embarking on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-propaganda"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-9d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=529","url_meta":{"origin":571,"position":0},"title":"Enlisting Madison Avenue Or Drafting Joseph Goebbels?","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/21\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post has published an article describing the Rand Corporation's new study: Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation. [PDF] The conclusions of this study, which was commissioned (for $400,000) by the Pentagon, are both frighteningly obvious and just plain frightening. Their\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":1084,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1084","url_meta":{"origin":571,"position":1},"title":"The FCC Probes Pentagon Propaganda Program – Finally","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/9\/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 FCC is finally beginning to take some action on perhaps the most egregious propaganda assault ever directed at the American people by their own government. From the International\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":221,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=221","url_meta":{"origin":571,"position":2},"title":"The $20 Million Dollar TV Guide","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/2\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"America must be sleeping better tonight knowing that their government is ever vigilant of threats from unflattering news reports. An administration obsessed with perceptions is soliciting bids for a contract to monitor media reports about the war in Iraq. This $20 million dollar initiative will: \"provide continuous monitoring and near-real-time\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":884,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=884","url_meta":{"origin":571,"position":3},"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":1143,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1143","url_meta":{"origin":571,"position":4},"title":"SPINCOM: General Barry McCaffrey Sells Out The Troops","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/2\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"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. 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