U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press and Zot Trolls

Los Angeles Times ^ | 11/30/05 | Mark Mazzeti and Borzou Daragahi

[conservativecorner]

As opposed to CNN putting an X on Vice President Cheney's face with a nasty note to President Bush on the bottom?

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

When I post info that looks like it is based on facts, it is based on facts.

Please take note, pirateman, that if one states a fact, you should do your own work to refute the fact, not ask the other member to "prove a fact stated."

Here is a letter form Major-General Alexis McClure, head of the post-war Information Control Division (ICD) in Germany. In a letter to a friend, C.D, Jackson of TIme-Life, Inc, McClure wrote:

""We now control 37 newspapers, six radio stations, 314 theatres, 642 (cinemas), 101 magazines, 237 book publishers, 7,384 book dealers and printers, and conduct about 15 public opinion surveys a month, as well as publish one newspaper with 1,500,000 circulation, three magazines, run the Associated Press of Germany and operate 20 library centres . . ."

Likewise, MacArthur in Japan imposed STRICT CENSORSHIP.

There is a wealth of information out there about media control by Allied Forces after WW II. You should not use your own lack of historical fact as an excuse to ask another member to do your work for you. Get off your lazy butt and when you see something a fellow member posts, go out and dig up some facts to refute it. That is what I do. That is what you should do.

TO ALL..............

The United States should not be doing this "covertly". We should be showing the world that we are giving the Iraqis the information they need OVERTLY. There is nothing to be "embarrassed about" when a nation that occupies another nation after a war washes off the scum and puts a fresh dressing on media dissemination. What is shocking is the US is being "covert" about this. They should be flaunting it. That is what post-war is all about. It worked well in Germany, and it worked well in Japan. Those nations today have a free press, and all turned out well, even after our forced censorship for a temporary time.

[Paine in the Neck]

"Well, it's not so covert now, is it?"

Do you suppose that there was even a moment's consideration given to whether it was a good idea to publish this article?

Nah, me neither.

[roaddog727]

"The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times."

This is what is commonly referred to as a proactive IO campaign. Something the Arab media has be doing as well as the MSM against the war effort for sometime.

This is what could be characterized as the "spin" war. Us against them.

[meandog]

This is news? My reaction is why can't they pay Al Jazera to air stories...because the literacy rate in Iraq/Mideast mirrors the ambient temperature of Little America, in the Antarctic.

[pirateman]

Thank you for your argument.

I understand what you are saying, but comparing daily patrols and guarding Iraqi police stations to Omaha Beach is a different matter, although still just as respectable and noble.

The problem is simple reality: it is easier to destroy than it is to create. The insurgents have nothing to lose and nothing to gain, which is what they desire. For a good solid argument on this check out this month's Atlantic. There are several excellent articles on Iraq's army and the effects of pulling out of the country.

[pirateman]

Sorry, bud, but I have quite a firm grip on history, and if it's not as thorough as yours (did Hitler have three nipples?) then I'm sorry. The fact is that just because you spout off some factoid doesn't mean we should eat it. I don't know you, don't know your past, don't know your present, and don't know your motives. Therefore, I can't trust you. If you've got something to say, prove it. Don't be a caustic fool.

Thanks for posting that quote, because without it I would've written you off.

[Alia]

Oh NO! U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers

"secretly"? ? HAAA HAAAAAAAAaaaa...

"secretly" ?

[pirateman]

Huh?

[Alia]

"Secret". A "secret" only the LA TIMES KNOWS! pshaw..

[Alia]

The United States should not be doing this "covertly"

I highly doubt it is being done covertly. That's why the first line of article containing the word "secretly" just made me howl with laughter.

US ain't hiding, acting covert, or "secretly"; it's just these particular author-pinheads at the LA Times would like it to appear that way:

Al Iraqiya offers alternative view

snips:

When Arab-language TV station Al Jazeera broadcast anti-U.S. messages in the past, there was little the coalition could do to reach the average Iraqi with an alternative view.

Satellite dishes were sprouting by the thousands on rooftops. Yet, the Pentagon-financed news channel lacked serious programming and access to a satellite to carry its signal.

"I can definitely say that what Al Jazeera is doing is vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week, after the station repeatedly asserted that Marines had killed hundreds of civilians in Fallujah. "You know what our forces do. They don't go around killing hundreds of civilians. That's just outrageous nonsense. It's disgraceful what that station is doing."

But this time, Al Iraqiya was on the air with a different perspective. Its reporters filed reports from the scene, quoting the Marines.

Al Iraqiya provides complete coverage of the regular Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) briefings that feature Dan Senor and Brig Gen. Mark Kimmitt. It also shows press conferences by Gen. John Abizaid, the overall U.S. commander, and a weekly interview with L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator.

Al Iraqiya beat its two chief competitors. It garnered 40 percent of respondents, compared with 29 percent for Al Arabiya TV in the United Arab Emirates and 11 percent for Al Jazeera.

"The poll indicates Al Iraqiya is more relevant, more accurate and more important than our competition," said J. Dorrance Smith

There are no Nielsen ratings in Iraq or an official count of TV sets, but the populace has bought so many satellite dishes the price has dropped in a year from $400 to $40 each.

"You fly over the country, and every other house has a dish," Mr. Smith said.

[Alia]

uh... I knew a man years ago, who wrote the fliers dropped on Korea during the Korean war. It was pro-American stuff, which our allies then used to bolster their case against the communists.

I suppose... if the military of then had today's modern "wussy" sensibilities.. the guy would have written a caveat at the bottom of each flier: Brought to you by the U.S.A. (copyrighted) ??

What part of WAR do you not get, Pirateman?

[armydawg1]

I see it on a daily basis that the military has its share of PC dorks too. Like rot from within.

[absolootezer0]

isn't that what us newspapers do?

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

"You fly over the country, and every other house has a dish," Mr. Smith said

How can 50% of the Iraqis buy their own satellite dish when the people of New Orleans need the U.S. government (TAXPAYERS) to buy their satellite dish for them?

[Alia]

Waaah on New Orleans. Spoiled people In New Orleans. I'd rather BUY a dish for an Iraqi; they'd fight for the struggle to not be sucking at the teat of big Government. Wish I could say the same about "some" Americans...

[Alia]

Check out this analysis: LA Times Ignores Key Points of Bush's Iraq Speech

[saquin]

And how is this materially different from the way mainstream U.S. "reporters", hunkered down in their hotel rooms, pay Iraqi "stringers" with questionable or non-existent journalistic credentials to go out onto the street to get anti-American quotes for their articles, made to order?

[Thunder90]

[Thunder90]

ZOT ping!