Phony News Goes International

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at 05:55 PM

Not content to manufacture phony news stories in the US to control public opinion, the Bush administration is now reported to have done the same thing in Iraq.  Story here

The L.A. Times reports that "the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq. 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.

"Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country."

Which goes to show, I think, that this administration cannot help thinking of all problems as simple PR problems.  Give them a budget large enough, and an outlet wide enough, and they can change the world.

Wonder if they EVER think about the consequences of people finding out about the deception.  Will the Iraqis now ever again believe a pro-American story in their own press?