Military plants stories in Iraq media: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military has secretly paid
Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written
by a special military task force, The Los Angeles Times
reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper also reported that the “Information
Operations Task Force” in Baghdad has bought an Iraqi newspaper
and taken control of a radio station, and was using them to
disseminate pro-American views as well.

Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the top Democrat on the
House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, condemned
any covert military influence on the Iraqi media, saying it
“should not be tolerated.”

Spokesmen at the Pentagon and with the U.S. military
command in Iraq did not deny the report.

“This is a military program within the Multi-National Force
(the U.S. military command in Iraq) to help get factual
information about ongoing operations into Iraqi news,” Lt. Col.
Barry Johnson, a senior U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said.

“Because this is part of our ongoing operations and an
important part of countering misinformation in the news by
insurgents, I can’t provide details of what this entails. I
want to emphasize that all information used for marketing these
stories is completely factual,” Johnson said in an e-mail.

Asked whether he was confirming the military secretly paid
Iraqi newspapers to publish such stories, Johnson replied, “I’m
just letting my statement … stand on its own at this point.”

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said: “This article
raises some questions as to whether or not some of the
practices that are described in there are consistent with the
principles of this department.”

RUMSFELD AND THE “FREE MEDIA”

As recently as Tuesday Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
touted what he called the “free media” in Iraq and called it “a
relief valve.” He said, “They’re debating things and talking
and arguing and discussing.”

The Times reported the program began this year and the
articles were written in English, translated into Arabic and
then given to Baghdad newspapers to print in return for money.

It said it based its story on interviews with U.S. military
officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and with Iraqi
newspaper employees, as well as documents it obtained.

A defense contractor, a Washington-based public relations
firm called Lincoln Group, helped translate the stories and
used staff or subcontractors posing as freelance journalists or
advertising executives to bring them to Iraqi media outlets,
the Times reported.

The Times depicted the stories as “basically factual,” but
said they omitted information that might not reflect well upon
the United States or the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

The stories “trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops,
denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the
country,” the Times said.

Lincoln Group spokeswoman Laurie Adler declined to speak
about specifics of its contract, but said, “In general, Lincoln
Group’s reports are truthful and accurate.”

None of the newspapers that published stories revealed
their connection to the military, although some identified the
articles as “advertising” or took other steps to distinguish
them from normal news, the Times reported.

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

The Bush administration has also been found to have 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 media commentator
Armstrong Williams to tout Bush education policies in
television appearances and in his column.