The New York Times exposes manipulative DoD propaganda racket
By SilentPatriot Saturday Apr 19, 2008 8:30am
Through newly obtained internal documents, The New York Times has uncovered an elaborate PR campaign run by the Pentagon that coached former military officials -- or as they're known on television, Serious Independent Military Experts -- on how best to shill for Donald Rumsfeld during the fallout from the "General's Revolt," when numerous high-ranking retired Generals broke long standing tradition and began speaking out harshly against the former Secretary and his prosecution of the War in Iraq.
The full article is lengthy at 11 pages, but it's a stellar exposé of how politicized, coordinated and deceitful the media campaign is under Bush. With the assistance of Peter Pace, Rumsfeld would literally convene meetings with former military brass -- who, according to the article, consisted of "more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants" -- and conspire on how best to manage the press. Worse still, these compromised soldiers would then manipulatively go on television as Serious Independent Experts to parrot administration talking points and secure lucrative defense contracts. The Military-Industrial Complex is not alive and well, but thriving under the auspices of the Bush administration.
Kenneth Allard, a former NBC military analyst who has taught information warfare at the National Defense University, said the campaign amounted to a sophisticated information operation. "This was a coherent, active policy," he said. [...] It was, he said, "psyops on steroids"
And it wasn't limited to the mainstream media alone. Bloggers were also hired and paid to shape opinions at home. But don't be surprised Sunday when this story is neglected in favor of endless discussions about bowling scores and various other "distractions."
After all, the media would much rather focus on what makes a candidate an elitist than note that the Bush administration, -- with their complicity -- enthusiastically engaged in a psyops campaign against the American people.
And this excerpt about Bill O'Reilly that really caught my eye:
It's official. Bill O'Reilly is a tool.
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It isn't a Department of Defense that invades a defenseless, starving Third World country like Iraq. Frist for the win!
I am SHOCKED that this administration and the Pentagon would pull such a stunt and con job on the American people! We all know the deep and abiding respect that they have for the intelligence and good sense of the American people. Surely, they would never do this, knowing that the American people could not be so easily duped by Pentagon puppets. That would be like trying to convince them that invading another country would be a cakewalk.
Say it ain't so.
The acronym for Seriously Loony Independent Military Experts would better apply.
ho hum, another Friday news dump, where practically no one is paying attention. story will completely gone by Tuesday, when we learn if getting shot at by snipers or not wearing a flag lapel pin is more important
Bill O'Reilly has officially been a tool for years.
And you're right: the fact that Barack Obama prefers orange juice over coffee will be FAR, FAR more important to the media pinheads.
Do you mean our Main Stream Media networks, CBS, ABC, NBC and out Pravda follies (cnn and Fixed news) would actually LIE??? Tell me it ain't so!!!
If you expected to get anything BUT A LIE out of anyone on Cheeeeney's payroll you've been DELUSIONAL!! LOL!!!
This shouldn't surprise anybody with half a brain. The msm has been bought and paid for by the bush warmongers long ago. We have no press anymore, just look at the last debate. Money and power will always trump the weak minds that has become the msm in America.
"Cheney would bring Don Rumsfeld back to the Pentagon, a Pentagon dominated by the uniformed military. His primary goal was to reassert civilian control over this billion-dollar-a-day enterprise."
Taken from FRONTLINE "Rumsfeld's War" 2004.
Republicans are liars and cannot be trusted.
Some people are kinda slow at realizing this.
They are referred to as the thirty percenters.
Masn o Man ya just cant trust those rich white boys. They out to get all the American wealth and put the working class into slavery.
ssssssshhhhhhhiiiiittttttzzzzzttttoooooyyyyyooooouuuuu
disgusting..
this will never be a topic of exposition on and of the networks or cables. not only because of their complicity, but g.e./disney/newscorp/viacom all depend heavily on those advertising dollars provided by those war-profiteering corporations. not to mention the defense contracts those parent corporations themselves hold.
we're talking zimbabwe levels of corruption here.
The 'war' in Iraq is the greatest swindle in human history.
I have been saying this for some time.
I'm shocked and awed by this revelation! Wow the media manipulated, say it's not so! That there are paid shrills on TV? Wow I always thought TV was honest and truthful, "Yes you can be a millionaire with no money down" and you're next going to tell me I can't be a real estate tycoon just like Mr Trump making $50,000 yr and having ten "investment properties, no you lie! I saw the Apprentice! People in the media are always looking out for the little guy, it's only the "elitist" on blogs who are "bitter". Generals who wear American flag pins cannot be defense contract whores. They have too much "respect"! Why would defense contractors need war? for money?
One of the things that I took away from the NYT article (over 7,000 words) is that the White House is pretty free with information when giving it to friendly contractors (although they lie to them too when it suits them)
And still they're laughing, yukking it up with their friends in the media.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 14:
Here Glenn Greenwald takes the NYT to task.
This cronyism and corruption should be the first on any list of questions for candidates of the looming election.
We have been fleeced.
One thing that I think this shows is that "in your face," strong, convinced, experienced former officers and enlisted men - like Jon Soltz, the VoteVets generals, and many of the brave, tough former enlisted Iraq vets they feature - are making a BIG impact. Go to votevets online or check out some of their commercials and tv appearances on youtube.
GO VOTEVETS!
Check 'em out! Though some of them lean Republican (but Richard Lugar Republican, not extra chromosome Vulcan Republican), they're with us on a LOT of issues.
Hell, billions of American tax dollars have gone missing (i.e. stolen) in Iraq and that story gets a yawn. Although this report is disturbing in terms of the threat it poses to the need to have an informed public in a democracy, Americans will not show interest in it, and that's why it won't make headlines or be widely discussed.
Yeah, Fox, CNN,etc ..they have no idea what's going. Right. It's a mutual agreement.
Rico @ 20:
The "stimulus package" is really the "pacifier package" for American's to suck on while we're swindled into the second Great Depression.
Nothing will come of this, per usual. In the old days I would be excited about such an expose. Not anymore.
StirFry @ 22:
I disagree Stirfry, more like: final collapse into third world ruin.
Yep, pretty soon we'll be the illegals sneaking into Canada and Mexico. heckuva of a job!!
WHERES THE FUCKIN OUTRAGE!!??!!
Rumsfeld meets with some retired generals to discuss a strategy for addressing criticism on Iraq and this is a story? The CNN clip with Blitzer even points out that he had met with them-
"Rumsfeld...has just wrapped up his meeting with retired U.S. generals who now serve as analysts for the news media."
He even pointed out that CNN's own analyst had attended the meeting. Not exactly hush hush.
Regardless of your take on Rumsfeld or Iraq, there doesn't seem to be too much of a scandal here. Former military guys start attacking Rumsfeld on Iraq. Rumsfeld enlists other former military guys to defend him. Is that really so surprising to everyone?
Were they forced to do so? Duped?
I just don't see the big controversy here.
Rico @ 20:
They don't show interest because the money is being BORROWED. They hear the numbers, maybe, but they don't seek the holes in their paychecks.
YET
At some point, the bills will come due. Then, taxes for everyone will go up.
Unless the uber wealthy can weasel out.
That is when the general population will take serious notice, when the financial pain really starts to set in.
This will be unfortunate for whoever is in the White House at the time, they will take the heat.
This has been a colossal swindle, the people that have been swindled are in the future.
Taxation without representation.
The pushback against that is what got this country started.
I don't know exactly how this will play in the future but I have a strong suspicion it will not be pretty.
Yep, pretty soon we’ll be the illegals sneaking into Canada
That might depend on how many Euros you're carrying.
;)
Signs of a Neo-Con warmonger... touts self as "civilian military" and a high forehead...
TURN OFF YOUR TV'S.
andy @ 31:
"LOOK WITHIN"
I find this anti pro-war propaganda unAmerican.
If we question the sincerity of the TV generals who have a financial stake in a prolonged, hundred year war then the terrorist win.
Makes you wonder about all supposed "experts" that media and govt send forth to do their bidding.
New York Times is part of the MIC don't be fooled.
aangus @ 29:
Ya need ta catch up on your Alex Jones, they gotta break us soes they can create the American Union, NAFTA was just the beginning. You'll need Ameros. (being semi-facetious) ;)
L.A. Confidential @ 32:
THE COMPUTER LOVES YOU.
EliteLemming @ 36:
The Machine your speaking of has no soul.
L.A. Confidential @ 35:
What is the 'MIC' lest I be fooled.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 38:
I'm only visiting this "planet" temporarily.
and once upon a time something relatively minor compared to the Bushco crime spree brought down Nixon. If Nixon were alive today he'd be livid that he had to resign in disgrace while Bush and his cronies continue to raid the Treasury of every last penny, nickel, and dime.
People throw the term "unbelieveable" around quite easily but in the case of what BushCo has gotten away with the word certainly applies. What's worse is while so much has been exposed you have to know there is a lot still buried. Things that we'll either never find out about or will be so far down the road that a significant number of us will no longer be on this planet.
All of this and they'll all walk out the door in January as free and very rich men (and they all started out rich to begin with so now they're even richer). You can also bet that the younger Bush cronies will turn up again if a Republican ever wins the White House again. Like the Nixon and Reagan underlings they will have spent the years learning what they did wrong and will correct it as well. They will have also studied diligently and learned new tricks that they can bury the country with and get even richer. History will repeat itself though this time it might take a little longer for the thugs to recover than it did after Nixon. But they eventually will come back to power because it seems our citizens have a short memory when it comes to criminal acts by their politicians (i.e. McCain and the Keating 5).
L.A. Confidential @ 39:
Nothing on this 'planet' is permanent.
What is the 'MIC'.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 41:
Media in control?
Media in charge?
"watching TV is like taking black spray paint to your 3rd eye"-Hicks
Jesus wept, imagine how bad the stuff is that we don;t know about these bastards and what they really get up to ? the shit thats out already is enough to put some of these people away for a long time, imagine the stuff thats hidden ? heaven knows what type of shit they've been up to the past 7 years, hell maybe the 9/11 kooks are right ? (ok maybe going to far there)
milquetoast @ 42:
MisInformed Community?
"Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend."
Mentally Incompetent Corps ?
milquetoast @ 42:
Thank you!
Corporate Media = Mind Control.
Not to coin a new acronym.
Pursang @ 40:
I wonder if the Dems-Indy's-Progs-Etc- - - - and everyone else will ever learn?
Doesn't look promising.
Why does the Bush admin hate America so much ?
Everybody calm down! Propaganda against the American people is explicitly illegal, now that this has been brought to light, the authorities will arrest those responsible.
And all the Cable/satellite news groups are talking about is the Pope (colonel Klink) and his funny outfits. It's disgusting how the media refuses to report the real news and just gives us emotional fluff pieces.
This country is truly fucked.
Filthy Harry @ 49:
Don't hold your breath unless you have some secret stash of oxygen.
Rumsfeld's TV News military analysts which consisted of “more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants”
This is Operation Mockingbird meets the Military Industrial Complex
Filthy Harry @ 49:
LOL right.
The sad thing is the number of conservatives who will hear about this and see it as the NYTimes AGAIN hurting the country by revealing things like this, are also the same people who's heads would explode in rage if they even caught wind of a RUMOR that Dems in power were doing something similar even if was about something completely innocuous as opposed to covering up the incompetence of out civilian military leadership.
DoD has it's own "Ministry of Truth".
That's got to be "doubble plus good"
O'Reilley eats out or their hands and sticks his nose deep into theirs asses because he's so dumb he is easily manipulated and is a lonely, pitiful shell of a human being. The others are elitist/monsters and must be stopped.
I thought the whole idea of writers like Orwell was to give us the opportunity to see the dreadful future and alter it while we still have a chance. The people have to overcome the sheeples acts against their self interests.
Invest a little at a time, each month to Obama. $25.00. It's a demonsration of the ecomomic power of the masses against the economic power of the true elite/ who resist losing any of their gains and eventually cannot keep up with the masses pooling some of there pitiful incomes for the benefit of the the whole (yes, even the sheeple, they can be molded!)
The next step after Obama is President is to keep him honest relative to the people that hold him up. If you can afford it, some donations to progessive candidates will help in that regard. I send what I can afford and strategically will base my "economic support" upon the exigencies of the moment. This is one of them!
CruzBustamove @ 51:
I suppose we can always drag people away from their boob tubes and pc's and out of their coops and force them to demand and end to this war mongering right?
This media manipulation was covered long ago by Danny Schecter in "Weapons of Mass Deception".
Military-industrial complex
Pursang @ 40:
chicano2nd @ 57:
Why should I send money to a Multi-Millionaire?
andy @ 48:
Because we are the last country with a constitution.
America is in the way of the globalists.
Haw haw, stooped leftys. Making a fuss over nothing. Rumsfeld was fired remembery? Problem solved. Nothing to see hear. [sic] [or maybe [sick] would be better...]
Still as noted above, when there are billions of tax dollars to be looted, there's nothing I wouldn't put passed these criminals.
For the love of Dog, IMPEACH this scum - if only for the public investigation. Nothing cockroaches hate more than a little light on their scurrying.
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.” -Joseph Goebbels.
Well, we got some world class pianists in the White House Administration right now!
Filthy Harry @ 49:
I have a bridge in Brooklyn I might like to sell.
Americans are Not Fooled By the Disinformation
Media Circus or the Smear Campaigns
Or by sick insane war criminals elitists who joke about torture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHkOFlbvStw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlQfwUuTXrM
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070328-6.html
or British reporters who have infiltrated CNN
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Ive_got_some_meth_in_my_0419.html
Is it too much to ask that the media get it right the first time? This years-later "expozay" is itself a psy-ops tactic to make us think "OK, the problem is exposed, so it wont happen again."
But it will happen again, unless we the people prevent it.
This ain't the booming 90's no more folks.
milquetoast @ 62:
America is one of the few countries with a constitution.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 69:
We're becoming a Military Dictatorship. Damn close if not already.
America is one of the few countries with a constitution.
Alice (formerly Hussein)
.
.
Thank you for beating me to the correction.
L.A. Confidential @ 68:
Remember the Dot Com bust?
No more network news.
No more network web sites.
I haven't turned my TV on in two weeks, you shouldn't either.
Try foreign journalism sources if you want to be informed.
L.A. Confidential @ 61:
Multi-millionaire. Where do you get your facts from. And, by the way its to the campaign, not him personally!
Multi-millionairs are what Hillary and Bill are, or McCain's wife, or Cheney and Bush, you get the picture don't you.
We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us.
When the planet is uninhabitable, everyone will stop pretending.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 72:
I would hope so. I was a 90's Tech Professional who roamed the country nationally. I also saw tech morphing into it's own form of insanity and what was coming and got out before the crash.
chicano2nd @ 74:
Obama raked in over $4.2 million in income in 2007 thats multi millionaire status kid no matter what you want to believe kid.
Okay. I've blabbed enough for this morning.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 75:
No, it'll be ok. We'll pretend its inhabitable.
L.A. Confidential @ 76:
Whats coming down the pike now is going to make the Dot Com bust look like Sesame Street.
America does propaganda as good as its ever been done.
Best documentary about American Military Empire....
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/
Watch the clip!
L.A. Confidential @ 77:
Most of it was from book royalties and hard work. I have nothing against that. I would love to see a constitutional lawyer in the white house. It's the future... and the Supreme Court! That's kid with a J.D. to you!
justabill @ 53:
Thank you for those links. This should be required reading for the entire nation.
L.A. Confidential @ 77:
L.A. Confidential @ 76:
Good for you if you got out unscathed.
Human nature is the culprit.
Everything morphs.
Political systems, bureaucracies, economies, philosophies, all of these morph.
The price of liberty is constance vigilance.
We are loosing our liberty.
Barry McCaffrey – Paid CIA Propaganda Asset:
The Purchase Of The Mainstream Media By The US Government
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=324
Barry McCaffrey Should Resign
January 20, 2000
Alexander Tabarrok
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The office of drug czar Barry McCaffrey secretly paid the television networks to propagandize its anti-drug message. According to a special report from Salon magazine, the scripts of popular television shows like “ER,” “Chicago Hope,” “Beverly Hills 90210” and many others were doctored to fit the requirements of McCaffrey’s White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In return for altering scripts, the networks were allowed to sell advertising time that had been promised to the government to other more high paying advertisers.
_______________
When Veritas bought MZM and renamed it Athena Solutions, James C. King, now Athena CEO, commented enthusiastically about the involvement of the Veritas Capital Defense and Aerospace Advisory Council in the sale. The Advisory Council includes the Honorable Richard Armitage, General Richard Hawley, General Barry McCaffrey, Admiral Jospeh Prueher, Admiral Leighton Smith and General Anthony Zinni.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/report.aspx?aid=425
http://houseoflabor.tpmcafe.com/blog/mrs_panstreppon/2006/jun/14/more_on...
So now the media is shifting the blame for all the propaganda they have been feeding us to the Pentagon. What has happened to investigative reporting. This is 7 years too late.
Alice (formerly Hussein) @ 85:
To keep ones liberty one has to work 20 times harder then those who are trying to take it away from you.
The Military Industrial Complex link @84 to youtube is a clip from the movie Why We Fight @82.
A movie every American should see.