• Another U.S. Footshot

    From Steve Asher@3:800/432 to Some on Thursday, December 01, 2005 02:28:33
    After two and a half years of invasion and occupation,
    "cash for comments" is unlikely to "polish the image"
    of the "American mission in Iraq", or anywhere else.

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    US 'planting' Iraq media stories
    From: Agence France-Presse
    From correspondents in Washington

    December 01, 2005

    THE US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to print
    stories written by US soldiers in an effort to polish the image
    of the American mission in Iraq, a US newspaper reported today.

    US military "information operations" troops have written the articles,
    which are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with
    the help of the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based defence contractor,
    according to The Los Angeles Times.

    Many articles are presented to Iraqi newspapers as unbiased news
    accounts written and reported by independent journalists, the daily
    said, citing documents it obtained and unnamed US military officials.

    The stories denounce insurgents and tout the work of US and Iraqi
    troops and the US-led effort to rebuild Iraq.

    The United States has paid Iraqi newspapers to publish dozens of
    articles, the paper said.

    "The operation is designed to mask any connection with the US
    military," it said.

    The Lincoln Group helps translate and place the stories. The
    contractor's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose
    as freelance journalists or advertising executives to hand the
    stories to Iraqi papers.

    Some senior US military officers in Iraq and at the Pentagon have
    criticised the operation, saying it could ruin the US military's
    credibility in other countries and with the US public.

    [...]

    Source: "NEWS.com.au" http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17423601-23109,00.html


    Cheers, Steve..

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    * Origin: Two clapped out Mr Whippy vans playing Greensleeves (3:800/432)