Pentagon cultivated ‘expert analysts’
Murray Light
Updated: 05/11/08 6:47 AM
Now, for very good reasons, the American people have to question the honesty and integrity of their leaders, from the top down. For many years, we as a people have called attention to the falsehoods and propaganda of many nations, particularly those that were not democracies. Now our own country’s leaders have been selling false propaganda to its citizens.
The New York Times recently reported that since 2002 the Pentagon has called on retired military officers to help sell the war to the American people. As could be expected of him, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, by design, cultivated several dozen military analysts in a campaign to generate favorable coverage of the administration’s wartime performance in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Times reported that the Pentagon, with the support of the Bush administration, hired actors to pose as journalists. Additionally, it produced phony news bulletins to promote its view of the Iraq war. The Pentagon, under fire for its actions, has since announced that it was suspending its briefings for retired military officers who have frequently appeared on television programs, ending an internal review.
The New York Times, to its credit, further reported that the Bush Administration sought to transform the so-called analysts for one purpose — to generate favorable coverage of the administration’s wartime record.
The so-called analysts have received hundreds of private briefings with senior government officials and were given access to classified information. They have also been taken on Pentagon sponsored trips to Iraq, the Times has reported.
The Defense Department referred to these retired officers as surrogates who could be counted upon to deliver the administration’s themes and messages in the form of their own opinions.
The Pentagon’s decision to halt the briefings came amid questions from various members of Congress following the disclosures by the Times. Some of the former military officers were skeptical of the war in private but the Pentagon in various ways punished their doubts. Some analysts say they have suppressed their doubts about some issues they have been given by the administration because they feared they would be jeopardizing their access to future briefings.
The Times also indicated that many of the officers recruited by Rumsfeld have used their access to Pentagon officials to promote their ties to military contractors vested in the war policies they assess on the air. The business relationships of the so-called analysts are rarely disclosed to the viewers. Oftentimes the networks on which they are appearing are unaware of their business ties.
Federal agencies reportedly have paid columnists and analysts to write favorably about the administration and the Pentagon reportedly made payments to Iraqi newspapers to publish American propaganda about the war in their country.
The article that described all of these propaganda ploys of the Bush administration did not refer to Vice President Cheney, but given his influence it is hard to believe that he was unaware of what was going on. It is interesting to note that in the months leading up to the U. S. incursion into Iraq the Pentagon armed its analysts to portray Iraq as an urgent threat. Repeatedly the American public was told that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons and was developing nuclear weapons. The so-called analysts also repeatedly noted that an invasion of Iraq would be a relatively quick and inexpensive war of liberation. Tell that to the families of the 4,000 troops who have given their lives to this folly, on which billions of dollars already have been spent with still more to come.
Murray B. Light is the former editor of The Buffalo News
