http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/politics/11propaganda.html?hp&ex=1134363600&en=6ed9a1b5468ea92a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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"Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive By JEFF GERTH Published: December 11, 2005 The media center in Fayetteville, N.C., would be the envy of any global communications company. In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis. The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden. "We call our stuff information and the enemy's propaganda," said Col. Jack N. Summe, then the commander of the Fourth Psychological Operations Group, during a tour in June. Even in the Pentagon, "some public affairs professionals see us unfavorably," and inaccurately, he said, as "lying, dirty tricksters." The recent disclosures that a Pentagon contractor in Iraq paid newspapers to print "good news" articles written by American soldiers prompted an outcry in Washington, where members of Congress said the practice undermined American credibility and top military and White House officials disavowed any knowledge of it. President Bush was described by Stephen J. Hadley, his national security adviser, as "very troubled" about the matter. The Pentagon is investigating. But the work of the contractor, the Lincoln Group, was not a rogue operation. Hoping to counter anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, the Bush administration has been conducting an information war that is extensive, costly and often hidden, according to documents and interviews with contractors, government officials and military personnel. The campaign was begun by the White House, which set up a secret panel soon after the Sept. 11 attacks to coordinate information operations by the Pentagon, other government agencies and private contractors. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the focus of most of the activities, the military operates radio stations and newspapers, but does not disclose their American ties. Those outlets produce news material that is at times attributed to the "International Information Center," an untraceable organization. Lincoln says it planted more than 1,000 articles in the Iraqi and Arab press and placed editorials on an Iraqi Web site, Pentagon documents show."

12/12/2005 1:09:22 PM

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"Post new threads in the right section - Save us the trouble of having to move your topic to the correct section. Post in the right section to begin with."

this doesn't belong in the lounge.

12/12/2005 1:10:41 PM

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"The Lounge discuss news, life, and other fun stuff! http://www.thewolfweb.com/message.aspx"

12/12/2005 1:12:10 PM

this is not news
this is politics, and for you, serious

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" The Soap Box politics, social issues, financials. basically anything serious."

12/12/2005 1:13:38 PM

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"this is not news"

This isn't news? It's an article from a newspaper, the NY Times no less.

12/12/2005 1:18:46 PM

he is posting his shit here because he is scared if he posts more topics in soap box he will get banned.

pathetic.

12/12/2005 1:27:38 PM

it's not news, it's salisbury

i've never been to salisbury, but he makes me wish it burned to the ground

12/12/2005 1:28:18 PM

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"it's not news, it's salisbury"

It's a friggin NY TIMES article.

12/12/2005 1:32:44 PM

one more post in a section where it doesn't belong results in a suspension.

you have been warned publicly and privately now.

12/12/2005 1:33:18 PM

lol

12/12/2005 1:34:55 PM

hey this is news, and its fucked up too.

12/12/2005 1:42:12 PM

Is anyone really surprised by this 'revelation'? PsyOps have ALWAYS played an important role in warfare. This is hardly breaking news

12/12/2005 2:02:31 PM

did he get his thread creation abilities removed from the soap box

12/12/2005 2:10:28 PM

^^^Why is it fucked up? Every major nation publishes propaganda in war!

And I DO want to point out that it's NOT just propaganda - they also drop information telling terrorists to surrender, and tell about how much better things will be if they do. And I don't mean this politically, but sadly enough, we'll take care of a terrorist better than his leadership - at least as a US EPW he's guaranteed food, water, shelter, and medical care. And a free one-way ticket to an island resort south of Florida.

[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 2:19 PM. Reason : .]

12/12/2005 2:17:57 PM

Had you stated "Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive" in the thread title, rather than a subjective political statement, this thread may have been taken a bit more seriously.

And this is not news ... its common sense.

12/12/2005 6:04:12 PM

wait i thought this was the story where we spend 300 million on tv ads in Iraq.

12/12/2005 6:32:03 PM

It's not news. We've been doing this for two hundred years.

12/12/2005 6:39:33 PM