Tempers flare amid 'black propaganda' debate

[bemildred]

Washington - The Bush administration is quietly resurrecting the idea of a "black propaganda" unit in the Pentagon to spread false stories and information in the foreign media - even in countries the United States considers its allies.

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The move follows efforts by Rumsfeld to develop such a propaganda unit, the Office of Strategic Planning. It was shut down three years ago because of the controversy it caused, but Rumsfeld said its work would continue.

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Kathy Kelley, spokesperson for the peace group Voices In The Wilderness, condemns any efforts to spread disinformation.

"In addition, real, important stories that are crucial to our democracy are not being covered. You end up with an uneducated public that is despised by others because we don't know what our country is doing."

IOL

[leftchick]

1. The problem with this black ops idea is....

doug feith and the rest of his ilk actually believe the rest of the world is as easily manipulated as the stupid faux-news watching ameriKans. They have long lost any remaining critical thinking skills God blessed them with! :eyes:


~snip~
In November, a report by the Pentagon's Defence Science Board warned that the US was losing "the war of ideas" in the Islamic world. It said US talk of bringing democracy to Muslim nations was seen as "self-serving hypocrisy".

Lawrence de Rita, a senior Pentagon spokesperson, said: "In the battle of perception management, where the enemy is clearly using the media to manage perceptions by the public, our job is not perception management but to counter the enemy's perception management."

Officials involved in the debate say the propaganda unit could, for instance, plant false stories in the foreign press or create web documents in Arabic to try to discredit and undermine the influence of mosques and religious leaders who preach principles opposed to the US.

[Northern Experiment]

2. Damn, this country is going even more backwards!

This type of stuff makes me sick. We as people need to spread this news around like crazy to bring all this bullshit in the open.

[wtmusic]

3. It was shut down, but its "work would continue"

that Rummy is a real laff riot

[rodeodance]

4. what is meant by 'black' propaganda?

[donkeyotay]

6. it's where they lie to you, but it's for your own good

The American people are too stupid to be trusted with real information, so Daddy Rumsfailed will supply you with what you need to know. It's just a coincidence that this involves the transfer of billions of dollars of your money to his buds.

[donkeyotay]

5. but Rummy said he'd do what he needed do, so go Cheney yourself

RBHam had a post on this the other day:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2812081

<<The criticism was so severe that the White House backed away from the plan. But on November 18, several months after the furor had died down, Rumsfeld arrogantly announced that he had not been deterred. "If you want to savage this thing, fine: I'll give you the corpse. There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done -- and I have.">>

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

7. To paraphrase Rummy...

you go to war with the media you have, not the media you wished you had

:evilgrin:

[StaggerLee]

8. hehe heh

That one tickles me to no end.

Thank you.

[rocktivity]

9. What do they mean, "resurrecting"?

Remember that dustup at the BBC which resulted in a top dog resigining? You don't think THAT was a black-prop operation? And let's not forget about what happened to Dan Rather?

:headbang:
rocknation

[bemildred]

10. Well, see, this story is a black op

to spread the idea that there are no black ops yet,
they're just considering it, and have moral qualms
about how far to go, or something like that. Which is
pretty funny, the idea that the government has moral
qualms about lying.

[Roy]

11. If democracy is so good.......... and this country so great.......

Why the need for a dis-information campaign?

If we were so good and great, wouldn't the rest of the world take notice by our actions?

Maybe, from deep within, our 'fearful' leaders in reality feel that we are neither so good, nor so great.

[leftchick]

12. kick

:kick:

[NashVegas]

13. duplicate story - locking

was published yesterday and posted to DU. discuss here -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1071159