Top commanders at Bush's Pentagon told AP if they didn't spew propaganda they would be ruined

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/8039--toothless-the-watchdog-press-that-became-the-governments-lapdog-.html

Toothless: The Watchdog Press That Became the Government’s Lapdog

by Walter Brasch

The president of the Associated Press (AP) was spewing venom at the Bush–Cheney administration for having turned the Department of Defense into a propaganda machine.

Americans “expect honest answers about what’s happening to their sons and daughters,” Tom Curley told journalism students and faculty at the University of Kansas. Listing innumerable ways the Pentagon had advocated Bush–Cheney political beliefs, Curley questioned if the United States should “be trying to influence public opinion through subterfuge, both here and abroad,”

An AP investigation had just revealed that the Pentagon budget for “influence operations” this fiscal year is at least $4.8 billion, with about 27,000 civilian and military personnel assigned to information dissemination.

The penalty for failing to agree to the Pentagon’s terms of reporting, said Curley, was that he was told by top commanders that “if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined.”

With a new Administration, “now is the time to resist the propaganda the Pentagon produces and live up to our obligation to question authority and thereby help protect our democracy,” said Curley.

Brave words, but words that would have had more impact had they been said publicly four years ago instead of a month after Bush and Cheney left office, and a more transparent administration was elected.

[Hubert Flottz]

1. “influence operations” this fiscal year is at least $4.8 billion

NOW THAT, IS WHAT I'D CALL WASTEFUL SPENDING!

The Pubs couldn't cough up the money to save thousands of people's jobs in the American auto factories last year, but they can blow 4.8 billion dollars a year on military propaganda?

[zeemike]

2. 4.8 Billion and 27,000 is outrageous.

But i am glad that some one is speaking out even at this late date.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Posted wrong place

[conscious evolution]

9. 27,000

And people deny the possibility that paid trolls,gatekeepers and shills are operating on DU.:shrug:

We don't have Agent Mike. We have Major Mike.

Half the obvious,tombstoned in minutes,trolls we get here are nothing but sacrificial pawns used as diversion or cover for their brothers in armchairs.

[NNN0LHI]

13. And I think we can usually find them on the anti-Pelosi and anti-Reid threads

They know pulling the same crap on Obama will get them tombstoned in a jiffy so they go for what they think they can get away with.

Noticed it years ago.

I can't figure out why the propaganda hasn't worked on me yet?

Don

[malaise]

3. So why didn't he leak that information

Amazing how they're all finding their voices now. They were complicit.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Because he didn't want to wake up with his favorite horses cut off head in bed with him some morning

These people are dangerous and they need to be removed.

Don

[NNN0LHI]

4. We need names

We need another Church Commission to find out who was doing this and then they need to be removed from positions of authority in the military as soon as possible. Our continued freedom depends on this. These people are a clear and present danger to our country.

Don

[jody]

7. IMO things will remain the same in the Pentagon PR efforts. n/t

[ThomWV]

8. The title is misleading. He apparently said BOTH top commanders and AP would be ruined

That is a much different thing than just the commanders being ruined.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Read it again. I may be wrong but it looks like Curley (the AP guy) says the top commanders told him

The penalty for failing to agree to the Pentagon’s terms of reporting, said Curley, was that he was told by top commanders that “if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined.”

[creeksneakers2]

17. Curley should be specific

If he won't say who threatened him, when and why and what was being covered up then Curley is still complicit with the propaganda. We need names and details.

[Vinnie From Indy]

11. That explains the people that troll here on DU

It also explains the mind numbingly stupid posts all over the Internet in support of GW Bush.

[DCKit]

28. We've got all kinds defending the indefensible, Vinnie.

My favorites are those defending the oil shock we experienced last summer. For them, it was never about skeezy commodities traders, hedge funds or the oil companies. No, it was China and India using OUR OIL and the peak-oil cliff we somehow reached oh so suddenly. "Who could have seen *that* coming?" they asked. Stopped seeing a couple of them at all once people began talking about the (full) oil tankers parked off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico and word about the bank's and hedge fund's trading began to leak into the MSM.

Then you get the hapless, helpless (R)-Troll types. They believe the party line on all the familiar subjects, but they're just too damn unimaginative (or just plain stupid) to argue what they claim to believe. They simply hold those views and that's it, end of discussion. Without the daily handout and three hours of Rush jabbering in their ear, they wouldn't know what to think. I guess they're scared of the quiet - the voices in their head might come back.

I've been tempted to engage a few of the Trolls, but learned rather quickly that their main purpose is to spread disinformation. However, almost as important, is their need to tie up dissenters in pointless arguments and keep them (us) from reaching a wider audience. Far better to stick to the short and simple "I find your position willfully ignorant and uninformed" and to move on to the next excellent post.

[agent46]

12. I remember

This same report has been published somewhat recently. Someone's been trying to get the message out.

[tularetom]

14. NOW is the time to resist the propaganda? Bullshit, Mr Curley.

That time was years ago when they first made this threat to you. But since you have recently discovered that you have a spine, we'd like the names of these "top commanders" that threatened to ruin you.

[mmonk]

15. It's hard to believe the AP is actually starting to say something.

They must fear for their future should the country start opening up the door of truth.

[Psychic Consortium]

16. Many were bribed or threatened into compliance

The truth will come out.
That is certain.

[Horse with no Name]

23. My guess is that they were threatened first

to get them to comply and then paid well for their complicity.

[Psychic Consortium]

25. Depends on the people and situation

But I think that higher ups are first offered bribes,
subtle ones of course, but bribes non the less.
Sometimes the bribes are a slippery slope and you
are in over your head before you know it.

Then the threats start if the bribe is not taken.
If you speak out, it gets quite ugly.



EDIT TO ADD: The Psychic Consortium, months before the election,
correctly predicted the Obama win.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x76721

[MasonJar]

18. I remember when the AP was speaking out. I often wondered why it

softened. The Bushista was uncredibly powerful; we must never let that happen again. I am very glad that this is being addressed and reported. It is time to shine a light on all the Bush crimes.

[DCKit]

26. "Uncredibly" - great word and definitely descriptive of BushCo.

[derby378]

19. You know, someone in the House could introduce a bill to address this

Kill the funding for "influence ops" altogether. Simple.

[mmonk]

21. Good idea. This would be something good for people to push.

[Gregorian]

20. Mission Accomplished.

It's more than just the military. It was everything. They were phonies dressed as legitimate. And they threatened and sent anthrax to Congress. And that's just a tiny fraction of what they did with our tax dollars, and to our country, and to the world.

No wonder we were livid for 8 years. Every single thing I thought to be the case is now coming out to be the truth. And that goes for his father's administration, and Iraq adventure number one.

[Horse with no Name]

24. Our tinfoil hats weren't quite so silly

Were they?:(

[BlooInBloo]

22. Amen, to that last sentence. Fuck the lying cowards.

[Life Long Dem]

27. So now MSM will continue throwing out propaganda.

Rush wants Obama to fail, and Fox News jumped right in with Rush. We'll listen to MSM's reports about Iran's leader telling President Obama to apologize or some other propaganda instead.

[chill_wind]

29. Pentagon Pundit Propaganda Ops-- did somebody say we need names?

Participants

From the New York Times story and associated documents:

* Carl Kenneth Allard
* Jed Babbin
* Robert S. Bevelacqua
* Dennis C. Blair
* Peter Brookes
* Frank B. Campbell
* James Jay Carafano
* Wesley Clark
* William V. Cowan
* Gordon Cucullu
* Dana R. Dillon
* Wayne A. Downing
* Timur J. Eads
* David M. Finkelstein
* Ronald Fogleman
* Rick Francona
* John C. Garrett
* Buster Glosson
* David L. Grange
* Steven Greer
* Jack Jacobs
* David E. Jeremiah
* George Joulwan
* William F. Kernan
* Glenn Lackey
* Walter P. Lang
* Thomas Joseph Lopez
* Robert L. Maginnis
* James Marks
* Barry R. McCaffrey
* Jeffrey D. McCausland
* Thomas G. McInerney
* Montgomery Meigs
* Andy Messing, Jr.
* Thomas S. Moorman, Jr.
* Michael J. Nardotti, Jr.
* Charles T. Nash
* William L. Nash
* Glenn K. Otis
* Joseph W. Ralston
* Erv Rokke
* Robert H. Scales Jr.
* H. Hugh Shelton
* Donald W. Shepperd
* Carlton A. Sherwood
* Steve Short
* Wayne Simmons
* Perry Smith
* Martin Strong
* Robert R. Timberg
* Bernard Trainor
* Paul E. Vallely
* John Warden
* Larry D. Welch
* Charles E. Wilhelm
* Thomas Wilkerson

sourcewatch: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Investigating_the_Pentagon%27s_pundits

**January 17, 2009**

PENTAGON, PUNDITS, AND PROPAGANDA.... About eight months ago, the New York Times reported on a Pentagon program in which retired military officers, who've since become lobbyists or consultants for military contractors, were recruited to become propaganda agents of the Bush administration. Throughout the war in Iraq, these retired officers -- or "message multipliers," as they were described by internal Defense Department documents -- took on roles as military analysts for all of the major news networks, without noting their puppet-like relationships with the Pentagon.

It was as sophisticated a media-manipulation scheme as anything the Bush gang hatched. A small group of Pentagon political appointees would "cater to" more than 75 retired officers, giving them the message that needed to be multiplied. As one Pentagon official marveled, "You could see they were taking verbatim what the secretary was saying or what the technical specialists were saying. And they were saying it over and over and over. We were able to click on every single station and every one of our folks were up there delivering our message. You'd look at them and say, 'This is working.'"

The retired military officers -- who were at times pressured to say things they knew to be false -- had an incentive to stick to the Bush script, since their employers were contractors seeking to do business with the Defense Department.

The Pentagon's inspector general looked into the controversy, and reported yesterday that the Defense Department hadn't done anything wrong.

It found that the program -- one of several Pentagon "outreach" activities -- included more than 100 meetings, briefings, conference calls and trips with the military analysts between 2002 and 2006. "We determined that those activities were conducted in accordance with DOD policies and regulations," it stated.

"We found the evidence insufficient to conclude that RMA outreach activities were improper," the report said, basing that assessment on historic rulings regarding congressional prohibitions on the use of publicity funds for "self aggrandizement or puffery, partisanship and covert communications."

Like Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.), I think yesterday's report reads like a "whitewash," but let's also not overlook the other angle here: the mainstream media's culpability.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016479.php

The print media pretty much just let this story die. (I doubt network news commented at all-- are you kidding me?) It was a 1 day story. Where's AP's outrage about all of that?

Pentagon, Pundits & Propaganda
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x417702

[windoe]

30. Threats need to be exposed, past and present.

What was threatened, besides job security, financial ruin, or reputations. Were there threats against life and limb? To expose this now would bring down the house of *.

If there is a present danger, this needs to be identified and isolated immediately. We all know how powerful this cartel has been, and what they are capable of. I think that honest people in intelligence and military have to work together. They have taken an oath to protect this country from clear and present danger, from within and without. Otherwise a real independent prosecution may never happen, and this country will never be the same.

[crimsonblue]

31. Damn this lecture was at KU?

had I known, I would've gone. Damn.

[Fleshdancer]

32. I wrote both my senators and my representative about this

I encourage everyone here to do the same.