Pentagon Propaganda

Want to take a walk down memory lane? Here’s a copy of an email from July 2004 that illustrates the Pentagon’s effort to shape U.S. public opinion about Iraq using a select group of military analysts to manipulate public opinion. Pat Lang and I wrote about this two years ago. The New York Times recently was “shocked” to discover that there was gambling going on in the casino. It is tough to have a free society when the media is so sloppy, so compliant, and so spineless. So here is one of the typical sets of briefing materials provided to the select group of “approved” former military officers who were helping sell the war. (I was not part of the group, but won’t tell how I got a copy of this.)

From: Military-Analysts List [mailto:MILITARY-ANALYSTS-L@DTIC.MIL]On
Behalf Of Murphy, Margaret, OASD-PA
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 6:05 PM
To: MILITARY-ANALYSTS-L@DTIC.MIL
Subject: DoD Talking Points – SecDef Interviews GWOT, Iraq

Attached are talking points from the Department of Defense Office of Public Affairs and two news articles.

< >

< >

< >

Following are highlights from recent media interviews of Secretary Rumsfeld.

Measuring Progress in the Global War on Terror
* The Coalition is making progress in the Global War on Terror.
* More than 80 nations have joined the Global War on Terror.

These Coalition nations are putting pressure on the terrorists by:
* Sharing intelligence.
* Putting pressure on bank accounts and making it more difficult to move money.
* Making it harder for terrorists to recruit people and retain them.
* Complicating terrorists’ ability to communicate with each other and move between countries.
* The Coalition has brought down the Abdul Qadeer Khan network.
* The network was trading in nuclear materials and technologies.
* Khan was the father of Pakistan’s gas centrifuge program. He was removed from his post as advisor to Pakistan’s prime minister for providing nuclear technology, components and equipment to Iran,
Libya and North Korea.
* Libya has come forward and decided to forego weapons of mass destruction.

America Is Safer
* America is safer today than it was on Sept. 11, 2001.
* Terrorists have been captured and killed and their cells have been disrupted.
* Forty-six of the 55 most wanted in Iraq – including Saddam Hussein and his sons Uday and Qusay — have been captured or killed.
* Close to two-thirds of known senior al-Qaeda operatives have been captured or killed.
* Thousands of terrorists and regime remnants in Iraq and Afghanistan have been hunted down, and terrorist cells on most continents have been disrupted.
* Even before Sept. 11, plans were underway to transform the Department of Defense from a post-Cold War department to a 21st century department to better face new threats.
* The Department has moved from a “threat-based” to a “capabilities-based” approach to defense planning. This means not just focusing on who might threaten the United States and where and when, but
also how we might be threatened and what capabilities are needed to deter and defend against those threats.
* The attacks on Sept. 11 prove the urgent need to transform the Department so it is better arranged for the threats and difficulties of the new century.

Troop Strength and Length of Stay in Iraq
* The date for bringing home U.S. forces is not calibrated to a calendar, it is calibrated to the circumstances on the ground and what the security situation is.
* If the situation in Iraq deteriorates because the Ba’athists and former Saddam elements become more desperate to stop representative government before the elections in Iraq, the Department will react
appropriately.
* If the situation in Iraq improves and the number of forces could be reduced, the Department will also consider that alternative.

To read transcripts of the Secretary’s July 16 interviews, go to transcript
section of Defenselink.mil (link)