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EX-STATE DEPT.SECURITY OFFICER SPELLS OUT 9/11 COVER-UP
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Today's Stories February 22, 2006 Diane
Farsetta February 21, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Franklin
Spinney Dave
Lindorff Alevtina
Rea Bruce
K. Gagnon Dave
Zirin Bill
Quigley Website
of the Day
February 20, 2006 Jennifer
Van Bergen Rachard
Itani Gideon
Levy Joshua
Frank Newton
Garver Pratyush
Chandra Seth
Sandronsky Cockburn
/ St. Clair Website
of the Day
February 18 / 19, 2006 Werther Uzma
Aslam Khan Joe
DeRaymond Edward
F. Mooney Paul
Craig Roberts Elaine
Cassel P.
Sainath Thomas
P. Healy Brian
Concannon, Jr. Fred
Gardner Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Brian
Tokar Chan
Chee Khoon Andrew
Freedman St.
Clair / Walker Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
February 17, 2006 Floyd
Rudmin Gervasio
Rodríguez Gary
Leupp Ramzy
Baroud Amira
Hass Matthew
Koehler Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Debbie
Nathan Website
of the Day
Febrauary 16, 2006 Lila
Rajiva Norman
Solomon Ron
Jacobs Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
February 15, 2006 Brian
Conacnnon, Jr. Dave
Lindorff Saree
Makdisi Joshua
Frank Amira
Hass CounterPunch
Wire Robert
Bryce Website
of the Day February 14, 2006 John
Sugg Don
Santina William
A. Cook Ray
McGovern John
Ross Website
of the Day
Lila
Rajiva Christopher
Brauchli Dave
Lindorff Ron
Jacobs Mike
Whitney Michael
Neumann Website
of the Day
February 11 / 12, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Pat Williams Fred Gardner Saul Landau John Chuckman Roger Burbach Seth Sandronsky Website of
the Weekend
February 10, 2006 Carl
G. Estabrook Sen.
Russell Feingold Roxanne
Dunbar----Ortiz Saree Makdisi Website of
the Day
February 9, 2006 Dave Lindorff Mike Marqusee Paul Craig Roberts Peter Phillips William S. Lind Christine Tomlinson Innocent Targets in the "Long War": False Positives and Bush's Eavesdropping Program Will Youmans Robert Robideau Richard Neville Peter Rost Website of the Day
February 8, 2006 Ron Jacobs Stan Cox Sen. Russ Feingold Robert Jensen Rep. Cynthia McKinney Niranjan Ramakrishnan Don Monkerud David Swanson C.L. Cook Christopher
Fons Jeffrey Ballinger Website of
the Day
February 7, 2006 Edward Lucie-Smith Robert Fisk Paul Craig Roberts Neve Gordon Joshua Frank Peter Montague Jackie Corr Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
February 6, 2006 Christopher
Brauchli Robert Fisk John Chuckman Jenna Orkin Paul Craig
Roberts
February 4 / 5, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Mike Ferner James Petras Alan Maass Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Bill Glahn Saul Landau Laura Carlsen James Brooks Mike Roselle John Holt Sarah Ferguson William S.
Lind Niranjan Ramakrishnan Seth Sandronsky Derrick O'Keefe Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Elisa Salasin St. Clair / Vest Stew Albert Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
February 3, 2006 Toufic Haddad Heather Gray Tim Wise Conn Hallinan Eva Golinger Daniel Ellsberg Dave Zirin Robert Bryce Website of
the Day
February 2, 2006 Winslow T.
Wheeler Stan Cox Rachard Itani Mike Whitney Amira Hass Norman Solomon Michael Simmons Christopher
Reed Website of the Day
February 1, 2006 Sharon Smith Jason Leopold Cindy Sheehan Joseph Grosso Earl Ofari Hutchinson Steven Higgs Robert Robideau R. Siddharth Jim Retherford Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
January 31, 2006 Jeffrey St.
Clair Clancy Chassay Dave Lindorff Niranjan Ramakrishnan Oren Ben-Dor Winslow Wheeler John Ryan Mike Marqusee Ron Jacobs Andrew Cockburn Website of
the Day
January 30, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Winslow Wheeler Niranjan Ramakrishnan Marcus Dam John Bomar Ben Beachy Gideon Levy Michael Carmichael Missy Comley
Beattie Norman Solomon Brian Concannon,
Jr. Michael Ratner Website of
the Day
January 28 / 29, 2006 Alexander Cockburn
Ralph Nader Col. Dan Smith Paul Craig Roberts Tammara Rosenleaf Ron Jacobs Harry Browne Fred Gardner Christopher
Reed Bernard Chazelle Daniel Wolff Tom Kerr Asad Abu Khalil Chris Murphy Dr. Susan Block Kathy Deacon St. Clair /
Walker / Palmer / Shields Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
Suren Pillay Lawrence R.
Velvel J.L. Chestnut,
Jr Uri Avnery Gary Leupp Samar Assad Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
January 26, 2006 Robert Robideau Paul Craig
Roberts Gilad Atzmon Jason Leopold Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Susan Lee Missy Comley Beattie Michael Carmichael Michael Neumann Website of
the Day
January 25, 2006 Saul Landau James Petras Lawrence R.
Velvel Vijay Prashad Kevin Zeese Alison Weir Bruce K. Gagnon Joan Roelofs Website of
the Day
January 24, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Kathy Kelly Jorge Mariscal Winslow T.
Wheeler John Walsh Youmans / Muaddi Roger Burbach Fr. Gerard
Jean-Juste Noam Chomsky Website of
the Day
Uri Avnery Susan Pynchon William Loren
Katz Christopher Brauchli Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Norman Solomon Jackie Corr Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
January 21/22, 2006 Tim Shorrock Ralph Nader Peter Feng Brian Cloughley Michael Donnelly Tom Kerr Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Fred Gardner Jason Leopold Matthew Koehler John Bomar Ron Jacobs Becky Akers Joanne Mariner St. Clair / Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of the Day
Brian J. Foley Richard Gott Joshua Frank Pierre Tristam Bernstein /
Allegretto Elizabeth Schulte Website of
the Day
January 19, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Bill Simpich Kevin Alexander
Gray Sam Husseini Sam Smith Monica Benderman Winslow T.
Wheeler Website of the Day
January 18, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Norman Solomon Jonathan M.
Feldman Michael Carmichael Paul D'Amato Cynthia McKinney Norman Finkelstein Website of the Day
January 17, 2006 M. Shahid Alam John Ross Tariq Ali Michael Donnelly Amira Hass Doug Giebel Bill Quigley Ron Jacobs Mike Stark Werther
John Walsh Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Roger Burbach Norman Solomon Robert Jensen Sam Husseini Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
January 14 / 15, 2006 Alexander Cockburn JoAnn Wypijewski James Petras Ron Jacobs Brian Cloughley Marianne McDonald Bruce Tyler Wick Fred Gardner Flavia Alaya Gary Leupp Dr. Susan Block Nicole Colson Jeffrey Kolakowski Missy Comley
Beattie Charles Thomson St. Clair /
Walker / Vest Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
January 13, 2006 Ralph Nader Leonard Weinglass Amira Hass Chris Kutalik
/ Jennifer Biddle Lawrence R. Velvel Dave Lindorff Mike Whitney David Price
January 12, 2006 Jennifer Van
Bergen Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Lawrence R.
Velvel Ralph Nader / Robert Weissman Jackie Corr Jared Bernstein Russell D.
Hoffman Aubrey Streit Clancy Sigal Website of the Day
January 11, 2006 Kevin Zeese Ray McGovern Allan Maass
/ Joe Allen Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Annie Murphy Allan Lichtman Ramzy Baroud Joshua Frank Kathleen and
Bill Christison Website of
the Day
January 10, 2006 Uri Avnery Saul Landau Noam Chomsky Brian J. Foley Lenni Brenner Ronan Sheehan Paul Craig
Roberts
January 9, 2006 Behzad Yaghmaian George Bisharat Dave Lindorff Norman Solomon Christopher Brauchli Aharon Shabtai Andrew Cockburn
January 7 / 8, 2006 Lawrence Velvel James Petras J.L. Chestnut Mike Ely Andrew Wilson Lila Rajiva William Cook Ramor Ryan Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff Peter Montague Ron Jacobs Neve Gordon Fred Gardner Josh Mahon Dr. Susan Block Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
January 6, 2006 José
Pertierra Joe Allen Winslow T. Wheeler John Bomar Jason Leopold Norman Solomon Robert Pollin
January 5, 2006 Scott Boehm Zoltan Grossman Heather Gray Haninah Levine Pierre Tristam Remi Kanazi Gilad Atzmon Kathleen and
Bill Christison
January 4, 2006 Ron Jacobs Lila Rajiva Huibin Amee
Chew Pat Williams Linda Milazzo Nick Dearden James Petras Website of
the Day
January 3, 2006 James Ridgeway Laith al-Saud Dick J. Reavis Joshua Frank Rochelle Gause Missy Comley
Beattie Paul de Rooij
January 2, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Clancy Sigal Cindy Sheehan Alexander Cockburn
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February 22, 2006 The Wages of SpinThe Pentagon's Media ContractsBy DIANE FARSETTA Although they've done their best to keep their spinning from public scrutiny, several major incidents have exposed the Bush administration's manipulation of news media: The " sell job" for the invasion of Iraq. Payola pundits Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus. Stooge "reporter" Jeff Gannon / James Guckert. Video news releases determined to be covert propaganda by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO). Each time, concerned citizens, media critics and watchdog groups like the Center for Media and Democracy have called for a full accounting of the government's use (and misuse) of public relations techniques and contractors. And, slowly, more information has surfaced -- though nothing approaching the transparency a healthy democracy requires. On February 13, the GAO released a 160-page report on the recent media contracts of seven federal departments. The data on government contracts with private PR firms, ad agencies, media companies and individual reporters is another piece in the propaganda puzzle. However, the GAO report should be read with several caveats in mind. It is based on self-reporting by the departments, and their information was not independently verified. The private contractors are not named, and whether they had subcontractors is not indicated. Contract descriptions are brief and often vague. The products generated under the contracts -- the "deliverables" -- are not listed. The PR activities of government employees are not included. And what about the eight other cabinet-level departments and the independent federal agencies? Still, the report provides the first serious narrative of government media activities since the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform detailed federal PR spending in January 2005. Taken together, these two accounts make clear that the amount of taxpayer dollars going to private PR firms has increased significantly over the last several years.
The Wages of Spin During the second Clinton term (calendar years 1997 through the end of 2000), government PR contracts averaged $32 million per year. Over the first Bush term (calendar years 2001 through 2004), PR spending averaged $62.5 million annually. >From fiscal year 2003 to mid-fiscal year 2005, an average of $78.8 million went to private PR firms per year -- from just seven federal departments. In short, Bush not only doubled PR spending relative to Clinton, but he keeps increasing the size of the propaganda pot. As the House Committee on Government Reform report concluded last year, "While not all public relations spending is illegal or inappropriate, this rapid rise in public relations contracts at a time of growing budget deficits raises questions about the priorities of the Administration." During this steady expansion of PR budgets, there have been two spikes, according to data from the House Government Reform Committee (see graph -- ATTACHED). In 1999, several agencies, including the U.S. Mint, Transportation, and Health and Human Services Departments, saw a one-year boost in PR spending. In contrast, the 2003 to 2004 surge was almost totally fueled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS's contracts with private PR firms ballooned from $2.5 million in 2002, to $31.2 million in 2003, to $55.9 million in 2004. Judged by the ongoing, widespread confusion and frustration with the new Medicare drug plan, these tens of millions of dollars weren't well spent. According to the House committee data, the Defense Department, Army and Navy are almost reticent in their PR activities, together spending $10.8 million from 2001 through 2004. However, the GAO paints a very different picture of the big media spenders. The Pentagon is the media fiend, according to the GAO report, responsible for $1.1 billion of the $1.6 billion in federal media contracts over 30 months. This discrepancy is mostly due to the GAO's inclusion of all media contracts -- not just for PR, but also for advertising, media buys, website development, press releases and the like. But several big-ticket Pentagon media contracts listed in the GAO report that read like classic PR jobs are "missing firm data" -- and therefore not classified according to contractor type. These include training Army Public Affairs Officers, developing "briefing products and input documents," and conducting "message development" and "news story development." If even some of these unclassified contracts were with PR firms, then the GAO report underestimates the Pentagon's PR spending, perhaps significantly. And there are other reasons why the Defense Department's media contracts warrant closer scrutiny.
Major Information Operations News accounts of the GAO report, as well as a press release put out by the members of Congress who requested the study, mentioned some of the smaller Pentagon contracts. It is easy to understand why an Air Force-sponsored "Stars and Strikes" bowling tournament, Coca-Cola branded "victory T-shirts," NASCAR promotion ads, or embroidered golf towels for youth tournaments might catch a reporter's eye. But among the sea of small and carefully detailed contracts are a few major efforts described just well enough to raise eyebrows. One such contract -- unclassified as to contractor type -- entailed "extensive research ... for message development that presents the Army's strategic perspective in the Global War on Terrorism." Worth $2.5 million from 2003 to 2005, the contract included "developing communications plans ... and conducting analysis regarding the most effective way to respond to issues raised by the key stakeholders and by influencers." A similar $1.1 million PR contract in 2005 involved "media pitches, speakers service and bureau, and news story development in support of Soldiers in the Global War on Terror." Another contract -- again "missing firm data" -- was for "a senior analyst to analyze the perceptions, activities, and events surrounding the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and assist in developing public affairs plans for other Army personnel issues." The Army paid nearly $300,000 for this analyst, between 2004 and 2005. The analyst's work appears to be part of the "Strategic Communications Campaign Plan" drawn up in mid-2002 for the Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC, formerly called the School of the Americas). The WHINSEC PR plan budgeted $246,000 for one contractor, one webmaster, media monitoring software, transport and printing. After three years of WHINSEC's "consistent, programmed, proactive public affairs effort in direct support of the Institute," the Army could claim partial success. Media coverage of WHINSEC did not improve, and Congressional attempts to close the Institute actually gained support. But attempts to build " third-party (non-Army) public support" bore fruit, as exemplified by Human Rights Watch giving its first-ever WHINSEC lecture during the Institute's August 2005 "Human Rights Week." Also listed in the new GAO report is the Defense Department's "Mullen Advertising Contract," worth $47.6 million from 2003 to 2005. That work included direct mail, "media relation services" and websites associated with JAMRS, the Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies program. JAMRS uses polls, surveys, campus campaigns, marketing data and analyses to increase recruiting and retention rates for all branches of the military. One JAMRS website contains a presentation explaining how to use "marketing segmentation capabilities" to "understand and improve military recruiting efforts." According to the presentation, the "lifestyle characteristics of the high performing segments" -- that is, the people most likely to join the military -- include buying fishing equipment, hunting and reading Car Craft. They do not make a "conscious effort to recycle," "contribute to PBS," or read the Wall Street Journal. Other military recruiting contracts listed in the GAO report include "traditional and nontraditional media" outreach for the Marines, "prospect relationship management" for the Navy, and promotional videos, books and calendars for the Air Force. Rounding out the more expensive, more involved and more provocative Pentagon media contracts are those supporting two major outreach efforts, America Supports You and Operation Tribute to Freedom. As Laura Miller reported for PR Watch, the AmericaSupportsYou.mil website was launched in November 2004 and mentioned by President Bush during a June 2005 national address at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After examining the website, Miller asked, "Could the site be nothing more than another Pentagon attempt to boost public support for war and distract the public's attention away from criticisms?" The GAO report's revelation that the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense paid a PR firm more than $1.3 million between 2004 and 2005 to design and execute "America Supports You" suggests that the answer to Miller's question is yes. The America Supports You contract included "planning, branding development and message promotion," "outreach events and partnership development" and "design and implementation of media, marketing, and advertising programs, including related collateral material." Operation Tribute to Freedom (OTF), according to its website, "refuses to leave a Soldier's story untold. By working with Army Public Affairs Offices ... OTF identifies ongoing media, speaking, and recognition opportunities to ensure that homecomings last longer than one day and that American Soldiers stay connected with the American public. ... Operation Tribute to Freedom will help the American people better understand the Global War on Terrorism -- one Soldier's story at a time." With its Soldiers News Service, Speakers Service, Recognition Events, and Soldier Homecomings, OTF parallels the U.S. Committee on Public Information's (CPI) propaganda efforts during World War I. CPI recruited "Four-Minute Men" -- volunteers who gave brief pro-war speeches "wherever they could get an audience -- in movie theaters, churches, synagogues, and labor union, lodge, and grange halls." Like the Four-Minute Men, veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who register on the OTF website are provided with suggested scripts for their talks. OTF's Black History Month Speech begins, "I'm honored to be speaking here at [name of event] and to have a chance to reflect on the rich heritage of African Americans." Ignoring the civil rights leader's anti-war stance, the OTF speech includes a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." According to the GAO report, the Army gave private media firms more than $1.4 million in 2004 to get Operation Tribute to Freedom off the ground. A PR firm was paid $1.1 million, to "augment the Army Public Affairs, Outreach Division, staff in the execution and support of the program Operation Tribute to Freedom." Another contract, worth more than $292,000, involved constructing websites for OTF and for "an internal Army command information Web site."
Propaganda, Propaganda Everywhere The United States is facing not only "growing budget deficits," as the House committee report noted, but also multiple wars overseas, natural disasters at home, a shaky economy, and shrinking resources for such basic infrastructure as education and health care. It is against this background -- and, likely, because of it -- that federal spending on PR firms and other media contractors is increasing. Are these expenditures warranted? Are they in keeping with existing U.S. laws against domestic "publicity or propaganda" campaigns? The Bush administration's record of dealing with these questions does not inspire confidence. With regard to video news releases, the GAO ruled repeatedly that segments not announcing their government source to viewers are illegal covert propaganda. "The publicity or propaganda restriction helps to mark the boundary between an agency making information available to the public and agencies creating news reports unbeknownst to the receiving audience," the GAO wrote. The administration, through the Justice Department and the Office of Management and Budget, directed federal agencies to ignore the GAO rulings. The Bush administration has also eroded once-sacrosanct prohibitions against exposing domestic audiences to propaganda intended for foreign audiences. In December 2005, the Pentagon's inspector general ruled that news websites run by U.S. military regional commands in Southeastern Europe and North Africa do not violate U.S. law -- though their content is readily available to U.S. web surfers. In January 2006, the National Security Archive secured through the Freedom of Information Act a copy of the Defense Department's 2003 "Information Operations Roadmap." The heavily-redacted document admits, "Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSYOP, increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience and vice-versa." However, the roadmap asserts that propagandizing U.S. audiences is permissible, as long as that was not the government's intent. Intent is notoriously hard to prove, and propaganda is propaganda. News media are not playthings to be shaped for political gain, but bedrocks of democracy. The U.S. government must make public detailed information on all its PR and other media work, and Congress must revisit the "publicity or propaganda" restrictions in light of the modern information environment. Otherwise, the U.S. public will find itself in a similar situation as the Iraqi public -- discounting news items favorable to the U.S. government as likely products of propaganda campaigns. Diane Farsetta is a Senior Researcher, Center for Media & Democracy, publisher of PR Watch. She can be reached at: diane@prwatch.org
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