Senior official in Bush domestic propaganda program remains Obama’s Pentagon spokesman

[deminks]

http://rawstory.com/2009/09/bryan-whitman-part-1/

A key senior figure in a Bush administration covert Pentagon program, which used retired military analysts to produce positive wartime news coverage, remains in the same position today as a chief Obama Defense Department spokesman and the agency’s head of all media operations.

In an examination of Pentagon documents the New York Times obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request — which reporter David Barstow leveraged for his April 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé on the program – Raw Story has found that Bryan Whitman surfaces in over 500 emails and transcripts, revealing the deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations was both one of the program’s senior participants and an active member.

Whitman’s conspicuous presence in these records is notwithstanding thousands of documented communications the Bush Pentagon released but for which names were redacted and an untold number the prior administration successfully withheld after its two-year legal battle with the Times.

Barstow’s Times expose revealed a comprehensive, covert Pentagon campaign — beginning during the lead-up to the Iraq War and continuing through 2008 — that shaped network military analysts into what internal documents referred to as “message force multipliers” and “surrogates” who could be trusted to parrot Bush administration talking points “in the form of their own opinions.” Barstow’s reporting also detailed how most of the military analysts, traditionally viewed as authoritative and independent, had ties to defense contractors with a stake in the same war policies they were interpreting daily to the American public.

(end snip)

I have had the feeling of late that there were Bush "sleeper cells" in the government. We know Smirk the First appointed many of his faithful to career positions before he left. We also know he had a slash and burn policy in full tilt. This Whitman dude was also heavily involved in the MEdia embed program. Sometimes you gotta catapult the propaganda. Would love to know how he was involved in the recent 'General asking for more troops or we lose' kerfluffle.

[deminks]

1. Well, it looks like he was in the big middle of the kerfluffle

Pentagon plays down questions over Obama-McChrystal talks

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iGRbyJu5tCeIJrooIB57Tr6Mc8xg

(AFP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Monday that the top US military commander in Afghanistan was not complaining when he said he had spoken to President Barack Obama just once in the past 70 days.

General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with CBS television's "60 Minutes" news program, broadcast Sunday, that he had spoken to Obama once by secure videoconference since arriving in the strife-torn country.

"I didn't see him articulate it as a problem," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters, adding that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, often discuss Afghanistan with Obama.

"There are a lot of people from this building, the secretary in particular, that meet with the president often," said Whitman. "This is clearly a topic that they discuss frequently."

end snip

So is he covering for President Obama (which I doubt) or is he covering for the General (which I believe).

[deminks]

2. And in the middle of an attack on Obama during the campaign

from one year ago:

Bush/Rumsfeld political hack, Bryan Whitman, behind the latest GOP attack on Obama. Whitman's done that before for the GOP.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/bushrumsfeld-political-hack-bryan.html

(snip)

Fast forward to July of 2008: Which Pentagon political hack is right smack in the middle of the latest manufactured controversy about Obama's visit to the troops in Germany -- a political controversy being pushed by "The Pentagon"? That's right. Bryan Whitman. Yes, apparently when the press talks about "The Pentagon" they mean Bryan Whitman -- and Whitman was quite happy to stir the pot on this one:

The Pentagon said on Friday that it did not prevent an Obama visit.

"Nobody denied Senator Obama the opportunity to visit our wounded being cared for at Landstuhl. Obviously, as a sitting senator, he has an interest in that and can certainly visit in an official capacity," said Bryan Whitman, a spokesman for the Pentagon, who added that there are "restrictions on what you can do as a candidate for political office, that stems from trying to maintain political neutrality and not have the military involved in politics."

"The senator's staff was informed of the limits on what the military can do with respect to a political campaign and how we could support a senator's visit to Landstuhl and, quite frankly, I expected them to have the visit," Whitman said.

Quite frankly, no one should believe anything Bryan Whitman says on behalf of "The Pentagon." He's a GOP political operative who has done a lot of Bush, Cheney and Rummy's dirty work from his press perch at the Pentagon for years. The guy has no compunction about engaging in politics. And, he's the one pushing this latest fake controversy. In February, Obama was right. Whitman was wrong. Same now.

(end snip)

[deminks]

3. Jessica Lynch - Bryan Whitman was there

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3043115.stm

The Pentagon has hit back at allegations made in a BBC documentary that the US military stage-managed the rescue in Iraq of American PoW Jessica Lynch.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said any claims that the facts of Private Lynch's rescue were misrepresented by the US military were "void of all facts and absolutely ridiculous".

An investigation by the BBC's Correspondent programme said the story of the rescue was "one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived".

The 19-year-old army clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was captured when her company took a wrong turning just outside Nasiriya and was ambushed.

(end snip)

[deminks]

4. The flap over detainee abuse photos - yup, Bryan Whitman

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE54R50K20090528

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration strongly denied a British report on Thursday that images of apparent rape and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners are among photographs that it is trying to prevent being made public.

In unusually forceful terms, the Pentagon attacked the report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper while the White House went so far as to cast doubt on the accuracy of the British press in general.

The Telegraph quoted retired U.S. Army Major General Antonio Taguba as saying the pictures showed "torture, abuse, rape and every indecency." Taguba conducted an investigation in 2004 into abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Telegraph had shown "an inability to get the facts right."

"That news organization has completely mischaracterized the images," he told reporters. "None of the photos in question depict the images that are described in that article."

(end snip)

[deminks]

5. Ooh, the Iranian speedboat incident - Bryan Whitman

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=37B810DA1317039F353DCE95A45C0DDA?diaryId=390

Jeez, just when it was about to blow over, the incident 10 days ago in the Strait of Hormuz is back. Gareth Porter writing for the Asia Times is now reporting that the entire event was manufactured by the Pentagon in order to drum up support against Iran in anticipation of President Bush's trip to the Middle East.

Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the January 6 US-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.

The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs in charge of media operations, Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the navy itself.

and Daily Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/16/15234/4407/463/437882

Whoa.