The Pentagon's Corrupt "Military Analysts" Media Scheme

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/32914

The Pentagon's Corrupt "Military Analysts" Media Scheme
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2008-04-22 10:19.

By Gareth Porter, Huffington Post


In Sunday's New York Times, investigative reporter David Barstow exposed television's "military analysts" on the Iraq War as sock puppets of the Pentagon who consciously peddle the Bush administration's talking points on Iraq while hiding their own vested economic interest in selling the public on the Bush administration's happy talk about the war.

This very long and very well-documented story lays bare the most blatantly obnoxious feature of the "Military-Industrial-Media Complex" which ensures that the airwaves convey the administration's major messages on the war day in a day out. The story should mobilize the blogosphere and news media figures who still have some integrity to demand immediate reform of a massively corrupt network system of covering military affairs.

For starters, the networks should be forced to fire every "military analyst" who has been recruited and accepted all-expenses-paid trips to Iraq, uncritically mouthed the administration talking points while concealing their special relationship or maintained vested financial interests in Pentagon contracts through business relationships with contractors.

Based on 8,000 pages of email messages, transcripts and records, Barstow recounts a successful effort by Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon to use retired military officers to create a "media Trojan horse" on the Iraq War. Not only did the "military analysts" routinely violate basic ethical standards of journalism by accepting trips completely arranged and paid for the administration; they were consciously participating in its strategy to manipulate public opinion by regurgitating the pro-war arguments they were given in top-level official briefings -- which they had to promise to keep secret.

snip//

The story of the Pentagon's "media Trojan horse" should bring overwhelming public pressure for the immediate termination of any "military analyst" who has been compromised by links with the Pentagon and/or its business allies. The television networks should adopt transparent rules about who can and can't be hired as analysts on military issues that would keep out paid agents of the war system. Unfortunately the networks themselves appear to be such an integral part of that system that they couldn't care less about conflicts of interest.

[OregonBlue]

1. K & R They are public airwaves. We have been lied to again and they should be

held accountable.

[gratuitous]

2. We had a response from our local shill to this story

He lives in Port Orford, and claims that he knew to take the Pentagon briefings he was given with a grain of salt. He also claims that his expert military opinion was not for sale, and he "takes umbrage at some of the analysis" that call his well-paid group of analysts puppets or mouthpieces.

So watch yourself there!

Of course, he goes right on to contradict himself, claiming that in the meetings he attended, Pentagon officials never said "Here's what we'd like you to say." No, they said "We'd like to get this message out."

But I'm sure the delicate distinction is lost on you libruls. I know for sure it's lost on me.

He also claims that he could tell, it was "easy to see" which former generals were parroting the official line from the Pentagon. And I'm sure we all remember the courageous, forthright, outspoken criticism of the official Pentagon line we all heard from Lt. Col. Richard Francona, now of Port Orford, Washington, from 2003 through the present, right? We all remember that, right? Right? It's a clear memory, right?

Hmmm, maybe not. But here's a blog post he expertly penned on the clear and present danger presented by the Qods forces of Iran (and we do indeed all remember the week they were the greatest threat to America when George W. Bush needed to justify his brilliant surge strategy at the beginning of 2007, don't we?):

http://francona.blogspot.com/2007/01/qods-force-irans-special-operations.html

Don't miss the link at the bottom of the account where you can "send a message to the Khomeinists"! Be an honorary member of the 101st Chairborne Division!