Sounds like good PR to me.  What are we supposed to do, tell them that 
we're failing and that some unknown insurgent group is soon going to 
massacre all of them as soon as we pull out?  What's the matter with some 
of you?

John Lee


At 12:08 PM 12/1/05 -0500, Michael Baier wrote:

>Brice,
>
>if you want to read a biased article, read them in the Iraqui newspaper.
>The Pentagon pays for faked positive stories. Now that is really biased.
>And nobody told GWB about this. Donald probably forgot.
>George really runs the show. ;->
>
>Paid-For Iraq Stories Concern White House
>President Bush's spokesman said Thursday "we're very concerned" about
>reports that the U.S. military is paying Iraqi newspapers and journalists
>to plant favorable stories about the war and the rebuilding effort.
>
>"We are seeking more information from the Pentagon," White House spokesman
>Scott McClellan said.
>
>At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman said, as he did a day earlier in
>response to reporters' inquiries about the reports, that he was seeking
>details from U.S. military officials in Baghdad. "I have very few facts,"
>Whitman said, adding that he would not confirm the essence of the story
>until he learned more from Baghdad.
>
>"It's certainly an issue that's easy to get emotional about, and we need to
>understand the facts, and when we do I'll provide you as much information
>as I can," Whitman said.
>
>The spokesman said that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was "aware of
>the issue," but he would not say whether Rumsfeld had expressed concern
>about it or whether the secretary had asked for additional information
>about it.
>
>Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the reports were troubling.
>
>"I think that the United States of America paying for stories in Iraqi
>papers undermines America's credibility," Kerry said in the White House
>driveway after attending a bill-signing ceremony. "What we need are Iraqis
>who really believe what they're saying and say it for themselves. ... You
>need to deal with the truth, not with things that you make up or put out
>there as propaganda."
>
>McClellan noted that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
>Staff, had said on Wednesday that he was not aware of the matter until he
>read a newspaper account of it that morning. Asked on ABC News' "Nightline"
>whether he thought the practice was appropriate, Pace replied, "Anything
>that would be detrimental to the proper functioning of a democracy in
>Iraq would worry me. I just don't know what the facts are."
>
>Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said, "I am not aware
>of any formal review of the program, although it is constantly being
>assessed for effectiveness."
>
>In Baghdad on Thursday, a senior military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch,
>was asked whether he thought the program undercuts the credibility of
>either the American military or the new Iraqi news media. Lynch did not
>answer directly but quoted a senior al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as
>having told Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the main terrorist leader in
>Iraq, "Remember, half the battle is the battlefield of the media."
>
>Lynch said Zarqawi lies to the Iraqi people and he said the American
>military does not.
>
>"We do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the
>Iraqi public, but everything we do is based on fact not based on fiction,"
>Lynch said.
>
>Details about the program were first reported by the Los Angeles Times on
>Wednesday. It marked the second time this year that Pentagon programs have
>come under scrutiny for reported payments made to journalists for favorable
>press.
>
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