PENTAGON PAYS IRAQI PAPERS TO PRINT ITS 'GOOD NEWS' STORIES
Jamie Wilson in Washington

The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
Thursday December 1, 2005

Faced with suicide bombings, claims of Iraqi death squads, and
kidnappings, the Pentagon has come up with an innovative solution
to solving the problems in Iraq: buying good news. Using defence
contractors or intermediaries posing as freelance reporters, the
military has been paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written
by a military propaganda unit lauding the US mission.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the articles are translated
into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers where they are often
presented as unbiased accounts by independent journalists. Records
obtained by the newspaper indicate the US has paid to publish dozens
of articles since the operation began this year, with headlines such
as "Iraqis insist on living despite terrorism" and "more money goes
to Iraq's development".

One military official told the LA Times the military has also bought
an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station, both used
to channel pro-American messages. The propaganda offensive is said
to have caused unease among some senior military officials at the
Pentagon and in Iraq, especially when the US is promising to promote
democratic principles.

At a press conference on Tuesday defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld
said the number of "free" media organisations in Iraq was one of its
great success stories, offering a "relief valve" for the Iraqi public
to debate the issues of the day.

A senior Pentagon official told the LA Times: "Here we are trying
to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give
in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first
principles of democracy when we're doing it."

At the heart of the operation is a contract the Pentagon has with a
small Washington based firm, Lincoln Group, whose Iraqi staff help
translate and place the stories, posing as freelance reporters or
advertising executives.

A spokeswoman for the group did not return calls yesterday. On one
occasion documented by the LA Times a man with the same name as a
Lincoln worker paid editors at the Al Mada newspaper $900 (£520) to
publish an article headlined "terrorists attack Sunni volunteers". He
paid cash and left no calling card.

Records obtained by the LA Times show the man told the Lincoln Group
he gave the paper more than $1,200.

Iraqi editors apparently reacted with a mixture of shock and
shrugs when told they were targets of a US military psychological
operation. The editor of Al Mada, widely considered the most thoughtful
and professional of Iraqi newspapers, said if his cash-strapped
paper had known the story was from the US government he would have
"charged much, much more".