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Friday, December 02, 2005

Walter Jajko, a retired Air Force brigadier general and former assistant to the secretary of Defense for intelligence oversight, is not upset at the revelation that we might have paid for editorials favorable to what is going on in Iraq to be published in the Iraqi press.
CRITICS OF THE Iraq war are outraged over the revelation that the U.S. military has been paying millions of dollars to plant pro-American, Pentagon-written propaganda articles in Iraqi newspapers and to buy off Iraqi journalists with monthly stipends.

But in my opinion, it's about time. Information is a critical part of any war, and the U.S. has for too long — to its own detriment — ignored this powerful and essential tool, a tool especially well-suited to the globalized Information Age.

Even third-rate countries routinely use information and disinformation as an instrument of foreign policy, often against the United States. The U.S., in turn, cannot win the war of ideas by speaking softly or keeping its mouth shut. But we have been doing just that.
It's an interesting perspective and one that we should perhaps think a bit about before we have another round of breathless outrage on all the cable news shows.

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:58 AM

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HOME Betsy neither necessarily uses, nor endorses, the products advertised on this site. Comments from an AP history and government teacher in Raleigh, NC. e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com Site Feed Wikio Your Market Research Here		Friday, December 02, 2005 Walter Jajko, a retired Air Force brigadier general and former assistant to the secretary of Defense for intelligence oversight, is not upset at the revelation that we might have paid for editorials favorable to what is going on in Iraq to be published in the Iraqi press. CRITICS OF THE Iraq war are outraged over the revelation that the U.S. military has been paying millions of dollars to plant pro-American, Pentagon-written propaganda articles in Iraqi newspapers and to buy off Iraqi journalists with monthly stipends. But in my opinion, it's about time. Information is a critical part of any war, and the U.S. has for too long — to its own detriment — ignored this powerful and essential tool, a tool especially well-suited to the globalized Information Age. Even third-rate countries routinely use information and disinformation as an instrument of foreign policy, often against the United States. The U.S., in turn, cannot win the war of ideas by speaking softly or keeping its mouth shut. But we have been doing just that. It's an interesting perspective and one that we should perhaps think a bit about before we have another round of breathless outrage on all the cable news shows. posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:58 AM \|

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Friday, December 02, 2005