Pentagon To Expand P.R. Operation

Defense Department Buttressing Its Public Relations Efforts As Criticism Against Iraq War Grows

(AP)  The Defense Department is setting up a system to counter derogatory publicity quickly, a rapid response operation perfected in recent U.S. political campaigns.

A prime goal appears to be to deflect criticism increasingly directed toward Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the Iraq war.

In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, Dorrance Smith, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said new teams of people will "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and "correct the record."

The memo describes an operation modeled after a political campaign's, such as that made famous by Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential race, that use "Rapid Response" action to answer opponents' assertions quickly.

Another branch would coordinate "surrogates." In political campaigns, surrogates are usually high-level politicians or key interest groups who speak or travel on behalf of a candidate or an issue.

The Pentagon plan would focus more resources on so-called new media, such as the Internet and Web logs, or blogs. It would also include new workers to book civilian and military guests on television and radio shows.

Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff did not provide the number of people to be hired or the program's cost.

Rumsfeld has complained bitterly that the press focuses too much on bad news coming out of Iraq and not enough on progress being made. As an example, during a trip to Nevada this year, he said he was deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in "manipulating the media" to influence Westerners.

"That's the thing that keeps me up at night," he said during a question-and-answer session at a naval base.

The Pentagon public relations changes have been in the works for months and come as voters prepare to vote next week with the war in Iraq as a major issue to decide whether the Republican continue their control of Congress. Polls suggest that the Republicans could lose their majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives, where all seats are being elected, and perhaps the Senate as well, where 33 of the 100 senators will be elected.

The new public relations plan began to take shape on Friday as new construction began in the E-Ring, the Pentagon's outermost corridor, to accommodate new hires.

Ruff said Monday the reorganization, spearheaded by Smith, will help the department "set the record straight" and provide accurate, timely information.

He denied that the effort was set up to respond to the eroding public support for the war or that it was aimed at helping President George W. Bush's Republican partymates in next week's elections. He also said he would not call it an "information operations" program, which generally refers to a propaganda-type campaign.

Ruff said the effort grew out of Rumsfeld's criticism of the department's communications capabilities, which the secretary compared unfavorably to how quickly and effectively terrorists can get their message out.

"If I were grading I would say we probably deserve a `D' or a `D-plus' as a country as to how well we're doing in the battle of ideas that's taking place in the world today," Rumsfeld said during a visit to the Army War College in March. "I'm not going to suggest that it's easy, but we have not found the formula as a country" for countering the extremists' message.

"We're trying to do better than a D-plus," said Ruff.

[j-whitman]

Karen Hughes,, is the Virgin Mary.... I don't think so

[j-whitman]

We can have fun with this one,,, Karl Rove is Jesus

[j-whitman]

Cheney is Peter Pan,, Condi Rice is Snow White

[j-whitman]

Hmmmm,,,, Rumsfield is Santa Claus,,, Bush is the Tooth Fairy

[j-whitman]

Great... Smiley Faces For Cluster Bombs

[pakaal]

"[Pentagon Press Secretary] Ruff said Monday the reorganization... will help the department 'set the record straight' and provide accurate, timely information."

Not that this is a slap in the face of every journalist or anything, eh? The Pentagon is going to give more objective news than news agencies? C'mon, that's like asking Bill O'Reilly to make objective commentary.

[pakaal]

Didn't we already go through the "Office of Information Awareness" thing? I think we said "NO" to that last time around. I wonder if Poindexter will be tapped to lead this latest P.R.opoganda "effort".

Can't imagine what they're going to say though. Everyone but Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have already admitted Iraq is in a de-facto civil war and increasing terrorist presence - thanks to our misplaced war. Seriously, what kind of evidence of "progress" can they come up with (that isn't entirely fabricated of course)?

[bluestardad]

HECK OF A JOB RUMMY, STAY THE COURSE, VOTE FOLEY.

[marcelde]

THE HEAD OF HITLER%u2019S PROPAGANDA, HERMAN GOERING SAID IT QUITE WELL AT THE NUREMBERG TRIAL:

"But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. ... voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

ReichsMarschall Hermann Goering, (the Nuremberg Diary) one of the highest-ranking Nazis who survived to be captured and put on trial for war crimes.

DO NOT PROP A GANDER. BUSH MUST USE PROPER CANDOR!

[marcelde]

Bush asserted that critics who claim the Iraq war has made America less safe embrace "the enemy's propaganda."

DO NOT PROP A GANDER. BUSH MUST USE PROPER CANDOR!

I GUESS THAT MEANS THAT OUR U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES EMBRACE THE ENEMY%u2019S PROPAGANDA SINCE THE CIA PRODUCED JUST SUCH A POSITION, AS PASTED, BELOW:

%u201CA classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), completed in April concludes that the Iraq war has fueled the growth of Islamists and terrorist. Democratic lawmakers said the NIE finding -- which reflects the consensus view of 16 government intelligence services, including the CIA -- undermines Bush's frequent assertion that the toppling of Saddam Hussein's government has made the world more secure and confirms the need for a major change in strategy in Iraq.%u201D

MEANWHILE, CONDI RICE, WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE NO MEMORY OF ANY ADVANCE WARNINGS CONCERNING THE LIKELYHOOD OF AN IMMINENT TERRORIST ATTACK WAS FORCED TO HAVE HER OFFICE CONCEDE THAT IT HAD IN FACT RECEIVED WRITTEN BRIEFINGS FROM GEORGE TENANT TWO MONTHS PRIOR TO 911.
THE DISEMBLING AND DOUBLE SPEAK OF THIS SO CALLED %u201CADMINISTRATION%u201D CONTINUES, UNABATED.

STAY THE CURSE!

[energyecon]

I have never seen a better argument for Democrat control of both the House and Senate!

[rharrin1]

Could it be fahrenheit 911 was a true documentary ?

[lewyoowy]

Trust me....this isn't a group that's going to tell us the truth....... Now we can be winners.....the pentagon is issuing us a new Department of Truth

[adventurepa]

Propaganda. Can you say "propaganda"?
"correcting the record"
Didn't relieze it needed correcting.

"There all dead" , (report infomation.)
"What did he just say?" (reporter)
"He said, they are all wearing red." (New propaganda agency)
"Oh." (Tax payer)

They must think we are stupid.

This country is headed in a bad direction.

[saransk]

I wonder if they will call it the "5 o'clcok follies' in rememberance of the massive PR press breifings done in Saigon.
Instead of trying to formulate a rational policy for Iraq - since the Iraqi's didn't welcome us like liberators - the cabal in control want's defelct critism. Is it just me or does this sound like a new Department - the Department of Truth.

[christiansin]

"Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice... We won't be fooled again."
- George "Duh for short" Bush

Remember that on November 7 when you vote to throw the bumbs out!

[christiansin]

P.R. is swell if you want to lead a country, but good P.R. starts with someone who first of all know where to lead the country to and second is capable of convincing the masses that it is the right path... without coercion. Bush, Cheney, Rumi, and the rest of their chronies in congress obviously aren't that! All the P.R. in the world isn't going to change that.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you aren't going to fool enough of us this time!

[christiansin]

Yeah, that's just the ticket.

Let's let Rumi spend a few more years and a few billion dollars convincing the world that he has a real plan using P.R. instead of spending some time and money coming up with a plan that will work. That's just what we need.

Let's not fix Iraq. Let's just draw a pretty border around it with flowers and bows.

[cofmanaaron]

This story has an eerie overtone of the power of propaganda. Watch what they say in these responses, "correcting the record", will they really be the truth?

[bluestardad]

RUMMY YOU DOLT, GET A JOB