All The News That's Fit To Plant

While most of the journalistic community is outraged over news that the U.S. military has been paying for positive stories to be planted in Iraqi media, there are some who think it's a good idea. Retired Air Force brigadier general Walter Jajko defends the practice as part of the effort to win the war in The Los Angeles Times today (hat tip to Romenesko):

"In the war against Al Qaeda and its sympathizers, aggressive, relentless and exhaustive attacks are needed, including arguing against the terrorists' theological heresies, rebutting their lies, undermining their popularity, blackening their reputations, falsifying their public and private communications, publicizing intelligence against their fellow-traveler friends and jamming their radio, television and computer networks.

America's failure to use the indispensable instrument of information to protect its own national interests is inexcusable, especially as it wages a protracted war to the death against Islamic terrorists to preserve democratic governance, a free society and Western civilization."