The Empire 449

Pentagon’s Pundits: A Look at the Defense Department’s Propaganda Program

The New York Times has revealed new details on how the Pentagon recruited more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as so-called military analysts ahead of the Iraq war to portray Iraq as an urgent threat. The Times reported the Pentagon continues to use the analysts in a propaganda campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance. We speak with Col. Sam Gardiner (Ret.) and Peter Hart of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.

Guests:

Peter Hart, activism director at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). He writes for FAIR’s magazine Extra! and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR’s syndicated radio show CounterSpin.

Col. Sam Gardiner, retired Air Force colonel, he has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College and Naval War College.

Rush Transcript

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AMY GOODMAN: Right now we turn to the ‘Pentagon’s Pundits.” The corporate media’s reliance on retired military officers for on-air commentary is well known. From the lead-up to the Iraq war to the present day, dozens of pro-war former military officials have appeared on the major news networks billed as impartial experts.

This is a brief excerpt of the documentary Independent Media in a Time of War by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center.

MICHAEL MOORE: I would like tonight to call for a removal, an immediate removal, of all US troops from CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN, NBC, all of them.

CNN ANCHOR: Via phone by General Franks.

COL. MIKE TURNER: The embed program, I think, is just superb.

MSNBC EMBED: We have three aircraft carrier battle groups.

MSNBC EMBED: Still a great deal of activity.

NBC EMBED: Just like out of an action movie.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK: We’ve hit, we’ve struck, You can the sort of adrenaline pumping.

VICE ADM. DENNIS McGINN: We are coming, and you can’t do anything about it.

AMY GOODMAN: Media critics have long pointed out the discrepancy between the overwhelming number of pro-war military voices versus the almost complete absence of antiwar voices.

It turns out the pro-war slant of military analysts was in fact part of a carefully orchestrated propaganda effort from the Pentagon. The New York Times has revealed the Pentagon recruited more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as so-called military analysts ahead of the Iraq war. Newly disclosed Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration themes and messages to millions of Americans in the form of their own opinions.

The so-called analysts were given classified Pentagon briefings, provided with Pentagon-approved talking points and given free trips to Iraq and other sites paid for by the Pentagon. Their involvement was ultimately approved by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Retired Green Beret Robert Bevelacqua, a former Fox News analyst, said, “It was [the Pentagon] saying, ‘We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.’”

The Pentagon even hired a private contractor to monitor the analysts’ broadcast interviews. Brent Krueger, a senior official who helped oversee the propaganda effort, said, “We were able to click on every single station, and every one of our folks were up there delivering our message. You’d look at them and say, ‘This is working.’”

Lees verder: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/pentagons_pundits_a_look_at_the