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$20 Million for ‘Good News’ From Iraq

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Posted on Sep 1, 2006

According to the Washington Post: “U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.” Your money at work! (Via boingboing)

Washington Post:
Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 31, 2006; Page A20

U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.

The contract calls for assembling a database of selected news stories and assessing their tone as part of a program to provide “public relations products” that would improve coverage of the military command’s performance, according to a statement of work attached to the proposal.

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By G Andersen, September 2, 2006 at 5:58 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Governmental control of the media or filtering or spinning what we see on the tv, newspaper and computer is a scary thing. 

This is called propaganda and hitler and other failed governments have done this and have been doing this for years.

If we can not trust what we see, read or hear from our govt. or news outlets, this country is doomed.

If Bush had his way, he would film only the good news about Iraq,(what little there is) and none of the bad(which is 99% of news out of Iraq) and his loyal conservatives would love him for it.

If this is the way the US is going to evolve I fear for our beloved country.  We will be like Rome, here today, gone tomorrow and everyone will be wondering how such a great nation fell by the wayside. 

We are choking on our own self importance, greed and gluttony.

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By Donald L. Fahrney, September 2, 2006 at 4:24 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

yes but Bush cut 7 million off benefits for vets with brain injuries from the war. How’s that for protecting our troops. Can you believe these people and what they do and the people still support these monsters.

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By Geronimo, September 2, 2006 at 12:36 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

And so, unchallenged,  the build-up of militarism continues.  What if FEMA had spent twenty million bucks of us taxpayer’s money to boost the public’s perception of its performance before, during and since Katrina?  Anyone think it would have gotten away with this?  It’s time to bring the military down to size. It’s supposed to serve the people, not turn around and bite the very hands that feed it!

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By kevin99999, September 2, 2006 at 12:20 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I wonder why the U.S. government doesnt do it here at home. Is it because corporate media is already complying?

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By Fadel Abdallah, September 1, 2006 at 9:30 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

To those critics who keep yammering that the Bushittes have spent billions of our tax dollars for the reconstruction of the Iraq they destroyed, but have built practically nothing, one would say “Ha!”
If you went to Iraq today, you’d see a marvelous new complex rising up in the heart of Baghdad. This 104-acre shining oasis would certainly supercede the palaces Saddam Husain was known for building. It will include more than 600 condos, two major office buildings, its own electricity plant and water system, air conditioning, swimming pools, a gym, a movie theater, a food court, a beauty salon, a car-repair shop, and even a night club.
This sprawling new palace complex, which will have 8,000 people working in it when completed next year, must be a welcome sign of progress and a symbol of democratic pride for the long-suffering people of Iraq-right? Well… not exactly! You see this palace is not for them. This is to be the new U.S. center of occupation in Iraq, called nicely the U.S. Embassy.
Being built by an affiliate of –guess who?- Halliburton, this half-billion dollar, self-contained complex will be by far the largest embassy in the world. But this is no mere house of diplomacy-it’s a mini-state inside Iraq capital and the largest complex of espionage in the world, establishing a permanent American base that literally ripples with negative symbolism. Surrounded by 15-foot walls, guarded by marines, and overlooking the chambers housing the Iraqi government, this fortress will be viewed by the average Iraqi people as an evil palace of occupation and a continued target for the Iraqi resistance to liberate themselves from an evil foreign occupation. This symbol of neocolonialism will eventually be surrounded by the angry Iraqis, and only God will know what would happen to its occupants. Remember what happened to a similar complex in Iran in 1979!

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By ib, September 1, 2006 at 2:34 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

They just keep throwing other people’s money away.  Amazing is all about CONTROL.

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By felicity smith, September 1, 2006 at 1:04 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Right off the bat it’s frightening how easily our government throws around millions and billions of our hard-earned dollars.  That aside, the question, and the Wapo article doesn’t answer, is are we talking about censorship or other-sides-of-the-story articles?  The import of the former is ominous:  The latter is common practice.

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