Et tu, Brute? Again?!...

Mr.Atos

The L.A. Times is at it again... again with the help of anonymous sources/leakers of classified information in the Pentagon. This morning, the AFP helps expose yet another covert intelligence operation,

The US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to print stories written by US soldiers in an effort to polish the image of the American mission in Iraq a US newspaper reported.

US military "information operations" troops have written the articles, which are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based defense contractor, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Many articles are presented to Iraqi newspapers as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists, the daily said, citing documents it obtained and unnamed US military officials. (emphasis mine)

The unnamed source is reported to have leant reason for leaking the information to the press,

"Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first principles of democracy when we're doing it," a senior Pentagon official who opposes the planting of stories was quoted as saying.

There is a War going on in Iraq. Propaganda is another weapon deployed in that effort as it has always been from The Revolution to present... by both sides. Unlike gunfire, bombs and torture, it is relatively innocuous with the exception of those posessed by more delicate sensibilities regarding their perception of 'the enemy'. The LA Times should well recognize the efficacy of propaganda. Except the Left need not pay them to distribute agitprop. The Mainstream Press and Media willingly distort the truth before the world on a daily basis to propagate an agenda that most people otherwise find repugnant and suicidal.

And now they have ensured that the Iraqi people have as much faith in their fourth estate as we have in our own fifth column. Thanks again, Brutus!

(corrected 11.31.05 This was an AFP story, not an AP story)