US army defends planting of news

December 2, 2005

US army defends planting of news

BAGHDAD, Dec 1: The US military on Thursday defended its policy of feeding articles to the Iraqi press as part of a campaign to counter what it said were lies spread by Al Qaeda militants. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times revealed that the US military has been paying the fledgling Iraqi press to run articles which US troops have written that focus on the positive aspects of the occupation and reconstruction.

“We don’t lie, we don’t need to lie, we do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the Iraqi public,” said US military spokesman Maj Gen Rick Lynch.

“What Zarqawi is doing continuously is lying to the Iraqi people, lying to the international community,” he said at a press briefing, referring to Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

What the general and his assistants would not comment on, however, was whether they paid these newspapers to run the material, saying they would not comment on the specific mechanics of the process.
(snip)

Several Iraqi journalists said that a number of the country’s dozens of newspapers were known to publish articles given to them by US institutions. —AFP
(snip/...)