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Newly released classified documents show that the Pentagon [5] was aware that military propaganda [6] targeting international audiences would be able to reach the American public. The 74-page "Information Operations Roadmap [7]" explains that "information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy [8] and PSYOP [9], increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience [10] and vice-versa." The Smith-Mundt Act, however, prohibits the U.S. government from propagandizing Americans [11]. But the Pentagon argued that "the distinction between foreign and domestic audiences becomes more a question of USG [U.S. government] intent rather than information dissemination practices." The Los Angeles Times [12] reports that the "secret U.S. military program that pays Iraqi newspapers [13] to publish articles favorable to the American mission appears to violate" the "Roadmap," which was signed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [14]. "It's clearly a violation based on the language used in the Rumsfeld document," a Pentagon official told the Times.
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/5/laura-miller
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/public-diplomacy
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/us-government
[4] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2006%2F01%2F4407%2Fpropaganda-eye-beholder&linkname=Propaganda%20-%20In%20the%20Eye%20of%20the%20Beholder%3F
[5] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pentagon
[6] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/propaganda
[7] http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/info_ops_roadmap.pdf
[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/public_diplomacy
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Psyops
[10] http://www.prwatch.org/node/4346
[11] http://www.prwatch.org/nofakenews
[12] http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-infowar27jan27,0,6396442.story?coll=la-news-a_section
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lincoln_Group
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donald_Rumsfeld
[15] http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/index.htm