Pentagon OK's Lincoln Group Propaganda

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A U.S. Defense Department inspector general's report concluded, after reviewing three contracts with the PR firm Lincoln Group worth $37.3 million, that military commanders in Iraq "complied with applicable laws and regulations in their use of a contractor to conduct psychological operations and their use of newspapers as a way to disseminate information." A Los Angeles Times article revealed that the Lincoln Group was paying Iraqi newspapers to covertly run stories written by U.S. military personnel. The Defense Department report did find that, for one contract, "a military contracting office did not maintain enough documentation to verify expenditures," according to Reuters. Sen. Edward Kennedy said that meant "the Pentagon cannot account for millions paid to the Lincoln Group." Kennedy, Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Peter Pace and others have said the program undermines U.S. goals of supporting democracy in Iraq. The Lincoln group recently won another "multimillion-dollar media contract to monitor English and Arabic media outlets and produce talking points, speeches and other material for U.S. forces in Iraq."