Iraq

Pentagon Moves To Contain US Troop Complaints

by Laura Miller — August 3, 2003 - 10:00pm

"After several troops made some highly publicized negative comments to the media about the war effort in Iraq, the Pentagon has taken steps to keep the frustrations of both soldiers and their families out of reports," PR Week reports. "According to a story in the July 25 edition of Stars and Stripes, the military appears to be curtailing its much-touted embedded-journalist program, which has allowed reporters almost unfettered access to military units throughout the war and occupation.

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PR Week, August 4, 2003

Weapons Inspector To US: 'Don't Be Surprised By Surprises'

by Laura Miller — August 2, 2003 - 10:00pm

The Bush and Blair governments, straining to answer critics of the Iraq invasion, are pushing a new campaign. "The 'big impact' plan is designed to overwhelm and silence critics who have sought to put pressure on Tony Blair and George Bush," the Independent's Andrew Buncombe writes. "At the same time both men are working to lower the burden of proof - from finding weapons to finding evidence that there were programs to develop them, even if they lay dormant since the 1980s." Key to this new effort is former U.N.

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Independent, August 3, 2003

"Media Plan" Nearly Incinerated

by Sheldon Rampton — August 1, 2003 - 10:00pm

Officials with the British Ministry of Defence were preparing to destroy a "media plan" about Dr. David Kelly three days after his death, according to a the Telegraph. "It is not clear whether the papers were burned, but MoD officials admitted last night that ministry security guards called the police after finding the 'media plan' relating to the Kelly affair in a sack of classified waste being prepared for incineration," the paper reported.

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Telegraph (UK), August 2, 2003

Latest WMD Spin: From the 'Big Lie' to the 'Big Impact'

by John Stauber — July 31, 2003 - 10:00pm

Columnists for the Washington Times write that "the Pentagon adopted a new strategy in its search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. It is called the 'big impact' plan. The plan calls for gathering and holding on to all the information now being collected about the weapons. Rather than releasing its findings piecemeal, defense officials will release a comprehensive report on the arms, perhaps six months from now.

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Washington Times, August 1, 2003

Photos of Hussein Sons 'PR Disaster'

by Laura Miller — July 31, 2003 - 10:00pm

The photographs released by the Bush Administration of Uday and Qusay Hussein's dead bodies have provoked strong reactions throughout the world. The Guardian's Mark Borkowski writes in his column Stuntwatch: "What was the Bush administration's motivation in making the images public and how did the outcomes relate to the stated objectives? Since this is war, this is PR and the Uday and Qusay photograph incident, planned as a surgical media strike, has turned mucky (both in media and military terms) because no one had the sense to think through the PR implications properly.

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Guardian, August 1, 2003

Payback

by Sheldon Rampton — July 29, 2003 - 10:00pm

After retired diplomat Joe Wilson exposed the dishonesty of White House claims about Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Niger, senior administration officials retaliated by outing his wife, an undercover CIA agent. Senator Charles Schumer is calling for an investigation, pointing out that it is a felony to leak a CIA agent's identity.

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The Hill, July 30, 2003

White House Fumbles On 16-Word Crisis

by Laura Miller — July 23, 2003 - 10:00pm

"If President Bush's White House is known for anything, it is competence at delivering a disciplined message and deftness in dealing with bad news," Washington Post's Dan Balz and Walter Pincus write. "That reputation has been badly damaged by the administration's clumsy efforts to explain how a statement based on disputed intelligence ended up in the president's State of the Union address." The shifting White House story about it's references to Iraq, Niger and uranium continues to draw attention to the Bush administration deception.

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Washington Post, July 24, 2003

Moran's War

by Sheldon Rampton — July 22, 2003 - 10:00pm

During the war in Iraq, Paul Moran, a TV cameraman for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), was killed by a suicide bomber. After his death, his hometown newspaper discovered that Moran also worked for the Rendon Group, a secretive public relations firm that works with the Pentagon.

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Special Broadcasting Service (Australia), July 23, 2003

Miller's 2nd Draft of History

by Sheldon Rampton — July 22, 2003 - 10:00pm

New York Times reporter Judith Miller has begun revising her first draft of history, some two months after her widely criticized stories made the case that evidence of Saddam's unconventional weapons was being found.

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Editor and Publisher, July 23, 2003

Dissent in Stars and Stripes

by Sheldon Rampton — July 21, 2003 - 10:00pm

"As frustration over their lengthening deployment grows among troops in Iraq, soldiers are smacking head-on into limits on their public speech," writes Steve Liewer, a correspondent for the European version of Stars and Stripes magazine. Troops interviewed in Germany and Iraq say they have been briefed to refer questions to a public affairs specialist and that soldiers have been getting in trouble for speaking out. "I'm not comfortable telling you what I really think, and I'm not going to lie to you, so it's better if I just don't say anything," said one soldier.

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Stars and Stripes, July 22, 2003
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