Yikes! Paid Disinfo in Iraq Press? No Kidding!

The NYT says the chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee called in top Pentagon officials and asked for an explanation about the reports that a secret military campaign is planting paid propaganda in the Iraqi news media. The Pentagon says it’s heard nothing from the generals in Iraq about this. “Senior Pentagon officials said on Thursday that they had not yet received any explanation of the program from top generals in Iraq, including Gen. John P. Abizaid, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the three most senior commanders for Iraqi operations,” the NYT report said. The White House is “very concerned about the reports…we have asked the Department of Defense for more information," a spokesman said. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said the Iraqis do this sort of thing but that the American military was disseminating truthful information. "We don't lie. We don't need to lie.” General Lynch said. It was just about there in the NYT story that I fell off my chair laughing. Is there anyone in the United States over the age of five who does NOT believe the White House, the Pentagon and the American military are all in cahoots to plant paid propaganda in the Iraqi press? Since when do the White House, the Pentagon and the US military NOT need to lie? And if they don’t need to lie, why are they lying? It’s amazing these guys don’t choke on their baloney: "I am concerned about any actions that may undermine the credibility of the United States as we help the Iraqi people stand up as a democracy," Senator John W. Warner (R-VA), head of the Armed Services said in a statement. "A free and independent press is critical to the functioning of a democracy, and I am concerned about any actions which may erode the independence of the Iraqi media," the statement said. "The State Department is working with journalists in Iraq to help them develop the skills that you all have in terms of reporting and journalistic ethics and practices," the State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, told reporters on Thursday. That's a joke, right? The GOP’s State Department has systematically muzzled the free and independent press for the past five years. They don’t need to lie? The foundation of the GOP political ideology is that they don’t need to tell the truth. The White House, Pentagon and tin soldiers running the US military say they can’t believe that propaganda is being planted in the Iraqi news media. Right back atcha, guys. The American people can’t believe the bullshit you’re planting in the US news media. Here’s the point. These gangsters know we don’t believe their lies. They know The Great Oz has been unmasked. Claiming innocence and denying is simply what criminals do. They don’t expect to be believed. The question is: What happens now? That's simple. We vote the lying, cheating, murdering bastards OUT!