Elements of truth
It is almost amusing, the "debate" "whether the Pentagon and military should undertake an official program that uses disinformation to shape perceptions abroad", "include planting news stories in the foreign press or creating false documents and Web sites", when even the NYT admits that "it is unclear how far along the [other] programs are or to what extent they are being carried out because of their largely classified nature". Not only that, "public affairs officers in war zones might, by choice or under pressure, issue statements to world news media that, while having elements of truth, are clearly devised primarily to provoke a response from the enemy".
The subtext to this is not just that the Pentagon will continue to lie to achieve its aims, but that the intended target list is widening in scope to friendly governments. And peoples - ["the current debate is over proposed revisions that would widen the target audience for such missions"]. Consider for a moment the WMD scam that was used to gain Australian support for an illegal war in Irak - there was nothing accidental about those lies, they were clearly effected for a particular result, and moreover, were part of an ongoing US deception strategy. However, the irony of a country's military having to decieve to persuade others of its integrity seems to escape the popular media entirely. As does the extremely questionable behaviour of Australian officials and politicians who knowingly sanctioned the domestic promulgation of America's offshore disinformation efforts. And who are probably still doing so.
Yes, it might be amusing, were it not for the collateral damage, the very real bodies lying in the streets of Irak and other places, the bloody ultimate price of playing loose with the facts for the sake of hidden agendas. The giveaway in the NYT article is the mantra of "current debate" - based on recent history, the actual semantic is more likely to be either "damage control" or "evaluating the extent to which unethical behaviour will be tolerated".
Item posted by AutoEditor at 2:52 pm ::
