Posted on 22-2-2002
Pentagon
Starts Spinning
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington, 20 February 2002
The Pentagon is developing a major covert news and disinformation
campaign
to help Washington win the propaganda war against terrorism
in the Islamic
world.
The plan, worrying to some US defence officials, is being elaborated
by the
Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), a recently created unit
funded from an
extra $10bn (£7m) of emergency funds voted by Congress to the
Pentagon
after 11 September. The main target is the Islamic countries
of the Middle
East and Asia, but the campaign may also be directed at Western
Europe,
where criticism has mounted in recent weeks of the Bush administration's
strategy to fight terrorism.
Little is known of the OSI other than that it is headed by an
air force
general, Brigadier General Simon Worden, and is being advised
by a powerful
Washington communications consultancy, the Rendon Group. Its
budget and
staffing is unknown. Rendon has previously worked for the CIA,
the Kuwaiti
government and the Iraqi National Congress opposition group,
and is being
paid fees of about $100,000 a month, according to The New York
Times, which
disclosed the existence of the OSI yesterday.
The blueprint for the propaganda offensive is being studied
by the
Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and by Pentagon lawyers,
and has not
yet been formally approved by President Bush. But Mr Rumsfeld
is said
broadly to back the idea, and Rendon's background is further
evidence of
how Mr Bush intends to ratchet up the pressure on Saddam Hussein
and
achieve "regime change" in Iraq. None the less there are misgivings
within
the Pentagon at its seemingly imminent venture into an area
traditionally
the preserve of the CIA and the State Department. The main fear
is that by
feeding slanted and possibly false information to foreign government
officials and the international media, the OSI might undermine
the
credibility of the Pentagon's official press department.
Victoria Clarke, the official Pentagon press spokeswoman, said
her
department was not involved with the OSI, calling it "a work
in progress".
Though the Pentagon has been far from generous with information
about the
war, Mr Rumsfeld has more or less kept his promise not to lie
to reporters,
often telling reporters investigating sensitive issues: "I know,
but I
won't tell you." The New York Times said the plan, if approved,
would
embrace "black" disinformation and other covert activities in
addition to
accurate news releases. It would feature e-mail messages, distributed
by an
outside source to conceal their origin, which would promote
US policies and
attack unfriendly governments.
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