Pentagon propaganda program orders soldiers to promote Iraq war

Pentagon propaganda program orders soldiers to promote Iraq war while home on leave. Good soldiers follow orders and hundreds of American military men and women returned to the United States on holiday leave this month with orders to sell the Iraq war to a skeptical public.

The program, coordinated through a Pentagon operation
dubbed “Operation Homefront,” ordered military personnel to give
interviews to their hometown newspapers, television stations and
other media outlets and praise the American war effort in Iraq.

Initial reports back to the Pentagon deem the operation a success
with dozens of front page stories in daily and weekly newspapers
around the country along with upbeat reports on local television
stations.

“We’ve learned as a military how to do this better,” Captain David
Diaz, a military reservist, told his hometown paper, The Roanoke (VA)
Times. “My worry is that we have the right military strategy and
political strategies now but the patience of the American public is
wearing thin.”

When pressed by the paper on whether or not his commanding officers
told him to talk to the press, Diaz admitted he was “encouraged” to
do so. So reporter Duncan Adams asked:

“Did Diaz return to the U.S. on emergency leave with an agenda — to
offer a positive spin that could help counter growing concerns among
Americans about the U.S. exit strategy? How do we know that’s not his
strategy, especially after he discloses that superior officers
encouraged him to talk about his experiences in Iraq?”

Replied Diaz:

“You don’t. I can tell you that the direction we’ve gotten from on
high is that there is a concern about public opinion out there and
they want to set the record straight.”

Diaz, an intelligence officer, knows how to avoid a direct answer.
Other military personnel, however, tell Capitol Hill Blue privately
that the pressure to “sell the war” back home is enormous.

“I’ve been promised an early release if I do a good job promoting the
war,” says one reservist who asked not to be identified.

In interviews with a number of reservists home for the holidays, a
pattern emerges on the Pentagon’s propaganda effort. Soldiers are
encouraged to contact their local news media outlets to offer
interviews about the war. A detailed set of talking points
encourages them to:

–Admit initial doubts about the war but claim conversion to a belief
in the American mission;

–Praise military leadership in Iraq and throw in a few words of
support for the Bush administration;

–Claim the mission to turn security of the country over to the
Iraqis is working;

–Reiterate that America must not abandon its mission and must stay
until the “job is finished.”

–Talk about how “things are better” now in Iraq.

“My worry is that we have the right military strategy and political
strategies now but the patience of the American public is wearing
thin,” Diaz told The Roanoke Times.

“It’s way better now (in Iraq). People are friendlier. They seem more
relaxed, and they say, ‘Thank you, mister,’” Sgt. Christopher
Desierto told his hometown paper, The Maui News.

But soldiers who are home and don’t have to return to Iraq tell a
different story.

“I’ve just been focused on trying to get the rest of these guys
home,” says Sgt. Major Floyd Dubose of Jackson, MS, who returned home
after 11 months in Iraq with the Mississippi Army National Guard’s
155th Combat Brigade.

And the Army is cracking down on soldiers who go on the record
opposing the war.

Specialist Leonard Clark, a National Guardsman, was demoted to
private and fined $1,640 for posting anti-war statements on an
Internet blog. Clark wrote entries describing the company’s commander
as a “glory seeker” and the battalion sergeant major an “inhuman
monster”. His last entry before the blog was shut down told how his
fellow soldiers were becoming increasingly opposed to the US
operation in Iraq.

“The message is clear,” says one reservist who is home for the
holidays but has to return and asked not to be identified. “If you
want to get out of this man’s Army with an honorable (discharge) and
full benefits you better not tell the truth about what is happening
in-country.”

But Sgt. Johnathan Wilson, a reservist, got his honorable discharge
after he returned home earlier this month and he’s not afraid to talk
on the record.

“Iraq is a classic FUBAR,” he says. “The country is out of control
and we can’t stop it. Anybody who tries to sell a good news story
about the war is blowing it out his ass. We don’t win and eventually
we will leave the country in a worse shape than it was when we
invaded.”

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