Diane Farsetta asks for help…
In this article for Counterpunch, Ms. Farsetta solicits participation from you and me in her research on the Pentagon-Media spin factory. It’s a worthwhile venture; and we encourage any and all to lend a hand.
Exposing the Talking Points for War
Cracking the Pentagon Pundit CodeBy DIANE FARSETTA
As reporters and researchers know all too well, releasing information isn’t necessarily the same thing as releasing useful information.
Case in point: the Pentagon’s military analyst program. In early 2002, the Defense Department began cultivating “key influentials” — retired military officers who are frequent media commentators — to help the Bush administration make the case for invading Iraq. The program expanded over the years, briefing more participants on a wider range of Bush administration talking points, occasionally taking them overseas on the government’s dime.
In April 2006, the group was used to counter criticism of then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The apparent coordination between the Pentagon and the pundits piqued the interest of New York Times reporters. Two years later — after…
Timothy R. Anderson:
My Central California area is ” blessed ” with the presence of
a nationally-known “key influential ” on the A.M. radio ……
Monday through Friday, 3 hours per afternoon.
He is likely to say that the surge is successful, not likely to mention that person named President Bush, likely to use the phrase
” Stop The Radical Express , ” not likely to mention that
more than 75,000 Iraqis have died since March 2003, likely to
say to a caller ” You’re A Great American ! ” , not likely to
mention that more than 500 billion dollars’ worth of American money spelled b-o-r-r-o-w-e-d money has been spent on the Iraq War since March 2003, likely to say that Barack Obama ’s former pastor
said ” G - d damn the United States ” , not likely to mention
that the Pentagon has awarded contracts to private security companies who employ Chileans who worked for Pinochet, LIKELY TO
say that America’s businesses have absolutely nothing to apologize for and that the free market capitalist system is succeeding,
NOT LIKELY TO say that the American dollar has lost value
and is likely to continue to lose even more value.
The key ingredient to his performance is repetition.
His last name rhymes with ” Dannity. ” The Pentagon
benefits, no doubt in my mind about it ! , from him
staying on the air.
Timothy R. Anderson .
13 August 2008, 1:00 pmAditya:
Not sure where this fits but here are two stories about rape in the military worth checking out.
Why Soldiers Rape
Culture of misogyny, illegal occupation, fuel sexual violence in military
By Helen Benedict
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3848/
Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?
15 August 2008, 8:40 amBy Col. Ann Wright
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080801_sexual_assault_in_the_military_a_dod_cover_up/
Timothy R. Anderson:
Days Don’t Cost Anything. Really ? An Essay by Timothy R. Anderson.
In December 2006, at a time when the current Iraq War was more than
one thousand three hundred and fifteen days old, my local newspaper
published an opinion-editorial by a person that the Pentagon is
likely very, very pleased by ………. Jonah Goldberg.
In it, Goldberg tosses up this nugget : ” Days don’t cost anything, lives do. ”
In the context of the piece here are the sentences before that one and after that one : ” Rumsfeld’s way is better, at least on paper.
It’s better to have a long war with fewer casualties than a short war
with more of them. That’s why the World War Two comparison is so
frivolous : Days don’t cost anything, lives do. But it now seems
that the light footprint hasn’t made enough of an impression on
Iraqi soil or Iraqi society. By trying to inflict as little collateral damage as possible, by trying to fight a war on the cheap, we
inadvertently emboldened our enemies by what appeared to be a
lack of will. ” ( source: Jonah Goldberg, Thursday, December 7, 2006, page B- 9, The Fresno ((( California ))) Bee newspaper )
The days actually DO cost something, though. Just how much is a matter for the viewers / contributors of this site to put forward.
I’ll give you all a head-start :
According to page 5 -A of the Tuesday, February 8, 2005
USA Today newspaper, in an article written by Judy Keen and
Jim Frinkard, ” Operations in Iraq are costing about $ 1 billion
a week. ” To my mind , at the very least, that kind of indicates
that days indeed do cost quite a bit !
Days Cost ! The Pentagon may want the citizens in the USA not to think that way, but it is T RUE . Days COST ! That’s why Congress and the Pentagon and the White House keep “requesting ” ( and receiving ! ) more money for the Iraq War ! Days COST !
Timothy R. Anderson
19 August 2008, 1:18 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
Another Aspect Of Cracking The Pentagon Pundit Code :
Today’s News Of An Agreement, tentative though it may be,
That The U.S.A.’s government has hammered out a deal with
Iraq’s government to “redeploy” SOME American military
servicemembers away from Iraq is a case in point. Where’s the
cost ? WHERE Is The MONEY ? Show me the money ! How much
money will the Iraq War cost the USA , its citizens , and its
future-citizens ? Because I assure you the Bush Administration
AND the Pentagon AND the ” key influential ” s won’t be
emphasizing the money aspect of the continued military presence
of the USA’s military on Iraq’s soil.
Meanwhile, the current preferred method of getting more money
to continue the Iraq War is to paint the opposition as
abandoning the troops.
Each time, every time. Abandoning the troops.
Timothy R. Anderson
21 August 2008, 1:25 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
The Pentagon-Media Consolidation Project must’ve met the news of the Iraq War hitting its 2, 000 th Day mark with glee. Looking back
at my local newspaper from February 2008 , it provides some psychological basis for why the American public, even though it disapproves of President Bush a majority, continues to tolerate the continuing Iraq War !
Senator / Presidential candidate John McCain:
” I guarantee you this: If we had announced a date for withdrawal from Iraq and withdrawn troops the way that Senator Obama and Senator Clinton want to do, al-Qaida would be celebrating that they had
defeated the United States Of America and that we surrendered.
I will never surrender. ”
Senator / Presidential candidate John McCain,
speaking in Wichita, Kansas on Friday, February 8 , 2008.
Thus he makes it simple, doesn’t he ? Pulling American military servicemembers out of Iraq equals surrendering to al-Qaida !
Wow !
Please discuss this development !
Timothy R. Anderson
14 September 2008, 2:17 pmTimothy R. Anderson:
One More From The Archives.
There’s a lot of psychology involved in keeping the Powers That Be, well, in power. Gooodness knows that if Vice President Dick Cheney was out there on the campaign trail with Senator McCain the Republicans would need several tens of millions of dollars more
to spend on their ” McCain For President ‘ 08 ” campaign. The
local newspaper has a columnist named Cal Thomas who, it says,
” writes for Tribune Media Services ( Chicago, Illinois ) and , in December 2005, this was published ….. / possibly with the intention of helping the Pentagon look better, if not absolutely sinless.
Headline: ” Liars about Iraq don’t include Bush. ”
Article: ” The Bush Administration is partly responsible for
declining poll numbers and the growing public disapproval of the
war in Iraq. ”
” Instead of responding immediately to questions
concerning the reasons for the war and the honesty
Instead of responding immediately to questions
concerning the reasons for the war and the honesty
of top-level members of the Bush Administration , it allowed
these allegations to fester until they became accepted,
in many quarters, as fact. ”
” This led to an escalation in calls for troop withdrawals and
exit timetables that President Bush and members of his administration
wanted to avoid, for fear
it would give our enemy
the perception of a weak America with no stomach for protracted
warfare. ”
” The ‘ insurgents ‘ are not the only reason
that the war is difficult. ”
” The United States Of America is forced to fight
differently from the terrorists. ”
” The ‘ insurgents ‘ use torture, beheadings, and ‘ suicide-
bombings ‘ that take the lives of noncombatants. ”
” But when someone charged that the United States uses intense or
unusual - whatever that means ! - techniques to pry information
from a captive …… that could save lives ……..
war critics and the media go wild ! ”
” Terrorists are also winning the psychological warfare,
partly because the jihadists are unified behind a goal and we,
often, are not . The jihadists want to kill ‘infidels’ and the
jihadists want territory.
American leftists want ‘peace’, without realizing that
peace is a byproduct of defeating evil. ”
source: Cal Thomas,
page B- 9,
Fresno (California ) Bee newspaper
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Now, I hope people’ ll take a lot of time to think about
the ‘ fact’ that peace is a byproduct of defeating evil.
Because that’s the thinking that guides the well-meaning
obedient masses to put up with sending American young men
and American young women to far-off distant lands,
again and again and again and again and again.
Timothy R. Anderson
28 October 2008, 5:06 pm