Murtha: The Military Has Been ‘Dishonored’ By The ‘Untruths’ Of The Pentagon’s Propaganda Program
Murtha: The Military Has Been ‘Dishonored’ By The ‘Untruths’ Of The Pentagon’s Propaganda Program
Two weeks ago, the New York Times revealed a secret Pentagon program that uses retired military analysts to “generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.” Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended the program, claiming “it’s absolutely appropriate to provide information to people who are seeking it.”
In an interview with ThinkProgress today, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) called the program “unfortunate,” adding that “it hurts us in the long run.” Murtha said he was especially “disappointed” that some of the analysts involved in the program “didn’t even believe what they were saying” in support of the administration:
MURTHA: I saw that some of the officers that were saying that didn’t even believe what they were saying. Well, the military’s held in the highest level and the highest esteem in this country. All of us appreciate their sacrifices. I’ve gotten to the point where I now distrust the military because they have been dishonored by these kind of untruths. It used to be that I could listen to the military, they would come to me, and what they said privately they were willing to say publicly. With Rumsfeld’s tenure, they distorted everything. And that’s the way they got by for four years because the public said, well, the military’s saying that. Well, the public’s no longer accepting that. The public realizes we made a mistake when we went in, much of the information was inaccurate and they continue to say these kind of things.
Murtha also said that he was “disappointed in the news media” for allowing the Pentagon to exploit them, noting that “blogs have been so important to bringing out the truth.”
Watch it:
As Murtha noted, the Times reported that some of the analysts toed the administration’s line to such an extent that they publicly contradicted what they privately believed:
“I saw immediately in 2003 that things were going south,” General Vallely, one of the Fox analysts on the trip, recalled in an interview with The Times.
The Pentagon, though, need not have worried.
“You can’t believe the progress,” General Vallely told Alan Colmes of Fox News upon his return [from a Pentagon-provided trip to Iraq in Sept. 2003]. He predicted the insurgency would be “down to a few numbers” within months.
Murtha closed by noting the price Americans are paying for the Iraq war, saying that the Pentagon program is “unfortunate and it just makes it that much more difficult for us to overcome this, because people who don’t believe it now, believed it for a while and they don’t want to be misled again.”
Transcript:
QUESTION: The New York Times recently published an expose on a secret Pentagon program to work with retired military analysts to, quote, “generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.” And yesterday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino defended the program by saying, “it’s absolutely appropriate to provide information to people,” eventhough many of the analysts, not all of them, provided information that was the administration spin giving the opposite indication of what the reality on the ground in Iraq was, specifically in 2006. I’m wondering if you could respond.MURTHA: Here’s what’s the problem with something like that. I didn’t read the whole article, it was seven or eight pages and small type. But, I saw the headlines and I saw that some of the officers that were saying that didn’t even believe what they were saying. Well, the military’s held in the highest level and the highest esteem in this country. All of us appreciate their sacrifices.
I’ve gotten to the point where I now distrust the military because they have been dishonored by these kind of untruths. It used to be that I could listen to the military, they would come to me, and what they said privately they were willing to say publicly. With Rumsfeld’s tenure, they distorted everything. And that’s the way they got by for four years because the public said, well, the military’s saying that.
Well, the public’s no longer accepting that. The public realizes we made a mistake when we went in, much of the information was inaccurate and they continue to say these kind of things. So, I’m dissapointed. I’m dissapointed in the news media. I tell ya, till I spoke out, the news media was not honest — or afraid to come forward. And I think the tactic was, “we don’t give them access if they say anything bad about us.”
The blogs have been so important to bringing out the truth. I didn’t know what a blog was till a couple of years ago. Now, I not only know, I understand how important they are because people have an opportunity to hear the other side of what they’re saying. Most people, they’re worried about their ordinary lives. They hear a news clip, news media doesn’t cover anything very thoroughly. It’s a small excerpt about it and so the blogs are very important. It’s very important to get the facts out. And this particular case, it’s damaging when a officer says, “I didn’t think it was true and yet I went ahead and said it.” That’s unfortuante and it hurt us in the long run. It took us 20 years to get over Vietnam.
It took us through the Ford administration, the Carter administration, it took us into the Reagan administration because we didn’t pay for the war and the public was misled. Now the public recognized it very early on in Vietnam because they casualties were so heavy. Because of the technology increases, they didn’t recognize it as quickly in Iraq. But until the end of the Clinton administration, where we had a budget with a surplus, we were paying for the Vietnam war. We’re doing the same thing now. I offered a sur tax on people, Dave Obey and I did, to pay for the war. I mean, nobody recognized we’re paying now with inflation, we’re paying all the expensese in Iraq. We’re paying $343 million dollars a day because of Iraq.
So, it’s unfortunate and it just makes it that much more difficult for us to overcome this, because people who don’t believe it now, believed it for a while and they don’t want to be misled again.
According to the article, the documents suggest that the Pentagon supplied retired officers serving as analysts for several major American broadcasters with private briefings with Sec. Rumsfeld, talking points in anticipation of appearing on TV, and commercial airfare. Allegedly, the Pentagon discouraged the analysts from publicly describing the nature of their relationship with the Pentagon. This clearly violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
The Offices of the President and Vice President have been dishonored…
The Department of Justice and the Attorney’s Generals, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales and Gen. Mukasey have been dishonored…
The Pentagon and Department of Defense along with the Office of the Secretary’s of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen Hayden have been dishonored…
… America has been dishonored …
Congress naps…
May 1st, 2008 at 9:01 pmMurtha is right.
Why does the Bush administration hate our military?
May 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pmhow come my comment aren’t coming through damn it?
I said Murthas awesome. His speach on the floor of the senate was awesome
my letterman video got over 8,000 views in 48 hours.
Dave PWNS Bush
May 1st, 2008 at 9:20 pmthat speech he gave on the floor about his 93 year old grandma that told him “we’re here to make a difference” I think of that often when it seems like the fights not worth fighting..
May 1st, 2008 at 9:22 pmThis president manages to corrupt everything he touches. Everything that can be influenced by him and his criminal organization is corrupted.
The next President (provided that it’s not Gramps McSame) should spend his/her first year undoing everything that this chimp creep has done.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:25 pmGuido the Loving OBGYN Says:
Tim Russert (paraphrased, on Moyer):
“It’s not my job to question the Bush administration if the Democrats aren’t doing it.”
May 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Moyers’ response…?
May 1st, 2008 at 9:26 pmGuido,
Moyers was probably itching to reach out and smack Russert on the back of the head.
What an idiotic answer…I wonder what he thinks his job is?
May 1st, 2008 at 9:39 pmplease please PLEEZE..!!!
It isn’t “towed the line” it is “toed the line”.
I’ve seen this mistake made about a hundred times in the press and on other sites and whilst the English language is inherently flexible and ever-changing, a toe is not a tow.
Making shit up is the province of the ignorant.
Please do your best to “TOE THE LINE”.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:15 pmhey Murtha.. you want to generate some real publicity for this? Have a press conference and say the paid propogandists “betrayed us” and watch the right wing freak out…sadly these days a right wing freakout is about the only way for anything to get publicity…
May 1st, 2008 at 10:17 pmSad but true! As a veteran, I am particularly saddened.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:21 pmA form letter to lawmakers (including Rep. Murtha). Feel free to edit and/or steal it. I’ve already emailed it to my Senators and Congresswoman.
Dear Legislator
We, the People of the United States of America, need your help. We are ashamed of the actions the Bush administration has perpetrated in our names. We gave you a clear mandate, to thwart the disastrous policies of the administration, and you have thus far let us down. From the occupation of Iraq, to the brazen cronyism in appointments, the Bush Administration has not been held accountable. Indeed, they have seemed to mock attempts at oversight and revel in their defiance of the Will of the People.
This is not a time for political maneuvering. It’s time to ask, “how much more damage can President Bush do in the 7 months, legally, remaining in his term”? “How long will it take to repair that damage”? “Can the damage even be repaired”? It’s time to take a stand, with your constituents, and end the madness now. The very survival of our Nation may depend on it.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pmI remember once when we were towing a car of my brother, that had broken down, I wrote, with shoe-polish, IN TOE, on the back window of the disabled vehicle. Nearly a dozen people pulled up along side us, windows down and heads out, telling us we spelled ‘tow’ wrong.
When we laughed they figured out we were joking.
As to ‘Toe the line’, okay, toeing a line sets off a booby trap, to tow the line means to pull the line. We did both =)
May 1st, 2008 at 10:24 pmMurtha is being far too polite when he says he is disappointed in the media. It is absolutely scandalous what the Media perpetrated on the American People. If the Media had been diligent in doing their jobs the American People wouldn’t have been duped into believing in the War in Iraq. If the News Media had any journalistic integrity they would have nailed President Bush & Cheney to the wall for lying about Weapons of Mass Distruction. If the News Media had pursued the facts about Dick Cheney he would be impeached by now. If the News Media had just done a half-assed job they would have pressured congress to grow a spine and asked the tough questions we needed answers too…
The News Media has a very important job; that is making sure we get all the facts and information we need to make informed decisions that will impact our lives. So I strenuously disagree with Murtha that the News Media is disappointing, they committed fraud. They deliberately used deception too pull the wool over our eyes, to hoodwink us into believing the propaganda that all of these High Ranking Military Men were saying night after night.
They are just as guilty as the Bush Administration, and they have the blood of every soldier that died on their hands…
May 1st, 2008 at 10:31 pmThinkProgress,
Thank you and keep hammering on this. This is the scandal of the year. I can’t recall any more brazen incidence of the U.S. government directing propaganda at Americans.
I call it SPINCOM and have a graphic insignia you’re welcome to use.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:36 pmXisithrus…”Toe”
You got attention, but did anyone help you out beyond correcting your spelling? :D
May 1st, 2008 at 10:39 pmYou got attention, but did anyone help you out beyond correcting your spelling? :D -5E
Yes, I noticed those that corrected the intentional misspeliing were also eager to help out, as Im sure you would be 5E
May 1st, 2008 at 10:46 pmThere has been a litany of charges against this administration; a laundry list of documents and evidence to substantiate such charges, but NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING ever comes of them.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:28 pmI think news stories like this are out there to pacify the public with never any intent to DO something that would actually take effect in my lifetime!
No one likes to be LIED to! Not only in the United States, but everywhere around the Globe. Also, and that is for the American poeple too, no one like to be invaded and occupied either!
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:16 am#Marie… every revolution/evolution/change comes gradually. In 2001 poeple listened to this administration. Today, 2008, no one have any respect for these criminals. Everybody wants then accountable for their crimes. As I said before, if the United States of North America get serious about restoring its image, and by that I also mean ‘healing’, they will have to apply to this bunch, the same principals of the Nuremberg Trials. Otherwise, no matter who is in charge, no one will ever trust the USA ever again.(Very very sad!). I hope Washington realises that! Obviously Nanci Pelosi doesn’t! This maddnes should’ve have ended last November… That ‘Off the Table thing’ was a slap in the face of everybody who once loved your country.
Any news of Rice??! Is the media thinking we are letting her off the hook for those secrete meetings on Torture while she was LYING to Congress, to the American people and to the rest of the World?!!! We want her resignation and Indictement! ricemustgo.com !!!!!
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:29 amIs there anyone in George Bush’s Administration that isn’t a ten dollar thug?
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 amWas there someone who dishonoured the military by accusing them of rape who was proven wrong ?
Actually there was a conviction…
Cut Kilo a break. It’s early, and the strawmen are still wet from last night’s dew, so they don’t yet stand very well.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:44 am#6 — Bushie corrupts everything because he is corrupt. You reap what you sow. He’s a slacker, a coward, a draft dodger, a liar, a cheater, a scammer and a con artist — and that’s just for starters.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:11 amIt a Kilo of s…!
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:38 amFreedom Rebel Says:
Murtha is being far too polite when he says he is disappointed in the media.
I am way more disappointed in Congress than I am in the media.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 am#21 sacopenapa,
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 amIn my heart, I believe you are correct in your comment that evolution/change takes time, but will I even live to see the day? – I think that I am overwhelmed by frustration — time marches on — Bushies keep going unchallenged — the war is in its 6th year now — economy is in the tank — and the Dems are too involved in Washington politics to reduce the repugs to paper tigers.
Using Rep Murtha’s $$ numbers –> the war costs $ 1.13 per person per day.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pmJohn Stauber,Center for Media and Democracy:
“It is illegal for the U.S. government to propagandize citizens in this way.”
“What happened here was a psy-ops campaign, an incredible government propaganda campaign whereby Donald Rumsfeld and Torie Clark, the head of public relations for the Pentagon, designed a program to recruit 75, at least 75 former military officers, as your report said, most of them now lobbyists or consultants to military contractors, and insert them, beginning in 2002, before the attack on Iraq was even launched, into the major networks to manage the messages, to be surrogates”.
PBS NewHour Transcript 4/24/08
Please let’s not think for a minute that Rummy thought this up by himself. We all know that Rove and Cheney et al were the hands behind this perversion of our system. Congress must demand answers and act accordingly, turning their results over to President Obama’s DOJ if necessary.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 pmIt’s clear the Pentagon is full of Nazi style thugs. Maybe Obama can get rid of them, but Hollary and McCain are part of the whole rotten crew.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 amObama’s not “getting rid” of anyone, any more than Clinton or McCain! He wouldn’t be where he is if the media hadn’t fed him to us! The feared candidates(Edwards & Kucinich)have been removed from sight!
May 12th, 2008 at 8:57 pmToodles, cg