ACLU: Pentagon made ‘unprecedented’ effort to hide human cost of war.
ACLU: Pentagon made ‘unprecedented’ effort to hide human cost of war.
The ACLU today released documents regarding Navy investigations of civilians killed by coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report notes that the administration has gone to “unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost” of the wars. Some of the key findings:
– Banning photographers on U.S. military bases from covering the arrival of caskets containing the remains of U.S. soldiers killed overseas
– Paying Iraqi journalists to write positive accounts of the U.S. war effort
– Inviting U.S. journalists to “embed” with military units but requiring them to submit their stories for pre-publication review
– Erasing journalists’ footage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan
– Refusing to disclose statistics on civilian casualties.
The New York Times revealed in April that the Pentagon also had used a domestic propaganda program to paint a rosy portrait of the war effort. See the documents here.
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They lied to begin. They have lied to maintain. They will lie to continue. No act of treason, mayhem, or mischief, is beneath these scum. Our only hope is enough brave officers to say NO SIR! to the ultimate horror.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 pmMSM response?
^crickets^
Trolls response?
It is justifiable, you loons do not get it.
Puhleeeze someone fireup that time machine and make it November already!
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pmPropaganda has always been a staple of the Pentagon; it’s a fairly common part of tactics in the age of mass comm. No democratic nation has attempted such tight control.
When I read of the torture program being lifted from Communist China, and hear the puzzlement of “Why?” stated, I’m forced to conclude that the false answers which were sure to be given would be used as part of a propaganda campaign to keep America’s lust for war stoked. Those same answers must have been, for the most part, too ludicrous for even these cretins, and their shills in media, to put forth to the public; they certainly don’t stand up to even minimal legal scrutiny, as evinced by the numbers of detainees released and the “evidence” laughed out of even military courts. In fact, the more I read of the Cheney Admin, the more I’m reminded of Maoist China.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pmI did not see the hidden fact that the
reported counted dead US soldiers are of only those killed on Iraqi soil. Those that die en route to the hospital or after arriving, some sources have estimated 8 times as many,are not counted.
Those that died during the Vietnam so called war were still being added to the Wall Memorial in the 1980’s.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pmThe trolls’ response will be “Oh yeah? So what do *you* libs propose?” and then babble something about moral relativity.
Regarding this story, I thought it was a known fact that the Pentagon required “embedded” reporters to submit their stories for approval before publishing them.
I seem to remember reading something to that effect at the beginning of the invasion and a few times after that…
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pmI’ll give credit where credit is due, cavjam. Maoist China made this bunch of bums look like “Scooby-Doo villains”. Mao actually built his movement and led it efficiently for decades. The neocons are just the radical dregs of the “Reagan Republicriminals” and are collectivly devoid of imagination.
Starting a war to get wealth is hardly original. We just never really believed an American President would do it, until we were faced with the reality. I haven’t seen evidence of a single thing they’ve built aside from bank accounts. And it’s likely that the inflation they set in motion will bite them deeply. Then there’s the hoped for forfeitures and sentences.
But there’s no way any of the brood is in Mao’s class.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 pmFrom pete
Plus, Mao could really turn a phrase.
I was thinking more of the political officers attached to every department, sub-department, and so on. “We must not relay facts that contradict policy.”
As well as “The Five Year Plan is succeeding quite well, thank you” propaganda launches. Then there’s the spying on the Quakers and the rest of the anti-establishment hippies. Oh, let’s not forget using police powers of the state to quell opposition.
Stalin would have served as well, better, as model, but I liked the balance of Mao and the torture literature.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 pmah, the Bush crime family trying mightly to cover up their war crimes against the people of Iraq. And Senator McForrestalFire really does not want a serious, in-depth exmaination of his naval aviation career.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 pmIf things are “going so well” in Iraq according to our friends on the right, why would they need to lie about it? The day I stop seeing fully armed and armored US soldiers kicking down Iraqi doors on the nightly news, I’ll believe things are getting better in Iraq.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:15 pmtanq,
you need to find a girlfriend.
*
good luck.
•
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 pmTanqueray says:
You need a Dictionary?
Look up “unprecedented” you flaming nit-wit.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 pmPerception is reality which is why Rush is now the 400 million dollar hate machine.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 pmTanqueray Says:
——————————————————————————–
Stop the presses!!! Breaking news!! The military is trying to control and suppress information!
Not at all like the good old days of FDR, Truman or JFK/LBJ. Why, they allowed the media full and uncensored access to everything that was going on.
Grow up!
See.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 pmWhat did I say. We need these Trolls to tell us what to do!
Go back to your basement little Troll.
The ACLU today released documents regarding Navy investigations of civilians killed by coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report notes that the administration has gone to “unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost” of the wars. Some of the key findings.
A rational person might think that democracies aren’t supposed to work this way, that in order for voters to make intelligent decisions they need to actually know what’s going on. Could it be any clearer how un-democratic and un-American this country has sunk too?
http://progressiveworldreview.com
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:33 pmtanq,
i think this is going to help.
i hope you like
square dances and
purity balls.
have fun.
?
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 pmAnd this makes the US superior to what despot in what third world nation? Just wondering.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pmScrew a bunch of people. Who gives a crap about them?
What keeps me going? Knowing that many in the Bush criminal regime have been charged with War Crimes. It’s only a matter of time!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pmAll trolls sound as if they are miserable cowards who have never served a day in the military. That is the only explanation to why they attempt to justify the cowardly fascist regime have had to suffer through for the past eight years. Comparing this illegal occupation of a defenseless nation to the great war to overthrow a despot who was doing much of the same things the Bush Administration is doing, is a cop out and shows a lack of intelligence.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pmDo a little research Tanker. You’ll find that it includes withholding information from families and the level of benefits they receive. Even you should be incapable of defending such a betrayal of our soldiers, their families, and their memories.
In this one case, if nothing else, shut out Rush and Bill0 for two minutes to consider what these acts do to the families of fallen soldiers. This isn’t a game of partisan “gotcha”. This is sh!ting on the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the Administration. The Administration that has consistently sh!t on them in life and death.
You grow up punk! You aren’t fit to share this once great country with those who would give their lives for YOUR pathetically wasted freedoms and you dare to tell others to “grow up”?
Learn humility before those who are older and wiser than you. I’ve watched every single member of my immediate family and a few strangers or acquaintances, die. Death is not a subject for smug little brats to get their rocks off. I’ve looked death in the eye you miserable pup. STFU and go learn something. Start with respect for the dead!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 pmjoe cantwell Says:
tanq,
i think this is going to help.
i hope you like
square dances and
purity balls.
have fun.
This is probably what he looks at
http://xxxchurch.com/
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 pmBrain From Planet Arous Says:
This is probably what he looks at
http://xxxchurch.com/
omg.
tanq?
•
good luck.
*
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:36 pmTanqueray Says:
Makes me wonder though, how did John Kerry get his movies out of the country?
john kerry scares you?
not surprised.
good luck.
*
courage.
?
tanq,
is this you?
http://xxxchurch.com/
•
truth now,
ok?
?
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 pmtanq?
tanq…?
*
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pmtanq,
be brave.
ok?
*
good luck.
?
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pmtanq,
the world is
waiting for you.
!
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 pmtanq,
have you the
courage to
face yourself?
&
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 pmtanq?
tanq…?
?
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 pmTrolls like Tanq will praise cowards like Dubya and Cheney and chastise a man who actually showed up and served like John Kerry…go figure what kind of people are in that 23%tile that never wavers and always stands up for the cause. Brown Shirts, Brown boots and orders from a lard assed, drug addled gas bag.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:57 pmThe 1,200,000 figure is only the increase in violent Iraqi deaths. It does not include non-violent deaths such as due to unsafe water and lack of medicine and healthcare. One in eight Iraqi children die before the age of five (1 in 4 in Afghanistan) and they are the second worst failed state in the world (Sudan #1).
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 amkasinca Says:
Trolls like Tanq will praise cowards like Dubya and Cheney and chastise a man who actually showed up and served like John Kerry…go figure what kind of people are in that 23%tile that never wavers and always stands up for the cause. Brown Shirts, Brown boots and orders from a lard assed, drug addled gas bag.
maybe.
on the other hand
maybe tanq had a pimple
on his heinie that was so
painful he couldn’t fight.
think about that.
•
good luck.
^
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 amMy statement stands troll. My first car was a 63 Chevy Biscayne with 31,000 miles. And a miserable pup is a miserable pup whether he wears shorty-pants or depends. Go rent a conscience.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 amLooking at the world we live in as Reverse Logic or Bizarro World helps, and if in any way, can ease the torment the corporatists, war mongers, torturers, and fundamentalists, have wrought.
War is a racket, and we are being brainwashed to accept a skin-head, military culture as normal. Just look at all the SUVs, Jeeps, and Hummers around. Ugly, Fat-ass vehicles being driven in Florida and Southern California. War Games being played by hypnotized children. One of the reasons of the Hatred of the 1960s is the fact that society stared down the military culture, and for one bright shining moment, won the contest. Laziness and a Zionist/Military media changed that, and now people do not know the difference between waving a flag and the Constitution.
Maybe these So-Called Bible Thumping christians should look at the Real Deal.
http://essenecx.netfirms.com/
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 amThe mistakes of 45 years ago have little bearing on today. Why else would Bushco repeat them? If your alleged bio is true, and I don’t ask for proofs since I make no claims, you should know the fundamental lesson of all “small wars”.
It’s impossible to defeat private citizens on a field of battle.
It was impossible for the Greeks, Romans, and Vikings. It was impossible for Germany and Japan. (Side note. If you have studied military history for 40 years you would realize that the civilians of occupied countries, especially China and the USSR, had much to do with the “Allies” winning.) Bushco has us pinned down in two occupations, just waiting for another Waterloo, or Stalingrad, or Tet.
The best we can hope for is inglorious withdrawal, and no technical advantage, blessing from God, Order of the President, lust for revenge, or river of blood, will change the fact that we lost the second Bushco decided to invade.
That’s not mumbo-jumbo. It’s certainly not wishful thinking. That’s an honest appraisal of what is, with a solid grounding in similar disasters past. And it’s a national tragedy that the blood of our finest is being wasted, again, by fools with no respect. The whole damn lot of you disgust me, nearly, beyond words.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:07 amthat should read “wasted by ignorant, arrogant, fools…”
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 amGasp!
“Pentagon made ‘unprecedented’ effort to hide human cost of war”?
No one could have predicted!
In case you’re getting tired of that line…it will be applicable for all eternity. Sorry. That’s what happens when a Bush is elected President.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 am.
Hey,
ROGUE NATIONS will do what ROGUE NATIONS need to do to hide ANY and ALL evidence of maleficence…
I mean, the cleansing only picked up to cover how many people were actually being detained. What was left of what bodies, bones and ashes only scratched the surface of Hitler’s Regime.
Granted, Worst Bush is in a league of his own and is no where close to Hitler…
…But has America ever sunk this low where such comparisons can actually be argued…?
I never thought I’d live to see America become so… so… U G L Y!
.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 amTanqueray Says:
… some of us were scraping our buddies off of the flora and fauna in S.E. Asia for another lie. A lie told by your sainted democrat party.
some of us
but not bush
he was busy getting
drunk in alabama.
laughing at you.
•
you need help
tanq.
we’re here to help
you.
*
good luck.
&
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:13 amTanqueray Says… foolish things. No wonder your nickname is the one of a Gin
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:29 amAnd Tanq also conveniently forgets that Eisenhower was already meddling in Vietnam far before JFK was nominated… funding 80% of the french war, backing the puppet dictator of the moment, who was conducting already mass killings… but of course, wars by proxy aren’t wars if you’re not directly involved, isn’t? As the Iran-Contra, blessed by Saint Ray-Gun. Weapons for drugs. Killing brownies in both sides of the black scheme, how convenient.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:56 amIs anyone surprised by these revelations?
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:04 amTake a look at the Non Sequitur cartoon published today in your local newsrag or the internets. Rosie Outlook says it all.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 amI’m all for war crimes trials, impeachment and kicking the effing neocons out of our Country. That said, the next Administration along with NATO need to freeze the bank accounts of Blackwater, their CEO, Haliburton/KBR, their CEOs, the top Oil Cos, their CEOs, Dick Cheney, George Bush and all their merry men under suspicion of collusion to create a war for profit. Just as suspected terrorist organization’s assets were frozen it NEEDS to be done to all of these warmongering criminals. They need to be hit in the only place it will hurt them, their effing wallets. They intentionally caused all of our problems (financial and military)and should be made to pay. Use THAT money to begin to pay back our debt to China, send Bush, the neocons etal to Guantanamo for “interrogations”. I mean Jeezuz Christmas, they schemed to get us into Iraq so they could all get rich at the expense of the lives of our soldiers, a recession, weakened military, failing infastructure etc.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:49 amNicky Says:
——————————————————————————–
Who cares, we used propaganda in all wars. Heck the Dems used it in WW1 and 2. So what’s the big deal?
==============================================================
In WWI and WWII we were the good guys and it was called censorship. Under the wars of the Bush Crime Family we are the aggressor and the bad guys and we use the same propaganda of the bad guys in years past. There is a distinct difference to those who livied and loved and know what they are talking about. Our democracy was founded with the belief that the fourth estate would keep the electorate informed to make intelligent decisions. That runs contra to the beliefs of the backward knuckle dragging thugs of the current administration.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 amKeith Says:
The 1,200,000 figure is only the increase in violent Iraqi deaths. It does not include non-violent deaths such as due to unsafe water and lack of medicine and healthcare. One in eight Iraqi children die before the age of five (1 in 4 in Afghanistan) and they are the second worst failed state in the world (Sudan #1).
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
_______
I don’t believe that’s true – the Lancet study included violent and non-violent causes of death in their casualty estimates. Non-violent deaths were but a small fraction of the total, but were included:
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
Tanqueray Says
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 am
While you “looked death in the eye” in your Chevy, some of us were scraping our buddies off of the flora and fauna in S.E. Asia for another lie. A lie told by your sainted democrat party.
_______________________________________________
If you’re expecting any kind of defense of the Vietnam conflict here, I suspect you’ll be waiting a long time.
You see, we don’t defend actions just because they were committed by somebody in our party, nor do we attack actions just because they were committed by somebody in the opposition party. That’s the shtick of the wingnuts. We attack actions that are wrong, and defend actions that are right, regardless of who makes them.
However, I will say one thing. Even though the Vietnam conflict was an abomination that cost over 58,000 American lives, the body count was never shielded from us. Mangled bodies lying in rice paddies was pretty much a staple on the evening news. Flag-draped coffins were omnipresent. THAT’S what’s different between Vietnam and Iraq, and that’s the point that’s being made here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 am“A Field Guide to Right-Wing Posers”
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 amA guide to understand how and what these trolls are all about!
http://www.apfn.net/Messageboard/10-18-05/discussion.cgi.76.html
Well, more proof that this whole war has been run like the Soviets, Chinese and other totalitarians would, in a tradition of torture and killing, an overarching executive, and secrecy and blackouts – everything that we have always said we are better than. From Chinese Communist torture methods, to suppressing the freedom of the speech and press, this administration continues to act in the ways it and its antecedents have always lambasted foreign powers for doing. As a Vietnam vet and ardent defender of the Constitution, I must once again speak out about the blackout of seeing our war dead returned to us. To see life and war as it has really been waged, coffins and all, including the role of malfeasance played by the top military brass, see my blog, http://www.wrathofmcgrath.com
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 amNicky Says:
Who cares, we used propaganda in all wars. Heck the Dems used it in WW1 and 2. So what’s the big deal?
Hey there, not everyone’s grown accustomed to their collars like the good little dog that you are. Now go on and keep rolling in front of your masters, maybe they’ll give you a treat or something.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 amhad enough Says:
I did not see the hidden fact that the
……..reported counted dead US soldiers are of only those killed on Iraqi soil. Those that die en route to the hospital or after arriving, some sources have estimated 8 times as many,are not counted……….
Those that died during the Vietnam so called war were still being added to the Wall Memorial in the 1980’s
For some time I’ve realized that the Bush administration has been under-counting Iraq War casualties…both dead and injured…both of our soldiers and of Iraqis.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm