The "Can anyone now say the Surge isn't working?" thread OP article isn't "NEWS"

[host]

There is a recent thread here, titled <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=130211">"Can anyone now say the Surge isn't working?"</a>


Rather than post in that thread, and participating in debate as to whether the "signs of the surge in Iraq are working"...or not, and since I have plenty of evidence that influences me to have a strong opinion that the surge thread's principle OP article is not news reporting...that it is a propaganda piece written by a blogger, Christian Lowe, vetted by rhe Pentagon to distribute it's propaganda message, at a Pentagon propaganda web outlet, Military.com ...... I have elected to author a new thread intended to provide background about the OP article on the "surge is working" thread, and to showcase a huge problem at the TFP Politics forum. We have such different ideas about what is appropriate to ingest as "News", and then, what to post on here as "news", or as authoritive, linked support for our points of view. I see this divergence as a crisis that wrecks the potential for discussion, because even if we could find a way to curtail posting dubious material, a poster decides is "News", it is still out there, shaping opinions posted here, and blocking actual, less biased sourced, reports to reach some who participate here.

This thread is simply to highlight a flaw that I see, discuss whether it actually is a flaw, entertain other proposals to deal with it, or to not deal with, and importantly, an experiment to keep it separate from the surge thread, allowing discussion there to proceed, while showing anyone interested the background I wanted to post on the surge thread....

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000539
Meet the Pentagon’s New Spin Unit: Bush Administration hacks court bloggers, talk radio
DEPARTMENT Washington Babylon
BY Ken Silverstein
PUBLISHED July 16, 2007

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000627
Not “Terribly Compelling”: Pentagon surrogates reply to criticism
DEPARTMENT Washington Babylon
BY Ken Silverstein
PUBLISHED July 24, 2007

A number of the bloggers who participate in conference calls organized by the Pentagon’s public affairs office have objected to <a href="http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000587">recent stories</a> I’ve posted about the project. “There is, Black Five readers well know, no weight to the charge that these Roundtables are about parroting Administration anything,” <a href="http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/07/harpers-v-the-b.html">writes Grim of BlackFive.net.</a> “For the one thing, we don’t talk to Administration officials, but to career military men. The journalist is the one in error, by treating career servicemen as if they were political figures.” <a href="http://wizbangblog.com/content/2007/07/22/harpers-mag-gets-their-knickers-in-a-knot-1.php"Charlie Quidnunc writes</a> that the bloggers are simply “fighting back against [the] spin” of mainstream journalists who “just parrot all the Democratic talking points spreading anti-administration gospel.”

And at the Weekly Standard, the inimitable Michael Goldfarb chimes in, saying, “The entire program consists of providing an opportunity for new media to speak directly with senior officers in Iraq and policy makers at the Pentagon. [Silverstein] might be surprised to learn what actually goes on: bloggers putting hard questions to commanders in the field and writing up the answers without spin.” Goldfarb and Grim both note that after one conference call, David Axe wrote a very critical piece titled <a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/05/lies_my_leaders.html">“Lies My Leaders Told Me.”</a> And Goldfarb, too, will stick it to the man. He writes:

<i>Not only are we clear about who our sources are, we are not always kind to them–I <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/06/no_escape_liotta_blogger_call.asp">wrote at the time</a> that Liotta’s rationale for keeping Gitmo open wasn’t “terribly compelling.”</i>

However, when the curious reader consults Goldfarb’s original post, the full quote is as follows:

<i>To be blunt, I don’t find this to be a terribly compelling argument for keeping Gitmo open–though neither is it unreasonable.</i>

Which is not exactly the bold statement I was expecting when I clicked through, and, by the end of the post, Goldfarb appears to come around to Liotta’s point of view, saying that moving prisoners out of Gitmo “seems like a risk not worth taking.” I acknowledge that by Goldfarb’s usual standards this bold outburst was the rhetorical equivalent of him putting on a Che T-shirt and marching at an antiwar demonstration. But ultimately, despite his intentions, he only proves my point: what he sees as spirited criticism is basically agreement with a few caveats. As to the David Axe piece to which he links—it’s an exception that proves the rule. By invoking the rare critic, the Pentagon is able to say, “We’re balanced. This is not just a PR exercise.”

These bloggers have valid viewpoints and the right to express them. That’s not the issue. What I find more interesting is that they were handpicked by the Department of Defense as part of a larger Pentagon PR effort.

So let’s take another look at that PR program. It was described in an October 3, 2006 internal memorandum from Dorrance Smith, the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. In the memo, Smith said he was working to transform public affairs from a “Reactive” shop to a “Proactive” one. “Because the stakes are so high,” says the memo, “and the war on terror so urgent, we need to move fast on all fronts.” Furthermore, Smith and his team would be “working closely with the new Strategic Communication Integration Group (SCIG) to synchronize our efforts with the military and with policy.” (Emphasis added.)

<h3>The memo identifies four components to the program:

The first was</h3> “Creating Products and distributing information meeting the demands of the new media,” including YouTube and cell phones. That component was led by Allison Barber, who has already drawn scrutiny for another public affairs effort called “America Supports You.” The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/washington/12pentagon.html">previously unearthed a memo from Barber</a> about that earlier effort. “What we have learned,” said the memo, “is that the American people are beginning to fatigue, even in their support for the troops. I don’t think we have a minute to lose when it comes to maximizing support for our military, especially in the new political environment.”

<h3>The second component was</h3> a “Rapid Response” unit, which was charged with developing “messages and products for the round-the-clock media cycle. That unit, which was subsequently shut down, was headed up by Mark Latimer, who <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070320-1.html">subsequently became a Bush speechwriter.</a>

<h3>The third component was</h3> TV and radio booking, which aimed at enhancing the effort “to provide civilian and military guest for cable network and radio programs.” This was headed up at the time by Bryan Whitman, who has subsequently been replaced by Erin Healey, a former deputy spokeswoman for the White House.

Healey now also heads up <h3>the fourth component, which coordinates</h3> “efforts to provide information and visibility to the surrogate community.” When the memorandum was written, the surrogates operation was led by <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070105-4.html">Mark Pfeifle</a>, later named by President Bush as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Global Outreach.

As I’ve said in previous posts, these last two components of the program offer briefings and support for handpicked civilian defense and national security analysts, pundits, bloggers, and others who, with a few token exceptions, reliably support the administration. Unlike with the bloggers, there is apparently no public disclosure of the other groups working with the Pentagon’s spin operation. Hence, no matter how participants would like to describe the effort, it’s quite clear that the Pentagon views it as a propaganda program. Just look at the titles of the talks:

* Iraq Training Team Commander Expresses Confidence Iraqis Will Succeed
* Afghan Police Training Mirrors Army Success
* Iraq Rebuilding Progress Should Be Taken in Context, General Says
* Soldiers’ Armor Best in the World, General Says
* Iraq Situation ‘Winnable,’ Multi-National Force Official Says

That’s why it’s hard to agree when Grim at Black Five <a href="http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/07/harpers-v-the-b.html">says that the bloggers aren’t briefed by administration officials</a>, but by career military men who are not “political figures.” The briefers may not be elected, but they do seem to be spinning (unless, of course, Iraq is going great and every major news outlet, including many on the right, is lying to us). And when Charlie Quidnunc says the bloggers are just “fighting back” against journalists who are “spreading anti-administration gospel,” it seems to me he thereby concedes my point that this is a propaganda effort to counter administration critics.

The list of bloggers who regularly participate in the conference calls is overwhelmingly conservative and friendly to the goals of the Bush Administration. While they’re not public, I’m told that the lists of military analysts, pundits, and others working with the Pentagon are even more uniformly hawkish. And that’s the problem I have with the whole Pentagon PR project. The government is picking certain people as “surrogates” to the exclusion of many others and feeding them news. These bloggers purport to broadly represent military and national security opinion, but there are plenty of military officials and conservatives who disagree with the administration’s policies in Iraq and elsewhere. With rare exceptions, those people are not invited to the Pentagon’s briefings.

It all comes down to a simple question, one I’ll let the reader answer on his or her own: <h2>are you comfortable with the Pentagon, under any administration, picking its personal media intermediaries in an effort to get its message out?</h2>
SUBJECTS U.S. Department of Defense
Propaganda

thinkprogress.org/2007/10/25/pentagon-righty-blogs/
<h2 class="title">Pentagon Holds ‘Bloggers Roundtables’ To Cater To Right-Wing Noise Machine</h2>
<p><em><strong>UPDATE: </strong>Since publishing this post, ThinkProgress has been in contact with the Pentagon, and they have agreed to allow us to participate in the bloggers roundtables.</em></p>

<p><img src="/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/gates223451.gif" alt="gates223451.gif" class="imgright" />Today, Glenn Greenwald observes that the military has become “<a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/10/25/military/index.html">rapidly politicized</a>, fully incorporated into…the model of the Republican right-wing noise machine.” Since January, the Pentagon has sought advice from “political hacks” like <a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/08/03/hewitt_allen/index.html?calendar=200709">Bush/Cheney ‘04 aide Steve Schmidt</a> who recently “went over to Iraq to look at the communications capabilities” of the military.</p>

<p>Another aspect of this politicization is the budding ties between the right-wing blogosphere and the military. Last October, the Pentagon announced that it was “starting an operation akin to a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001336.html">political campaign war room</a>” in order to “set the record straight” on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New teams were to “develop messages” focusing “on newer media, such as blogs.”</p>
<p>In February, the Pentagon began holding <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/Blogger/Blogger.aspx">Bloggers Roundtables</a> to “provide source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the DoD and the Global War on Terrorism.” But at these roundtables, the Pentagon has reserved space almost exclusively for conservatives and military bloggers. Some examples of the bloggers on the roundtables just this month:</p>

<blockquote><p><a href="http://wizbangblog.com/">Wizbang</a><br />
<a href="http://weeklystandard.com">Weekly Standard</a><br />
<a href="http://threatswatch.org/">Threats Watch</a><br />
<a href="http://qando.net"> Qando.net</a><br />
<a href="http://uscavonpoint.com/">U.S. Cavalry On Point</a><br />
<a href="http://griffsnotesdc.blogspot.com/">Griff Jenkins</a> (Fox News anchor)<br />
<a href="http://airforcepundit.blogspot.com/">Air Force Pundit</a><br />

<a href="http://military.com">Military.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/channel_dti.jsp?channel=dti">Defense Technology International</a><br />
<a href="http://austinbay.net/about.html">Austin Bay</a></p></blockquote>
<p>When the program was started in February, the calls occurred <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/Blogger/Blogger.aspx">approximately once a week</a>; since September, the Defense Department PR team has surged the roundtables’ frequency to <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/Blogger/Blogger.aspx">nearly every day</a>. Many of these conservative bloggers <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/%20dodcmsshare/%20BloggerAssets/%202007-10/%20ROZELLE_transcript.pdf">regularly</a> <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/%20dodcmsshare/%20BloggerAssets/%202007-10/%201003_Bacon_transcript.pdf">appear</a> on the calls, receiving unfettered access to military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. One military official explained the real <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmsshare/BloggerAssets/2007-10/1004_fakan_transcript.pdf">intent</a>:</p>

<blockquote><p>[W]e’re trying to do as many of these type of blogger calls as possible <strong>to let folks know what is really going on out there</strong> and to provide the opportunity for people to hear and write about it.</p></blockquote>
<p>Despite the regular frequency of the “Blogger Roundtables,” progressive bloggers or anti-war military bloggers are rarely featured. Furthermore, small blogs like that of <a href="http://griffsnotesdc.blogspot.com/">Fox News anchor Griff Jenkins</a> are featured on the <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/%20dodcmsshare/%20BloggerAssets/%202007-10/%20ROZELLE_transcript.pdf">calls</a> while more prominent progressive blogs are not.</p>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...091500759.html
President Reaches Out to a Friendly Circle in New Media

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 16, 2007; A07

The day after his prime-time speech on Iraq, President Bush sat down for a round-table interview not with traditional White House reporters but with bloggers who focus on military issues, including two participating by video link from Baghdad.

Judging from some of the accounts of the Friday meeting, the president offered up little news. Here is what one of the 10 bloggers, Ward Carroll of Military.com, described from his notes as some of Bush's most notable comments:

• "This strategy is my strategy."

• "I'm defining a horizon of peace."

• "I don't mind people attacking me. . . . That's politics . . . but I do mind people impugning the integrity of our generals."

Still, the hour-long meeting in the Roosevelt Room offered Bush another opportunity to break through what he sees as the filter of the traditional news media, while also reaching out to the providers of a new source of information for soldiers, their families and others who follow the conflict in Iraq closely.

"More and more we are engaging in the new-media world, and these are influential people who have a big following," said Kevin F. Sullivan, the White House communications chief.

Bush told the group that, to his knowledge, it was the first time a president had met with bloggers for a chat at the White House, one of the participants wrote. The blogs represented at the meeting are generally pro-Bush and pro-military, and the ensuing reports were highly sympathetic to the president.

"At this meeting President Bush came off as more comfortable with the message than I've seen him appear on TV or in speeches," wrote Carroll, a journalist and former Navy pilot. "No deer-in-the-headlights stuff here. Truly unwavering and passionate. Facts on the ground notwithstanding, he believes the United States can win the Iraq War. And to be honest, being around him made me believe it at that moment too."

Matthew Burden, a former Army officer who blogs under the name Blackfive, raved about how Bush slapped his hand and called him "brutha."

"The President was very intelligent, razor sharp, warm, focused, emotional (especially about his dad), and genuine," Blackfive wrote. "Even more so than this cynical Chicago Boy expected. I was overwhelmed by the sincerity -- it wasn't staged."

Bill Ardolino, who participated from Baghdad, wrote on indcjournal.com that he asked Bush about progress in Anbar province and Fallujah and that Bush's answer "honestly surprised me in its length, level of detail and grasp of events on the ground."

Bush told Ardolino: "The military can only do so much. There has to be follow-up with jobs and hope. We recognize that the man on the street needs to feel like his government cares about him."

Bush talked about the difficulty of setting up workable bureaucratic processes in Iraq, according to Ardolino's post, and the growing pains "that this society needs to go through" to achieve stability. "We shouldn't expect instant results with a society that was brutalized by Saddam Hussein," Bush told the group.

When it was all over, the bloggers seemed wowed. <h2>"All in all, it was an amazing day for Military.com and one I'll never forget," Carroll wrote.</h2> "In fact, I'd rank the event a close second to the time I sat in with Cheap Trick. It was that good."

http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmssha...transcript.pdf
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH STEPHEN FAKAN, EPRT TEAM LEADER,
RCT 6 VIA CONFERENCE CALL FROM FALLUJAH, IRAQ TIME: 10:02 A.M. EDT DATE:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2007
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2007 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500 1000 Vermont Avenue,
NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA.

<h3>Consider the WaPo article posted above and the comments about the site where the surge thread's principle OP article is linked to, (update: it isn't even linked...just displayed in the article....) and, if you're wondering how I know that that article's author Christian Lowe is a "pentagon tool" of the pentagon's handpicked, "bloggers roundtable", the following evidence on the internet and at sourcwatch, persuades me that, when he isn't writing propaganda for the pentagon, he practically lives at the "roundtable":</h3>

Bloggers' Roundtable chart 3 (November-December 2007) - SourceWatch
The following is a Bloggers' Roundtable chart for November and December 2007 ... Andrew Lubin; Christian Lowe; Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service ...
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bloggers'_Roundtable_chart_3_(November-December_2007) - 56k - Cached - Similar pages
Bloggers' Roundtable chart 2 (August-October 2007) - SourceWatch
The following is a Bloggers' Roundtable chart for August-October July 2007 depicting the .... Dave Dilegge; Christian Lowe; Marvin Hutchens; Jarred Fishman ...
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bloggers'_Roundtable_chart_2_(August-October_2007) - 75k - Cached - Similar pages
More results from www.sourcewatch.org »
Audio: Bloggers' Roundtable
Bloggers Roundtable w/Colonel Mark Spindler, Commander, 18th Military Police .... On Point Christian Lowe - Military.com John Donovan - John of AAAArrrggh ...
http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/podca...Roundtable.xml - 61k - Cached - Similar pages
[PDF]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH COLONEL DONALD ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Communication at MNF-I. Sir, welcome to the Bloggers Roundtable this morning. .... Christian Lowe, you were first on line, so why don't you get us started ...
http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmssha...Transcript.pdf - Similar pages
[PDF]
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH COLONEL RICKY GIBBS ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Welcome to the Bloggers' Roundtable,. Colonel Ricky Gibbs with -- the commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade .... This is Christian Lowe with military.com. ...
http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmssha...transcript.pdf - Similar pages
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[PDF]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH VICE ADMIRAL ROBERT ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Welcome to the bloggers roundtable. ADM. MOELLER: Hey, thank you very much. MR. HOLT: All right, sir. ... This is Christian Lowe with military.com. ...
www.africom.mil/file.asp?pdfID=20071121085732 - Similar pages
LexisNexis News - Latest News from over 4000 sources, including ...
Colonel Don Bacon with us this morning for the Bloggers Roundtable. Christian Lowe, you were first on line, so why don't you get us started this morning. ...
www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=25098&... - 72k - Cached - Similar pages
Audio: Bloggers' Roundtable
Audio: Bloggers' Roundtable Military News for the Military, by the Military. ... On Point Christian Lowe - Military.com John Donovan - John of AAAArrrggh ...
http://www.feedage.com/feeds/529866/...ers-roundtable - 42k - Cached - Similar pages
ping http://metrics.apple.com/b/ss/apples...1/G.6--NS?pccr ...
... Free PODCAST DESCRIPTION Bloggers' Roundtable is a weekly feature that ..... On Point Christian Lowe - Military.com John Donovan - John of AAAArrrggh ...
phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=256785149 - 112k - Cached - Similar pages
[PDF]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH BRIGADIER GENERAL ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
like to welcome you to the Bloggers Roundtable this morning. Brigadier General ..... This is Christian Lowe from Military.com. MR. HOLT: Okay. ...
http://www.defenomgselink.mil/dodcms...transcript.pdf - Similar pages

LexisNexis News - Latest News from over 4000 sources, including ...
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH DANIEL MAGUIRE, ... it occurs to me that the Iraq -- I'm sorry, this is Christian Lowe of Military.com. ...
0-www6.lexisnexis.com.pacman.law.du.edu/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574... - 74k - Cached - Similar pages
LexisNexis News - Latest News from over 4000 sources, including ...
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BLOGGERS ROUNDTABLE WITH COMMANDER PATRICK MACK, MNSTC-I, J-7, .... It's Christian Lowe calling from Military.com and DefenseTech.org. ...
0-www6.lexisnexis.com.pacman.law.du.edu/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574... - 62k - Cached - Similar pages
SWJ Blog: December 2007 Archives
MRAP: Another Casualty of the Surge – Christian Lowe, Weekly Standard Powerful Awakening Shakes Iraqi Politics - Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer ...
smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/12/ - Similar pages
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... Democracy Arsenal; Democracy Project; DoD Bloggers Roundtable; Dipnote ..... COIN’s Battlefield of the Mind – Christian Lowe, Weekly Standard ...
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The Weekly Standard
Defense Tech's Christian Lowe links to this public affairs story from the Air ..... as part of the Pentagon's ongoing bloggers roundtable series, and this, ...
www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/defense/ - 977k - Cached - Similar pages

[Ustwo]

You know host, you are a propagandist blogger too. Should we take what you say seriously?

[dc_dux]

Ustwo.....you dont think the Pentagon filters the "official" news coming out of Iraq.....particularly with weekly briefings/blogger roundtables limited to those "news" outlets that they consider friendly?

[host]

Originally Posted by Ustwo

You know host, you are a propagandist blogger too. Should we take what you say seriously?

You came on this thread to bait me......while
my tax dollars are paying for this f*cking fascist bu**sh*t:

DefenseLink Blogger's Roundtable: Home Page Blogger's Roundtable
The Bloggers' Roundtable provides source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Global War on Terrorism ...
www.defenselink.mil/Blogger/Blogger.aspx

Ustwo, if you're coming into this forum to post, and you believe that what you "know" is being "gathered" by news reporters in the field, written about, edited, and sent to you by your favorite means of information gathering...radio, TV, websites, blogs, why would you object to me letting you, and everyone else who bothers to read my thread, share my INDEPENDENT awareness that, instead of "news" from Iraq being gathered and distributed by independent war correspondents, the pentagon is paying to write it, package it, and distribute it to you, by the folks it picks to put their names on it, and in the manner the pentagon wants it described. If I have to bring you information about an "Op" like that, despite your objection, don't come on threads formatted like this one....don't read the posts authored by me....go back on the surge thread and talk about the successors to the blown up Marine heroes, of Lima Company, and the peachy keen surge results in Iraq....

How the Pentagon’s “Surrogates Operation” Feeds Stories to Administration-Friendly Media and Pundits
DEPARTMENT Washington Babylon
BY Ken Silverstein
PUBLISHED July 19, 2007

Earlier this week I wrote a story about a program run by the Pentagon’s Office of Public Affairs. This program seeks to bypass the mainstream press by working directly with a carefully culled list of military analysts, bloggers, and others who can be counted on to parrot the Bush Administration’s line on national security issues.

The unit was initially called the “Surrogates Operation” but was later rechristened as “Communications Outreach” after someone realized that the original title, while accurate, was embarrassing for those working with the Pentagon.

As I reported earlier, the unit is headed up by Erin Healey, a former junior assistant press secretary at the White House. Other players I identified were Julie George, a former campaign worker for ex-Senator Rick Santorum, and Jocelyn Webster, who formerly worked in the White House’s political operation. I’ve since learned that another key figure at the Surrogates unit is James Davis, who like Healey was apparently brought in as a contractor but was subsequently given a political appointee position. From what I understand, Davis is a political ally of former senator and GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

The Surrogates unit arranges regular conference calls during which senior Pentagon officials brief retired military officials, civilian defense and national security analysts, pundits, and bloggers. A few moderates are invited to take part, but the list of participants skews far, far to the right. The Pentagon essentially feeds participants the talking points, bullet points, and stories it wants told.

As far as I can tell, the conference calls with retired military officials and other analysts are not transcribed or made public, and I’ve been unable to learn who takes part in those briefings. But the calls with bloggers—who are often briefed by the same Pentagon officials who speak with the other groups—can be found on “Defend America,” a Pentagon website. “Welcome to the archives of the ‘Bloggers’ Roundtable’,” reads the site, adding forthrightly, “Here you will find source material for recent stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Global War on Terrorism by bloggers and online journalists.”

Recent calls with bloggers include a July 18 briefing by U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Mark I. Fox (“Coalition Forces in Iraq Taking Down Enemy ‘Cell by Cell’); one on July 11 with U.S. Army Brigadier General Kevin J. Bergner (“Antiterrorism Successes Continue in Iraq Despite Foreign-Born Resistance”); one on June 27 with U.S. Army Brigadier General Kevin J. Bergner (“Phantom Thunder Operations Disrupt Terrorists in Iraq”), and another on June 13, also with Bergner (“Local Security Engagements Squeezing Insurgents, General Says”).

I’m still going through the transcripts, which identify some but not all of the blogger-Surrogates. They include military writers like Andrew Lubin, from the aptly named blog On Point and Jarred Fishman, The Air Force Pundit. Other participants have included Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard, Jonathan Gurwitz, an editorial writer for the San Antonio Express-News and contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, Victoria Coates and Streiff from RedState, Mark Finklestein of News Busters and Austin Bay, who blogs and conducts podcasts for Pajamas Media, and writes a national security column for Creators Syndicate.

<h3>Some of the bloggers are transparent about taking part in conference calls.</h3> Goldfarb took part in a June 26 call focusing on Guantanamo Bay with J. Alan Liotta, principle director for the Pentagon’s Office of Detainee Affairs; when he wrote about it he noted that Liotta’s remarks were made “to a few bloggers on a conference call this morning arranged by the office of the secretary of defense.”

<h3>Others have been less transparent but either way the Pentagon has successfully used its handpicked team to get out its message.</h3> On February 7, U.S. Army Major General Kenneth Hunzeker briefed bloggers from Iraq on encouraging signs he spotted with the Iraqi police training program.” The following day Finkelstein wrote an article for Cybercast News Service that quoted Hunzeker extensively and which carried the headline, “Media Exaggerate Militia Infiltration of Iraqi Police, General Says.”

I found other intriguing cases, including this one: In early July, soon after Liotta’s briefing, Deroy Murdock, a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University, wrote an opinion piece published in a number of outlets that called for the expansion of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. He essentially endorsed torture in the piece, writing: “Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s lips were sealed until he experienced a few minutes of unpleasant but non-fatal waterboarding. Then he wouldn’t shut up.” In his piece, Murdock quoted Liotta as saying, “When you capture a lawful enemy combatant and hold them as a prisoner of war, you are entitled, under the laws of war, to hold that individual until the end of the conflict.” That quote came directly from Liotta’s conference call with bloggers.

It’s pretty amusing to note here that Murdock also quoted Defense Secretary Robert Gates as saying that he’d like to see Guantanamo Bay shut down. Murdock described that comment by Gates as “pathetic, embarrassing, and potentially fatal.” So the Surrogates apparently managed—directly, or indirectly in the event that Murdock is not an active participant—to have Murdock call their boss an idiot.

I emailed Murdock to ask him if he had participated in the conference call or was otherwise working with the Surrogates unit and, if not, how he came upon Liotta’s comments. If he replies, I’ll update this story.

By the way, just today the Surrogates program held a blogger’s roundtable with Brigadier General Robert Holmes and another conference call for civilian defense experts with Brigadier General Edward Cardon. <h3>Look for both men to be quoted—very sympathetically—in newspapers and on websites shortly.
</h3>
Before these bloggers start to complain that they’ve done nothing wrong, I’d like to ask how they would feel if a group of handpicked, administration-friendly liberal bloggers had done the same thing during the Clinton years. I believe they would have objected vociferously–and I would have agreed with them. <h2>No one, on any side, should let themselves be used to spread the administration’s gospel. At least not anyone who can pretend to journalistic standards. </h2>

[Ustwo]

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Ustwo.....you dont think the Pentagon filters the "official" news coming out of Iraq.....particularly with weekly briefings/blogger roundtables limited to those "news" outlets that they consider friendly?

Yea they should invite the daily KOS instead.

Seriously attacking the source is wonderful and all, but its super special to do so in a completely different thread.

Since I've never seen a liberal at least on this board mention ANYTHING good about Iraq ever, I don't see the point in inviting people like that who will just twist it as they see fit to help their own political agendas.

I've said it before and I say it again, most liberals WANT the Iraqi occupation to fail, because its brings them power at home. Based on the contempt many of them seem to have for the troops, I see their concern as crocodile tears. There is a reason the armed forces vote Republican.

[dc_dux]

Originally Posted by Ustwo

Since I've never seen a liberal at least on this board mention ANYTHING good about Iraq ever, I don't see the point in inviting people like that who will just twist it as they see fit to help their own political agendas.

It appears to me that you are content with it be twisted one way rather than another....to help one political agenda over another.

I would prefer objective, open reporting from Iraq...including access provided to any legitimate news organizations to Pentagon weekly blogger roundtables or other briefings.....or more to the point, why the fuck is the Pentagon holding closed, private, roundtables with bloggers at all.

Can you provide any rationale for briefings to a select few?

[Willravel]

Originally Posted by Ustwo

You know host, you are a propagandist blogger too. Should we take what you say seriously?

Flaming is against forum rules. I'm sure you don't want to get banned again. Not after going so long since your last ban.

[host]

Originally Posted by dc_dux

It appears to me that you are content with it be twisted one way rather than another....to help one political agenda over another.

I would prefer objective, open reporting from Iraq...including access provided to any legitimate news organizations to Pentagon weekly blogger roundtables or other briefings.....or more to the point, why the fuck is the Pentagon holding closed, private, roundtables with bloggers at all.

<h3>Can you provide any rationale for briefings to a select few?</h3>

dc_dux, I covered a similar penchant for "exclusiveness" in another thread, a while back:

Why is GOP & Conservative "Message" Delivered by such a Tiny Media ...
I've listed about half of the RNC featured talk show hosts. .... Now we see how "tiny" the effort has ended up being....reducing the republican senate ...
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/archive.../t-116810.html

This guy represents that he is "reporting" "from Iraq". If you agree with what he is writing, it may seem like "reporting", just as what comes out of the mouths of the talking heads and from the videos on the screen on foxnews, seems like "reporting", but it is suspect. It smacks of political bias, and a lack of objectivity with regard to the US soldiers the "reporter" is supposed to be "reporting" the activities of....I would have no confidence he is capable of reporting the "truth on the ground", for the readers of his newspaper, back in NYC, do you?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08232007...ine_shoot_.htm
DRAMA OF A TOUGH MARINE
'SHOOT OR DON'T SHOOT' CALL:
August 23, 2007, New York Post
By Ralph Peters

....What if al Qaeda were setting the entire thing up to get us to attack a home where women and children were present? What if they were playing all of our technical advantages against us and springing a political trap? <h3>Contrary to the myths of the left</h3>, no Americans leaders want to harm the innocent. And the local repercussions of bad targeting could set back reconciliation efforts by months.

Still, everybody in that room wanted to shoot. <h3>Hitting back is the natural impulse for Marines or soldiers - get the enemy, any time you can</h3>. Nail that mortar team while we've got them.
Everything was in place for the attack......


....Everyone must've been disappointed. <h3>But they didn't show it. They're Marines. They just carry on with the mission.....</h3>

Ralph Peters is reporting from Iraq for The Post.

[dc_dux]

To me, one of the most telling signs of dissatisfaction with the Bush surge strategy and our ongoing occupation with no exit strategy is not from blogger reports or even objective reporters in Iraq. It is the fact that military families, particularly those with a family member who has served in Iraq, now matches the sentiments of the country in general.

From a recent LA Times Poll:


http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/t...la-home-center