"After several troops made some highly publicized negative comments to the media about the war effort in Iraq, the Pentagon has taken steps to keep the frustrations of both soldiers and their families out of reports," PR Week reports. "According to a story in the July 25 edition of Stars and Stripes, the military appears to be curtailing its much-touted embedded-journalist program, which has allowed reporters almost unfettered access to military units throughout the war and occupation.

After much speculation, Ambassador to Morocco Margaret Tutwiler is finally returning to Washington to take Charlotte Beers' old post as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Ad queen Beers stepped down among much criticisms in March. The Washington Post's Al Kamen writes that Tutwiler, who served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs for the elder Bush, "was most happy with her Morocco assignment -- apparently even with an occasional terrorist bomb going off -- and was said to be ambivalent about coming back.

The Bush and Blair governments, straining to answer critics of the Iraq invasion, are pushing a new campaign. "The 'big impact' plan is designed to overwhelm and silence critics who have sought to put pressure on Tony Blair and George Bush," the Independent's Andrew Buncombe writes. "At the same time both men are working to lower the burden of proof - from finding weapons to finding evidence that there were programs to develop them, even if they lay dormant since the 1980s." Key to this new effort is former U.N.