"According to recent leaks from the Pentagon, Gen. Tommy Franks and other uniformed war planners argued with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over how many troops and how much armor to commit to the war," writes Lucian K. Truscott IV. "The soldiers wanted more of both," but "Rumsfeld was reportedly among the influential group on the administration war team who predicted that the Iraqi army would quickly fold after it had been shocked and awed. ...

"Clear Channel Communications ... finds itself fending off a new set of
accusations: that the company is using its considerable
market power to drum up support for the war in Iraq, while
muzzling musicians who oppose it. ... The critics ... cite an unusual series of pro-military rallies drummed up
by Glenn Beck, whose talk show is syndicated by Premiere
Radio Networks, a Clear Channel subsidiary. ... Thirteen of those rallies were
co-sponsored and promoted by local Clear Channel stations,

"It's no coincidence that Americans, and others around the world, are echoing the exact same phrases and news bites at the same times with near-military precision. It's the result of a slickly orchestrated public relations campaign on the part of the military and the U.S. government that is borrowing the best practices of the corporate PR world. ... The PR industry, as many may know, was actually started by the military during World War I, when persuasive techniques were developed to recruit soldiers.