In contrast to the sloppy sentimentality and uncritical cheerleading for the Bush administration that has saturated U.S. news coverage since the September 11 attack, Jane's Information Group, the world's leading commercial analyst of military hardware and tactics, has been offering meticulous and often sobering analysis of the challenges confronting U.S. military planners. Here are some recent examples:

Florida is under a state of emergency, legislators are considering closing committee meetings, and routine public records are being withheld in the name of a massive federal terrorism investigation. In the two weeks since suicide attacks killed thousands, civil libertarians are growing worried that Florida's ironclad Government- in-the-Sunshine Law -- the most open in the nation -- could become collateral damage.

The Associated Press reports "Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld promised Tuesday his department will not mislead the press as part of the campaign against terrorism." That sounds good, but a careful reading of the story indicates that Rumsfeld has left the door wide open to government media manipulation. The public relations industry was in fact born in and grew out of the U.S. government's World War One propaganda campaign, and government propaganda has been critical in recent U.S.