U.S. Government

The Spin War Trumps the War on Terror

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The White House official who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame did more than attack a political enemy, writes Shaun Waterman. Plame worked for the CIA "on the very issue the Bush administration says was at the heart of its decision to go to war with Iraq: weapons of mass destruction. ... Plame's outing, whomever did it, has damaged the very effort the White House said it was pursuing in going to war in the first place. A very important line has been crossed here. The integrity of the policy goals - non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction - is now seen by at least some in the White House as less important than the integrity of the message - we didn't exaggerate the case against Iraq. ... The message seems to have trumped everything, even the need to get it right in the war on terror." And as Walter Shapiro notes in USA Today, the Plame flap is only one of several scandalous recent developments related to the war in Iraq. "In the past week, three major Iraq-related developments should have, in theory, caused lasting embarrassment to the Bush administration," Shapiro writes. "But because none of these flaps touched on illegality, they have been treated as one-day stories."

No
Main Source: 
Capitol Hill Blue, October 6, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Ethics
Politics
Secrecy
U.S. Government

Saying Bye-Bye to "Hi"

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The U.S. State Department has launched Hi, a glossy, Arabic-language magazine intended to "build bridges of communication" between Arabs and the United States. Described by its editors as a non-political, lifestyle magazine, "Hi" features happy talk about topics such as sand-surfing, Internet dating, rock climbing and yoga.

No
Main Source: 
http://merip.org/mero/interventions/colla_interv.html
Topics: 
International
Propaganda
Secrecy
U.S. Government

Pentagon Honors Four Dead Journalists, Ignores Others

Submitted by John Stauber on

"Bush administration officials and U.S. news media chiefs met on a rain-swept Civil War battlefield on Wednesday to honor four American journalists who died in Iraq and Pakistan while reporting on the U.S. war on terrorism. ... Honored were Daniel Pearl ... and three journalists who traveled with U.S. fighting units in Iraq this year -- Michael Kelly of the Atlantic Monthly and Washington Post, David Bloom of NBC and Elizabeth Neuffer of the Boston Globe. ... Not mentioned were the five journalists killed by U.S.

No
Main Source: 
Reuters, October 1, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
U.S. Government

More Alarm at Plummeting U.S. Image

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The United States must drastically increase and overhaul its public relations efforts to salvage its plummeting image among Muslims and Arabs abroad, says a panel chosen by the Bush administration. "Hostility toward America has reached shocking levels," states a new report by the United States Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World. The report recommends a new White House office for foreign propaganda.

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, October 1, 2003
Topics: 
International
Public Relations
U.S. Government

What the Iraqis Want

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Top Bush administration officials have been citing a pair of public opinion polls conducted in Iraq to demonstrate that Iraqis have a positive view of the U.S. occupation, but Walter Pincus points out that the polls actually show Iraqis have a less enthusiastic view than the administration has portrayed. According to one poll, "only 33 percent thought they were better off than they were before the invasion and 47 percent said they were worse off," Pincus writes.

No
Main Source: 
Washington Post, September 28, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Rhetoric
U.S. Government

The Other Lies of George Bush

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"George W. Bush is a liar. He has lied large and small, directly and by omission," David Corn writes in the Nation. "Bush's truth-defying crusade for war did not mark a shift for him. Throughout his campaign for the presidency and his years in the White House, Bush has mugged the truth in many other areas to advance his agenda. Lying has been one of the essential tools of his presidency. To call the forty-third President of the United States a prevaricator is not an exercise of opinion, not an inflammatory talk-radio device.

No
Main Source: 
The Nation, September 25, 2003
Topics: 
Ethics
Rhetoric
U.S. Government

Clarke Embedded at CNN

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Victoria Clarke, the former Pentagon spokesperson credited with developing its journalist "embedding" strategy during the war in Iraq, has gone to work as a commentator for CNN. Clarke says that the Pentagon ought to reactivate the embedding program to counter negative media reports on the war.

No
Main Source: 
Associated Press, September 22, 2003
Topics: 
Media
U.S. Government

Bush Covers Up Climate Research

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"White House officials have undermined their own government scientists' research into climate change to play down the impact of global warming," Paul Harris reports in the Observer. "Emails and internal government documents obtained by The Observer show that officials have sought to edit or remove research warning that the problem is serious.

No
Main Source: 
London Observer, September 21, 2003
Topics: 
Climate Change
Science
Secrecy
U.S. Government

Cheney's Conflict With The Truth

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"In 'Meet the Press' last Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney said, 'Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now, for over three years.' That is the latest White House lie,'" the Boston Globe's Derrick Jackson writes. On Tuesday, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) drew attention to Cheney's US Office of Government Ethics public financial disclosure sheets.

No
Main Source: 
Boston Globe, September 19, 2003
Topics: 
Ethics
U.S. Government

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