As a rule, military flacks tend to be a cautious bunch.
Irish Pennents
By jkelly
I know, I was a public affairs officer once. It's understandable, given the nature of the employer.
This is why I want to give an attaboy to Marine Captain Jeffrey Pool, a public affairs officer with the Second Marine Division hq in Ar Ramadi. Capt. Pool is quick to disseminate detailed news releases about what is going on in his AO, and aggressively searches for customers for them. He is, by far, the best military flack with whom I have ever dealt.
Reuters and the AP are marketing today a totally phony story about an al Qaida uprising in Ar Ramadi, and Capt. Pool is pissed.
From: Pool Capt Jeffrey S (GCE PAO)
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 6:33 AM
Subject: Ramadi Attacks
There are rumors circulating about widespread attacks in Ramadi.
As of 2 p.m. there were no signs of any significant insurgent activity anywhere in the city. At 9:30 am an RPG was fired at a joint US-Iraqi observation post which resulted in no damages or casualties. That is all. No other attacks.
This is clearly a sign of how desperate insurgents have become.
In an email a few hours later, Capt. Pool said:
Below is an update from the Hai Al Becker region, it has nothing to do with the insurgent-manufactured rumors currently being reported from Ramadi. Today I witnessed inaccurate reporting, use of unreliable sources, media using other media as sources, an active insurgent propaganda machine, and the pack journalism at its worse. In the future, I will strive to cut these lies off sooner before they propagate like they did today.
Respectfully,
Capt Pool
If the military had more public affairs officers like Capt. Pool, we'd be winning the information war.
I'm late to the party, but let me join
By jkelly
Scott Johnson of Power Line and Hugh Hewitt in heaping scorn on AP reporter Calvin Woodward for referring to students attending the Naval Academy as "cadets."
If I were one of the midshipmen who attended President Bush's speech, I'd be pissed, even before I became enraged by Woodward's spin.
You'd think the clowns at the AP would assign to cover the story someone who knew something about the subject, and the audience. But maybe there is nobody at the AP who knows jack s*** about the military. |
