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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (41975)	11/30/2005 12:21:53 PM
From: regli	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 116555

What is little understood and well captured by Heinz is that this is not just about Iraq. These problems cause instability and extremism all over the Middle East, just examine the latest elections in Egypt. Anybody who has lived there knows that the current U.S. policy is an unmitigated disaster in that it marginalizes moderates as U.S. supporters and worse. The following story is just a further example of the total incompetence of this administration. It will undermine anybody in Iraq who advocates a moderate stance and likely brand them as traitors and paid U.S. supporters. US military planting stories in Iraqi newspapers news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to print stories written by US soldiers in an effort to polish the image of the American mission in Iraq, a US newspaper reported. ADVERTISEMENT US military "information operations" troops have written the articles, which are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based defense contractor, according to The Los Angeles Times. Many articles are presented to Iraqi newspapers as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists, the daily said, citing documents it obtained and unnamed US military officials. The stories denounce insurgents and tout the work of US and Iraqi troops and the US-led effort to rebuild Iraq. The United States has paid Iraqi newspapers to publish dozens of articles, the LA Times said. "The operation is designed to mask any connection with the US military," it said. The Lincoln Group helps translate and place the stories. The contractor's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance journalists or advertising executives to hand the stories to Iraqi papers. Some senior US military officers in Iraq and at the Pentagon have criticized the operation, saying it could ruin the US military's credibility in other countries and with the US public. "Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first principles of democracy when we're doing it," a senior Pentagon official who opposes the planting of stories was quoted as saying. Much of the effort was being directed by the "Information Operations Task Force" in Baghdad, part of the multinational corps headquarters commanded by Army Lieutenant General John Vines, the newspaper said. The task force has even bought an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station, a military official said, refusing to name the outlets to protect their staff from insurgent attacks.

To: mishedlo who wrote (41975)	11/30/2005 12:58:05 PM
From: benwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

I completely agree with this, and that it will be unstable long after we're gone (and I believe that we'll eventually be out because of how it acts as a catalyst for our own bust). There are political and social reasons why an iron-fisted dictator came to power there in the first place. If it subdivides, then perhaps we'll see some stability settle in. Either way, we've created a welfare state to burden American taxpayers for many, many years. Of course, much of that welfare will go to US corporations (hand-picked to pick-pocket), which of course has always been a part of the plan. --Ben

To: mishedlo who wrote (41975)	11/30/2005 2:21:09 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

I agree Iraq will not be stable while we are there, and probably won't be stable for at least a decade after we leave unless another ruthless and oppressive dictator takes over. My concern is that if we show weakness in Iraq we will be inviting mass terrorism here. Russia is a prime example of how to deal with terrorists. Their tactics are ruthless but effective. A few decades ago terrorists took over a passenger plane. Russian troops stormed the plane killing everyone until they were sure the terrorists were dead. No more plane problems. Recently Chechen rebels took a school. Again the Soviet government acted ruthlessly and again things quieted down a lot. Terrorist talk up a great story about wanting to die but not many of them are dumb enough to actually perform an act of obvious suicide. Terrorists understand two things very well: Strength and weakness.