U.S. firm paid $20M for Iraq propaganda(Lincoln Group)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The Washington company hired by the Pentagon to secretly write anonymous pro-U.S. news stories in Iraq was paid $20 million for a two-month contract.

The Pentagon has ordered an investigation into the work last year by the Lincoln Group, led by Navy Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk.

On Dec. 2, Pentagon officials told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., that all of the published materials were supposed to be identified as originating with the U.S. military, but that identification was occasionally omitted by accident.

However, Lincoln Group documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that those who worked on the campaign believed the media products would be far more credible if their origins were disguised.

Several current and former employees of the Lincoln Group told the Los Angeles Times that U.S. military officials in Iraq were aware of the information campaign to sway public opinion, and called it "unnecessarily costly, poorly run and largely ineffective."

more;http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051218-064445-4272r

Planted PR Stories Not News to Military
U.S. officials in Iraq knew that a contractor was paying local papers. Discretion was the key.

WASHINGTON — U.S. military officials in Iraq were fully aware that a Pentagon contractor regularly paid Iraqi newspapers to publish positive stories about the war, and made it clear that none of the stories should be traced to the United States, according to several current and former employees of Lincoln Group, the Washington-based contractor.

In contrast to assertions by military officials in Baghdad and Washington, interviews and Lincoln Group documents show that the information campaign waged over the last year was designed to cloak any connection to the U.S. military.

"In clandestine parlance, Lincoln Group was a 'cutout' — a third party — that would provide the military with plausible deniability," said a former Lincoln Group employee who worked on the operation. "To attribute products to would defeat the entire purpose. Hence, no product by Lincoln Group ever said 'Made in the U.S.A.' "

A number of workers who carried out Lincoln Group's offensive, including a $20-million two-month contract to influence public opinion in Iraq's restive Al Anbar province, describe a campaign that was unnecessarily costly, poorly run and largely ineffective at improving America's image in Iraq. The current and former employees spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality restrictions.


more:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-infowar18dec18,0,1826110.story?coll=la-home-headlines

could be done in this country with that money. How about it going to the Katrina victims.

I am sure the folks in the Gulf coast could have used some of that. Damn! It is amazing how they waste our fucking money!

The Western Mission contract, along with a multiyear contract worth as much as $100 million that the Lincoln Group signed with Special Operations Command over the summer, were financial turning points for the company.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/18/MNGQTGA01H1.DTL&feed=rss.news

:grr:

and how much did he give to the Bush campaign?

http://www.govexec.com/features/1205-01/1205-01s1s2.htm

<snip>

It's tough to follow the history of Lincoln Group, a contractor that won a $100 million contract with the Special Operations Command to assist with psychological operations. The common denominator to the firm's history is Christian Bailey, listed on its Web site as executive vice president, capital markets. After graduating from Oxford University in England in the 1990s, Bailey moved to the San Francisco area around 1998, and in 1999, founded Express Action, an e-commerce company he apparently later sold. In the Nov. 15, 2002, issue of HedgeWorld Daily News, Bailey was identified as the founder and chairman of a New York-based hedge fund called Lincoln Asset Management. On March 1, 2003, the Alternative Investment News reported that Lincoln Asset Management had an initial $100 million in commitments to underwrite a leveraged buyout fund to acquire defense and intelligence companies.

In 2003, the Lincoln Alliance Corp. (a subsidiary of Lincoln Asset Management) made its debut, presenting itself primarily as a purveyor of what it called "tailored intelligence services" for "government clients faced with critical intelligence challenges," and as an Iraq business development catalyst. Its Web site listed no officers, principals or partners, but described operations as focused on an ambitious mix of political campaign intelligence and commercial real estate. With one office in Baghdad and more projected, Lincoln would act as a clearinghouse for U.S. and foreign companies doing business in Iraq, providing "the information, research and contacts necessary to develop and grow businesses" in the post-Saddam era.

During this time, Lincoln appears to have maintained a business address at 1130 17th St. NW in Washington, and shared phone and fax numbers with Omnicept, a firm located at the time at 1432 T St. NW. Omnicept described itself as an "advanced information technology and systems design firm" and "analytic and intelligence firm" comprising "experts whose experience encompasses military intelligence, education and academia, big business, money managers, political activists, law enforcement, entrepreneurs, artists, and more."

<snip>


Bailey was a founder and active participant in Lead21, a fund-raising and networking operation for affluent young Republicans, some of whom have gone on to serve in the Bush administration. Click on the links to Lead21's site today and no mention of Bailey is to be found. But on a subscriber business and social networking site, there's an archived e-mail of Bailey discussing setting up a New York branch of Lead21, and his "personal network," which lists a half-dozen members of the organization's current board, including the chairman of the California Republican Party and the senior policy adviser to the Justice Department's chief information officer. "These are going to be the big supporters, the big donors to the Republican Party in five years' time," Bailey told The New York Times in an Aug. 31, 2004, video interview during a Lead21 party at the Republican convention in New York.

And guess who is the next door neighbor of the Lincoln Group?
@ 1150 17th St. NW
Washington DC

THE PROJECT FOR A NEW AMERICAN CENTURY/AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE (they both work at the same address)
PNAC = the group that got us into Iraq = Pearle, Faith, Rummy, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Kristol, & so on

So Lincoln Group had to be set up by the neo cons as a money laundering and propaganda operation from the get go.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce::bounce: :bounce:
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce::bounce: :bounce:
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce::bounce: :bounce:

don't you?? :sarcasm:

according to this link
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lincoln_Group

~snip~

Much is unclear about the Lincoln Group, its youthful executive vice-president and his string of previous companies that have left only the faintest paper trail. Indeed, Christian Bailey may not be his real name: a number of student associates said at some point during his four years that he changed his name from Yusefovich - an unlikely surname for someone called Christian.

The Independent has been unable to confirm this. Yet the details known about Bailey and the contract his company won provide a remarkable insight into the way influence and power operate in Washington. Just two years after arriving here, Bailey, 30, who has a penchant for socialising, has apparently developed contacts both within the Republican establishment and the world of private intelligence.

Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said of the false news operation: "I remain gravely concerned about the situation." Since the controversy broke Bailey has kept a low-profile and has offered just the fewest public words about his organisation and what it does. (He failed to respond to requests for an interview.) It also appears a number of internet references linking him to the Republicans can no longer be found.

Yet it is clear the Lincoln Group and its contract with the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, part of the Pentagon's Special Operations Command, is inextricably linked with Bailey. He apparently named the company and its various offshoots after Lincoln College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1997 with an MA in economics and management.

~snip~

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article333629.ece

You know, in the few short clips I saw of Mr. Bailey he set off my gaydar. This little tidbit makes me more curious. I wonder if we have here another repuke operative in the closet? I wonder how close he is with the neocon perle?

<snip>

At some point Bailey also went into business with Paige Craig, 31, a former US Marine who served in Iraq and elsewhere. Bailey and Craig are flatmates in a fashionable part of Washington, close to U Street. The flat is just yards away from Café Saint- Ex, popular with young professionals.

... That is an excellent article mm. Thank you!

The lincoln group also launders money for the repugs.
They get a check ...... then members of the organization kick back
a chunk to the RNC, PACs, and in 04 to bush/Cheney.

And so tax money goes to the Dept. of Defense ..... then to the Lincoln group ....
and some back to the repugs.

This on top of telling Iraqis about Iraq.

you just have to wonder....makes me think about not declaring all that I make in taxes...there is so many more ways to spend the money. for instance since it was decided by Bushie that we go to war why not spend it on adequate supplies and gear for the troops?

That like John Gotti investigating Sammy The Bull Gravano, isn't it. Or Kerik investigation Giuliani.

Clearly it's the best way to get to the bottom of nothing. ;-)

:kick:

See this thread for more discussion of the Lincoln/Rendon Group.

They are now directing their propaganda at us as well as the Iraqis on the History Channel.

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1994050

...is known as The Hitler Channel, for its endless masturbatory WWII documentaries.

It's a right wing sewer.

I'm mean the NYT company only earns about 350,000 in revenue a month, that's way cheaper than 10 million.

:kick:

Par for the course for these idiots

They're here to help you
Satisfy your desire
There's a bright future for all you professional liars!

"How To Be Dumb" (1991)

edit--cannot recommend b/c of the 24-hr rule