Propaganda? Nah, Here's the Scoop Say the Guys Who Planted Stories in Iraq

By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 26, 2006; Page D01

Oh, no, not at all -- the Lincoln Group does not do propaganda. Sure, the firm's been tarred by some in Congress, the media and the defense establishment for paying Iraqi newspapers to publish hundreds of "news" stories secretly written by U.S. troops.

But Paige Craig, the West Point dropout and former Marine intelligence specialist who is the Lincoln Group's president, says the practice is not propaganda. The word carries such baggage, such suggestions of mind control. So in an industry in which euphemism thrives, a more elegant word is deployed.

"We call it 'influence,' " says Craig, whose business has 12 U.S. government contracts totaling more than $130 million.

The Lincoln Group even has a "senior director for insight and influence." His name is Andrew Garfield. Over lunch near the group's Pennsylvania Avenue offices, he also tries to steer the lexicon at play around the table and to clarify what he calls the "tradecraft" of "influence."

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500983.html

disgusting :puke:

they wouldn't need to spend so much time and money spinning the image:

'"We call it 'influence,' " says Craig, whose business has 12 U.S. government contracts totaling more than $130 million.


my post on this topic:
'http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=756583&mesg_id=756583

why do they hide the source?

From the article:

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'Now he breaks into a full-bore lecture: "It's as if telling the Iraqi people about the positive aspects, about the emergence of democracy in their country, the significant efforts being done by the coalition to protect them, to achieve the security that everybody acknowledges is necessary for people to embrace a new government and a new armed forces -- as if all of that is bad. The moment you label it with the term propaganda, you immediately end any debate. It's absolutely necessary to counter the negative use of information by our adversaries."

(snip)

Would a visitor be able to identify Lincoln Group's work in Iraq?

"You shouldn't stumble across our work," says Garfield. "What I mean is: You shouldn't know it was our work."

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If what they're doing is so honorable, why do they have to disguise it as 'reporting'? These guys are so busy painting a world that doesn't exist, they start to believe their own b*llsh*t.