Amoebistan
02-12-2005, 00:41
Is it just me, or is there actually something "WTF"-worthy about two parts of the government working in direct opposition to each other?
State department's been trying to train Iraqi journalists and make them into a solid press corps that is worthy of respect. That's a good goal. Where the news media are strong, confident and reliable, you typically have less corruption and more democracy.
At the same time, the Army's been having members of an intel unit write up articles that project a positive light on US Army and Iraqi government actions in that country. The articles are then passed on to a defense contractor, which translates them into Arabic and pressures Iraqi newspapers into running them - under the newspaper's byline.
A number of Army officers are uncomfortable, and some made reference to a "truth deficit" that seemed to hang over the news during the Vietnam war. But Major General Rick Lynch said it was okay: after all, most of the stories are technically true, and besides, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a liar.
Is it just me or does that totally fail to answer the question of "Can this possibly be good for the United States, forget about ethical concerns?"? What's going on?
State department's been trying to train Iraqi journalists and make them into a solid press corps that is worthy of respect. That's a good goal. Where the news media are strong, confident and reliable, you typically have less corruption and more democracy.
At the same time, the Army's been having members of an intel unit write up articles that project a positive light on US Army and Iraqi government actions in that country. The articles are then passed on to a defense contractor, which translates them into Arabic and pressures Iraqi newspapers into running them - under the newspaper's byline.
A number of Army officers are uncomfortable, and some made reference to a "truth deficit" that seemed to hang over the news during the Vietnam war. But Major General Rick Lynch said it was okay: after all, most of the stories are technically true, and besides, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a liar.
Is it just me or does that totally fail to answer the question of "Can this possibly be good for the United States, forget about ethical concerns?"? What's going on?