Pentagon memo reveals launch of new PR war

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

The Pentagon is buttressing its public relations staff and starting an operation akin to a political campaign war room as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld faces intensifying criticism over the Iraq war.

In a memo obtained by the Associated Press, Dorrance Smith, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said new teams of people will "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and "correct the record."

And

Ruff said today that the reorganization, spearheaded by Smith, will help the department "set the record straight" and provide accurate, timely information.

He denied that the effort was set up to respond to the eroding public support for the war, or that it was aimed at helping in next week's elections. He also said he would not call it an "information operations" program, which generally refers to a propaganda-type campaign.

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From Merriam-Webster Online:

public relations: the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution

propaganda: ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause

You know, in the media saturated culture in which we live, it only makes good sense for any large institution to have an office of some sort for dealing with the press. On the other hand, this new Pentagon thing is something entirely different; it's "akin to a political campaign war room," which means that the military is getting into the business of politics. That's very disturbing. There are some extraordinarily good reasons that our founding fathers deliberately made the military obey a civilian commander-in-chief. First and foremost is the fact that the armed services are an incredible concentration of power, highly organized and efficient. We've seen throughout history numerous instances when such concentrations of power simply take over, and why not? They've got the strength to do it. By design, the US military is totally banned from any interference in the civil political system. It's too much of a slippery slope--how much interference is too much? Clearly, the people who established our nation believed that any interference is too much. After all, once you've crossed one line, what's the difference in crossing the next one? Rumsfeld is playing with fire here. This is really fucking dangerous.

Never mind the fact that Pentagon PR is bound to be just a bunch of feel-good, pro-war bullshit.

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