|
Military to continue to pay Iraqi media: Casey
By Charles Aldinger
03/04/06 "Reuters"
-- -- The U.S. military will continue to pay
Iraqi media to publish reports favorable to American forces
following an investigation into the controversial practice, the top
U.S. general in Iraq said on Friday.
Army Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces there, told
reporters in a teleconference from Iraq that the investigation by a
Navy admiral ordered by Casey "found that we were operating within
our authorities and responsibilities."
Some members of the U.S. Congress raised questions about the
payments when it was revealed in December that Iraqi journalists and
newspapers were being paid to use articles produced by the military.
Casey said he had not issued an order to halt the payments.
"And, right now, based on the results of the investigation, I do not
intend to in the near term," he said.
"However, we will continue to evaluate this over time as the
situation on the ground here evolves."
Casey said results of the investigation by Rear Adm. Scott Van
Buskirk would be announced in the coming weeks and that some
"procedural recommendations" could be made.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said in recent weeks the
Pentagon had not done a good job in the information war against
enemies like al Qaeda, saying U.S. personnel felt constrained partly
due to fear of criticism in the media. The U.S. military has argued
it is important to counter what it calls misinformation and
propaganda spread by insurgents.
Van Buskirk's inquiry was announced in December after the military
confirmed U.S. troops in an "information operations" task force
wrote articles with positive messages about the U.S. mission that
were translated from English into Arabic and placed in Iraqi
newspapers in return for money.
The U.S. command in Iraq at the time said "articles have been
accepted and published as a function of buying advertising and
opinion/editorial space, as is customary in Iraq."
Some U.S. lawmakers have said the practice could undermine U.S.
credibility as American officials try to foster democratic
institutions in Iraq and tout its emerging free press.
Rumsfeld said last month that he was mistaken when he stated several
days previously that the military had stopped paying Iraqi
newspapers to publish pro-American articles.
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited
Click below to post a comment on this article
Translate
this page
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
