Richard Perle and Imperialistic Propaganda

I was watching one of those CNN "debates" yesterday between Gary Hart and Richard Perle regarding the importance of Bush's non-event speech on Iraq. Hart made a comment about how the French eventually had to get out of Indochina because of the long-running insurgency there, and Perle got upset at Hart for implying that America is engaging in imperialism in Iraq.

I had to laugh when Perle reacted that way because he is, of course, a member of PNAC and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 PNAC letter sent to Bill Clinton advocating the removal of Saddam's regime from power in Iraq. I mean, this guy is about as imperialistic as they come, yet he got all upset when Gary Hart correctly compared the U.S. to Imperial France and Imperial Britain.

Unfortunately, Hart didn't make a single reference to PNAC during the exchange -- is there some unwritten rule that PNAC can never be mentioned on a news program? It's also unfortunate that Hart didn't refer to this article during his debate with Perle:

As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country.

Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism," since the effort began this year.

The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets.

The military's effort to disseminate propaganda in the Iraqi media is taking place even as U.S. officials are pledging to promote democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption.

If all of this sounds a little familiar, that's because it is.