CENTCOM Team Engages 'Bloggers'

"Blogs sometimes include information -- accurate and otherwise -- about the U.S. military's global war on terror. U.S. Central Command officials here took notice and created a team to engage these writers and their electronic information forums."

"The main interest is to drive their readers to our site," Army Reserve Maj. Richard J. McNorton said. McNorton is CENTCOM's chief of engagement operations."

"Anyone who wants a virtual voice can create a blog and share information with the online world. The ease with which bloggers spread information is what public affairs officials at CENTCOM saw when they created the blog team."

This is from the Defense Department. This is part of their effort to put a positive spin on the things they do. They claim they're not policing, just trying to correct inaccuracies, and driving readers to their site to get "very factual" and "positive" information.

Well, that's what they'd like everyone to believe, but since I wasn't born yesterday, and have spent years learning of the lies they put out, I think I'll rely on a wee bit more than just their positive propaganda. Besides, we hear their side all the time in mainstream media.

They claim to identify themselves when addressing bloggers, while at the same time, secretly planting "positive" information in the foreign press. You remember the stories about their paying the Iraqi press to put themselves in a good light, without the readers being told the articles were written by the military. We know Bush cronies paid U.S. journalists to promote the administrations' agenda, so would it really be a stretch to assume the military has done the same with our own press? Their budget for propaganda has increased enormously in recent years.

For years they lied about the affects of Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans. For years they lied about the affects of what's been called the Gulf War Syndrome, and I'm sure that any health problems resulting from the current wars will also be lied about in the coming years.

They've lied about many things in the past, and it continues today. They learned from Vietnam, not to let reporters roam free and get stories for themselves, so today we have "embedded" reporters, so the military can see to it that a limited number of reporters only get access to certain areas and people, that will insure favorable reports get out, and bad press limited. Fortunately, there are reporters from other parts of the world that manage to get in a get unsupervised access to the other sides of the stories.

They lie about the abuse of prisoners. They would have us believe that the exposed abuses were committed by just a few bad apples, when in fact, some of the techniques used by these few bad apples, just happened to be standard CIA psychological torture procedures. Just an incredible coincidence, I guess. And make no mistake, psychological torture leaves much more damaging affects than physical torture. When they try and make the case that screwing with someones' mind, isn't really torture, compared to beatings, they're lying.

While I certainly believe in getting information from as close to the source as possible, that doesn't necessarily mean the original source is telling the truth. So yes, go to their site and get their official side of the story, but keep in mind that because of the contract of their service, military personel are not allowed the same freedoms to tell the truth, as those not in the service, and those at the very top that issue the orders, are themselves following orders that demand their loyalty and obedience to their Commander in Chief, who has proven himself to be an extremely secretive, and compulsive liar. So it only stands to reason that if he doesn't want bad publicity (ie; the truth) to get out about his military campaigns, his subordinates will dutifully obey. But even then, some do speak out. More than a few commanders have openly (or speaking off the record) disputed the "official" line.

On the off chance that my humble little blog causes me to be "engaged", they might as well check these other posts for their "accuracy" as well:

They conspire to hide the truth:
Defense Department Refuses to Turn Over Abuse Photographs

The history of their particpation in secret wars:
Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990

They can't control them, so the ban them from Iraq:
The War on Al Jazeera

Bush tries to pretend he didn't authorize the propaganda:
Bush concern at Iraq 'propaganda'

They secretly subvert the Iraqi press:
U.S. military propaganda for Iraqis

They secretly subvert the rest of the worlds press:
Pentagon rolls out stealth PR

How they really treat bloggers:
Letter From a Military Mom

The faces of their collateral damage:
The "Shock and Awe" Gallery

Just wondering what abuses they've committed here:
A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo

Their positive spin fails:
Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre

And fails again:
Al Jazeera Reporters Give Bloody First Hand Account of April ’04 U.S. Siege of Fallujah

They poison the people and the environment with their munitions:
UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells

Their manuals show torture has been commonplace:
Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past

They've used willing, and unwilling human guinea pigs:
Hidden history of US germ testing

A comparison between CIA torture techniques and the militarys' abused prisoners:
History of CIA Interrogation

More pictures:
Abu Ghraib - Real Video

More of the same:
More Abu Ghraib Photos

I've already posted a link to their Ministry of Propaganda:
The Pentagon Channel

So, spin away, but the truth has a way of revealing itself regardless.