Military: Stories planted ‘to get the truth out’

updated 5:56 p.m. ET Dec. 2, 2005

WASHINGTON - Military officials in Baghdad for the first time Friday described a Pentagon program that pays to plant stories in the Iraqi media, an effort the top U.S. military commander said was part of an effort to “get the truth out” there.

The U.S. officials in Iraq said articles had been offered and published in Iraqi newspapers “as a function of buying advertising and opinion/editorial space, as is customary in Iraq.”

The idea has been criticized in the United States, and John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, went to the Pentagon Friday for an explanation. President Bush’s spokesman said the White House was “very concerned.”

But Warner told The Associated Press, “Things like this happen. It’s a war. The disinformation that’s going on in that country is really affecting the effectiveness of what we’re achieving, and we have no recourse but to try and do some rebuttal information.”

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said that third parties were used to market the stories to reduce the risk to the publishers.

“If any part of our process does not have our full confidence, we will examine that activity and take appropriate action,” he said in a statement. “If any contractor is failing to perform as we have intended, we will take appropriate action.”

He also defended the program as critical to the war effort.

“The information battlespace in Iraq is contested at all times and is filled with misinformation and propaganda by an enemy intent on discrediting the Iraqi government and the coalition, and who are taking every opportunity to instill fear and intimidate the Iraqi people,” his statement said.

Leaving a Pentagon meeting with Defense Department officials in Washington, Warner, R-Va., said the program was a serious problem.

‘We want to get the truth out’
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that, “We want to get the facts out. We want to get the truth out.”

Warner met with chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita and members of Pace’s staff, but only bumped into Pace on his way out of the building.

Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday that it is not clear whether the program violated the law or Pentagon policy, a Defense Department spokesman said Friday.

“You can do something perfectly legal, but that is inconsistent with the policy or procedures of the department. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do,” said spokesman Bryan Whitman.

He said the department is still gathering information on the matter.

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