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Military Planting Articles in Iraq Papers
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The military turned to using newspaper articles because officers in the field believed that normal press operations needed supplementing to get the message out.
"The realities of the environment here demand something more ambitious than people might understand," said one officer in Iraq who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to discuss the program. "The information environment is almost as important as the combat environment. It's absolutely essential to our success to get the facts out there. We're not going to spread misinformation."
One Pentagon official said yesterday that such a program could violate Defense Department doctrine on psychological operations that bars intentionally misusing the media. "It's a transparency issue," the official said. "One should never have to guess as to who is providing the information."
Lincoln Group was one of a few contractors tapped earlier this year to bring a more creative approach to psychological operations efforts in Iraq, largely aiming at improving foreign public opinion about the United States. Col. James A. Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element at the U.S. Special Operations Command, said in June that the military would like to use "cutting-edge types of media" to get the message out.
Laurie Adler, director of marketing, communications and government relations at Lincoln Group, said that she could not comment on the contract, but said her company's efforts in Iraq are vital.
"We believe that it is necessary to counter the misinformation that is put out by our adversaries," Adler said. "Trying to get out accurate information is an important part of what the U.S. needs to do to show our side of the story."
Lincoln Group, which formerly operated under the name Iraqex, advertised itself as having been "given wide latitude and urged to be creative in the approaches we take." A job listing on its Web site expresses a need for more employees "to mount an aggressive advertising and public relations campaign that will accurately inform the Iraqi people of the coalition's goals and gain their support."
Research editor Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
