The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
July 22, 2009

GAO: Pentagon Propaganda Program Didn’t Break Law
-------------------------------------------------



A congressional probe has concluded the Pentagon didn’t break federal
law in running a propaganda program ahead of the Iraq war. Beginning in
2002, the Pentagon recruited more than seventy-five retired military
officers to appear on TV outlets as so-called military analysts to
portray Iraq as an urgent threat. Some of the retired officers also had
business ties to war contractors who stood to profit from military
spending. Investigators with the Congressional Accountability Office
didn’t issue a finding on the analysts’ business ties, but say the
propaganda program was legal. Earlier this year, the Pentagon was forced
to withdraw its own exoneration of the program after admitting an
Inspector General’s report was deeply flawed.



.