Smafty Mac: Fighting the kakistocracy!!!

Pentagon using American Media for Psy-Ops

As if this weren't obvious enough, the media is being used by the government to trick the enemy.

On the evening of Oct. 14, a young Marine spokesman near Fallujah appeared on CNN and made a dramatic announcement.

"Troops crossed the line of departure," 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert declared, using a common military expression signaling the start of a major campaign. "It's going to be a long night."


 
CNN, which had been alerted to expect a major news development, reported that the long-awaited offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah had begun.

In fact, the Fallujah offensive would not kick off for another three weeks. Gilbert's carefully worded announcement was an elaborate psychological operation -- or "psy-op" -- intended to dupe insurgents in Fallujah and allow U.S. commanders to see how guerrillas would react when they believed U.S. troops were entering the city, according to several Pentagon officials.

In the hours after the initial report, CNN's Pentagon reporters were able to determine that the Fallujah operation had not, in fact, begun.

"As the story developed, we quickly made it clear to our viewers exactly what was going on in and around Fallujah," CNN spokesman Matthew Furman said.

In this line of thinking, couldn't the government use the media for any propaganda it wanted as long as their reason was for "National Security"?

So we know that the government will lie shouldn't be the media's job to to filter through that nonsense and present the truth? The fourth estate as the media is know should act in our best interest.

Sadly enough it isn't happening here.
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