You owe it to yourself to read today’s article in the New York Times, which describes how the Pentagon uses retired military personnel who now work as network analysts. There is a quid pro quo where the Pentagon helps them win military contracts for their clients by providing them with access to senior Pentagon officials. In return, the analysts repeat the administration’s talking points on television, often when they knew them to be false. Analysts who were critical of the administration’s position lost their access and their clients were hindered from getting government contracts. This practice occured in the days leading up to the Iraqi invasion — when the generals spread the administration’s claims about WMD, ties to Al Qaeda, etc. — and thorughout the occupation, when the generals were called upon to paint a far rosier picture than they knew to be the case. The generals were presented to the public as unbiased veterans whose experience in the military could aid in understanding the situation in Iraq. Instead, they were basically paid shills for the Bush administration.

For those who enjoy being outraged, the Bush administration is the gift which keeps on giving. The bottom line is that the administration was able to manipulate the media and public opinion by using government contracts as leverage to get patently false coverage of its war efforts. Moreover, it was able to point to these phony stories as evidence that the mainstream media did not report the “good news” out of Iraq.

This is far beyond what even Orwell imagined. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin