StopBigMedia.com, May 9, 2008
By Megan Tady

One by one, members of Congress are demanding an investigation into the Pentagon's covert scheme to sway public opinion about the Iraq war by placing propaganda pundits in the media.

Since we first launched our petition urging Congress to act, 41 representatives have appealed to the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate the Defense Department. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) called the propaganda program an “unethical, and potentially illegal, propaganda campaign aimed at deliberately misleading the American public.”

Recognizing that the Pentagon did not act alone, some in Congress don’t want to allow the military analysts and the media networks to slink out the back door. Congresswoman Delauro and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) are appealing to the Federal Communications Commission to probe whether networks violated the FCC's "sponsorship identification rules" when analysts working from Pentagon talking points and working for military contractors appeared in broadcasts.

Their letter to the FCC states: “When seemingly objective television commentators are in fact highly motivated to promote the agenda of a government agency, a gross violation of the public trust occurs,” it continued. “The American people should never be subject to a covert propaganda campaign but rather should be clearly notified of who is sponsoring what they are watching.”

And the Pentagon’s actions became all the more real – and all the more frightening – when it released 8,000 pages of documents this week related to the propaganda program. One transcript shows an unidentified analyst suggesting they “parrot” then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The documents are a clear indication of how far the government went to lead the American people into war and should make it obvious to Congress that those members who haven’t done so yet, should stand up now.

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