U.S. ties in Iraq media campaign omitted

WASHINGTON – A top Pentagon official said Friday that “transgressions” may have occurred in a secret military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish information favorable to the U.S. mission, and American military commanders in Baghdad said any “improprieties” by defense contractors would be probed.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was told by Pentagon officials that stories and advertisements placed in Iraqi news outlets by a defense contractor are supposed to be identified as U.S. government products but that, in some cases, omissions may have occurred.

Although the public statements seemed to question the activities of the defense contractor, Washington, D.C.-based Lincoln Group, officials did not say exactly where the possible transgressions or improprieties may have occurred. Documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times and interviews indicate that in practice, the “information operations” campaign carried out by the U.S. military and Lincoln Group has masked connections to the U.S. government.

“These are attempts at influence without any identification of source. The whole point is to make it appear like Iraqis are forming these opinions on their own,” said one senior military official who was deployed in Iraq this year and has knowledge of the information operations campaign. The senior military official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is critical of the program and is not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The developments came as Pentagon officials and Congress react to revelations about the program, which has been under way in Iraq since the beginning of the year.

Under the arrangement between Lincoln Group and the U.S. military’s Information Operations Task Force in Baghdad, dozens of “storyboards” written by U.S. troops have been edited and translated into Arabic by staffers of Lincoln Group. After that, the contractor uses a network of Iraqis to pay Iraqi newspapers to publish the stories.

Some have been published as straight news stories, and some as opinion pieces or advertisements.

Of more than a dozen published items reviewed by the L.A. Times, none revealed a connection to the U.S. military.

In July, one storyboard written by U.S. troops titled “Children Murdered at the Hands of Terrorists” was recast by Lincoln Group as an opinion column written by an Iraqi citizen. It was published in Baghdad’s Al Sabaah newspaper on July 19, documents show.

“Have we all given up?” the op-ed reads. “What kind of man am I if I tolerate the massacre of our children? What kind of human am I if I condone the slaughter of innocents? What kind of Muslim am I if I stand in silence as immoral cowards kill our children in the name of God and the prophet Muhammad?”

Documents show that Al Sabaah was paid more than $1,500 to publish the piece.

Warner said he would continue to press the Pentagon for more details about the operation. He said that military officials told him that the news products delivered to Iraqi media organizations are meant to be clearly designated “as originating with coalition forces.”

“I remain gravely concerned about this situation,” Warner said after the meeting. “This apparently has got some elements in it that bear closer scrutiny and maybe stopping it altogether.” Warner said he would discuss the issue with other members of his committee later this month.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita, one of those who briefed Warner, acknowledged that there may have been improper activities carried out by U.S. troops or Lincoln Group staffers. “I’m willing to believe that there were some transgressions along the way, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out,” he said.

Another Pentagon spokesman said Friday it was not clear whether the program violated either United States law or Pentagon policy.

In a statement released from Baghdad on Friday night, the U.S. military defended the program but said it would investigate any “improprieties” in the way the news articles are developed and distributed to the Iraqi media, and take action “if any contractor is failing to perform as we have intended.”

DiRita said officials in Washington are still trying to gather information from commanders in Baghdad about the U.S. military’s relationship with Lincoln Group, and that Warner was briefed about everything the Pentagon knows up to this point.

DiRita said nobody at the briefing with Warner had any specific knowledge about how the Lincoln Group contract was being carried out on the ground in Iraq. “There wasn’t anyone who was sufficiently knowledgeable to deconstruct this particular contract,” DiRita said. Lincoln Group officials have not responded to questions about its activities in Iraq. In a statement issued on Friday, the company said it works with Iraqi media to promote truthful reporting across the country.