Globalisation:Information Operations Task Force
Introduction
the Information Operations Task Force is a military organisation based in Baghdad and is part of the multinational corps headquarters commanded by Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines.[1] The Information Operations Task Force was an organisation which provided news stories to the US Department of Defense which subsequentially paid Iraqi newspapers to disseminate news stories written by American military sources which presented a favourable image of the American action in the country. Although the news stories were largely truthful they presented a one sided view of the news and the editors of the newspapers in question were not always aware that what they were printing was essentially propoganda from the US Government. [2]
Lincoln Group
The pentagon signed contracts with Lincoln Group, a Washington based defence contractor, with a maximum value of $100M to place news articles written by the Information Operations Task Force in the Iraqi press. The specific job of one Lincoln Group employee was to ensure that there were 'No fingerprints' which could lead back to the source of the articles.[3] It is also alleged in the independent that qoutes said to be from Iraqi officials or citizens were routinely fabricated by US troops who had never left the green zone in Baghdad.
Implications
Although there is no law against the US military carrying out psychological operations or disseminating news through foriegn media. It is illegal, through US law, for them to do this within the United States. It has been argued by a private contractor to the Pentagon that, "There is no longer any way to separate foreign media from domestic media. Those neat lines don't exist anymore."[4]. if this is accepted as the case then it is possible that the stories published in Iraq ccould be picked up and run by US media outlets in which case the law would have been broken.
