Lincoln Group - Paying For News in Iraq

Paying For News in Iraq

Further information: Information Operations Roadmap

In November 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Lincoln Group was helping the Pentagon covertly place pro-United States stories in Iraqi news outlets. "Dozens" of pieces written by U.S. military "information operations" troops were placed during 2005, according to the LA Times. "The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military", the LA Times reported. The Lincoln Group "helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets."

The Los Angeles Times piece continued, "Military officials familiar with the effort in Iraq said much of it was being directed by the 'Information Operations Task Force' in Baghdad, part of the multinational corps headquarters commanded by Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines.... As part of a psychological operations campaign that has intensified over the last year, the task force also had purchased an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station, and was using them to channel pro-American messages to the Iraqi public. Neither is identified as a military mouthpiece".

In response to the story United States Department of Defense spokesman Bryan Whitman said "this article raises some questions as to whether or not some of the practices that are described in there are consistent with the principles of this department", he said. "And that's what we're going to take a look at."

"Pentagon documents indicate the Lincoln Group ... received a $100 million contract to help produce favorable articles, translate the articles into Arabic, get them placed in Iraqi newspapers and not reveal the Pentagon's role", according to. MSNBC's December 1, 2005, Hardball with Chris Matthews. Additionally, the Chicago Tribune reported that "Lincolns' PR workers in Iraq included three Republican operatives who helped run the Bush campaign in Illinois and had no apparent experience in Iraq."

In March 2006, The Independent published several examples of news stories produced by the Lincoln Group in the late 2005. The Independent's Andrew Buncombe gives his opinion of how these stories distort the actual events of the Iraq war. The only source named in that article is John Pike, Director of globalsecurity.org, a self-described "think tank", who never disputes the truth of Lincoln Group stories, but instead says "It's embarrassing enough that got caught ... but then for their product to be so cheesy ... It's just embarrassing." One must note that the stories themselves are alleged to come from the Lincoln Group itself, and not from the U.S. military.