abuYasir
02-01-2006, 08:50 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/02/politics/02propaganda.html?hp&ex=1136264400&en=7aac55522b3865b9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The New York Times
Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda
1
By David Cloud & Jeff Gerth
2 January 2006
A Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to run positive articles about U.S. efforts in Iraq also has been compensating Iraqi clerics and scholars in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to company records and current and former employees. Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations firm, was told early last year by the American military to identify religious leaders who could help craft messages that would persuade Sunnis in violence-ridden Al Anbar Province to participate in national elections and reject the insurgency, according to a former employee. Since then, the company has enlisted three or four Sunni clerics and religious scholars to offer advice and write reports for military commanders on the content of propaganda campaigns, the former employee said. But documents and executives say the firm's ties to religious leaders and dozens of other prominent Iraqis is aimed also at enabling it to exercise influence in Iraqi communities on behalf of clients, including the U.S. military.
"We do reach out to clerics. We meet with local government officials and with local businessmen," said a Lincoln executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We need to have relationships that are broad enough and deep enough that we can touch all the various aspects of society." He declined to discuss the company's work for the military. Internal company financial records show that Lincoln spent around $144,000 on "Muslim scholars" from May to September. Though that figure is a tiny portion of the tens of millions in contracts from the military that Lincoln has received for so-called "information operations," the effort is especially sensitive because of the influential role that religious leaders play in Iraqi society. Each of the clerics underwent vetting before being brought into the program to ensure that they were not involved in the insurgency, a former employee said. Their identities have kept secret to prevent insurgent reprisals, and they were never brought to Camp Victory, the American base outside Baghdad where Lincoln employees work with military personnel.
Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the American military in Baghdad, declined to comment. After the disclosure in November that the military used Lincoln to plant stories written by U.S. troops in Iraqi newspapers, the Pentagon ordered an investigation, led by Rear Admiral Scott Van Buskirk. General George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, said a preliminary assessment made shortly after the military's information-operations campaign was disclosed concluded that the U.S. Army was "operating within our authorities and the appropriate legal procedures." Van Buskirk has finished his inquiry, several Defense Department officials said, but it has not been made public. Lincoln recently sought approval from the military to make Sunni clerics one of several "target audiences" of the propaganda effort in Iraq. A Lincoln plan entitled "Divide and Prosper" presented in October to Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, which oversees information operations, suggested that reaching religious leaders was vital for reducing Sunni support for the insurgency.
"Clerics exercise a great deal of influence over the people in their communities and often times it is the religious leaders who incite people to violence and to support the insurgent cause," the company argued in the proposal. In some cases, "insurgent groups may provide Sunni leaders with financial compensation in return for that cleric's loyalty and support," the proposal said, adding that religious leaders are motivated by "a need to retain patronage" and a "desire to maintain religious and moral authority." Unlike in many other Middle East countries, sermons by Iraqi imams are not subject to government control, enabling them to speak "without fear of repercussions" the document said. Overall, clerics "are a vital audience that will be very difficult to influence but if successful is likely to have a considerable impact on the wider community" the company said.
The Special Operations Command said in a statement that it did not adopt the Lincoln plan, choosing another contractor's proposal instead. But a contractor employee involved in the submission said Lincoln had been told to resubmit the plan after making changes. When Lincoln Group was incorporated last year its stated purpose was to provide support services for business development, trade and investment in Iraq. But the company shifted to information warfare and psychological operations, two former employees said. The company was awarded three new Pentagon contracts, they added.
Payments to the clerics were originally part of Lincoln's contract to aid the military with information warfare in Anbar Province. Known as the "Western Missions" contract, it also called for producing radio and television advertisements, Web sites, posters, and for placing advertisements and opinion articles in Iraqi publications. In October, the program fell under Information Operations Management Services, a new contract Lincoln was awarded by the Pentagon for work in Iraq, along with two other firms.
Lincoln has also turned to American scholars and political consultants for advice on the content of Iraqi propaganda campaign, records indicate. Michael Rubin, a Middle East scholar at the American Enterprise Institute said he had reviewed materials produced by the company in two trips to Iraq last year. "I visited Camp Victory and looked over some of their proposals or products and commented on their ideas," he said in an e-mail. "I am not nor have I been an employee of the Lincoln Group. I do not receive a salary from them." He added: "Normally, when I travel, I receive reimbursement of expenses including a per diem and/or honorarium." But he would not comment further on how much in such payments he received from Lincoln. Rubin was quoted last month in The New York Times when disclosure first surfaced about Lincoln's work for the Pentagon placing articles in Iraqi publications: "I'm not surprised this goes on," he said, without disclosing his work for Lincoln. "Especially in an atmosphere where terrorists and insurgents - replete with oil boom cash - do the same. We need an even playing field, but cannot fight with both hands tied behind our backs."
The New York Times
Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda
1
By David Cloud & Jeff Gerth
2 January 2006
A Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to run positive articles about U.S. efforts in Iraq also has been compensating Iraqi clerics and scholars in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to company records and current and former employees. Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations firm, was told early last year by the American military to identify religious leaders who could help craft messages that would persuade Sunnis in violence-ridden Al Anbar Province to participate in national elections and reject the insurgency, according to a former employee. Since then, the company has enlisted three or four Sunni clerics and religious scholars to offer advice and write reports for military commanders on the content of propaganda campaigns, the former employee said. But documents and executives say the firm's ties to religious leaders and dozens of other prominent Iraqis is aimed also at enabling it to exercise influence in Iraqi communities on behalf of clients, including the U.S. military.
"We do reach out to clerics. We meet with local government officials and with local businessmen," said a Lincoln executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We need to have relationships that are broad enough and deep enough that we can touch all the various aspects of society." He declined to discuss the company's work for the military. Internal company financial records show that Lincoln spent around $144,000 on "Muslim scholars" from May to September. Though that figure is a tiny portion of the tens of millions in contracts from the military that Lincoln has received for so-called "information operations," the effort is especially sensitive because of the influential role that religious leaders play in Iraqi society. Each of the clerics underwent vetting before being brought into the program to ensure that they were not involved in the insurgency, a former employee said. Their identities have kept secret to prevent insurgent reprisals, and they were never brought to Camp Victory, the American base outside Baghdad where Lincoln employees work with military personnel.
Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the American military in Baghdad, declined to comment. After the disclosure in November that the military used Lincoln to plant stories written by U.S. troops in Iraqi newspapers, the Pentagon ordered an investigation, led by Rear Admiral Scott Van Buskirk. General George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, said a preliminary assessment made shortly after the military's information-operations campaign was disclosed concluded that the U.S. Army was "operating within our authorities and the appropriate legal procedures." Van Buskirk has finished his inquiry, several Defense Department officials said, but it has not been made public. Lincoln recently sought approval from the military to make Sunni clerics one of several "target audiences" of the propaganda effort in Iraq. A Lincoln plan entitled "Divide and Prosper" presented in October to Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, which oversees information operations, suggested that reaching religious leaders was vital for reducing Sunni support for the insurgency.
"Clerics exercise a great deal of influence over the people in their communities and often times it is the religious leaders who incite people to violence and to support the insurgent cause," the company argued in the proposal. In some cases, "insurgent groups may provide Sunni leaders with financial compensation in return for that cleric's loyalty and support," the proposal said, adding that religious leaders are motivated by "a need to retain patronage" and a "desire to maintain religious and moral authority." Unlike in many other Middle East countries, sermons by Iraqi imams are not subject to government control, enabling them to speak "without fear of repercussions" the document said. Overall, clerics "are a vital audience that will be very difficult to influence but if successful is likely to have a considerable impact on the wider community" the company said.
The Special Operations Command said in a statement that it did not adopt the Lincoln plan, choosing another contractor's proposal instead. But a contractor employee involved in the submission said Lincoln had been told to resubmit the plan after making changes. When Lincoln Group was incorporated last year its stated purpose was to provide support services for business development, trade and investment in Iraq. But the company shifted to information warfare and psychological operations, two former employees said. The company was awarded three new Pentagon contracts, they added.
Payments to the clerics were originally part of Lincoln's contract to aid the military with information warfare in Anbar Province. Known as the "Western Missions" contract, it also called for producing radio and television advertisements, Web sites, posters, and for placing advertisements and opinion articles in Iraqi publications. In October, the program fell under Information Operations Management Services, a new contract Lincoln was awarded by the Pentagon for work in Iraq, along with two other firms.
Lincoln has also turned to American scholars and political consultants for advice on the content of Iraqi propaganda campaign, records indicate. Michael Rubin, a Middle East scholar at the American Enterprise Institute said he had reviewed materials produced by the company in two trips to Iraq last year. "I visited Camp Victory and looked over some of their proposals or products and commented on their ideas," he said in an e-mail. "I am not nor have I been an employee of the Lincoln Group. I do not receive a salary from them." He added: "Normally, when I travel, I receive reimbursement of expenses including a per diem and/or honorarium." But he would not comment further on how much in such payments he received from Lincoln. Rubin was quoted last month in The New York Times when disclosure first surfaced about Lincoln's work for the Pentagon placing articles in Iraqi publications: "I'm not surprised this goes on," he said, without disclosing his work for Lincoln. "Especially in an atmosphere where terrorists and insurgents - replete with oil boom cash - do the same. We need an even playing field, but cannot fight with both hands tied behind our backs."