Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:29:17 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: AWWW, geee and i thought they were just info-grandpas

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

A PENTAGON CAMPAIGN Retired officers have been used to shape terrorism coverage from inside the TV and radio networks.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:10:17 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine “in the end ” if something is legal or right.

Every federal official - including the President - who takes an oath of office swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
WHAT IS GLARINGLY OBVIOUS IS THE OUR "LEADERS" DON'T BELIEVE IN THE CONSTITUTION

Clip Source: www.capitolhillblue.com

Bush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’

Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”

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Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’