[syndicate] The Ottawa Citizen: U.S. backed Albanian rebels with al-Qaeda links

[valentina culpa]

PENTAGON SCRAPS PLANS TO SPREAD ITS 'BLACK PROPAGANDA' WORLDWIDE

The Pentagon yesterday abandoned proposals to deliberately plant lies in the
foreign media as part of a campaign to prmote Amercian policy.

The plans to spread 'black propaganda' caused controversy in Washington
after it was revealed that friendly countries would be targeted with the
deliberate misinformation.

But the Pentagon said yesterday it would not lie to the world or use front
organisations to spread the information through its new Office of Strategic
Influence (OSI).

In a statement to the New York Times, a spokesman said: "Consistent with
defence department policy, under no circumstances will the office or its
contractors willingly or deliberately disseminate false or misleading
information to the American or foreign media or publics (sic)."

But the Pentagon has reserved the right to spread propaganda to confuse
enemies during a military attack, using tactics including breaking into
local broadcasters' programming or hacking into computer networks.

The use of propaganda directly against the enemy was defended by Dick
Cheney, the vice-president who said: "It's sometimes valuable to be able to
engage in deception with respect to future anticipated plans."

But he said there could not be direct lying to the public, adding: "The
information that's provided to the public both here at home and abroad needs
to be accurate, as accurate as we can make it."

Donald Rumsfield, the defence secretary, who would have been asked to give
the go-ahead to the "black propaganda" campaign, also ruled it out, saying:
"Government officials, the department of defence, this secretary and the
people that work with me tell the American people and the people of the
world the truth."

The Pentagon is banned from lying to the American public and there was
copncern that misinformation distributed abroad would be quickly printed in
US newspapers, breaking the legal ban.

There was also alarm in the White House at the plans, which had been brought
forward by the OSI, which is headed by a brigadier-general whose ponly
experience is in astrophysics, and concern at the Orwellian name chosen for
the office, which only has a handful of staff.