To prohibit the use of funds for a public relations program designed to monitor news media in the United States and the Middle East and create a database of news stories to promote positive coverage of the war in Iraq.
According to WaPo (I don't have the link, but will try to find it), the DOD has hired a PR firm to sift through news from Iraq in order to promote only those things that make the war appear in a positive light.
When the legislation came up for a vote, the Republicans moved to table the motion. They succeeded. The GOP, including George Allen voted FOR PROPAGANDA.
More....
In his speech, Senator Menendez said:
Mr. President, I rise today to offer an amendment that would limit funds for any future public relations campaign being commissioned by the Pentagon to promote positive coverage of the war in Iraq. We first learned about this $20 million PR campaign to improve the image of President Bush's Iraq policy in the Washington Post last week. In my mind, this proposal is not just irresponsible, it is an insult to the thousands of Iraqi citizens and coalition forces who have died in this war. At a time when this violent insurgency continues to expand and American troops are putting their lives on the line day in and day out, what is the administration's focus? A better public relations campaign? The Bush administration doesn't need a new PR campaign in Iraq. They need a new policy in Iraq.
I don't know about you, but when I was a child, propaganda was something the USSR did. It was a tool of Communists to keep the truth from the Russian people. The U.S. was all about truth then. The news media insured that Americans knew the truth. The Vietnam War was broadcast every night on the national news. Why aren't we seeing that kind of coverage from Iraq? Because we are paying for our very own rose-colored glasses.
In debate of the legislation proposed by Menendez, Senator Stevens (AK) offered this:
Mr. President, I want to be as courteous as possible. It is not a very good word to use, but it seems to me the Menendez amendment places a gag order on the Department of Defense. It says that the gains made by our military people and by the Iraqi forces cannot be reported to our people or to the Iraqi people.
A gag order on the DOD? I don't think it says that at all. If there's good news coming out of Iraq, I'd love to hear it! But I want it to be the truth! I don't want to see news put out by a PR firm. I want it straight from the people on the ground in Iraq. I think every American does.
Consider the words of Senator Lautenberg (NJ):
....we have recognized that there is often an attempt to obscure the truth from the American people about the war we are in at the moment.We see it in different ways. We see it in the fact that, for instance, flag-draped coffins are not permitted to be photographed when the remains of our most courageous people fighting the battle in Iraq are returned home. They come to a base in the State of Delaware, and it is prohibited to take pictures of those flag-draped coffins.
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Propaganda efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education were ruled illegal by GAO.
So what did the administration do? Did it agree to abide by the law? Of course not. That is not their customary action, not this administration. The administration announced that it would ignore the GAO rulings. The administration sees the rule of law as kind of a speed bump, not a roadblock. That is why Congress has to cut off these funds for these propaganda efforts.
This isn't the Soviet Union. We promote a free press in this country. It is essential to our democratic functioning. Learn the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, and deal with it as we should--honestly. We should not be manipulating the news media in our country.
Every Republican, George Allen included voted YES to table the motion. Here's the link: http://www.senate.go...