i thought i had heard it all

i hadn't until i read this:

U.S. Military Offers $20 Million to Improve Media Coverage of Iraq

By E&P Staff Published: August 31, 2006 2:00 PM ET
NEW YORK The U.S. military in Iraq is offering to pay a two-year, $20 million public relations contract "that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq," Walter Pincus revealed in The Washington Post on Thursday."The contract calls for assembling a database of selected news stories and assessing their tone as part of a program to provide 'public relations products' that would improve coverage of the military command's performance, according to a statement of work attached to the proposal," Pincus wrote.............


i know 20,000,000 isn't enough to outfit the entire armed services with proper AND safe gear, but imagine how much body armor it would buy. it would be a START