Friday, October 03, 2008

because we're rollin' in dough

we, as a nation, have SO much money we CAN afford to TOSS 300,000,000 (YES THAT'S 300 MILLION) away on PRIVATE CONTRACTORS in IRAQ (you didn't think i forgot iraq did you?). what will those private contractors do? why make tv spots of course! (well for the media in general)

yup, 300,000,000 of YOUR money and MY money. because if we got to choose where our money went it wouldn't be to make sure OUR soldiers had the proper equipment. it wouldn't be to the victims of natural disasters in america. it wouldn't be to help the under or uninsured in america. it wouldn't be for education. it wouldn't be for feeding the hungry. it wouldn't be for taking care of the homeless or on and on and on. it would be to make america look like the promised land in all sorts of propaganda items. what a bunch of fuckwads we are. no fucking wonder we have to be bailed out left and right

where are our politicians? why aren't they putting a STOP to this?

U.S. to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media

By Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus

Washington Post Staff Writers

The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

The new contracts -- awarded last week to four companies -- will expand and consolidate what the U.S. military calls "information/psychological operations" in Iraq far into the future, even as violence appears to be abating and U.S. troops have begun drawing down.

The military's role in the war of ideas has been fundamentally transformed in recent years, the result of both the Pentagon's outsized resources and a counterinsurgency doctrine in which information control is considered key to success. Uniformed communications specialists and contractors are now an integral part of U.S. military operations from Eastern Europe to Afghanistan and beyond.......