Pentagon appears to be trustworthy

Lema Mousilli

In an effort to calm the rising tides of anti-Americanism around the world, particularly in Islamic countries, the United States opted to polish up and
show itself to the world in a more appealing way. 

Upon hearing this one might smile and say, "Oh, so the United States has made the long-awaited withdrawal of its forces from Saudi Arabia?" or,
"Oh, is the United States going to ease the paralyzing sanctions against Iraq?" One might even say, "Oh, so U.S. policy is going to be more
even-handed towards the Palestinians?"

Now, let's not get carried away into bouts of fanciful dreaming. In response to concerns that the United States was losing public support overseas
for its war on terrorism, the Bush administration established the Office of Strategic Influence shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. The primary function
of the OSI was to publicize the U.S. government's perspective in Islamic countries and to generate support for our latest war effort.

On Feb. 19, however, The New York Times ran a story stating that the Pentagon's OSI is "developing plans to provide new items, possibly even
false ones, to foreign media organizations" in an effort "to influence public sentiment and policy makers in both friendly and unfriendly countries."

Needless to say, a wave of fear and concern swept through Americans as they tried to make sense of this blatant admission of potential
misinformation generated by none other than our government. 

The ramifications of such a brazen plan dazzle the mind. Besides being a dishonest effort to explain U.S. policy abroad, the surreptitious work of
the OSI would mislead the public at home because misinformation planted in foreign media organizations, like Reuters or Al-Jazeera, could likely
end up being published or broadcast by U.S. news outlets. It is interesting to note that a potential loophole in the law barring the Pentagon and the
CIA from propaganda activities is introduced. Does the mid-1970s disclosure that some CIA programs had planted false information in the foreign
press, resulting in articles published by American news organizations, come to mind?

The whole idea is also reminiscent of the notorious Office of Public Diplomacy, which planted stories in the U.S. media supporting the Reagan
administration's Central American policies during the 1980s. Although the OPD was shut down after the Iran-Contra investigations, it had already
influenced coverage in major outlets, including The New York Times. 

Although planting false information in foreign media outlets is slightly better than our blowing up whole news stations—like the Al-Jazeera news
station in Afghanistan—the idea remains entirely undemocratic. Fortunately, after The New York Times broke the news that the Pentagon might
purposely deceive foreign media, a hail of negative coverage ensued which lead to shutting down the controversial OSI. Pledging the integrity of
the Pentagon and its dedication to truth, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disbanded the office with due ceremony. 

So the OSI has been shut down. Is it now safe to remove our hands from over our ears? Should we praise the sagacity of Pentagon officials and
confide that we now have more rested assurance that what they're telling us is true? 

Interestingly enough, the whole OSI fiasco reinforced the idea that the U.S. government has no logical reason for distorting the truth, since its true
actions are honorable. It's an easy line of faulty logic to fall into and one that would hardly be far off from what the propagandists who hatched the
OSI had originally intended.

The racket over the Pentagon's potential dissemination of false information and the whole pompous show of the OSI's closing serve perhaps to
create the impression that the Pentagon has a strict policy of being entirely truthful and credible with journalists.

Was it not Machiavelli, that gifted politician who understood well the insidious maxims of politics, who advised princes that the illusion of credibility
is key?

Mousilli, a senior English and political
science major, can be reached at lema@mousilli.com.

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