More Proof G. Orwell Was Prescient (Political)

[Just Lucky]

I noticed this article in the Times today. Seems the administration, the pentagon and some of our corporations are controlling much of what passes as a 'military analyst' on our networks. Eisenhower warned us of the military industrial complex as well. I am quite angry that the networks failed to look into these 'complications' on the part of the analysts.

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.
To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its contr Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.ol over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media

entire article

[Jacko]

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961 From Here

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.


Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.


Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.


This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.


In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.


We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

[ryberg]

I'm sorry, but... is this a political thread?

Because if this is a political thread, i'm going to have to stay off it, I think.



Steve

P.S. So... is it?

P.P.S. A political thread, I mean?

P.P.P.S. Of the type where political views are discussed?

[Just Lucky]

Originally Posted by ryberg

I'm sorry, but... is this a political thread?

Because if this is a political thread, i'm going to have to stay off it, I think.



Steve

P.S. So... is it?

P.P.S. A political thread, I mean?

P.P.P.S. Of the type where political views are discussed?

I reckon that depends on whether the administration's manipulating the media and lying us into a war. And continuing to do so during the war is political.

I'd think there are some folks who might believe it political.


There is a swell multimedia presentation about it here.How the Pentagon Spread Its Message - The New York Times