Pentagon to target American public through new PR department

Fully realizing by now that U.S. troops will be in Iraq for the rest of the Bush presidency, from a public relations standpoint the Pentagon is making the smart move of getting ready for the long haul.  They are creating a new public relations division inside the Pentagon to counter what they consider to be misleading anti-war rhetoric:

The initiative comes amid plummeting domestic support for the war in Iraq and just before crucial mid-term congressional elections in whichopposition Democrats are contesting Republican control of the Congress.

Eric Ruff, the Pentagon press secretary, insisted that the new publicaffairs program was not prompted by either the elections or pollsshowing that only about 37 percent believe the war is going well.

"What were looking at doing is, 'How can we get better, how can we getfaster, how can we transform public affairs?'," he told reporters.

"And we're looking at being quicker to respond to breaking news. Beingquicker to respond, frankly, to inaccurate statements," he said.

"And we're looking at this whole issue of new media -- podcasting, andIM-ing and all those kinds of things, where people are basicallyrunning circles inside us," he said.

Ruff disclosed the expanded operations after questions were raisedabout a wall being built in the Pentagon press operations center thatwill separate the new unit from Pentagon public affairs officials whodeal with the media.

Still no word on when this will be completed, nor what effect it will have on daily Pentagon Q&A sessions with reporters.

Comments

[George]

3000 soldiers dead - 50000 wounded. tens of thousands of civilians in collateral damage. insurgency. civil war. worse every month. no end in sight.

Maybe your biggest problem isnt public relations?

[Marcy]

We are starting to sound like a police State......how scary is that?!