The Pentagon's new spin room

Even with the departure of Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon is still acting as the White House's political arm to sell the war.  During the month of September, when General Petraeus reads the White House's Iraq report to Congress, the Pentagon's spin machine will be more active than ever.  According to NBC, the Defense Department is getting ready to unveil its new spin room:

For the Pentagon, getting out Iraq informationwill now include a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week Iraq CommunicationsDesk that will pump out data from Baghdad — serving as what could beconsidered a campaign war room.

Accordingto a memo circulated Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press,Dorrance Smith, assistant defense secretary for public affairs, islooking for personnel for what he called the high-priority effort todistribute Defense Department information on Iraq.

President Bush is good at winning elections -- of course, only with Karl Rove by his side.  But when the controversial White House adviser leaves at the end of the month, the Administration will be left with a much less experienced PR team.  So it should come as little surprise that this PR operation is mostly being undertaken by the Pentagon, not just the White House.

In related news, this weekend President Bush claimed that the surge was still in its "early stages" -- even though the new strategy was implemented last February.