Fighting For Freedom?

We hear over and over that our troops are in Iraq fighting and dying to give the people there freedom. "Freedom of the press", non existent during the reign of Saddam, is one of the primary goals stated by war supporters. Unfortunately the term "freedom of the press" mean something different in Red America than it does to the rest of us. Even more discouraging is the fact that we are spreading, not American values, but the distortion of truth so fashionable with the Republican party. Values, yes. American, no.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to print stories written by US soldiers in an effort to polish the image of the American mission in IraqUS military "information operations" troops have written the articles, which are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based defense contractor, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Many articles are presented to Iraqi newspapers as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists, the daily said, citing documents it obtained and unnamed US military officials. The stories denounce insurgents and tout the work of US and Iraqi troops and the US-led effort to rebuild Iraq.