ON TROJAN HORSES, AND SHINY SPOONS

I'm sure most have already seen the NY Times story detailing the Bush administration's use of retired military officers to sell the war in Iraq to the American public. Still, it's worth posting again since our TV media seems bent on ignoring a story that exposes their culpability in promoting a war of choice by using compromised "analysts."

Specifically, the NY Times reports that the medias use of Pentagon planted military "analysts" was a problem because:

... 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 ... Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air ...

But there's something worse than former military officers using their air-time to promote wars that military contractors, no doubt, profit from.

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

The report goes on to outline how the Bush administration used the military officers by providing them with "briefings." The military officers would then use these briefings as evidence that they had access to Bush's Pentagon to military contractors.

This explains why the 4th Estate is so distracted with Rev. Wright and Hillary's mistaken sniper memory. It allows them to highlight the mistakes of others. To do otherwise would mean having to admit they're simply too lazy to dig for real facts, and are easily distracted by the increasingly dim lights of political power.

Oh, look, a shiny spoon ...

- Mark