Bush-era PR boondoggle flushed $540 million down the drain…

Posted by | October 4, 2016 10:00 | Filed under: War & Peace

Republish
Reprint


… and it was outsourced!

The Pentagon gave a controversial U.K. PR firm over half a billion dollars to run a top secret propaganda program in Iraq, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal.
Bell Pottinger’s output included short TV segments made in the style of Arabic news networks and fake insurgent videos which could be used to track the people who watched them, according to a former employee.

The agency’s staff worked alongside high-ranking U.S. military officers in their Baghdad Camp Victory headquarters as the insurgency raged outside.

Bell Pottinger’s former chairman Lord Tim Bell confirmed to the Sunday Times, which has worked with the Bureau on this story, that his firm had worked on a “covert” military operation “covered by various secrecy documents.”

Bell Pottinger reported to the Pentagon, the CIA, and the National Security Council on its work in Iraq, he said. …

The firm’s output was signed off by former General David Petraeus—then commander of the coalition forces in Iraq—and on occasion by the White House, he said. …

The London-based PR agency was brought into Iraq soon after the U.S. invasion. In March 2004 it was tasked by the country’s temporary administration with the “promotion of democratic elections”—a “high-profile activity” which it trumpeted in its annual report.


Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.

19 responses to Bush-era PR boondoggle flushed $540 million down the drain…

  1. Buford2k11 October 4th, 2016 at 10:41

    I wonder if they know where all the other Fifteen Billion in cash, disappeared to..?

    • Suzanne McFly October 4th, 2016 at 19:42

      I say we check d!ck cheney’s pockets.

      • (((John_St_John))) October 5th, 2016 at 14:41

        At the very least Halliburton’s war chest.

        • Suzanne McFly October 5th, 2016 at 18:27

          Well we all know we will find trillions there.

      • Sy Colepath October 5th, 2016 at 15:54

        I’ll take a pass on that, but by all means…

        • Suzanne McFly October 5th, 2016 at 18:29

          I said “we”, I will not do that by myself. Mama didn’t raise no fool.

  2. robert October 4th, 2016 at 11:21

    No wonder combat pay is higher

    Our top brass must be getting cheated ?

  3. anothertoothpick October 4th, 2016 at 11:32

    Imagine what an audit of the pentagon would look like.

    • amersham1046 October 4th, 2016 at 11:38

      would be like trying to square a circle
      can;t be done

    • Mensa Member October 4th, 2016 at 20:59

      Auditing the Pentagon is one issue that has broad multi-partisan support. But, I doubt it will ever happen.

      Why do you think that is?

  4. Budda October 4th, 2016 at 13:29

    That’s a lot of $$$…

    • Mensa Member October 4th, 2016 at 21:03

      And you won’t hear a peep from the supposed “fiscal conservatives.”

      Instead they carp about things like PBS which actually give Americans value and pleasure.

  5. Roctuna October 4th, 2016 at 13:46

    Just one of many, many ways we threw money down that Iraqi rathole. Just read Imperial Life in the Emerald City to learn about all the ways we threw cash away.

  6. Bunya October 4th, 2016 at 13:47

    This is outrageous. But as long as it’s coming out of the taxpayer dole and not from Dubya and the Dickster personally, it’s all good.

  7. William October 4th, 2016 at 13:56

    “The firm’s output was signed off by former General David Petraeus—then commander of the coalition forces in Iraq—and on occasion by the White House” This is a disgrace. We could have used this money to fund another seven or eight Benghazi investigations or some more e-mail hearings.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4a773a255e9f2109d87be4e9f0b73d26500fcbada34195399f3a9644a5103f27.jpg

    • The Original Just Me October 5th, 2016 at 02:29

      You are going to surpass Babe Ruth’s Home run Record. Another one Hit out of the Ball Park.

  8. Mensa Member October 4th, 2016 at 20:55

    Holy moley electing Republicans gets expensive.

  9. Gary Parillo October 5th, 2016 at 03:40

    And yet whenever the subject of free education and government funded health care for all comes up,it’s always the same disingenuous empty headed response,”well who’s going to pay for it?” Idiots! We the people have already payed for it a thousand f###g times over in tax money that they continually waste.Will they ever be held accountable.Will people ever wake up,and “vote” most of them out of office to send a clear message that we are tired of being treated like stooges?

Leave a Reply