We Are Officially Duped

As usual, one must go offshore to get truth without the Pravda flavor. Financial Times reports today that the Pentagon admits they have lied to the media on an ongoing basis:

"On the evening of Oct. 14, a young Marine spokesman near Fallujah appeared on CNN and made a dramatic announcement.
”Troops crossed the line of departure,” 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert declared, using a common military expression signaling the start of a major campaign. “It’s going to be a long night.”
CNN, which had been alerted to expect a major news development, reported that the long-awaited offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah had begun."

But the "attack" on Fallujah was a cover.

"Officials at the Pentagon and other U.S. national security agencies said the CNN incident was not just an isolated feint -- the type used throughout history by armies to deceive their enemies -- but part of a broad effort under way within the Bush administration to use information to its advantage in the war on terrorism.
The Pentagon in 2002 was forced to shutter its controversial Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), which was opened shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, after reports that the office intended to plant false news stories in the international media. But officials say that much of OSI’s mission -- using information as a tool of war -- has been assumed by other offices throughout the U.S. government.
Although most of the work remains classified, officials say that some of the ongoing efforts include having U.S. military spokesmen play a greater role in psychological operations in Iraq, as well as planting information with sources used by Arabic TV channels such as Al-Jazeera to help influence the portrayal of the United States."

It's bad enough that Richard Myers, chair of the Joint Chiefs, is voicing concern that it may undermine our credibility and that of our armed services across the world.

As if that hasn't already happened.

Depleted Uranium
Yesterday, thanks to Hecate at Atrios and her link, I fell into a rabbit hole of info on the use of depleted uranium for weapons-enhancement. I'm ashamed to say I knew next to nothing about this, but plan to explore it a bit more in the next few days.


More later on Alabama, too.