Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GLOBAL 'WAR' ON TERROR (GWOT) Years 1 and 2, ie 9/11-2003
Pentagon Hires Public Relations Firm to Reverse Opposition in Islamic World By W P Strobel and J S L 
Pentagon Hires Public Relations Firm to Reverse Opposition in Islamic World Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder Knight Ridder Washington Bureau October 19, 2001, Friday KR-ACC-NO: WA-ATTACK-PR WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has hired a well-known Washington public relations firm to help it explain U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan to global audiences, part of a broader Bush administration campaign to reverse a rising tide of opposition in the Islamic world, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday. The firm, the Rendon Group, has worked in the past for U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, which paid it to boost the image of the Iraqi National Congress, a U.S.-backed group of Iraqis opposed to the rule of Saddam Hussein. That effort in the mid-90s ended with an investigation by the CIA's inspector general over how a reported $ 23 million was spent on behalf of the INC and its leader, Ahmed Chalabi, current and former intelligence officials told Knight Ridder. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. For the anti- terrorism war, the Pentagon is paying Rendon to monitor news media in 79 countries; conduct focus groups; create a counter- terrorism Web site that will provide information on terrorist groups and the U.S. campaign against terrorism; and recommend ways the U.S. military can counter disinformation and improve its own public communications. "The war on terrorism started without notice," said Lt. Col. Kenneth McClellan, a Pentagon spokesman. "We needed a firm that could provide strategic counsel immediately. We were interested in someone that we knew (who) could come in quickly and help us orient to the challenge" of communicating to a "wide range of groups . . . around the world . . . in real time" and "across all media." McClellan said the initial contract, awarded without bidding, is for $397,000 and lasts for 120 days, with an option to extend it for up to one year. Officials at the company declined comment, citing a confidentiality agreement in the contract. The Bush administration has been widely criticized, both at home and abroad, for being slow to realize the importance of images in the war on terrorism. It is struggling to counter a widespread perception in the Islamic world that the war in Afghanistan is a war on Islam and that the United States is indifferent to civilian casualties. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said earlier this week, "To the extent we need to do a better job to make sure that people are not confused as to what this is about, then we darn well ought to do a better job." "We are clearly losing the 'hearts and minds' issue," said one official involved in the administration spin effort, describing it as "not a very well-organized effort." The official requested anonymity. In recent days, the administration has dispatched waves of officials for international television interviews, particularly on the widely watched Arab station al-Jazeera. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has appeared on Metro TV in Indonesia, where anti-American protests have been widespread, and Great Britain's ITN. But initial analyses indicate that the outreach effort still has a long way to go. An al-Jazeera interview of Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice "continued to garner significant press attention," but Arabic press commentators in Morocco and Saudi Arabia "found 'nothing new,'" said a State Department review of foreign media reporting Thursday. "They claimed that the U.S. is offering Arabs a 'false equation,' i.e. the war against terrorism is not against Islam or Arabs -- nevertheless, it is Muslims and Arabs who will have to pay for Sept. 11," the review said. The choice of the Rendon Group to advise the Pentagon may not be a coincidence given its past work on behalf of the Iraqi opposition. Several top Pentagon officials, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and adviser Richard Perle, are strong advocates of overthrowing Saddam and have argued that U.S. military strikes should be expanded to include Iraq. According to previous news reports, Rendon picked the name "Iraqi National Congress." The company organized an anti-Saddam propaganda effort that included two clandestine radio stations, Radio Freedom and the Iraqi Broadcasting Corp., and videos, and skits and comic books that ridiculed the Iraqi leader. The CIA's inspector general investigated the accounting for the work Rendon did with the INC, a fractious group of Iraqi exiles. It found that no generally accepted accounting practices were used and there was no accountability for how the money was spent, according to a U.S. intelligence officer familiar with the investigation. The spy agency eventually withdrew its backing for the INC and still has a frosty relationship with the group, officials said. By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay |