Public Relations Preparations For 2003 Invasion Of Iraq
In late 2001, with the Pentagon's focus on information warfare as an integral facet of the American war doctrine increasing, the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Influence was formed. This office was created with a mandate to propagandize throughout the Middle East, Asia and Western Europe, with the help of the Rendon Group, a Washington, DC based public relations firm with close ties to the US government, and which had had a prominent role in promoting the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition group of Iraq exiles. In February 2002, amid a backlash of public outcry resulting from a New York Times article, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed he lacked knowledge of the program and the OSI was closed down. The contract with the Rendon Group, however, continued.
In January 2003, President George W. Bush formally announced "the creation of a White House 'Office of Global Communications' to broadcast the United States' message worldwide ahead of possible war on Iraq,"; the office had been effectively operating for several months prior. According to the White House, the office was to disseminate the policies of the U.S. Government to media sources, domestic and foreign, and send "teams of communicators to international hot spots, areas of media interest." With the new office having a similar mission to the now-defunct OSI, many skeptics questioned its legitimacy.
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