-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990808/V000744-080899-idx.html
<A
HREF="http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990808/V000744-080899-idx
.html">Govt Unit to Control Flow of US News</A>
-----
Govt Unit to Control Flow of US News
By Anne Gearan
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, August 8, 1999; 12:17 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration, dismayed by the success
of anti-American propaganda worldwide, is striking back with an
information offensive of its own: a State Department unit that will
control the flow of government news overseas, especially during crises.
The new International Public Information group, or IPI, will coordinate
the dissemination of news from the State Department, Pentagon and other
U.S. agencies.
``What this is intended to do is organize the instruments of the federal
government to be able to support the public diplomacy, military
engagements and economic initiatives that we have overseas,'' said David
Leavy, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council.
In the recent Kosovo war, the Pentagon, State Department and White House
poured out information each day but no single agency tried to assemble
it so that the United States spoke with a coordinated message overseas.
The group came about partly in response to the spread of unflattering or
erroneous information about the United States received abroad via
electronic mail, the Internet, cellular telephones and other
communications advances.
In many respects, the new information group is a smaller, less
structured successor to the independent U.S. Information Agency, which
the State Department will absorb in October.
A new office of undersecretary of state for public diplomacy will run
the IPI. The current USIA director, Evelyn Lieberman, has been nominated
for the job.
President Clinton signed a directive April 30, in the thick of the
Kosovo war, that set out plans for IPI, although the White House did not
formally announce the group's existence or role.
An unclassified mission statement obtained by The Associated Press
described IPI's role:
``Effective use of our nation's highly developed communications and
information capabilities to address misinformation and incitement,
mitigate inter-ethnic conflict, promote independent media organizations
and the free flow of information, and support democratic participation
will advance our interests and is a critical foreign policy objective,''
the document said.
Joan Mower, director of Latin American and African programs for the
Freedom Forum, said she worries the coordinated effort may filter
information that should be broadly available to foreign reporters.
``My feeling is that the more information is out there, the better,''
she said.
The IPI will hold its first formal meeting this fall, said a government
official involved in the process. Clinton's directive orders officials
at the Pentagon, FBI, CIA and the departments of State, Commerce and
Treasury to organize the group.
Regular members will be senior diplomats and others in foreign policy or
national security jobs in Washington, according to the official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
The rationale for IPI dates at least to the confusion and bad press
surrounding U.S. intervention in Haiti in 1994-1995, but Kosovo is the
best recent example of how the United States needs to fight a propaganda
war in concert with military strikes, officials said.
``President (Slobodan) Milosevic has an extensive propaganda machine,''
Leavy said. ``We've worked very hard to try to counteract that
propaganda machine, and make sure the people in Serbia and in Kosovo
have access to their own news -- that they can make their own
independent judgments.''
Anti-American sentiment ran high during the 78-day air war, even among
Yugoslavs who did not support the Yugoslav president. Many Europeans
also were leery of the airstrikes, seen as a U.S. enterprise, and
reluctant to level hefty military power against a modern European
capital.
The air war that ended in June also produced one of the worst diplomatic
and public relations disasters in recent memory when a U.S. plane
mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade on May 7, killing
three Chinese journalists.
Outraged mobs rushed the American Embassy in Beijing, trapping
then-Ambassador James Sasser inside for a time. It was days before the
United States could get its official apology before the Chinese people
at large, and the U.S. explanation was greeted with disdain by both the
Chinese government and the rock-throwing street mobs.
The Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, called the
war and the embassy bombing ``a great step in the United States'
strategy to dominate the world.''
� Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
