War Sales

In case you missed this, the Rolling Stone has an unbelievable piece, called The Man Who Sold the War. The article reports on John Rendon, a self professed "information warrior and a perception manager."

As the Rolling Stone reports, "To explain his philosophy, Rendon paraphrased a journalist he knew from his days as a staffer on the presidential campaigns of George McGovern and Jimmy Carter: "This is probably best described in the words of Hunter S. Thompson, when he wrote, 'When things turn weird, the weird turn pro.'"

"As the acknowledged general of such propaganda warfare, Rendon insists that the work he does is for the good of all Americans. "For us, it's a question of patriotism," he says. "It's not a question of politics, and that's an important distinction. I feel very strongly about that personally. If brave men and women are going to be put in harm's way, they deserve support." But in Iraq, American troops and Iraqi civilians were put in harm's way, in large part, by the false information spread by Rendon and the men he trained in information warfare. And given the rapid growth of what is known as the "security-intelligence complex" in Washington, covert perception managers are likely to play an increasingly influential role in the wars of the future."

He's a Minister of Propaganda. This must be the vogue these days.

Attytood also comments, in Expert: America is losing the war of fake ideas!, on an op-ed piece in the LA Times by a retired Air Force brigadier general who was an assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight in the late 90's, Walter Jajko, who advocates in favor of the use of paid propaganda, or happy news, in the Iraqi press. As he says: "A permanent leadership is needed in the form of a new Cabinet department that can knock together heads to force integrated influence activities — a Ministry of Propaganda, if you will."

As Attytood reflects, there was another one of those, not all so long ago. His name was Joseph Goebbels.