http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/cracking-the-spine-of-libel/

I cut and pasted the conclusion for Mizgin.

"Singh has commented that “if I successfully defend my article, I will have had to have put my career on hold for probably two years, and it will cost me perhaps £25,000 [about $41,500] because I am unlikely to recover all my costs. And if I lose my case, then it will cost me roughly £500,000 [$800,000]. Fighting and winning is bad enough; fighting and losing is catastrophic.”

Most writers won’t take the risk. And who can blame them?" – excerpt from the article

I almost understand what the FCC does now.

I do know that, rarely, there are fairly decent reports that seep into the MSM. I'm thinking of one piece in particular by the WaPo and another by CNN one time on the PKK. But, taking the long view of the situation with regard to these pieces, I think I now see where they were going with them and that will be something that may be covered here later.

As for Rumsfeld and Feith, I think the stuff they were cooking wasn't absolutely something that the military agreed with because the Office of Special Plans was created to create "intelligence" for war in Iraq. I suspect the OSI had similar plans, but to create "consent". That's why I think that OSI and it's resurrection somewhere else were outside regular channels of propaganda, as OSP was outside regular channels of creating "intelligence".

I think there are corporate interests involved in all this, too, so that neither the government nor the military really have the final say in policy-making. There was a really good article that illustrates the role of the corporate world in policy-making that came out a few years ago in Playboy. The corporate interests illustrated in that article are Lockheed Martin's.

For corporate interests in Afghanistan, take a look at this.

Is Rendon really going to go away this time? Is it going to morph into something else? I don't know. I think that, given the events of the last 8 years. ordinary people should be suspicious and should question what they read or what they hear broadcast.

My main point in this post was to question why the MSM did not point out Rendon's history.

Who's really giving orders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the WH or the Pentagon?

BTW, the US military is the world's largest consumer of oil, outside of countries.

And 'Davey' Petraeus is planning a run at the WH.

Nothing like a hot war to keep his name in the papers to help achieve that goal.

And the Pentagon 'accidentally' losing thousands and thousands of weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan
means either they're totally incompetent or helping the other side stay in business.

You make the choice.

Thanks again Sibel for being honest and having the fortitude to do what is right to preserve this Great Republic! History will remember you as a hero!

Because it’s all the military’s fault right? It doesn’t have anything to do with the people who actually make policy, does it? Has absolutely nothing to do with the 21 million barrels of petroleum derived products that Americans consume daily, or the pressures on politicians to ensure that lifestyle. It’s all the fault of cammo wearing guys in a five sided building!

Nothing to do with the potential consequences our politicians face for openly negotiating with the Taliban, from an electorate that mostly sees the world through good and evil. Nothing to do with the women’s groups in America that protest the Taliban’s treatment of women, the same groups that killed the negotiations with the Taliban in the 1990’s. It’s all because a bunch of guys in cammo and silly hats are “out of control, heavily armed drug addicted and will stop at nothing to get its next fix in this case, oil.” Right?

"Whattaya lookin' at? You're all a bunch of f*cking a**holes. You know why? 'Cause you don't have the guts to be what you wanna be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your f*cking fingers, and say "that's the bad guy." So, what dat make you? Good? You're not good; you just know how to hide. Howda lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth–even when I lie. So say goodnight to the bad guy. Come on; the last time you gonna see a bad guy like this, let me tell ya. Come on, make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through; you better get outta his way!"

- Tony Montana, Scarface

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/06/23/us.iraq.newspaper.censorship/index.html

incidentally, I came across those Doug Feith remarks (at the Defense Writers Group, Feb. 20, 2002) a couple weeks ago, as I was just then learning about the OSI and its predecessor, the United States Inormation Agency.

what's interesting is that those remarks were made only six days prior to Rumsfeld's official "closing" of the OSI, on Feb. 26th. perhaps you're already aware, but Feith's comments at that speaking event allude to recent negative media reports about the office, perhaps like this one in the NY Times: (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/international/19PENT.html).

at face value, one would think that the bad press, alleging possibly illegal activities (smith-mundt act violations), would provide just the right impetus to force the DoD to redesign their propaganda approach. one would think, says my brain, that they had no choice. and yet I'm still curious.

as your article points out, firms like the Rendon Group were still employed by the Pentagon since that time, indicative of a continuity in policy. do you think it's that simple? was it, like you suggested, merely a name change, essentially keeping all else intact?

perhaps you don't have the answers…it's just that I ask these questions with the Stars and Stripes article in mind, curious as to why a defense department-financed news agency is suddenly "editorially independent."

either way, good info. thanks.

Bamford mentions Sandra Libby in "The Man Who Sold the War".

Tom Joad: In a few days we'll know whether the court will allow it or not…Stay tuned.

Oh, the uniform euphoria and the subjects that are exampled as inferiors. You know those willed the category of shrinking space. Hardly a Pony from your parents, rather a pile of Xanax. I don't take drugs. I would, consider speaking to a pill of Xanax.

"So we meet again pony."

It would be hard to reflect the tone of the pill dialogue with the actual anxiety diagnosis. When people are still able to laugh they say,

"Mizgin's friend got fired from the FBI for learning the language that is English".

Sibel's pitfall, Now available in the United States. I know some pitfalls, I'm ridiculous. My idea was your accountability could warrant some sort of process rather then new, awkwrad feelings of euphoria. Every blame game ever played is like putting a costume on YOUR Pony and calling it Clown Pony or Borg Pony. I admit I am in the latent hypocrite stage of my observation. I know the reporters over at Fox have a knack for getting fired. They learned how to speak the new "anti-universe" language that is English. Those reporters really shook people up. Look at this amusing, life threatening clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL1pKlnhvg0

Relinquishing desensitized minds is like telling a child the Dog "ran away". Sibel is not with the FBI any longer, she has ran away. If her office space was any more minuscule we would say, excuse me, "Sibel was openly slaughtered as an act of war". Now Optimism Pill holds the leash of the Blame Pony… and this is comforting?

Maybe we should hand over to the Taliban the evidence the US governemnet said it had that Bin Laden was behind 9/11. That's what they asked before all this madness started and they would then turn BL over to a neutral 3rd country for trial.

Except we didn't deliver that 'White Paper' Colin Powell promised, but we did deliver death and destruction.

That's how this whole mess got started.

So why not just turn over that 'evidence' we brag about, but never produce?

The thing to do would be to stop the war mongering and talk with the Taliban. Sooner or later, that's going to happen, so why not now?

We can even talk about that Caspian Basin pipeline the US wants to run thru Afghanistan to Pakistan and Indian Ocean ports, just like we were talking with the Taliban about this back in 1997.

The Pentagon is like an out of control, heavily armed drug addict that will stop at nothing to get its next fix, in this case, oil.

Regards,
"Tom Joad"

Check out the website for the firm,her name is listed as a contact person for the firm.

Just for my knowledge. Are you still under any govt. gag order of any type? If yes, what's being used against you?

Hope all's well. Nice job with the new post here.

Also, I finally had a chance to watch all of your deposition. I studied lots of undergrad law. So I could see patterns in the questioning and to try to predict where it would go. But also maybe I'm the FIRST person on the Net to mention this? The woman who kept saying the date/time on the tapes sounds like the tape on the London Tube. "Mind the gap." Not sure why. But it just struck me.

Hope that cheers you up .

@Greg,

Admiral Mullen is one of the good guys, he gets it. Read the rest of his article Strategic Communication: Getting Back to Basics.

I've mentioned Greg Mortenson's book Three Cups of Tea on here before, and how it illustrates perfectly what we need to do in AfPak. Adm. Mullen shares my sentiment exactly:

"And make no mistake—there has been a certain arrogance to our “strat comm” efforts. We’ve come to believe that messages are something we can launch downrange like a rocket, something we can fire for effect.

He’s right. We are only going to be as good as our own learning curve. And just the simple act of trying, of listening to others, speaks volumes all by itself."

We need more men like Adm. Mullen.

KF

Okay, on a different but not too unrelated topic:

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Jon Craig is Live Tweeting Schmidt v Krikorian Hearing! http://twitter.com/JonGCraig

Not sure what his major was, but Rendon had been working on political campaigns for Democrat campaigns and built a career out of it.

In the 1980’s he burnt out on political consulting in the US, and started working on political campaigns in the Caribbean (it is not uncommon for American political consultants to work abroad).

Eventually he ended up in Panama working for the opponents of Noriega. After we invaded and quickly pulled out Rendon was the go-between for the Panamanian government and Uncle Sam. This was where he became friends with CIA (though I believe their relationship would eventually sour), he then soon would work for the Kuwaiti government to drum up support for the first Gulf War.

Remember when our Humvee’s entered Kuwait City and the Kuwaiti’s were waving American flags welcoming their liberators? Guess who was handing out the American flags?

The James Bamford article about Rendon that Mizgin links to is excellent, and tells his whole story.

Exponentially compounded liberal guilt.

It's a shame, too.

Thank you, again.

Maybe the US should start painting "We (HEART) Muslims" on every Hellfire missile that is slated to be slammed into Afghan wedding parties and Pakistani villages?

Thanks. Do you know what John Rendon majored in while at Northeastern? Given that you state that he handles PR explains how a person can get involved with deception and disinformation Projects in the Black/covert world.

I am an engineer and former US Air Force officer, who deals with facts and the truth. Since you also like the Terriers, what is your Profession?

Yes, John Rendon is Huskie alum. The Rendon Group has an office in Boston that handles PR for liberal/Democrat organizations.

Go Terriers!,
KF

Can anyone please let me know if John Rendon graduated from Northeastern University in Boston?