For weeks before the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Air America radio host Rachel Maddow frequently discussed a U.S. propaganda program aimed at distorting information about Zarqawi in order to make the al Qaida presence in Iraq seem stronger.She picked up on the information via Washington Post writer Thomas E. Ricks, who wrote an explosive article on the propaganda campaign on April 10, 2006.
Here's the lead from that article:
The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.He goes on to quote key military intelligence officer Col. Derek Harvey:
Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will, made him more important than he really is, in some ways. The long-term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but these former regime types and their friends.
By the way something, before the administration could exaggerate his importance, they had to make him important in the first place.
VIDEO: News contortionist Wolf Blitzer talks to Rep. Murtha about Zarqawi's death.
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