Webb Seeks Freeze on Propaganda Effort

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia wants the Pentagon to freeze up to $300 million in contracts with companies the military is hiring to place pro-U.S. news stories and entertainment programs in the Iraqi media . Webb wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday to ask that the deals be suspended until they can be reviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the next presidential administration. A freshman Democrat, Webb sits on the Armed Services panel. With the United States in "a grave economic crisis" and Iraq's government carrying a $79 billion budget surplus drawn from oil exports, "it makes little sense for the U.S. Department of Defense to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to propagandize the Iraqi... [read full story]