Information warfare.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Earlier this year, the Bush administration came under fire for paying U.S. journalists to promote its policies and for distributing videos and news stories in this country without identifying the federal government as their source.

The Government Accountability Office rightly labeled such practices as "covert propaganda." Federal officials acknowledged the practice was wrong and would stop.

Turns out it didn't stop - it just moved overseas.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week the U.S. military has been secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American "psychological operations" specialists. Mission objective: to boost the image of U.S. operations in Iraq. The stories, which present a patently one-sided view of the U.S. mission, are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists.

The effort is directed by the U.S. military's Information Operations Task Force in Baghdad, with the help of a Washington-based contractor. The task force has purchased an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station.

There's nothing wrong with the U.S. military distributing factual articles to Iraqi news outlets - that's Public Relations 101. But there's something very wrong when the information is disguised as independent reporting, published for pay and manipulated for military gain. For example, when Iraqi Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was killed during interrogations near the Syrian border, a task force news release falsely claimed that he had died of natural causes and had cooperated with authorities by identifying insurgents.

This is a colosally bad idea. It undermines U.S. efforts to promote freedom of speech in a country that endured decades of propaganda under Saddam Hussein's regime. U.S. military officials argue that such measures are needed to counter misinformation put out by the enemy. But lies cannot be effectively countered by firing back more lies and distributing them under false pretenses.

Such operations violate the Defense Department's doctrine on psychological operations that prohibit intentionally misusing the media. Because Iraqi press coverage is picked up on the Internet and shows up worldwide, the Pentagon may also be violating U.S. law forbidding the military from planting propaganda with American media outlets.

Ironically, the military is waging its propaganda campaign at the same time the U.S. State Department is training Iraqi reporters in journalism skills and media ethics. One workshop is titled "The Role of Press in a Democratic Society."

U.S. military officials should drop in on that session. They might learn that propaganda has no place in a free and independent news media - either in Iraq or the United States.