A tumultuous report released by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism on Sunday details how the U.S. government hired a British public relations company and paid them over $500 million American taxpayer dollars to produce a top-secret propaganda campaign in Iraq.
Fake videos that appeared to be the work of al-Qaida, the Islamist extremist group, were created by Bell Pottinger, a London-based PR group. They were burned onto CD’s and dropped by Marines at households throughout Iraq. The CD’s included software with an embedded code that reported back IP addresses so that the military could monitor who was watching.
Bell Pottinger also created videos that simulated reports from Arab news media stations. The videos were then distributed throughout Middle Eastern news affiliates.
However, don’t be mislead by its London roots, production was performed at the U.S. military base, Camp Victory, alongside some of the highest-ranking U.S. military officers and approved by General David Petraeus.
Gen. Petraeus was, at the time, the Commander of the U.S. lead coalition forces in Iraq, and now holds the position of Director of the CIA. There were even certain circumstances where the White House personally signed off on particular video footage.
These findings, originally published in The Sunday Times of London and The Daily Beast, reviewed corporate and government reports, as well as, interviews with former officials and contractors that were involved in the Iraq propaganda campaign.
Timothy Bell, the former Chairman of Bell Pottinger, was instrumental in shaping the image of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and helping the conservative party win three straight elections.
Bell revealed that his company had worked on a covert military operation where they reported directly to the CIA, the Pentagon, and the National Security Council.
All of this American money was unknowingly spent to both monitor and justify the Iraq war.
This video goes into depth on propaganda in the Iraq war.
