1) Whitman and embedded reporters and spin
http://books.google.com/books? id…Zq64TVzJ5XT30mI

2) Iraq readiness on borders
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/…e.aspx? id=15068

3) Whitman lies/spins about draft
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/…e.aspx? id=47029

Seems Whitman, a career Pentagon official, in the vain of Doug Fife, has a history of spin and lies.

1) Whitman and embedded reporters and spin
http://books.google.com/books? id…Zq64TVzJ5XT30mI

2) Iraq readiness on borders
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/…e.aspx? id=15068

3) Whitman lies/spins about draft
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/…e.aspx? id=47029

“There is absolutely no consideration being given to reinstituting a draft,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today during a morning meeting with reporters.

Whitman said the current all-volunteer force is doing the job, and doing it well.

“The all-volunteer force has surpassed all of the expectations of its founders,” Whitman said. “The volunteer force is more experienced, more motivated to serve and reenlist. It’s more educated, has a higher aptitude, and all of that means a higher performance and increased readiness.”

In an interview last week with National Public Radio, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said the possibility of reviving the draft has “always been an option on the table” and that it “makes sense to certainly consider it.”

4) Whitman lies about private Lynch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…cas/ 3043115.stm

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said any claims that the facts of Private Lynch's rescue were misrepresented by the US military were “void of all facts and absolutely ridiculous”.

An investigation by the BBC's Correspondent programme said the story of the rescue was “one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived”.

4) Whitman lies about private Lynch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…cas/ 3043115.stm

Seems Whitman, a career Pentagon official, in the vain of Doug Fife, has a history of spin and lies.

1) Whitman and embedded reporters and spin
http://books.google.com/books? id…Zq64TVzJ5XT30mI

2) Iraq readiness on borders
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/…e.aspx? id=15068

3) Whitman lies/spins about draft
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/…e.aspx? id=47029

“There is absolutely no consideration being given to reinstituting a draft,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today during a morning meeting with reporters.

Whitman said the current all-volunteer force is doing the job, and doing it well.

“The all-volunteer force has surpassed all of the expectations of its founders,” Whitman said. “The volunteer force is more experienced, more motivated to serve and reenlist. It’s more educated, has a higher aptitude, and all of that means a higher performance and increased readiness.”

In an interview last week with National Public Radio, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said the possibility of reviving the draft has “always been an option on the table” and that it “makes sense to certainly consider it.”

4) Whitman lies about private Lynch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…cas/ 3043115.stm

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said any claims that the facts of Private Lynch's rescue were misrepresented by the US military were “void of all facts and absolutely ridiculous”.

An investigation by the BBC's Correspondent programme said the story of the rescue was “one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived”.

The Iranian video is HERE. The exchange in question takes place about 4 minutes in. It's hard not to make a rude comment about your research-free quick-draw comment. This is a serious issue in which the American media were fed bogus information to disinform them and us, which is becoming all too familiar.

If your employees fabricate evidence to deceive you and influence you to make bad decisions based on misinformation, you would fire them. Accurate reporting by our government is essential to our ability to make sound decisions. Instead we're being tricked by propaganda of the very type we lambasted the Soviets' Pravda about for 50 years.

Additionally, the entire Pentagon video has now been posted at YouTube. The heckling voice does not occur in the original video, so yes, it was spliced in later. As further evidence of that, note that in the video with the heckling voice, there is no background noise of the type that would be there if it were made from the deck of a speedboat (how pathetic that Pentagon video editors could't even mix in some ambient background noise from the original recording). This distortion of the facts was clearly intended to manipulate public opinion.

Another issue that has been ignored by the mainstream media is the issue of whether this incident occurred in “international waters” as claimed by the Pentagon. The truth is, there is no such thing in the Strait of Hormuz. The territorial waters of Iran meet the territorial waters of Oman, with no international zone in between. This is acknowledged in the Pentagon video by the U.S. Navy ship reporting that it is “engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law”. The US ships were in the 3 km wide inbound traffic lane in the Strait of Hormuz, which is within Iran's territorial water. “Transit  passage” is allowed by international treaty.

For news on this issue, I had to turn to the Asian press, in this case the Asia Times.

I Googled “Gulf Threat May Not Have Come From Iranian Boats” and there were to many to cut and paste.

The Robin Wright , The Washington Post, seemed to cover it all.

From the linked article:

“A separate audio recording of that voice . . . was spliced into a video on which the voice apparently could not be heard. That was a political decision, and Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ballesteros of the Pentagon's Public Affairs Office told IPS the decision on what to include in the video was “a collaborative effort of leadership here, the Central Command and navy leadership in the field.”