The Pentagon propaganda machine

Review: The Pentagon propaganda machineEditorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsSenator Fulbright's fight against the military industrial complex is on. Round one: The Arrogance of Power. Round two: The Pentagon Propaganda Machine. Here the Arkansan asserts that the war and the military have become part of our environment, like pollution. The once limited technical functions of the armed forces have expanded to a political role for which their parochial training has not prepared them. Fulbright discusses the dangerously vast and powerful communications network by which the Defense Department propagandizes its own policies and represses dissemination of opposing views. Through pro-war speeches by high ranking officers to community groups at taxpayers' expense, by controlled extension of research grants, and by pseudo-accurate depictions of military activities in Pentagon-prepared news clips, the military has become the Big Brother enforcer of U.S. foreign policy opinion. Fulbright cites the inordinate emphasis of the government news coverage on the combat contributions of South Vietnamese troops to convince the public of the success of Nixon's Vietnamization plan. He reveals a Defense Department memorandum which offered ""all practical assistance"" to any civilian scientist who would support the ABM proposal. Equally chilling was the Pentagon's refusal to authorize assistance (essential for production) to a film based on the Palomares incident, reasoning that ""no positive value seemed to be inherent in dramatizing and publicizing worldwide such accidents."" Contrast with this the generous support of John Wayne's hawkish flick, The Green Berets Fulbright's argument is articulately stated, and will add considerable leverage to the position of those who fear the encroachments the military have made on our civilian system.