The House passed legislation in May to prohibit the military from engaging in "any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes or behavior of the people of the United States in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly."
The bill reinforces a propaganda restriction already on the books, included in the Pentagon's more than half-trillion-dollar annual budget bill and long embraced as Pentagon policy. The law exempts any program specifically authorized by Congress, such as military recruiting, but is supposed to prevent spin.
I find this fascinating.
Congress, including our House of Representatives, authorized the war against Saddam's Iraq.
Congress, including our House of Representatives, continues to support war funding through the appropriations process.
But now the House of Representatives wants to make it illegal for our military to provide information in support of a war that our House of Representatives declared and continues to fund.
So the House of Representatives is fine with our troops fighting and dying but isn't too keen on the Pentagon bolstering our soldiers' ability to win that war.
Huh. Now my head is spinning.
Well, all I know for sure based on the past five years of their protests is that this is certainly no reason to question their patriotism.
