SNAKE OIL 101

Read the entire report by Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
All Americans Support Out Troops.seriously
HERE: AmericaSupportsYou.mil Survives Investigation by the Pentagon
December 16, 2008

Given the nature of the allegations, and as a Retired Military Officer, I caution readers to not donate anything this Holiday Season to America Support You.mil nor any organization that displays the America Support You.mil logo until this Pentagon propaganda arm, subsidized by tax payer dollars, and manned by DOD personnel on the public payroll becomes totally a volunteer, private operation, separate from government control and tax payer dollars. I further ask anyone reading this to contact your member of Congress and two Senators (regardless of political party) and ask that they pressure for a Congressional Investigation into why tax payer dollars [Defense Budget Funding] was or has to be used to promote a propaganda campaign?

Lastly, I strongly suggest that those readers who voted for or supported the Obama campaign contact Obama’s Change Website and strongly recommend that the in-coming President-elect order his Secretary of Defense left over from the Bush administration to dismantle America Support You.mil and let it be an independent free lance troop support organization like any other Support Our Troops organization. Why?

Because no Veterans or Support Our Troops group or organization should have official ties to the U.S. government or access to the public treasury or defense budget funds, more so it should not and cannot be a clearing house for other related troop support efforts due to America Support You.mil creation by and ties to both Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and outgoing (soon to be former) President George W. Bush, plus those who have left senior management positions at the Pentagon who had their dirty hands in the pie.

"How come it took the forced resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, and two years for anyone to look at the impropriety of this? In fact, the Pentagon is still trying to cover this up by calling it an "administrative" audit instead of a "criminal" investigation or audit."
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Kaste questioned what I knew to be fact when Rumsfeld created his propaganda apparatus, there were some at the Pentagon who felt the effort was wrong because it verged on tax-payer-funded propaganda, when in fact the nation was strongly divided over the Iraq War by 2006 and many no longer humbly swallowed the propaganda or never bought it in the first place. The fear back in 2006 was that such a partisan appeal to support the troops could also be seen as a call to support President Bush and his war in Iraq.

When one is forced to pay for the concept of Supporting Bush, Supporting Bush's War, and Supporting Our Troops cannot be separated, by definition that is a propaganda effort to continue selling War despite the American electorate's opposition to it.

What really made Kaste question the sincerity of America Supports You.mil was the length to which Rumsfeld’s organization took to avoid reporters’ questions with either a “No Comment,” or we don’t respond to “political questions” or "Submit a Written Request," at America Supports Bush.mil. By definition America Supports You.mil is a political rallying organization hiding behind our troops using the slogan "support" as a smoke screen. Just the fact that they bar Veterans and Military Family troop support groups with Peace or Against War in their logo means America Supports You.mil is not only Unconstitutional, but should not get any tax payer dollars from taxpayers who belong to Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, or Military Families Speak Out. See, now we do have both a constitutional question and legal issue. Major Hanafin

Kaste left the journalistic community with a key to breaking the code of silence at the Pentagon. That is if the media seriously wants to investigate fraud, waste, and abuse at DOD. When you're a reporter, it's always hard to know how to react when someone doesn't want to talk to you. It's actually something of an ethical dilemma.

Take this story, about the Pentagon public relations program known as "America Supports You." It's a feel-good campaign, the kind of thing a government agency is usually falling all over itself to talk to reporters about. "Will I go on the record about our program to get people to support the troops? Will I?!"
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"dr" Laura Schlessinger "America Sopports You"