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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Carl Levin

Army psy-ops unit says it targeted Levin over Afghan war funding

By Eartha Jane Melzer | 02.25.11 | 7:51 am

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) — a strong backer of funding for the Afghan war — is among the politicians that were illegally targeted by a U.S. Army psy-ops unit at Camp Eggers in Kabul last year, according to a new report.

Rolling Stone reports that three-star general Lt. Gen. William Caldwell directed the “information operations” unit at Camp Eggers to compile detailed dossiers on the attitudes and preferences of visiting politicians as part of an effort to spin civilians into supporting the war.

The list of targeted visitors was long, according to interviews with members of the IO team and internal documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Those singled out in the campaign included senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts.

According to [whistle blower and IO unit leader Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes], the general wanted the IO team to provide a “deeper analysis of pressure points we could use to leverage the delegation for more funds.” The general’s chief of staff also asked Holmes how Caldwell could secretly manipulate the U.S. lawmakers without their knowledge. “How do we get these guys to give us more people?” he demanded. “What do I have to plant inside their heads?”

MLive points out that Levin has responded to the report by reiterating his support for the war and calling on the Pentagon to investigate allegations of Army propaganda violations.

“For years, I have strongly and repeatedly advocated for building up Afghan military capability because I believe only the Afghans can truly secure their nation’s future,” Levin told the Washington Post. “I have never needed any convincing on this point. Quite the opposite, my efforts have been aimed at convincing others of the need for larger, more capable Afghan security forces, and that we and NATO should send more trainers to Afghanistan, rather than more combat troops.”

Last month the Army asked Congress for an additional $2 billion to train Afghan troops.

Comments

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like marketing to me: One party (the Army) wants more money and it wants to convince the other party (Congress) to provide same. There’s no evidence the Army consciously misled anyone. Another thing this whole thing sounds like: This guy Holmes, a virtual nobody, is getting a few minutes of fame.

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like marketing to me: One party (the Army) wants more money and it wants to convince the other party (Congress) to provide same. There’s no evidence the Army consciously misled anyone. Another thing this whole thing sounds like: This guy Holmes, a virtual nobody, is getting a few minutes of fame.

    • Irish_Wake

      A Light Colonel is a virtual nobody.
      Psy-Ops is marketing.
      So the law forbidding the use of ‘marketing’ by ‘virtual nobodies’ on United States citizens must be more of a ‘guideline’?

      • Anonymous

        Yes, that particular lieutenant colonel (Holmes) is a virtual nobody. He occupies the opposite end of the spectrum from, say, Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North. The law is the law. Show me where someone violated it.

        • Irish_Wake

          You hold up Col. North, who knowingly broke the law, to illustrate your phrase ‘The law is the law’, while heaping scorn on Col. Holmes, for obeying both civilian and military law.

          I am in awe of your critical thinking skills.

          • Anonymous

            But you digress. The issue is whether General Caldwell broke any laws, as LTC Holmes–the nobody–and his sensationalist pal at “Rolling Stones” would have the world believe. I have seen no substantive evidence against Caldwell, and from the weak allegations to date I tend to doubt there is any. Let’s await the results of the investigation General Petraeus ordered.

            Your awe is awesome.

    • Irish_Wake

      A military cell devoted to what is known as “information operations” … was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs… When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.

      The unit resisted the order. Not some virtual nobody. The unit whose only reason to exist is to perform these operations is well aware that these were illegal orders, and performed their duty as United States military personnel are expected: they attempted to defend the Constitution of the United States of America by resisting an order known to be illegal. And their superior officer, Lt. Col. Holmes, took point.

      Federal law forbids the military from practicing psy-ops on Americans, and each defense authorization bill comes with a “propaganda rider” that also prohibits such manipulation. “Everyone in the psy-ops, intel, and IO community knows you’re not supposed to target Americans,” says a veteran member of another psy-ops team who has run operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It’s what you learn on day one.”

      If I may borrow your own words: He occupies the opposite end of the spectrum from, say, Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North. The law is the law. An interesting turn of phase, as the Colonel you mention is an actual convicted felon, although a vacated judgement was rendered due to limited immunity.

      To sum up:
      Federal law was broken.
      Congressional riders specifying these actions were broken.
      The personnel that stood up for us are the victims of retaliation by those who gave illegal orders.

      • Anonymous

        I’ve seen only an allegation a crime was committed, your summation notwithstanding. A rather weak allegation at that, e.g., the general reputedly asked his psy ops chief “How do I get into their heads?” Even if true (and it might not be), isn’t that something all legal pitchmen try doing? Until and unless he is convicted of something, General Caldwell is innocent. And innocent not just in theory; the man was and is expected to use all resources necessary (and legally) to accomplish his mission, and just maybe that’s what he was doing. Some of his staff officers are infantrymen, but they weren’t expected to kill or capture–the mission of the Infantry Branch–the visitors.

        Remember when George Romney returned from Vietnam alleging the Army had “brainwashed” him? He provided no substantive evidence. The charge went nowhere, and soon he and his presidential ambitions were off in the direction of sunset. Right where Lt. Col. Holmes is headed, the difference being Romney was a somebody.

        • Irish_Wake

          Dismissing allegation (as you do) is as harmful as holding them as settled fact (as I have done; I apologize for the error). If I may ignore Romney, the infantry, comparing psy-ops to Pop-Tart commercials as extraneous ideas, let’s limit our discussion to facts:
          1) Federal law prohibits the use of psy-ops against US citizens.
          2) Allegation: psy-op leader alleges this law was knowingly broken by his commanding officer.

          As both you and Col. Holmes note, the commanding officer is bound to use legal resources.
          The allegation is that your well reasoned restrictions were not honored.

  • Anonymous

    Not all allegations are equal, and some in fact deserve to be dismissed out of hand. For example, allegations purporting George Bush had been in on the 9/11 attacks are patently ridiculous and deserve zero attention. Conversely, allegations of wrong-doing accompanied by evidence of substance deserve consideration by constituted authority and any appropriate follow-up. (Witness the case of the Abu Ghraib guards.) But if the evidence is weak to nonexistent, an allegation at best deserves healthy skepticism. The allegation at issue here lacks evidence of substance. In fact, the so-called evidence cited to date is so weak that ridicule directed at the two purveyors–LTC Holmes and his tabloid cohort–is appropriate.

    General Petraeus, by law, had to order the investigation. I remain confident of its outcome.

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