Historical Precedent? American Press Policy in Occupied Iraq.

In this paper, I compare American information control policy in Germany (1945-1949) and Iraq (2003-2006).The comparative analysis indicates that the American information control policy was very different in the two cases. In Germany, the U.S. Army and the Office of Military Government U.S. in Germany exerted rigorous control over the media to block Nazi and Soviet propaganda, and to introduce the American political agenda. In Iraq, the Coalition forces did not establish rigorous information control, and the Pentagon was more concerned with the manipulation of the American press than with regulating information in Iraq. As a result of this strategic error, the insurgency and civilian movements opposed to the American presence in Iraq have been able to control information and spread their anti-American messages. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]