U.S. Defense Dept. pays MILLIONS for monitoring NEWS ORGANIZATIONS..CNN

[in_cog_ni_to]

is one network that will be monitored.

Barabara Starr was giving her Pentagon report to Lou last night and it was about a new contract with a US defense contractor who will make jammers. These jammers can save our soldier's lives. They jam the frequency used to blow up the IEDs. The Penatgon has ordered ONLY 4000 of these life savers. THEN, Barbara Starr says THIS:

STARR: But, Lou, all of this comes during the same week that the Defense Department awarded a contract worth millions of dollars to a private firm to monitor news organization's coverage of the war in Iraq and CNN is going to be one of those organizations that the government monitors, Lou.

My reaction was, WTF?? and shock that they would waste MILLIONS to monitor NEWS ORGANIZATIONS instead of spending that money on our soldiers to save their lives! I thought it would get HUGE coverage from Lou, but it didn't. Read below what he said. Are you as shocked as I am that this has not received any coverage from the very media the Governmemnt WILL BE MONITORING??? Why does our government need to spend MILLIONS to monitor the Iraq war coverage? Why isn't that money being spent on our soldiers? What's your take on this?

Here's the relevant part of the transcript from last night's show:

<snip>
STARR (voice over): Just a few days into the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, attacks have risen in Iraq, as predicted, especially in Baghdad where most of the sectarian violence is occurring.

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, U.S. ARMY: In terms of attacks, this week's suicide attacks were at their highest level with any given week, with half of them targeting security forces.

STARR: In Bakuba four women were killed in a firefight. The military said it is rare to encounter Iraqi women in violent situations. No one is sure if they were involved with the insurgents. The U.S. continues to emphasize what commanders say is the ineffectiveness of the attacks; 66 U.S. troops have now lost their lives in Iraq during the month of September.

CALDWELL: Almost 50 percent of the vehicle-born improvised explosive devices were suicide attacks. The clear intent of these high magnitude attacks are to produce mass casualties. But while we are seeing this increase in overall attack numbers, their effectiveness has not increased.

STARR: The threat of IEDs remains significant. It is now believed insurgents alter their tactics about every three weeks, changing how they place the bombs, and how they detonate them. Troops on foot patrol are the most vulnerable. The Pentagon is now spending $80 million to by 4,000 jammers that troops can wear and activate to keep IEDs from exploding around them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: But, Lou, all of this comes during the same week that the Defense Department awarded a contract worth millions of dollars to a private firm to monitor news organization's coverage of the war in Iraq and CNN is going to be one of those organizations that the government monitors, Lou.

DOBBS: Let's make it easy for them here tonight; 4,000 jammers? Does that mean that those troops do not have them now?

STARR: Let's explain a little bit further. This is a very interesting program that's just getting started. But what they've been going is trying to work on technology so troops, soldiers, Marines on foot patrol, in Iraq , have some kind of device they can hold in their hand, put on their vest, that would jam an IED, basically jam the radio frequency on which an IED is detonated.

This is something that's been a problem for U.S. troops. They have some shelter in their armored vehicles, but once they get out on foot patrol, of course, they're very, very vulnerable. So, this technology is actually just beginning to evolve and an $80 million contract was given to a U.S. defense contractor, actually a division of British Aerospace here in the United States, to begin to manufacture those. I think one can expect more in the pipeline, Lou.

DOBBS: Thank you very much. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon. <snip>

edited to add forgotten link to transcript:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/27/ldt.01.html

[Kolesar]

1. Good catch...eom

[Sinti]

2. The news monitoring is not at all new - they monitor every station

24/7, and if a word is uttered about them and/or their wars a transcript of that exchange is sent directly to them, within 20 minutes or less. It then goes to the CYA folks, who come up with a good response, if it was a negative comment, or if it was a positive comment they can bolster themselves up with it. They have always done this - even before these wars (before Afghanistan). I know this for a fact, it used to be my primary source of income. So it's not new money going toward this monitoring operation - not that I think it's right, but it's not uncommon. Big corporations do the exact same thing, it's public relations.

OTOH, why the hell are they dragging their feet about that jamming device - 4000, WTF? They need a whole mess of these things and hand them out like C rations.