"The contractors would not be identified with the ads," the official
said. "They would be offered to the Iraqi media via local agents."
Officials said the effort was promoted by Central Command chief Gen.
David Petraeus, who for two years served as commander of U.S. forces in
Iraq. They said Petraeus introduced pro-U.S. radio and television program
with help from his aide, Sadi Othman.
A key contractor in the Pentagon effort has been SOS International,
based in Reston, Va. In 2006, SOS won a $200 million contract to provide
guidance on influencing the Iraqi media.
SOS was also awarded one of the latest Pentagon contracts, which require
security clearance and Arabic-language skills. The other companies were
identified as Lincoln Group, MPRI and Leonie Industries, all of them
veterans in defense projects. Lincoln was criticized in a Pentagon report in
2006.
Congress has expressed opposition to the latest Pentagon contracts and
the Senate Armed Services Committee could hold hearings. In early October,
Sen. James Webb, a Virginia Democrat and a member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, demanded that Defense Secretary Robert Gates suspend the
contracts.
"At a time when this country is facing such a grave economic crisis it
makes little sense for the Department of Defense to be spending hundreds of
millions of dollars to propagandize the Iraqi people," Webb wrote.
