This is a surprise?

Jazz reported on this yesterday but here is some more detail from Knight Ridder.
U.S. military pays Iraqis for positive news stories on war

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Army officers have been secretly paying Iraqi journalists to produce upbeat newspaper, radio and television reports about American military operations and the conduct of the war in Iraq.


U.S. officials in Washington said the payments were made through the Baghdad Press Club, an organization they said was created more than a year ago by U.S. Army officers. They are part of an extensive American military-run information campaign -- including psychological warfare experts -- intended to build popular support for U.S.-led stabilization efforts and erode support for Sunni Muslim insurgents.


Members of the Press Club are paid as much as $ 200 a month, depending on how many positive pieces they produce.


Under military rules, information operations are restricted to influencing the attitudes and behavior of foreign governments and people. One form of information operations -- psychological warfare -- can use doctored or false information to deceive or damage the enemy or to bolster support for American efforts.


Many military officials, however, said they were concerned that the payments to Iraqi journalists and other covert information operations in Iraq had become so extensive that they were corroding the effort to build democracy and undermining U.S. credibility in Iraq. They also worry that information in the Iraqi press that's been planted or paid for by the U.S. military could "blow back" to the American public.

This is exactly what the Bush administration has been doing to the American people so why are we surprised they are doing it in Iraq? But once again they have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar so we have this.
White House wants answers on planted Iraq stories

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and a senior Republican lawmaker expressed concern on Thursday about secret military payments to get Iraqi newspapers to print pro-American articles, but the military said it was important to spread the truth while insurgents were "lying to the Iraqi people."

This faux outrage is as absurd as the initial reaction to the Plame outing. This is just one more example of members of this administration being told to do "whatever it takes" the law be damned followed by outrage and denial when the dirty deed is discovered. This is no different than Armstrong Willaims et.al. or the phony news stories produced by the WH for domestic consumption. So why is anyone surprised?