"Following a disastrous 2002 for the public relations industry, the war in Iraq now threatens to blight 2003," Advertising Age writes. "The most immediate problem for PR agencies is the shrinking news hole -- a vital element of campaigns -- now that it appears the war will go on for longer than some expected." Bad news for PR, but advertisers need not worry. "A majority of U.S. consumers say they favor a TV network return to regularly scheduled commercial programming during the ongoing war in Iraq, according to an exclusive Advertising Age survey. In a poll ... 83% of consumers said it is appropriate for the networks to run prime-time entertainment during the first weeks of the war," Ad Age writes. Meanwhile marketers of the largest U.S. brands "are going on the offensive to combat war-related boycotts of American products in hot spots around the globe. In markets from Egypt and Argentina to Europe, U.S. companies are plotting strategy, usually focusing on how to emphasize their ties to local communities and economies," Ad Age writes. Representatives from Procter & Gamble, Heinz, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Xerox and McDonald's met recently with U.S. Embassy officials in Cairo to discuss the boycotts.

"France's Sodexho Alliance is fending off Congressional bids to strip it of its $880 million food service contract with the U.S. Marines because of the French snub of President Bush's invasion of Iraq," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "Edelman is our corporate agency of record, and we use it for crisis work," Bonnie Goldstein, a PR staffer at Sodexho's North American headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., told O'Dwyer's. "Rep. Jack Kingman (R-Ga.) wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking him to consider transferring the Marines contract to a U.S.-based firm. That would send a 'tangible signal to the French government that there are economic consequences associated with their international policies.' The letter was signed by 59 Congressmen," O'Dwyer's writes.

"According to recent leaks from the Pentagon, Gen. Tommy Franks and other uniformed war planners argued with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over how many troops and how much armor to commit to the war," writes Lucian K. Truscott IV. "The soldiers wanted more of both," but "Rumsfeld was reportedly among the influential group on the administration war team who predicted that the Iraqi army would quickly fold after it had been shocked and awed. ... The question is, why didn't the generals insist on the force structure they were correct in thinking would be necessary? The fact that more than two-thirds of senior military officers identify themselves as conservative Republicans - and the true percentage is probably a lot higher than that - might have something to do with the military's lack of backbone. ... The lack of backbone in the top ranks of Pentagon generals when dealing with their Republican friends may cause unnecessary deaths on the battlefield, a high price to pay for a military that is finally happy with the politics of its civilian leaders, but must deal uneasily with their lack of military expertise."

"Clear Channel Communications ... finds itself fending off a new set of accusations: that the company is using its considerable market power to drum up support for the war in Iraq, while muzzling musicians who oppose it. ... The critics ... cite an unusual series of pro-military rallies drummed up by Glenn Beck, whose talk show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a Clear Channel subsidiary. ... Thirteen of those rallies were co-sponsored and promoted by local Clear Channel stations, including one held March 15 in Atlanta that was sponsored by Clear Channel's WGST and attended by an estimated 25,000 people. Further plans for rallies include events in Tampa; Lubbock, Tex.; and Dothan, Ala. Clear Channel, which hired Brainerd Communicators, a financial communications and crisis-management firm, last week to help deal with the controversy, did not make Mr. Beck available for an interview."

"It's no coincidence that Americans, and others around the world, are echoing the exact same phrases and news bites at the same times with near-military precision. It's the result of a slickly orchestrated public relations campaign on the part of the military and the U.S. government that is borrowing the best practices of the corporate PR world. ... The PR industry, as many may know, was actually started by the military during World War I, when persuasive techniques were developed to recruit soldiers. 'After the [First World War] a lot of those [PR] people went to work for the private sector and are seen as the grandfathers of PR,' says Laura Miller, associate editor of PR Watch [and author of the article War Is Sell ].... "They were very up front about the fact that [in their opinion] in a democracy, public opinion needs to be controlled by a small number of people who know what's best for the public.' In the case of the war against Iraq, that means that there should be no confusion or dissent about the aims and progress of the war."