After the Los Angeles Times reported [3] that the Pentagon, through the Lincoln Group [4], was planting "favorable stories [5] about the war [6] and the rebuilding effort" in Iraqi newspapers, military spokespeople "offered a mixed message" about the program. It's "an important part of countering misinformation ... by insurgents," Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said, from Iraq. Gen. Peter Pace [7], the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [8], expressed concern that it could "be detrimental to the proper growth of democracy" in Iraq. Media organizations weren't so conflicted. The International Center for Journalists' vice-president called the program "indefensible" and the World Press Freedom Committee's director called it "unacceptable." But, as the Washington Post wrote [9], "such information warfare is not new to Iraq." In fact, the Lincoln Group [4]'s "payments to sympathetic 'temporary spokespersons' [10] who would not necessarily be identified [11] as working for the coalition [12]" is a standard PR technique [13].