media committees and propaganda.

soccerdad at TLC in full (emph his):

Bush Regime: More Authoritarian Thinking

Today’s glimpse into how the Bush regime views our future comes from Bob Woodward in the WaPo. He publishes excerpts from a secret memo titled "Illustrative New 21st Century Institutions and Approaches" written by Rumsfeld in May, 2006. Here are the items that caused the most fear.

The broader [U.S. government] structure is still in the industrial age and it is not serving us well. It is time to consider a new Hoover Commission to recommend ways to reorganize both the executive and legislative branches, to put us on a more appropriate path for the 21st century. Only a broad, fundamental reorganization is likely to enable federal departments and agencies to function with the speed and agility the times demand. The charge of incompetence against the U.S. government should be easy to rebut if the American people understand the extent to which the current system of government makes competence next to impossible.
[Snip]
Today the centers of gravity of the conflict in Iraq and the global war on terror are not on battlefields overseas. Rather, the center of gravity of this war are on the centers of public opinion in the U.S. and in the capitals of free nations. The gateways to those centers are the international media hubs and the capitals of the world. [Ayman al-] Zawahiri has said that 50 percent of the current struggle is taking place in the arena of public information. That may be an understatement. Osama bin Laden, Zawahiri, [Abu Musab al-] Zarqawi had media committees that consistently outpace our ability to respond. When the U.S. government tries to compete in the communications arena it runs up against lack of national consensus and understanding about what means are acceptable to the media and to the Congress and disagreements as to what is legal. . . .

What Rumsfled seems to be saying is that his job would be a lot easier if it didn't have to worry about such things as laws, The Congress, the Supreme Court, etc. God forbid there are disagreements about what is legal. I'm sure that he would be happier if there was no Supreme Court or, at least, the actions of the President and himself were exempt from their review. Then if the papers would just publish what Rumsfeld wanted and if the dissenters were locked up in the new detention centers everything would be just fine.

I love Rumsfled's fear of media committees. i wish that every time Bush or Rumsfeld talk about AlQ's media committees or propaganda, reporters would also note that the the USG also has media committees and also gets a fair amount of television time.