To Tell the Truth

Remember the old TV game show To Tell the Truth? A group of panelists all claimed to be a single specific person, and the contestant who figured out which one was being honest and not lying through his or her teeth would win prizes.

It's back, sort of.

Three years ago, the Pentagon's proposed Office of Strategic Influence went down in flames after its true purpose became known -- the dissemination of false articles in foreign media publications with the intent of fooling the enemy. What the OSI never figured out was that in this age of global communication, anything published anywhere quickly becomes known everywhere else, so fake news planted abroad could quite easily blow back into the American press.

A more direct example occurred only last month, when the Pentagon admitted planting a CNN story that the attack on Fallujah was underway even though it wouldn't start for another three weeks, with the supposed aim of "smoking out" insurgents in the city. The revelation was greeted by yawns from most of the media, instead of outrage at being turned into an unwitting propaganda tool.

Here we go again. According to The New York Times, the Pentagon is considering "planting news stories in the foreign press or creating false documents and web sites translated into Arabic as an effort to discredit and undermine the influence of mosques and religious schools that preach anti-American principles."

Like they don't hate us enough already. American credibility across much of the world, but particularly in the Arab world, is already in the toilet. Recent polls show that solid majorities in most Arab countries now see America as the greatest threat to world peace, and this latest revelation is not about to help matters.

Besides, now that the Pentagon -- and, let's face it, the Bush Administration in general -- has shown they are willing to lie to further American interests, the American people now face a dilemma: every time we hear an official pronouncement, we have to wonder if it's true. Lots of people already disbelieve anything they hear from Washington, and that number can only increase if lying becomes official policy, no matter what the justification.

On the other hand, disseminating propaganda lies instead of real facts to the media does have its upside: no one will ever have to know about such unpleasantries as insufficiently armored vehicles or botched planning. Everything will be perfect. Well, except on the actual ground in Iraq, but as most people wouldn't go there in a million years, who's going to know the difference?

Here's a bright idea: why not try telling the truth for a change? Rather than mount a crude propaganda effort to fake out the purveyors of hatred, we should broadcast and publicize messages of tolerance and inclusivity, so the people who now hear only the voices of jihad get another source of information. The best disinfectant for hatred is always sunlight, and lots of it.

Besides, if we have to lie to people to get them to like us, what does that say about us to begin with?

This was a bad idea three years ago, and it's still a bad idea. The Pentagon should jettison this half-baked plan, and fast.