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[Condom]

The Pentagon gave a controversial UK PR firm over half a billion dollars to run a top secret propaganda programme in Iraq, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal.

Bell Pottinger’s output included short TV segments made in the style of Arabic news networks and fake insurgent videos which could be used to track the people who watched them, according to a former employee.

The agency’s staff worked alongside high-ranking US military officers in their Baghdad Camp Victory headquarters as the insurgency raged outside.

Bell Pottinger's former chairman Lord Tim Bell confirmed to the Sunday Times, which worked with the Bureau on this story, that his firm had worked on a “covert” military operation “covered by various secrecy agreements.”

Bell Pottinger reported to the Pentagon, the CIA and the National Security Council on its work in Iraq, he said.

Bell, one of Britain’s most successful public relations executives, is credited with honing Margaret Thatcher’s steely image and helping the Conservative party win three elections. The agency he co-founded has had a roster of clients including repressive regimes and Asma al-Assad, the wife of the Syrian president.

In the first media interview any Bell Pottinger employee has given about the work for the US military in Iraq, video editor Martin Wells – who no longer works for the company – told the Bureau his time in Camp Victory was "shocking, eye-opening, life-changing.”

The firm’s output was signed off by former General David Petraeus – then commander of the coalition forces in Iraq – and on occasion by the White House, Wells said.

Article

Wells said he was given specific instructions to make short, 10-minute video clips that were to be shot in the style of al-Qaeda propaganda videos.

He said the video clips that were burned to CDs were embedded with coded linked to a Google analytics account that would reveal the IP addresses of whoever watched them to a top Bell Pottinger employee, and a top US military commander.

“If one is looked at in the middle of Baghdad…you know there’s a hit there,” he said. “If one, 48 hours or a week later shows up in another part of the world, then that’s the more interesting one, and that’s what they’re looking for more, because that gives you a trail.”

The Bell Pottinger firm has previously represented a number of controversial clients including the Sri Lankan government, ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Article

Searched but couldn't find anything, lock if old etc etc

 

[koji kabuto]

Wells said he was given specific instructions to make short, 10-minute video clips that were to be shot in the style of al-Qaeda propaganda videos.

Ok now we know where is that ISIS videos with great production value came from.

 

[moltonasty]

Meanwhile the majority of the public will forget about this by next week, and proceed to use "conspiracy theorist" as a pejorative for the people who refute what mainstream media tells us to believe

Spoiler

my tinfoil hat is already on

 

[Hypron]

Meanwhile the majority of the public will forget about this by next week, and proceed to use "conspiracy theorist" as a pejorative for the people who refute what mainstream media tells us to believe

Spoiler

my tinfoil hat is already on

Wake up sheeple

 

[BronsonLee]

IT'S THE MANDARIN

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

They were trying to track how media was being distributed. I don't see the problem with this.

 

[Lemonz]

 

[Hexa]

Same concept as Fast and Furious but a lot less damaging if it goes wrong. I don't see what's wrong with this? The cost?

 

[Shaanyboi]

Where have I heard this before...

 

[Angry Grimace]

I hope the tapes were shadowy figures in a cave saying "...just give peace a chance. War is over, if you want it."

Oh, nevermind, I guess it was just a project to figure out how these videos were getting distributed. That isn't as fun as the idea of secret videos that compete with AQ videos but with messages of peace.

 

[Azih]

Why not just burn existing videos to CD and spread those?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Why not just burn existing videos to CD and spread those?

I don't think the project's aim was spending half a bil on just filming grainy VHS tapes.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Why not just burn existing videos to CD and spread those?

Old videos wouldn't be distributed like "new" ones?

 

[QuantumBro]

We've payed more for far worse honeypots.

 

[Phantast2k]

Ok now we know where is that ISIS videos with great production value came from.

Bootleg versions of Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas and Youtube tutorials? :O