The Rendon Group and Astroturfing
Making Light: Further instances of astroturf in blogs
The link above is a post we found interesting. A little poking
around and we found an interesting connection.
from the Asia Times
If the allegations are true, it wouldn’t be the first such incident.
In 1991, prior to the first Gulf War, president George H W Bush
signed an executive order directing the Central Intelligence
Agency to create the conditions for Saddam Hussein’s removal.
So the CIA hired a PR firm called the Rendon Group to run an
anti-Saddam propaganda campaign.
As part of that campaign, the group founded the Iraqi National
Congress headed by Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi. Writing in The
New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
said the Rendon Group paid “close to a hundred million dollars”
of CIA money to the INC.
MoreWhat.com staff comment: Okay, Seymour, that’s a lotta
bucks. We’re a little more interested in the other parts. We’re
not real surprised about the money. That fine folks telling us
they want freedom from tyranny and to build a strong and
free country should have a little nest egg. Regime change is
tough work. What did Ahmad Chalabi do to provoke the wrath
of his friends in Washington, D.C.?
Back to the orginal point regarding the Rendon Group. Why are
they included in the discussion of astroturfing in blogs? Does
someone have something approaching the definition of evidence?
Seems as though they have the resume for it.