"Truth Tour"

The "Truth Tour", also known as the "'Voices of Soldiers' Truth Tour",&mdash;which "brought right-wing talk-show hosts to Iraq" in 2005 to "tell 'the good news that the old-line liberal news media won't tell you about"&mdash;was the creation of the Republican Party-affiliated public relations firm Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM+R), Aaron Glantz wrote July 31, 2006, for Inter Press News Service.

This is the same firm, Glanz wrote, that also "founded the 'Stop Michael Moore' campaign to discredit the film Fahrenheit 9/11 and a group called 'Move America Forward', which has brought parents of dead soldiers to be counter-protesters at peace demonstrations."

Second "Truth Tour"
The second "Truth Tour" was discussed July 5, 2005, by John Kasich, who was substituting for Fox News's vacationing Bill O'Reilly, Marie Therese reported for News Hounds.

The "outing" was "being sponsored by the newly created Office of Media Outreach, a taxpayer-funded publicity arm of the Department of Defense. Kasich's conservative guest, Move America Forward co-founder, Melanie Morgan, made it sound as though the tour was a private venture, while her liberal counterpart, the ever-feisty Ellis Henican of Newsday argued that it is a propaganda trip," Marie Therese wrote.

"Kasich opened the show by saying that the Truth Tour would be an effort to show 'the other side of the war'," she wrote, saying that "A group of conservative radio talk show hosts are heading to Baghdad for a week long 'Truth Tour,' hoping to report the progress there which they say is being largely ignored the by the mainstream media."

Marie Therese wrote that, according to Fox News, "The 'Truth Tour' [had] been pulled together by the conservative Web cast radio group Rightalk.com and Move America Forward, a non-profit conservative group backed by a Republican-linked public relations firm in California"&mdash;Russo Marsh & Rogers.

Joining former California State Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian of Move America Forward on the second "Truth Tour" was (as stated) Melanie Morgan (KSFO, San Francisco), Mark Williams (KFBK, Sacramento), Lt. Col. (USAF-Ret.) Robert B. "Buzz" Patterson, Martha Zoller (WDUN, Gainesville/Atlanta), Michael Graham (WMAL, Washington, D.C.), two reporters from David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine and Center for the Study of Popular Culture, Marie Therese wrote.


 * Note: According to Martha Zoller, wrapping up her trip report about Iraq August 9, 2005, her group consisted of "Buzz Patterson of Rightalk, Melanie Morgan of KSFO in San Francisco, Mark Williams of KFBK in Sacramento, Michael Graham, WMAL in Washington, DC, Howard Kaloogian of Move America Forward, Brad Maaske of KMJ in Fresno and an expert on Saddam Hussein, Filmmaker Dan Hare, Navy and Commercial pilot and 9-11 family member, Producer Holly Williams, Nancy Alexander, Move America Forward Former Executive Director Sioban Guiney" and herself, "Martha Zoller of WDUN and Rightalk."


 * Note: "Truth Tour" participants included three members of Move America Forward's Board of Directors and Staff: Howard Kaloogian is its founder; Melanie Morgan is its Chairman; Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson is a Board Member.

Marie Therese wrote that, during the Fox News segment, an angry Melanie Morgan said "Our trips are being paid for by ourselves and our radio stations and the United States government is not paying one dime to take care of us other than providing us with a smelly cot to sleep on and a military transport into Iraq and for you to suggest otherwise is insulting to me and it's insulting to the .... American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for whom I work. I am paying $3500 of my own money to get over to Iraq. Some of our other hosts are paying up to $15,000 of their own money and I really resent that implication that we are being bought off by the US government."

Too Much "Truth Tour"
On August 8, 2005, AltHippo at TPM Cafe wrote: "You may recall that upon returning from the Truth Tour, Michael Graham's world view was so enriched that he wrote: 'We are at war with a terrorist organization named Islam.' Graham was promptly suspended by WMAL here in Washington."

Graham was fired on August 22, 2005, according to WMAL (owned by the Walt Disney Company), because he said "'Islam is a terrorist organization' 23 times on his July 25 program. On the same show, he also said repeatedly that 'moderate Muslims are those who only want to kill Jews' and that 'the problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam.'"

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Coalition Information Center
 * Combined Press Information Center (CPIC in Iraq)
 * fake news
 * Information Operations Task Force
 * Information Operations Roadmap
 * Iraqi Media Engagement Team (IMET)
 * Kurdistan - The Other Iraq
 * Lincoln Group
 * Office of Strategic Communication
 * Office of Strategic Initiatives
 * "The Path to 9/11" (2006 Docudrama)
 * Vets for Freedom
 * war propaganda

2005

 * "The Truth Tour Live from Baghdad" article links posted on Move America Forward website.
 * Alex Beam, "A Swift kick: phony news hits home," Boston Globe, May 12, 2005.
 * Melanie Morgan and Howard Kaloogian, "Talk Radio Heads to Baghdad," Move America Forward (Free Republic), June 30, 2005.
 * "Talk Show Truth Squad Headed for Baghdad," NewsMax, July 5, 2005.
 * Michelle Pilecki, "Truth or Consequences," The Huffington Post, July 5, 2005.
 * "Move Kurdistan Forward," PR Watch (from O'Dwyer's), July 5, 2005.
 * Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, "Critics Call Radio Hosts' Trip Propaganda Mission," Fox News, July 6, 2005; FrontPageMag.
 * Marie Therese, "Press Junket to 'Happy Iraq' - Journalism or Propaganda?" News Hounds, July 6, 2005.
 * Joe Garofoli, "Conservative talkers taking radio shows on road to Iraq," San Francisco Chronicle, July 7, 2005.
 * Deanna Swift, "'Truth Tour' Promises Good News, Shorter Broadcasts from Iraq," The Swift Report, July 7, 2005. Note: Spoof.
 * David R. Mark, "Republican-Friendly Lobbyists Organize 'Non-Partisan' Iraqi 'Truth Tour'," Blogcritics.org, July 8, 2005.
 * Seth Sandronsky, "Meet the 'Truth Tour'. Right-Wing Radio Hosts Go to Iraq," Common Dreams, July 9, 2005; CounterPunch, July 9/10, 2005.
 * Deanna Swift, "Iraqi Truth Tour Finds Exquisite Sunsets, Plenty of 'Truth'," The Swift Report, July 14, 2005. Note: Spoof.
 * 1st LT Murphy, California National Guard, "Latest from Iraq (Iraq Truth Tour update via Melanie Morgan of KFSO 560am San Francisco)," Free Republic, July 14, 2005.
 * Mitchell, "Truth Tour Indeed: What the MSM Isn't Telling You," Toadkillerdog's DogHouse Blog, July 22, 2005. Includes full article by Michael Graham published at National Review Online.
 * "'Truth Tour's' Morgan falsely suggested that Iraqi forces have achieved 60 percent readiness," Media Matters for America, August 3, 2005.
 * Bill Berkowitz, "Selling Kurdistan via California," Asia Times, August 3, 2005.
 * AltHippo, "The 'Truth Tour' Will Out," TPM Cafe, August 8, 2005.
 * Martha Zoller, "The Final Chapter of My Trip To Iraq," AccessNorthGa.com, August 9, 2005.
 * "'Truth Tour' participant Morgan cited sources contradicted by Bush, military and defense officials," Media Matters for America, August 15, 2005.
 * "Radio host Morgan: Iraqi general told 'Truth Tour' participants that Saddam harbored 4,000 terrorists 'related to Al Qaeda'," Media Matters for America, August 18, 2005.
 * AltHippo, "'Freedom Walk' 'Truth Tour' Have Much in Common," TPM Cafe, August 19, 2005. re September 11, 2001: 4th Anniversary "Freedom Walk"
 * Paul Farhi, "Talk Show Host Graham Fired By WMAL Over Islam Remarks," Washington Post, August 23, 2005.
 * "More 'Truth Tour' misinformation on Hardball: Williams implied Iraq had WMD when U.S. invaded," Media Matters for America, August 24, 2005.
 * "'Truth Tour's' Williams: Sheehan 'on a mission to figuratively urinate on her son's grave'," Media Matters for America, August 24, 2005.
 * "Radio host Morgan: Iraqi general told 'Truth Tour' participants that Saddam harbored terrrorists," Media Matters for America (Infoshop News), December 28, 2005.

2006

 * What were you thinking, "Kaloogian's 'Truth Tour': Boy was it safe in Baghdad!" Daily Kos, March 29, 2006.
 * Nell Schaefer, "A Scripted War," The Student Underground, Issue 56 April 2006.
 * Al Kamen, "The Iraq We Haven't Seen," Washington Post, July 26, 2006.
 * Aaron Glantz, "Kurdish 'Thank You' a Republican Stunt?", Inter Press News Service, July 31, 2006; "Kurds just want to thank the US," Asia Times, August 2, 2006.